Zhou Dunyi
From one Supreme Ultimate come yin and yang, the five elements and all things – and the sage is the person who lives in perfect sincerity.
Placement
Counted by Zhu Xi as the first master of Song Neo-Confucianism: his “Diagram of the Supreme Polarity” derives yin, yang, the five phases and all things from the Supreme Ultimate (taiji).
Key ideas
- Supreme Ultimate (taiji, also “Supreme Polarity”)
- Sincerity (cheng)
- Diagram of the Supreme Polarity
Influence
Influenced by 2
Laozi
influenced by
Zhou Dunyi’s Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate opens with ‘non-ultimate’ (wuji), a term from the Laozi, which is why Lu Jiuyuan doubted its Confucian credentials. Zhou Dunyi, Taijitu shuo; W.-t. Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963)
Evidence: AI draft
Laozi › legendary figure
Confucius
influenced by
Zhou Dunyi’s Penetrating the Book of Changes (Tongshu) taught that sagehood can be learned and devoted two sections to Confucius, whose virtue it set beside Heaven and Earth. Zhou Dunyi, Tongshu; W.-t. Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963)
Evidence: AI draft
Confucius › traditionally 551–479 BCE
Influenced 3
Cheng Hao taught
taught
Attested by the brothers themselves: their recorded sayings recall having once studied with Zhou Maoshu (Henan Chengshi yishu 2A), and Cheng Yi’s account of his brother dates it to his mid-teens; that Zhou founded their school is Zhu Xi’s later construction. Henan Chengshi yishu 2A (recorded by Lü Dalin); Cheng Yi, Mingdao xiansheng xingzhuang
Evidence: AI draft
Cheng Hao › 1032–1085
Cheng Yi taught
taught
Attested in the brothers’ recorded sayings (a remark about once studying with Zhou Maoshu, Henan Chengshi yishu 2A), which do not say which brother is speaking; that Cheng Yi studied there with his brother as a boy is stated by Zhu Xi, who also made Zhou the founder of their school. Henan Chengshi yishu 2A (recorded by Lü Dalin); Zhu Xi, Yichuan xiansheng nianpu
Evidence: AI draft
Cheng Yi › 1033–1107
Zhu Xi
influenced
Zhu Xi commented on Zhou Dunyi’s Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate, read the supreme ultimate as principle and made Zhou founder of the Learning of the Way. Zhu Xi, Taijitu shuo jie; W.-t. Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963)
Evidence: AI draft
Zhu Xi › 1130–1200
Works
A text of some 250 characters that derives yin and yang, the five phases and the myriad things from the Supreme Ultimate.
Position
Zhou Dunyi’s short “Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Polarity” offers a cosmogony: from the Supreme Polarity (taiji) – introduced with the much-debated phrase “non-polar and yet supreme polarity” (wuji er taiji) – come movement and rest, yin and yang, the five phases and the myriad things; the sage sets the standard of rightness and stillness. Because the diagram and the term wuji seemed Daoist, Lu Jiuyuan disputed their Confucian credentials in an exchange with Zhu Xi. His “Penetrating the Book of Changes” makes sincerity (cheng) the basis of a sagehood that can be learned. Zhu Xi made him the founder of the Song Learning of the Way.
Life & context
Zhou Dunyi was born in 1017 in Daozhou (in present-day Hunan). He served for decades as a local official in various provinces, respected for his fairness in judicial cases, and around 1046 briefly taught the teenage Cheng brothers. Late in life he settled at the foot of Mount Lu by a stream he named Lianxi, hence his sobriquet. He died in 1073, little known as a philosopher.
Further main works
- Penetrating the Book of Changes (Tongshu, mid-11th century)
- On the Love of the Lotus (Ai lian shuo, 1063)
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