Zhou Dunyi’s Philosophy of the Supreme Polarity

Abstract

ZhouDunyi 周敦頤 (1017–1073), also known as Zhou Lianxi 周濂溪and Zhou Maoshu 周茂叔, has long been regarded as a pioneer of what has become known as the Cheng-Zhu tradition of Learning of the Way (daoxue 道學).1 A native of Daozhou 道洲in present day Hunan, Zhou spent most of his adult life working as a minor official at provincial level. His uneventful career in the government was duly compensated by his brilliant achievements in writing and teaching. During one of his postings in southwestern China, he tutored the young two Cheng brothers—Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032–1085) and Cheng Yi 程頤 (1033–1107)—who later became the leading eleventh-century daoxue thinkers. Through the two Cheng brothers, his writings were passed on to other daoxue thinkers, particularly the great synthesizer Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200). In the last few years of his life, Zhou Dunyi retired at the picturesque Mount Lu in central China. He named his study at his Mount Lu residence after the stream Lianxi (Stream of Waterfalls), hence came his courtesy name Lianxi and his posthumous honorific title Master Lianxi.2