Confucius on People:ren and li
3 min readRen and li are the two core concepts of Confucius’doctrine about people.
When his student Fan Chi asked him about ren，Confucius replied，“Love ofpeople.”This is Confucius’most important interpretation of ren.Love for the people is universal love.Confucius further emphasized that this kind of love should“begin with the love of one’s parents.”He believed no one could love people in general if they did not even love their own parents.Confucius regarded“filial piety and fraternal duty”as the essence of ren.The Doctrine of the Mean（Zhongyong）quotes Confucius as saying，”The greatest love for people is the love of one’s parents.”He also said，”Children should not travel far while their parents are alive.If they have no choice but to do so，they must retain some restraint.”He did not mean that children should not leave their parents at all.What he meant was that children should not make their parents anxious about them while away from home.Confucius said again，“Children should think often of the age of their parents.They should feel happy for the health and longevity of their parents.They should also feel concern for the aging of their parents.”
By ren, Confucius meant universal love based on love of one’s parents. How should people love one another then? Confucius said,”One should be aware that other people may have similar desires as oneself. While fulfilling one’s desires, allow others to fulfill their desires as well.”He further said,”Do not do towardothers anything you would not want to be done to you.”Thus from oneself to one’s family, from family to society, one should extend love to all people. Mencius(c.372-289 BC),a great Confucian scholar, best summarized ren as,”loving one’s parents, loving the people, loving everything in the world.”
Today, the Confucian doctrine of “Do not do toward others anything you would not want to be done to you”still holds true for humankind.
Li refers to rituals, traditions and norms in social life. Of these, Confucius regarded burial rituals and ancestral worship rituals as the most important, because they arose from human feelings. He said,”A child should not leave his parents’ bosom until he is three years old.”He naturally loved his parents.
The ritual of wearing mourning for a deceased parent for three years was an expression of the child’s love and remembrance.
Confucius placed emphasis on li with the aim of preserving social order, stability and harmony. The Analects says,”The role of li is to maintain harmony among people.”
Li also has philosophical implications. While individuals have a limited lifespan, life in nature is everlasting. Life is given by one’s parents and extended through one’s children. In this way,a limited, individual life becomes merged with the limitless life of nature; the individual dream of eternal life can thus come true. Through burial rituals and ancestral worship rituals, people are able to experience the everlasting continuity of life, appreciating the value and meaning of life. This gives people metaphorical solace.
