Kanique Finlayson
REL/133
April 23, 2013
Dr. Clayton Mills
World Religious Traditions 1 People may have different meanings for the ideal person and we all have our own opinion but Confucius had his own meaning and he had different concepts and they are ren, li, and shu, xiao and wen I am going to explain what he meant by these concepts and illustrate a better understanding.
According to the chapter 6 of Experiencing the World Religions the Chinese character for re (jen) illustrates the words meaning by blending two simpler pictographs for “person” and two. When we look at the Chinese ideogram for the virtue of Ren we understand its meaning: to think of the other. It is translated in many ways sympathy, empathy, benevolence, humanness, heartedness.
According to chapter 6 Experiencing the World Religions Li is often translated as propriety which means doing what is appropriate or doing what is proper to the situation.
According to the chapter 6 of Experiencing the World Religions Shu is reciprocity but its essence addresses the question how will my action affect the other person, it is also another version of the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would do unto you.
According to the chapter 6 of Experiencing the World Religions Xia is usually translated is “filial piety”, devotion of a son or daughter to a parent. It also means the devotion that all members have to their entire family welfare.
According to the chapter 6 of