Zhou Dunyi - Disciples/Legacy

Disciples/Legacy

Zhou Dunyi had only two students who made any major contribution to Confucianism. Those two students were his nephews Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao. The Cheng brothers studied under Zhou Dunyi only for a short time when they were younger. The brothers moved on to establish their own school, the Cheng-Zhu School, which dominated Chinese philosophy for over 700 years. Zhou Dunyi is considered the founding father of that school although there are no references in the Cheng brothers writings to his contributions.

Zhou Dunyi was a major influence on Zhu Xi, who was considered one of the greatest Confucian thinkers since Confucius himself. Zhu Xi was known to have said that Zhou Dunyi was the first great sage and first of the Song Dynasty. Zhu Xi defended Zhou Dunyi on the importance of his concept of Wuji.

Though he never had much influence during his lifetime, he was remembered as warm, humane, and kin with the natural world. Many Confucians believed that he embodied the virtue of "authenticity". He had great insight into the Way of Heaven. The first major popularization of the taijitu symbol is also credited to Zhou Dunyi; this symbol (in an altered form) is now known worldwide as the commonly accepted symbol for the Chinese concepts of yin and yang. There are some stories that say that he did not learn from any teacher, but received his information from heaven directly.