Bochun (1032 ~ 1085), a native of Cheng Hao in the Northern Song Dynasty, was called Mr. Ming Dow and was from Huangpi County, Hubei Province. In the Song Dynasty, Confucian scholars, neo-Confucianists and educators were named "saints" and worshipped at the 38th place in the East of Confucius Temple. Cheng Yi and his brothers are called "Cheng Er" in the world. In his early years, Cheng studied under the founders of Neo-Confucianism, Zhou Dunyi and Song Shenzong Zhao Yong, and established his own Neo-Confucianism system.
His family has been an official for generations, and his great-grandfather Cheng Xizhen was appointed as an official of Shangshu. Grandfather Cheng Hao served as Huangpi county magistrate; Give Kaifuyi and the official department ministers three departments; Died in this county. My father was too young to go home, so he lived in Huangpi. He used to be a commandant of Huangpi County, and later a doctor of Taizhong. When Cheng Cheng was born, his father was the magistrate of Huangpi County. He was deeply influenced by his family since childhood, especially by his father Cheng Jun in political thought, and was famous for his non-Wang Anshi's new law.
In the second year of Jiayou in the Northern Song Dynasty (1057), after he was promoted to a scholar, he successively served as an official of Zhu Jun, an official of Shangyuan County, an official of Zezhou Jincheng, a prince of Zhongyun, an imperial censor, a wine tax supervisor of Ruzhou, a judge of Zhenning Army and a judge of Zongning Temple.
At the beginning of God's reign, he served as an imperial adviser. Because of his disagreement with Wang Anshi's political views, he was not reused, so he devoted himself to academics. Song Shiyuan said: "I have the ambition to seek Tao. It has flooded many schools, and it has been in and out for decades, and it has been returned to the' Six Classics'. " Initiating "Luo Xue" with his younger brother Cheng Yi laid the foundation of Neo-Confucianism. In education, he set up schools in Songyang and Fugou successively, and devoted himself to educational research. He wrote a lot of books and formed a set of educational ideology. Cheng Hao pointed out that the purpose of education is to cultivate saints. "The gentleman's learning, must first learn the sage. Not saints but their own people have been abandoned. " The filial piety is filial piety, and the younger brother's is the younger brother. It's just a saint. "That is to say, the highest purpose of education is to make the educated follow the laws of nature, be kind to the people, love things, and abide by feudal ethics. Learning the Analects of Confucius and Mencius is "knowledge". " What is ridicule when you read The Analects of Confucius and Mencius without knowing it? "The University and the Doctrine of the Mean are also indispensable." The way of a university lies in its virtue and understanding. "And the doctrine of the mean" heaven also, not very clever, not the doctrine of the mean ". In short, education must take Confucian classics as teaching materials and Confucian ethics as the basic content of education. Cheng Hao also suggested that reading should aim at "explaining meaning and principle" and pay attention to reading methods. It is a great misfortune for scholars to "study on the premise of being poor and practical" and not "get stuck at the end of the chapter and sentence". Cheng Hao's educational thought, like his Neo-Confucianism, has a far-reaching influence on later generations. Later generations set up shrines or academies where he gave lectures to commemorate the origin of studying. In the first year of Jiayou, Song Renzong (1056), Ercheng Temple was established in the place where the Book of Changes was published in Shi Jing (now on the left side of the Wanfo Pagoda in Kaifeng, Henan). In the 20th year of Chenghua in Ming Dynasty (1489), Li Yan, the governor of Henan Province, built the Daliang Academy in Ercheng Temple and dedicated Ercheng in the lecture hall. In addition, Songyang Academy was established to commemorate Cheng Er. "Preface to the Records of Songyang Academy" said: "Songyang Academy, the place where books were collected in the Song Dynasty, had a free time and gave lectures with a group of disciples".
In the 13th year of Jiading, Song Ningzong (1220), Cheng Hao was named "pure man" and Cheng Yi was named "righteous man". In the first year of Li Zongchun (124 1), Cheng Hao was named "Henan Bo", Cheng Yi was named "Yichuan Bo" and "worshiped Confucius Temple". In the first year of Yuan Mingzong-Shunzhi (1330), Cheng Hao was made a duke, and Cheng Yi was made a duke. In the sixth year of Jingtai, Ming Daizong (1455), it was decreed that Yanzi (Yan Yuan) should be taken as an example to build a two-way temple, with more than 60 temples, such as Biqueli, Qianhoudian and so on. The eulogy praised Bidong Temple for "learning orthodoxy, promoting gentleness, being a sage of our school and educating our children and grandchildren". In the twenty-five years of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty, Cheng Cheng became a Confucian and became a saint, ranking above Confucius and other Han and Tang Confucians. The following year, Emperor Kangxi gave a plaque of "Learning to be Excellent and Being an Official".
Cheng Cheng's works include Suicide Letter from Cheng Family School in Henan Province, Foreign Letters from Cheng Family School in Henan Province, Collected Works of Mr. Ming Dow, Collected Works of Mr. Yichuan, Essence of Cheng Cheng's Speech, Jing Shuo and so on. And Cheng Yi has another book, The Book of Changes. Cheng's theory was later inherited and developed by Zhu and other philosophers in the Southern Song Dynasty and became the "Cheng-Zhu" school.
Cheng Hao's Neo-Confucianism advocates the theory of "two processes", which are different in some aspects, but their basic contents are the same. They all take "reason" or "Tao" as the basis of all theories, and think that "reason" is the heavenly principle that precedes all things, "everything is only heavenly principle", "everything originates from reason" and "reason leads to anger". The current social order is natural and logical, otherwise it will go against the sky. Put forward the simple dialectical thought that things are human beings. Emphasize that human nature is good and "human nature is rational". Because of different temperaments, human nature is good and evil. Therefore, turbidity and malignancy are actually human desires. People's desires blind their own hearts and will damage justice. Nobody wants to be natural. Therefore, it teaches people to "save righteousness and destroy human desires." To "uphold justice", we must first "manage tomorrow". If you want to "manage tomorrow", you must understand the truth of things day by day, and if you accumulate more, you can suddenly get through it. Advocate the cultivation method of "self-cultivation needs respect, learning depends on knowledge" Cheng advocated feudal ethics and advocated the formation of the relationship between monarch and minister in the family. Cheng Yi also opposes women's remarriage, claiming that "starvation is minimal and dishonour is great", which is quite pernicious.
Cheng Hao and his brother Cheng Yi are the main founders of Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty, and they are called "the second generation of Cheng" in the world. Because the Cheng brothers have been giving lectures in Luoyang for a long time, they are called "Luo Xue" by the world. In philosophy, Cheng developed the theory of mind, nature and numerology from Mencius to Zhou Dunyi, and established an idealistic neo-Confucianism system with "natural justice" as the core. The most important academic proposition put forward by Cheng Er is that "everything is just the principle of nature". They think that yin, yang, qi and five elements are just Li or the materials that create everything. From the beginning, Li was regarded as the highest category of philosophy, that is, as the noumenon of the world, the hierarchy of human society and the corresponding social moral norms were also concrete manifestations in human society.
Although Cheng Cheng's theory of human nature originated from Mencius School, it has been further deepened on the basis of the theory of human nature, answering a series of questions such as why sex is the best and why it produces evil factors. Cheng Cheng believes that human nature is different from "the nature of destiny" and "the nature of temperament". The former is the embodiment of natural principles in human nature, which has not been destroyed or distorted, so it is perfect. The latter, born of gasification, is inevitably eroded by "qi", which has disadvantages and therefore evil factors. Cheng believes that the natural state of sex is the best, because it is the reflection of human justice, and the goodness in human nature is the essential feature of justice, while the evil is the unreasonable desire and emotion of human beings, which Cheng calls "human desire" or "selfish desire". Human desires are the opposite of justice, and they are incompatible. When justice prevails, human desire disappears, and when human desire flourishes, justice declines. It can be seen that the proposition of "preserving righteousness and destroying human desires" put forward by Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty is actually of certain positive significance and cannot be completely denied.
The theory of "Tian Li" founded by Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi has a very important position in the history of China's ancient thought, which has had an important and far-reaching influence on ancient Chinese political thought and philosophical thought, and was highly praised by later feudal dynasties, so that it gradually evolved into the dominant thought in China's late feudal society for nearly a thousand years.