Four Books

In the transmission of the Way (daotong 道統),¹ setting a concise lineage provides the practical function of philosophic continuity for learners, without inundating them with disparate branches and contradictory doctrines. Chen Chun explains the orthodox Confucian lineage in this essay “The Source of Teachers and Friends” (shiyou yuanyuan 師友淵源).

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From a very obscure beginning, Fuxi 伏羲 created the system of Change and thus opened up the universe from chaos. In their turn Shennong 神農 and the Yellow Emperor 黃帝,² following Heaven, established the ultimate standard. This is the origin of the tradition. Emperors Yao 堯 and Shun 舜³ and Kings Yu 禹, Tang 湯, Wen 文, and Wu 武⁴ transmitted it successively, becoming the master of the Three Bonds and the Five Constancies at the center of Heaven and Earth. They were assisted by their ministers Gao Yao 臯陶, Yi Yin 伊尹, Fu Yue 傅说, Duke Zhou 周公旦, and Duke Shao 召公,⁵ who carried out various measures in the empire to form the order of civilization.

Kongzi 孔子⁶ was unable to obtain a position to spread his doctrines. He therefore collected the standard teachings of the sages to produce the Six Classics and became the teacher of ten thousand generations. His teachings were transmitted by Yan Hui 顏回, Zengzi 曾子, Zisi 子思,⁷ and Mengzi 孟子.⁸ Throughout the ages, for several thousand years, there was no other tradition. But the transmission was lost after Mengzi, and the world plunged into vulgar learning. For more than a thousand and four hundred years, the world was in a slumber and lived a befuddled life without realizing it.

With the rise of our Song dynasty, enlightened and sagely (rulers) succeeded one another. For a long time, there has been peace. The truly original material force gathered here once more. Master Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤⁹ and the two Masters Cheng, of Honan, with their outstanding gift of being the first to know and the first to understand, appeared one after the other. Zhou Dunyi did not receive instruction from any teacher but got it himself from Heaven. He raised the main points and provided the key. His wonderful teachings are embodied in the Diagram of the Great Ultimate (Taiji 太極). The forty chapters in his Tongshu 通書 (“Penetrating the Book of Changes”) further developed what the Diagram left incomplete. These works formed a perfect whole with the system of Change of Fuxi in the past and revived the discontinued heritage of Kongzi and Mengzi in the future. As has been said, he once more opened up the universe from chaos.

The two Chengs (Cheng Hao 程顥, and Cheng Yi 程颐¹⁰) personally received the basic doctrines from him and went on to make them great and glorious. Consequently, the Principle of Heaven with its subtlety, human relations with their clear manifestations, things and affairs in great numbers, spiritual beings in their obscurity, and all the ways of achieving the Way and entering into virtue as well as all the arts of cultivating oneself and managing others, are all orderly and well arranged. All this is found in the Yichuan Yizhuan 伊川易傳 (“Commentary on the Book of Changes”) and the Yishu 遺書 (“Surviving works”). These works made it possible for brilliant talents and purposeful scholars of this generation to be able to investigate and practice without losing their ultimate purpose. In the Yellow River and Lo River area Confucian culture was flourishing and magnificent.

One who heard and knew the teachings (of the Chengs) along with those of the Zhu 洙 and Si 泗 Rivers (i.e. Confucius’ teachings) was Zhi Xi 朱熹¹¹. He got at the subtle words and ideas the Chengs had left to posterity and refined and clarified them. Looking back, he penetrated the minds of the sages, and looking forward, he united the many schools and synthesized them as one. This is what is generally called the gathering of the many Confucians into a complete concert (dacheng 大成), inheriting the direct lineage of Zhou and the Chengs, and bringing about the convergence of the sources of Zhu 洙, Si 泗, Lian 濓, and Luo 洛 (i.e. the rivers of Confucius’s teachings merging with Zhou Dunyi and the Chengs).

If the student does not want to learn to be a sage, nothing need be said, but if he does, he must follow this (the learning of Zhou Dunyi, Chengs, and Zhu Xi) as a guide in looking into the source of teachers and friends. In that case, his choice will be correct and not mistaken. If he rejects this and seeks elsewhere, he will be at a loss without a definite course and in the end he will fail to find the correct door to enter. Since he has not found the correct door to enter, it will be unreasonable to say that he can really obtain the correct way of the Sage’s “transmission of the mind” (xinchuan 心傳).

 – Chen Chun 陳淳, Lecture at Yan Ling Academy, 1217 AD, tr. Chan¹²

粵自羲皇作易，首闡渾淪，神農黃帝相與繼天立極，而宗統之傳有自來矣。堯舜禹湯文武更相授受，中天地為三綱五常之主。皋陶伊傅周召又相與輔相，施諸天下，為文明之治。孔子不得行道之位，乃集群聖之法，作六經，為萬世師，而回參伋軻實傳之，上下數千年，無二說也。軻之後失其傳，天下騖於俗學，蓋千四百餘年，昏昏冥冥，醉生夢死，不自覺也。及我宋之興，明聖相承，太平日久，天地真元之氣復會，於是濂溪先生與河南二程先生，卓然以先知先覺之資，相繼而出。濂溪不由師傳，獨得於天，提綱啟鑰，其妙具在太極一圖。而通書四十章，又以發圖之所未盡，上與羲皇之易相表裏，而下以振孔孟不傳之墜緒，所謂再闢渾淪。二程親授其旨，又從而光大之。故天理之微，人倫之著，事物之眾，鬼神之幽，與凡造道入德之方，修己治人之術，莫不秩然有條理，備見於易傳、遺書，使斯世之英才志士，得以探討服行，而不失其所歸。河洛之間，斯文洋洋，與洙泗並聞而知者。有朱文公，又即其微言遺旨，益精明而瑩白之，上以達群聖之心，下以統百家而會於一。蓋所謂集諸儒之大成，而嗣周程之嫡統，粹乎洙泗濓洛之淵源者也。學者不欲學聖則已，如學聖人而考論師友淵源，必以是為迷塗之指南，庶乎有所取正而不差。茍或舍是而他求，則茫無定準，終不得其門而入矣。既不由是門而入，而曰吾能真有得乎聖人心傳之正，萬無是理也。

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¹ Daotong 道統 (“transmission of the Way” or “lineage of the Way”), as a concept, goes back to Mengzi (see 7B:38). As for this specific term, it was first used by Zhu Xi in his introduction to the Doctrine of the Mean, where he illuminated its function by quoting the Book of Rites: “The human mind is precarious, and the mind that follows the way is subtle. Have absolute refinement and singleness of mind. Hold fast to the mean.” As scholar Wing-tsit Chan said, “the daotong is basically a philosophical lineage rather than historical or textual.” It serves to keep the mind focused so that one can advance in practice.

² Fuxi 伏羲 (c. 2900 BC), Shennong 神農 (c. 2800 BC), and the Yellow Emperor 黃帝 (c. 2700) are mythological emperors. While the lineage set by Mengzi began with emperors Yao and Shun, Zhu Xi added this ancient basis for additional support.

³ Yao 堯 (2356 – 2255 BC) and Shun 舜 (c. 2294 – 2184 BC) often appear in the Classics as exemplary rulers, renowned for their virtuous governance and for setting the highest ethical standards. The phrase in the essay, “becoming master of the Three Bonds and the Five Constancies” refers to the five human relations: father and son, ruler and minister, husband and wife, brothers, and friends.

⁴ Four kings: Yu the Great 大禹 (c. 2200 – 2100 BC) controlled the floods and established the Xia Dynasty. Tang of Shang 湯 (c. 1600 – 1500 BC) was the first king of the Shang Dynasty known for his virtuous rule. Wen of Zhou 周文王 (1152 – 1050 BC) was posthumously honored as founder of the Zhou Dynasty. Wu of Zhou 周武王 (d. 1043) was the son of Wen of Zhou and the first king of Zhou Dynasty.

⁵ Five ministers: Gao Yao 臯陶 (2220 – 2113 BC) was Emperor Shun’s minister of law. Yi Yin 伊尹 (c. 1600 – 1500 BC) was an honored official who assisted Tang of Shang in bringing peace and prosperity. Fu Yue 傅说 (c. 1250 – 1200 BC) was a minister who served a king of the Shang Dynasty. Duke of Zhou 周公旦 (d. 1094 BC) assisted King Wu in the consolidation of the kingdom in the early Zhou Dynasty. Duke of Shao 召公 (d. 1056 BC) was a minister who assisted King Wu.

⁶ Kongzi 孔子 (551–479 BC) did not claim to invent anything himself but said he was merely transmitting the way of the earlier Zhou rulers which had been lost during his chaotic Warring States era. Traditionally he is said to have authored the Five Classics (the sixth has been lost). It is from this time that the oldest surviving records illuminating the Way are found, so philosophically the lineage of Ruism 學家 (“Confucianism”) begins here.

⁷ Yan Hui 顏回 (521 – 481 BC) was the favorite pupil of Kongzi to whom he was able to transmit the Way. Although he died early, his family is said to have propagated the lineage. Zengzi 曾子 (505 – 435 BC) was the renowned pupil of Kongzi who went on to teach his grandson Zisi 子思 (481 – 402 BC), who in turn taught Mengzi, thus establishing a line of orthodox Confucian transmission.

⁸ Mengzi 孟子 (371 – 289 BC), together with the opposing views of Xunzi 荀子 (310 – 238 BC), filled out the Confucian tradition, which passed to the Han Dynasty. After the Han, the Confucian Way was lost during the Buddhist and Daoist era. During its revival in the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu 韓愈 (768 – 824) added the Duke of Zhou while removing Xunzi and the Han Confucians, declaring that the orthodox transmission had stopped at Mengzi. Li Ao 李翱 (772 – 841) reaffirmed this view.

⁹ Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017 – 1073) arose seemingly out of nowhere during the Song Dynasty, rediscovering the Confucian Way, and setting its general direction for a new era. As Chen Chun said, he “did not receive instruction from any teacher but got it himself from Heaven.” Zhu Xi placed him in the orthodox line of transmission after Mengzi, and before his pupils, the two Chengs.

¹⁰ Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032 – 1085) and Cheng Yi 程颐 (1033 – 1107) were students of Zhou Dunyi. They revived the Classics and established the school of principle. Cheng Yi said that his brother revived the learning that had ended with Mengzi, consequently cutting both the Han and Tang Confucians out of the line. Their uncle Zhang Zai 張載 (1020 – 1077) was later subordinated under the Chengs by Zhu Xi, while the notable thinker Shao Yong 邵雍 (1011–1077) was left out of the line.

¹¹ Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130 – 1200) received his learning from the Cheng Brothers and through the study of the ancient classics. With philosophical considerations for a coherently teachable way in mind, he fixed the orthodox line as coming down from the ancient emperors and kings to Kongzi, then through Zengzi and Zisi to Mengzi, and finally to be rediscovered by Zhou Dunyi and by the Two Chengs. In Zhu Xi, the line met with a great synthesis and a great expansion to future generations.

¹² Chen Chun. Neo-Confucian Terms Explained. Supplemental materials, “The Source of Teachers and Friends,” p. 178. Translated by Wing-tsit Chan, Columbia University Press, 1986.

For more information on the evolution of this lineage, see the essay “Completion of the Concept of the Tradition of the Way,” pages 121–130, in Chu Hsi: Life and Thought by Wing-tsit Chan. The below diagram is based on the ordered lineage found on pg. 122.