If you don’t study with sincerity, you will be miscellaneous. This is Cheng Yi’s famous saying.

Main achievements:

The founding of Luo School

Brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi are known as "Er Cheng" in the world. When Cheng was fifteen or sixteen years old, he studied under Zhou Dunyi, the founder of Neo-Confucianism. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong Zhao Xu of the Song Dynasty, he established his own system of Neo-Confucianism. Er Cheng's teachings differed in some respects, but the basic content was the same.

They all use "reason" or "Tao" as the basis of all theories, and believe that "reason" is the "natural principle" that precedes all things, "all things are just one natural principle", and "everything comes from reason" , "If there is reason, there will be energy." The current social order is determined by the laws of nature, and following it is in accordance with the laws of nature, otherwise it is contrary to the laws of nature.

Proposed the simple dialectical idea that things are "right". It emphasizes that human nature is inherently good, and "nature is the principle." Due to different temperaments, human nature has good and evil qualities. Therefore, turbidity and viciousness are actually human desires. If human desire blinds the original mind, it will harm the principles of heaven. "No one wants anything but it is the law of heaven." Therefore, people are taught to "preserve heaven's principles and destroy human desires."

To "preserve the principles of nature", we must first "understand the principles of nature." To "understand the principles of heaven", one must understand the principles of things at once, and understand the principles of things day by day. The more you accumulate, the more you can suddenly understand them. It advocates the cultivation method of "cultivation must be based on respect, and learning must be based on knowledge". Er Cheng promoted feudal ethics and advocated the formation of a relationship between monarch and ministers within the family.

Er Cheng was not only one of the "Five Scholars" who created new Confucianism in the Northern Song Dynasty, but the "Luo School" they founded also gave Confucianism a complete form, and was therefore the actual founding of Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties. who.