Cheng Yi is one year younger than Cheng Hao, as talented as his elder brother, and even remains motionless since childhood. /kloc-at the age of 0/4, two brothers studied under Zhou Dunyi, which had a great influence. Cheng Yi/KLOC-entered imperial academy at the age of 0/8, and Ai Hu, a famous scholar, tested his students on the topic "What does Yan Zi like". Because Zhou Dunyi often teaches people to find Confucius and Le Yan, and Ai Hu's topic happens to be directed by Cheng Yi, he pointed out in How to Learn What Yan Zi is Good at that Yan Zi's learning is "the way to learn and even become a saint". After reading Cheng Yi's article, Ai Hu was very surprised and asked the new student to take up the teaching work. After that, the students took Cheng Yixing as a gift for their teachers.
After teaching in imperial academy for several years, Cheng Yi became more and more famous, and many students came from all directions to learn from him. At the age of 24, Cheng Yi started his own business in Kaifeng, the capital. Strangely, he has never been admitted to the Jinshi, and later he gave up his career and concentrated on his studies. Cheng Yi was recommended to be an official for many times, but all of them declined. Many things happen. Cheng Cheng co-founded the far-reaching theory of "natural justice" and founded the Luo School.
Cheng Yi is very good at the Book of Changes. Zhang Zai, who used to talk about the Book of Changes at Suoguo Temple in Kaifeng, also lamented himself, so he stopped talking the next day. Author of Zhouyi Zhuan (later called Yichuan Yizhuan Zhuan) is an important work connecting the past and the future in the development of Yi-ology. Cheng Yi explained Yi by Confucianism and Taoism, which separated Yi from metaphysics and influenced Zhu Yi.
Song Shenzong Xining five years (1072), Cheng Er gave lectures in Songyang. Although both brothers are called Cheng Cheng, they feel very different. Cheng Hao is a "spring breeze" and Cheng Yi is "neat and serious". The difference of Cheng Cheng's theory has something to do with their personalities. In Cheng Zi edited by later generations, the word "Cheng Zi" was used uniformly, but it is not clear whether Cheng Hao said it or Cheng Yi said it. However, due to the huge differences between the two theories, it is generally not difficult to distinguish them. In fact, there is no obvious difference in Cheng's theory in his early years, except that Cheng Yi lived 265,438+0 years longer than his brother, and his theory changed in his later years of studying alone.
Cheng Hao likes to talk about integration, ignoring the distinction between body use and metaphysics, while Cheng Yi talks about the dichotomy of body use; Cheng Hao advocated respecting morality from the inside, and thought that the mind "can't be sought from the outside" and said "how to study, and then study", while Cheng Yi attached importance to the accumulation and integration of knowledge and thought that "if a thing is reasonable, it will be poor", so in the process of seeking physics from the outside, we should know the mind's reason, that is, the combination of internal and external factors. Cheng Hao's theory was developed by Xin Xue, and Cheng Yi's theory was inherited and developed by Zhu into "Zhu Cheng Neo-Confucianism".
There was a Jinshi named Shi Yang. Because he respected the knowledge of departure, he resolutely gave up being an official and took Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi as his teachers. One day, Shi Yang and his friend Youzuo went to visit Cheng Yi. It happened that Cheng Yi was sitting at home with his eyes closed. They stood respectfully and waited! Just as they began to wait, it began to snow outside. When Cheng Yi opened his eyes, the snow outside had accumulated more than a foot thick. Later generations called it "Chengmen Sydney".
After the failure of Wang Anshi's political reform, Cheng Yi was appointed as the emperor's teacher. However, the neat and serious Cheng Yi was hard to please Song Zhezong Zhao Xu, who was still young at that time. On the first day of class, the teacher saw that the students didn't take the initiative to say hello, and immediately kept a straight face. On another occasion, Zhezong broke a willow branch casually, and Cheng Yi scolded: "Everything grows in spring. Don't break the willow branch casually, so as not to hurt the sum of heaven and earth." Later, some ministers hoped to "return Cheng Yi to the fields as a punishment". Cheng Yi retired and continued to give lectures in Luoyang.
In the third year of Shaosheng in the Northern Song Dynasty (1096), the new party headed by Wang Anshi came to power again. Cheng Yi was banished to Sichuan innocently, and was pardoned and returned to Luoyang four years later. A few years later, due to being slandered, the scholar's lectures and books were seriously affected, and he had to return to Chengcun from Luoyang until he died in the first year of Daguan in the Northern Song Dynasty (1 107).
"A thousand years' reputation, ten thousand years' reputation, what's the good? When you die and go." In the 13th year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty (1220), the court made Cheng Hao a "pure male" and Cheng Yi a "righteous male". 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". Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, the court praised Cheng. In the sixth year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty (1455), the imperial court even praised Cheng for "being orthodox, being gentle, learning from sages and educating future generations". Of course, this is well-deserved by Cheng. In the 25th year of Kangxi in Qing Dynasty (1686), the imperial court regarded Er Cheng as a saint, ranking above Confucius and other Han and Tang Confucians.
Cheng Hao had no works in his life, while Cheng Yi wrote Zhouyi Zhuan, Suicide Letter, Anthology and Jing Shuo. Later generations compiled Cheng Yi's works and Cheng Cheng's Quotations into Complete Works of Cheng Cheng, including Cheng Cheng's suicide note, Cheng Cheng's foreign book, Ming Dow's collected works, Yichuan's collected works, Yichuan's collected works, Cheng Classic and Cheng Cheng Cheng's national quintessence.
"Yin and Yang, gas also. Qi is a metaphysical person, and Tao is a metaphysical person. " Cheng Yi believes that Tao cannot be seen without Yin and Yang, but Tao is not Yin and Yang, and Tao is "so Yin and Yang". Reason is the principle of yin and yang, the principle of the universe.
"Coincidentally, there must be right" is Cheng Yi's famous saying, which is the driving force and basic law of all things in the universe. Knowing this rule is "knowing". "Wu Ge" means "poor rationality"-"well-founded" (everything has its own special reasons), so Wu Ge is cognitive rationality. There are various ways and means to describe things, from the inside and outside. When things accumulate to a certain stage, there will be a qualitative leap to reach an understanding of nature. After Zhu's development, Cheng Yi's theory became one of the most influential theories in Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties.
After the differences between Mingxi and Mozi, Cheng Yi inadvertently put forward one of the most common propositions of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties: "Harmony without difference". He said: "Mingxi has a clear understanding and is different, and Mohism has two books and is different." "Managing a book" was later expounded by Zhu.
"One source is the body, one source is the micro-harmony" is a famous proposition put forward by Cheng Yi, which was widely quoted by later Neo-Confucianism. He pointed out in the preface to the book of changes: "reason is invisible, so it is clear because of images." Although reason is invisible, it can be displayed through images. Therefore, reason is the body, image is the use, reason lies in image, and image shows reason, so body and use are inseparable, and reason and image are integrated. Cheng Yi extended this proposition to all things in the universe, thinking that everything is rational, and things are two aspects, namely, reason is reason, things are superficial, reason is subtle, and things are immediately apparent, which are consistent and inseparable. For people, the "undeveloped" of "mind" and "silent" refers to the body, and the "developed" of "feeling" and "communication" refers to the use. After reading Cheng Yi's Preface to Yi Zhuan, the scholar Yin Hejing was very surprised by the statement that "the villain is right, the author remains the same, and the body uses one source, and the microscope is spotless", and thought it was "too revealing".
Cheng Yi advocated that education should be based on morality. He said, "Scholars should be kind to the prophet. Benevolence is the same thing, and righteousness, wisdom and faith are all benevolent. " Nature is good because of reason, so "nature is reason" and "nature is reason" refer to the embodiment of natural principles in human beings, which provides an ontological basis for Confucian ethical principles. Self-cultivation lies in "respect", which externally means "neatness and seriousness" (correct dress, solemn expression, words and deeds in line with "courtesy"), and internally means "nothing is the main thing" (concentrate on one place and don't be distracted). "History of Song Dynasty" commented on him as follows: "Learning is based on sincerity, with university, Analects of Confucius, Mencius and the golden mean as the key link, reaching the Six Classics."