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Er Cheng xue'an 二程學案

Jul 17, 2023 © Ulrich Theobald

Er Cheng xue'an 二程學案 "Scholarly cases of the two Cheng brothers" was compiled during the early Qing period 清 (1644-1911) by Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲 (1610-1695).

The first of the two fascicles summarizes the teachings of Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032-1085) and Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033-1107), the founders of Neo-Confucianism, in the shape of "sayings" (yulu 語錄). Fascicle two adds commentaries and discourses on the teachings of the two. Each paragraph of the book is enriched by commentaries of Huang Zongxi's son, Huang Baijia 黃百家 (1643-1709). Even if Huang presented the gist of early Neo-Confucian philosophy, he did by no means follow each of the Cheng brothers' propositions, for instance, the belief that the Heavenly principle existed before the formation of matter (li zai qi xian 理在氣先).

Source:
Li Xueqin 李學勤, Lü Wenyu 呂文郁, eds. (1996). Siku da cidian 四庫大辭典 (Changchun: Jilin daxue chubanshe), Vol. 2, 1589.