“Humanity” or
“Humaneness” is the
Confucian virtue denoting
the good quality of a
virtous human when being
altruistic.
exemplified by a normal
adult’s protective feeling
for children. It is
considered the outward
expression of Confucian
ideals.
Ren reliefs heavily on the
relationships between two
people, but at the same
time encompasses much
more than that.
It represents an inner
development towards an
altruistic goal, while
simultaneously realizing
that one is never alone.
Ren is not a concept
that is learned; it is
innate, that is to say,
everyone is born with
sense of Ren.
There have been a variety
of defenitions for the term
Ren. It translated to
“Benevolence”, Perfect
Virtue”, “Goodness” or
even “Humanheartedness”.
Ren is the basis of
Confucian political
theory; the ruler is
exhorted to refrain from
acting inhumanely
toward his subject.
Ren also includes the
traits that are part of
being a righteous, such as
hsin, meaning to make
one’s words compliment
of his actions.