Zhou Dunyi

Zhou Dunyi was a Song-dynasty Chinese philosopher and official, from Daozhou in Hunan, regarded by later tradition, especially Zhu Xi, as the pioneer of Neo-Confucianism. His short Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate sets out a cosmology in which the Supreme Ultimate produces yin and yang, the five phases and the myriad things, and links this cosmology to human moral cultivation. His Penetrating the Book of Changes treats sincerity (cheng) as the foundation of the sage. He taught the brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi.

Key ideas

• The Non-Ultimate and yet the Supreme Ultimate (wuji er taiji) is the source of all things.
• Movement and stillness of the Supreme Ultimate generate yang and yin, and from them the five phases.
• Sincerity (cheng) is the foundation of the sage.
• The sage settles affairs through centrality, correctness, humaneness and rightness, with stillness as primary.

Major works

• Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate (Taijitu shuo 太極圖說)
• Penetrating the Book of Changes (Tongshu 通書)
• "On the Love of the Lotus" (Ai lian shuo 愛蓮說)

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