Cheng-Zhu school

The dominant Neo-Confucian tradition associated with Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, and Zhu Xi. It explains the world through principle (li) and material force (qi), and stresses disciplined moral cultivation.

Li (Confucianism): The patterned principle that makes things what they are and provides a basis for moral order in Neo-Confucian thought. The school treats li as the intelligible order present in both nature and human conduct.
Quiet-sitting: A contemplative practice of sitting quietly to settle attention and cultivate the mind. Cheng-Zhu scholars used quiet-sitting as one discipline for maintaining moral attentiveness.
Cheng Hao: A Northern Song Confucian thinker whose teachings helped establish the intellectual foundations of Neo-Confucianism. His emphasis on benevolence and the unity of things became part of the tradition’s inheritance.
Civil service examination: A system of competitive examinations used by imperial governments to select officials, especially in China. Cheng-Zhu interpretations became central examination orthodoxy under the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Lu-Wang school: A Neo-Confucian tradition associated with Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming that emphasizes the mind’s innate moral knowledge. It challenges Cheng-Zhu reliance on investigating external things as the route to understanding principle.
Qi (philosophy): The vital material force through which things take shape and change in Chinese philosophy. The school pairs qi with li to explain how principle becomes embodied in particular things.
Respect (jing): A sustained, serious attentiveness that Chinese Confucian thinkers treated as a discipline of mind and conduct. Zhu Xi made reverent attentiveness a foundation for both study and everyday behavior.
Cheng Yi: A Northern Song Confucian thinker who developed a rigorous account of principle, moral nature, and disciplined learning. His teachings on principle and investigation became a central source for Zhu Xi’s synthesis.
Ming dynasty: A Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 1368 to 1644. Ming rulers established Zhu Xi’s interpretations as the official basis of the civil examinations.
Wang Yangming: A Ming philosopher who taught that moral knowledge is innate and must be realized through action. His account of the mind and knowledge became the most influential later challenge to Zhu Xi’s approach.

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