Chéng Hào 程顥 (1032–1085), zì Bóchún 伯淳, hào Míngdào xiānsheng 明道先生, was the elder of the Èr Chéng 二程 (the brothers Chéng Hào and Chéng Yí) and one of the foundational Northern Sòng daoxué thinkers — the LiánLuòGuānMǐn school’s Luòxué 洛學 takes its name from the Chéng brothers’ settlement at Luòyáng. Native of Hénán 河南 (Luòyáng region). Nephew of Zhāng Zǎi 張載. Jìnshì of Jiāyòu 2 (1057). Held a sequence of provincial posts and was briefly Vice-Governor of the Imperial Granary; opposed Wáng Ānshí’s Xīnfǎ and was demoted to provincial duties. His yǔlù and writings were posthumously gathered (with those of his brother) by Zhū Xī as the ÈrChéng yíshū (KR3a0030), ÈrChéng wàishū (KR3a0031), and Yáng Shí’s ÈrChéng cuìyán (KR3a0032).
His doctrinal innovations are foundational to SòngMíng Lǐxué: the doctrine of tiānlǐ 天理 (“Heaven’s principle”) that he claimed to have “discovered for himself” (zì jiā tǐtiē 自家體貼); the zhī xíng hé yī 知行合一 emphasis (later associated by Wáng Yángmíng with himself but anticipated here); the jìng 敬 (“seriousness”) method of self-cultivation. Biography: Sòng shǐ j. 427 (Dàoxué zhuàn). CBDB id 3102, dates 1032–1085.