Cheng Hao

Cheng Hao was a Northern Song scholar and official who, with his younger brother Cheng Yi, co-founded the Neo-Confucian learning of principle (li). The brothers studied for a time with Zhou Dunyi and taught in Luoyang. Cheng Hao is remembered for a more intuitive emphasis than his brother: humaneness (ren) as the experience of forming one body with Heaven, Earth and all things.

Key ideas

• Principle (li) runs through Heaven, Earth and human beings.
• The humane person experiences forming one body with all things.
• Moral cultivation means recognising humaneness within and preserving it with sincerity and reverence.
• Understanding comes through a direct, unified grasp rather than piecemeal study alone.

Major works

• Er Cheng ji (Collected Works of the Two Chengs, with Cheng Yi)
• Er Cheng yishu (Surviving Works of the Two Chengs, recorded sayings compiled by Zhu Xi)

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