Chung-ying Cheng was the founder of the theory of "onto-hermeneutics (benti quanshixue (sic))" (which later has been alternatively named by him as "onto-generative-hermeneutics"), which is an original development based on his long years of critically deliberating and creatively re-constructing the philosophy of "ontological hermeneutics" in Heidegger and Gadamer. From his comparative approach to Chinese and Western philosophy, Cheng's own theory of onto-hermeneutics has opened up the Heiderggarian and Gadamerian perspective towards a challenging fruition, that is to say his comparative anticipation into "onto-hermeneutics" has for the first time complimented the absence of creative methodology of dao in Heidegger and Gadamer. By introducing the Chinese Yijing philosophy into the hermeneutics, Cheng explains that onto-hermeneutics contains a creative process of interpretation, which is based on the understanding of the mutual generativity between ben (sic) (root) and ti (sic) (body), and in this process Chinese cosmology of dao serves its fundamental methodology. From this point onward,Cheng argues that in the mutual interaction between "from-benti" (zibenti (sic)) and "toward-benti" (duibenti (sic)), we can discern an "onto-hermeneutical circle" (benti quanshi yuanhuai (sic)), which integrates the dao cosmology and methodology into the Western ontological hermeneutics. Thus this Yijing-based philosophy of onto-hermeneutics shows a harmonious unity of universal truth and human creativity, and it will certainly directs the possible participation of moral philosophy to traditional hermeneutics.
