Important Terms:

Li (礼)—Rituals, societal and cultural rites, , make sure you understand this term

Ren (仁)—“Humaneness”, the virtue of altruism and benevolence

Yi (义)—Righteousness, the moral disposition to be benevolent

Dao (道)—The Way, the proper way to act and to follow in Ruism

Fa (法)—The rule of law, legal rules

Xin (心)—the “heart-mind”, the site of cognition and emotion in classical Chinese thought

Datong (大同)—“Grand harmony”, the Ruist conception of a harmonious society

Zhengming (正名)—“The rectification of names”, a central Ruist concept which entails making things accord to their “names”

Junzi (君子)—A Righteous person, a person who is moral and sagely

Lunyu (論語)—“The Analects”, the book that records the sayings and philosophy of Kongzi, mostly composed during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE)

Yijing (易經)—“The Book of Changes”, AKA the I Ching, an ancient Chinese text from the Western Zhou period (1000-750 BCE) centered around cosmology

Xicizhuan (繫辭傳)—“The Ten Wings”, a commentary on the Yijing attributed to Kongzi

Daxue (大学)—“The Great Learning”, A book attributed to Kongzi’s disciple Zengzi which details aspects of Ruist thought

Mengzi (孟子)—“The Book of Mengzi”, AKA Mencius, the book written by the Ruist philosopher Mengzi

Xunzi (荀子)—“The Book of Xunzi”, the book written by the Ruist philosopher Xunzi

The Four Books (四书)—Four books that Zhu Xi selected to represent the core ideas of Ruism, The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, The Analects, and Mencius

The Five Classics (五经)—Five classic works of Chinese literature that Kongzi cites as crucial to learn, The Classic of Poetry, The Book of Documents, The Book of Rites, The Yijing, and The Spring and Autumn Annals

New Confucianism—the philosophical, social, and political movement for Confucian revival that started in the 20th century, originally headed by Xiong Shili, Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, and Xu Fuguan