Ren (Chinese: 仁; English: Benevolence), the core of Confucianism, is also the crystallization of Confucius’s wisdom.
Ren embodies care and respect for people and reflects society’s aspiration for harmony, fairness, and justice.
From Confucius’s original elaborations to later developments by Confucian scholars, Ren has always been the essence of Confucianism.
Today, when we discuss Ren in Confucianism, we trace its historical context and deeply reflect on its values for modern society.
Overview of Ren
In Confucianism, Ren and Li (礼) are complementary and inseparable. Ren is the inner spirit of Li, and Li is the outer expression of Ren.
Confucius adopts “filial piety” and “fraternal duty” as Ren’s basis for maintaining social stability.
Thus, Ren not only imposes social obligations and requirements on individuals but also emphasizes their initiative and independence.
In The Analects of Confucius, Confucius said, “A benevolent man will control himself in conformity with the rules of propriety. Once every man can control himself according to the rules of etiquette, the world will be in good order.” This quote stresses the importance of human initiative.
By understanding and practicing the concept of Ren, people can build harmonious and loving social relationships and improve their morality and charisma.
Throughout history, the concept of Ren has always presented inspirational meanings. We can also continue to draw on and apply Ren’s wisdom in Confucianism to promote harmonious relationships among people and facilitate society’s continuous progress and development.
Therefore, the idea of Ren, which Confucius had put forward, was widely appreciated and inherited by later Confucian scholars.
Connotations of Ren
The meanings of Ren can be extended from individuals to the whole society and even politics.
The idea that “the benevolent love others” shapes Ren’s ideological basis. This means Ren is a multidimensional moral category featuring self-restraint, care, and respect for others.
According to The Analects of Confucius, “A person who can achieve the five qualities of respect, generosity, integrity, sensitivity, and kindness can be regarded as benevolent.”
These five virtues are the standards for personal cultivation and the cornerstones for building a harmonious society.
People needed these virtues to maintain positive interpersonal relationships and social stability.
- Perfecting Oneself before Loving Others: the Cornerstone of Ren
Ren is more about oneself.
The Analects of Confucius mentions, “I examine myself three times daily” and “In old days, men studied for the sake of self-improvement.” These two quotes refer to ancient scholars who studied to perfect themselves, emphasizing the importance of self-reflection and self-improvement.
According to Confucianism, one must be self-reliant and improve oneself to care for others honestly. Only when one is highly capable can they positively affect others.
Therefore, perfecting oneself is the foundation and prerequisite for loving others.
- Filial Piety and Fraternal Duty: The Origin of Ren
Ren also provides insights into family relationships.
The Analects of Confucius mentions, “By practicing filial piety and fraternal duty, a person can build his moral foundation and thus better understand and practice the spirit of Ren.”
This statement indicates that Ren’s basic requirements are filial piety and fraternal duty. It concentrates on individuals’ responsibility for their families, which is an important indicator of whether a person has a sense of universal love.
To cultivate virtues, one must begin with filial piety and respect for the elder and then extend to more profound aspects of Ren.
- Path of Loyalty and Forgiveness: A Deep Embodiment of Ren
Master Zeng (曾子) said, “Our Master’s principles can be simplified into loyalty and leniency.” This sentence is Zeng’s insightful summary of Confucius’s theory of Ren.
“Loyalty” means being true to oneself and caring for others. It focuses on the need for individuals to be faithful, trustworthy, and devoted to others, their families, and the nation.
“Forgiveness” means “do not do unto others what you would not want to be done unto you.” It signifies that empathy is needed when dealing with others.
Loyalty and forgiveness encourage a person to do his part while understanding and respecting others. We should treat others with empathy, recognizing that they are equal to us with independent minds.
By understanding ourselves better, we can understand others better. At the same time, we can understand ourselves better by understanding others.
Moreover, loyalty and forgiveness are based on human beings’ shared desires. Therefore, Ren has a sense of self and empathy for others.
- Virtuous and Benevolent Governance: a High Level of Expression of Ren
According to Confucius, “virtuous government” (德政) is a specific governance approach of Ren.
“If they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the sense of shame, and they will become good.” In this sentence, Confucius proposed the idea of governance by virtue.
Confucius respects the use of high morality to guide people’s minds and drive them to be submissive to the state.
The “benevolent government” (仁政) is Mencius’s inheritance and development of Confucius’s idea of “virtuous government,” which is an addition to the content of Ren. Its essential spirit is characterized by deep sympathy and care for the people.
“Benevolent government” emphasizes people-orientation, inherently good human nature, and the idea that people are more critical than rulers.
In addition, many Confucian scholars have further elaborated on benevolent government.
The Development of Ren after Confucius
At different stages of history and in various social contexts, many Confucian scholars have continued to conduct in-depth discussions and new interpretations of Ren to conform to the needs of the time and be more responsive to social development.
Mencius combined Ren and Yi (义) as the highest standards of moral conduct.
Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒), on the other hand, inherited and developed the doctrine of Ren and Yi of Confucius and Mencius. He distinguished Ren and Yi in terms of others and the self, with Ren being the attitude toward others and Yi being the requirement for oneself.
In the Tang Dynasty, Han Yu (韩愈) first explained Ren in terms of “universal love.” He also believed that the proper implementation of Ren was Yi.
The scholars of Neo-Confucianism incorporated Ren into the science of rationality.
Cheng Hao (程颢) believed that ‘Ren’ is the general term for all ethical and moral principles and that Yi (义), Li (礼), Zhi (智), and Xin (信) are all manifestations of ‘Ren.’ He emphasized the connection between ‘Ren’ and all things, asserting that a benevolent person can achieve a state of unity with heaven, earth, and all living things.
Zhu Xi (朱熹) clearly distinguishes between Ren and “love,” suggesting that Ren is about disposition and love is affection.
That is to say, Ren is human beings’ innate power and a kind of primordial existence. “Love” is an emotion deep in their hearts and a form of expression.
In modern times, Kang Youwei (康有为) and Tan Sitong (谭嗣同) added new content to Ren, such as freedom and equality advocated in the West, which was different from the previous ideological characteristics.
Besides, later Confucian scholars also considered Ren to be a virtue that gives birth to all things and is characterized by respect for all life and natural objects.
Purposes of the implementation of Ren
In ancient times, when rites and music were in ruins and society was in turmoil, Confucianism proposed the idea of Ren to restore the authority of The Rites of Zhou (周礼)1 to stabilize the social order.
Ren is an intrinsic moral emotion that could ease social conflicts and improve people’s moral quality, positively impacting society at that time.
Over time, later thinkers and politicians further explored and developed the concept of Ren.
They dug deeper into its connotations and gave it a richer meaning and value, providing significant ideological resources for the moral education and governance of the country in later generations.
This evolving concept of Ren has now obtained a universal value. It can transcend cultural and linguistic barriers and facilitate communication and understanding among different cultures.
- The Rites of Zhou: a set of concrete and operational ritual and music systems defined at the beginning of the Zhou dynasty, and then he introduced the concept of “rites.” ↩︎