Li:
Ritual
A religious concept associated with the worship of gods and spirits prior to Confucius, Ritual was reconfigured by Confucius to mean the web of social responsibilities that bind a society together. These include the proprieties in virtually all social interactions, and are determined by the individual’s position within the structure of society. By calling these secular acts “Ritual,” Confucius makes everyday experience itself a sacred realm. This Ritual structure of society is part of a vast cosmological weave: the Ritual structure of natural process as the ten thousand things emerge from the primal emptiness.
Jen:
Humanity (Humane)
The character for jen is formed by a combination of the characters for “human being” and “two,” and it means all of the moral qualities expressed in the behavior of ideal human beings toward one another. Jen is the internalization of li, and li is the codified external expression of jen. So, to be Humane means to master a kind of selflessness by which we dwell as an integral part of the Ritual weave. Or, more simply: to act with a selfless and reverent concern for the well-being of others. Jen is the touchstone of Confucian sagehood, a kind of enlightenment which Confucius claimed was beyond even him.
Yi:
Duty
The prescriptions of Ritual are general in nature. The ability to apply them in specific situations is Duty, and so Duty is the particular ethical expression of Humanity.
Tao:
Way
The effortless process of human society functioning according to its natural Ritual structure. It can be expanded to cover Ritual’s cosmological dimensions, making it comparable to the more familiar Taoist Tao. Hence: the effortless process of the cosmos functioning according to its natural Ritual structure. The cosmos always abides by the Tao, with the frequent exception of human societies.
Te:
Integrity
The ability to act according to the Tao (Way). Or more precisely, the embodiment of the Tao in the sage, where it becomes a kind of power through which the sage can transform others “by example.” This concept is deepened by Te’s etymological meaning at the level of pictographic imagery: “heart-sight clarity.”
T’ien:
Heaven
Natural process. Or, more descriptively, the inevitable unfolding of things in the cosmological process. Hence, Heaven appears as a kind of immanent fate in the human realm – and as Ritual is its organizing principle, it becomes a kind of moral force encouraging societies to abide by Ritual and the Tao.
Ch’i:
Ch’i
The universal breath, vital energy, or cosmic life-force. It is the breath-force that pulses through the Cosmos as both matter and energy simultaneously, giving form and life to the ten thousand things and driving their perpetual transformations. And so it is the tissue of which the Cosmos is made. In its originary form, it is primal-ch’i (yüan-ch’i), which is present in Absence and is perhaps the aspect that gives the primordial emptiness of Absence pregnant with possibility. Primal-ch’i is made up of yin and yang completely intermingled and indistinguishable. Once primal-ch’i separates out into yin and yang, yang rose up to become sky and yin sunk down to form earth. As the universal breath, ch’i is in constant motion, animating all things, and so is a kind of tissue that connects us always to the empty source.