ABSTRACT
This article aims to inquire into the meaning of cheng in classical Confucian philosophy. People may ask why we want to make another inquiry into the meaning of cheng. The answer is that although there are some good discussions of the concept of cheng and the philosophy of cheng, most of them are concerned with conceiving cheng as a moral quality of a person’s character or a genuine way of aesthetic and literary expression of true feeling and will in a human person. Confucius has a unifying principle for understanding his cardinal concept ren (benevolence), but ren must be rooted in a source which a common moral person may be able to identify with in his thought and action. Thus, one could also have a vision of ren as an experience of the root of human existence and its creative potentiality for transformation. I argue that this root is cheng. Once this root is established, one may see how dao emerges from understanding and action with ren or virtue as its embodiment in a dynamic and creative oneness. By analyzing the conceptual links of cheng in the Zhongyong, this article will examine how cheng is related to ontology, cosmology, morality, and the nature of humanity; what impact it exerts on the Mencius, Daxue, and the Yizhuan, and how it eventually leads to the establishment of Neo-Confucianism in the Song period.
