CH'ENG HAO AND CH'ENG I

born AD 1032, , Honan, China died 1085, Honan born 1033, Honan died 1107, Honan Ch'eng I also spelled (Wade-Giles romanization) Ch'eng Yi, Pinyin Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi brothers who developed Neo-Confucianism into an organized school of philosophy. Although their philosophies are usually considered together, their ideas developed in divergent directions. Ch'eng Hao influenced the Idealist school of Neo-Confucianism, while Ch'eng I influenced the development of the Rationalist school. Ch'eng I's statement, "Principle is one but its manifestations are many," is as well known in China as Descartes' "I think, therefore I am" is in the West. Ch'eng Hao was interested in both Buddhism and Taoism as a young man. Later he studied Confucianism, passed his civil service examinations, and attained high office; but because he opposed the radical reforms of the great innovator Wang An-shih (1021-86), he was dismissed from the government. He joined his brother in Honan, and a circle of disciples gathered around them. After Ch'eng I passed his civil service examinations, he served briefly as Imperial tutor (1069-70), but his stern conception of morality soon alienated many of those around him and he resigned. For most of his life he declined high office. Nonetheless, he continued to criticize those in power. As a result, in 1097 his land was confiscated, his teachings barred, and he was banished to Fu-chou, in southwest China. Pardoned three years later, he was again censured in 1103. He was pardoned a second time, in 1106, shortly before his death. Because men feared to be associated with him, only four people attended his funeral. The two brothers built their philosophies primarily on the concept of li-defined as the basic force, universal law, or truth underlying and governing all existence-an idea they brought to Neo-Confucianism from Buddhist and Taoist writings. While both agreed that exhaustive study of li is the best way to spiritual cultivation, Ch'eng Hao stressed calm introspection and taught that in his original state man was united with the universe. Ch'eng Hao's stress on meditation influenced the later Idealist school of Neo-Confucianism founded by Lu Hsiang-shan (1139-93) and Wang Yang-ming (1472-1529). Unlike his brother, Ch'eng I-whose philosophy was originally called Tao Hseh (School of True Way) but came to be called Li Hseh (School of Universal Principles)-emphasized that the way to discover li is to investigate the myriad things of the universe in which li is present. Ch'eng I espoused many methods of investigation-induction, deduction, the study of history and other disciplines, and participation in human affairs. A decade after Ch'eng I's death Chu Hsi (1130-1200) began to expand Cheng I's ideas into what came to be called the Ch'eng-Chu (after its two most important exponents) Rationalist school of Chinese philosophy; it dominated official circles until the Republican Revolution of 1911. Very little of the writings of the Ch'eng brothers is still extant. Collected fragments of their writings have been gathered in the I shu ("Surviving Works"), the Wai shu ("Additional Works"), and the Ts'ui yen ("Choice Words"). A more complete sample of Ch'eng Hao's writing is available in the Ming-tao wen-chi ("Collection of Literary Works of Ch'eng Hao"). The writings of Ch'eng I have been gathered in the I-ch'uan wen-chi ("Collection of Literary Works by Ch'eng I"), the Ching-shuo ("Explanation of the Classics," by Ch'eng I), and the I chuan ("Commentary on the Book of Changes"). All the extant writings of the two brothers were collected in the Erh Ch'eng ch'an-shu ("Complete Works of the Two Ch'engs"), published in Chinese in 1606. A.C. Graham's Two Chinese Philosophers: Ch'eng Ming-tao and Ch'eng Yi-ch'uan appeared in 1958.