The first column gives the Pinyin romanization of each term, followed by the Wade-Giles romanization in parentheses, and the Chinese character. The second column gives translations, beginning with the standard translation (if there is one) followed by more idiosyncratic translations, with parenthetical references to the translators who use these translations (see the bottom of the chart for the key to abbreviations). The third column gives various senses of the key terms. The fourth column presents examples of the various senses.
| Romanization and character | Translations | Meanings | Illustrative quotations |
| dao (tao) | "way" | This word has several related senses. (1) The original sense may have been "way," in the sense of "path" or "road." It came to mean (2) "way," in the sense of "a way to do something," or "the right way to do something, or "the order that comes from doing things in the right way," (3) a "linguistic account" of a way to do something, or a verb, meaning "to give a linguistic account," (4) a metaphysical entity responsible for the way things act. | (2) If, for three years, a man makes no changes to his father's ways, he can be said to be a good son. (Analects 4:20) Wealth and high station are what men desire but unless I got them in the right way I would not remain in them. (Analects 4:5) The empire has long been without the Way. (Analects 3:24) (3) The way can be spoken of, / But it will not be the constant way... (Lau, Tao Te Ching 45) (4) There was something featureless yet complete, born before heaven and earth.... We may regard it as the mother of heaven and earth. ...I style it the "Way." (Mair, Tao Te Ching 69 (25)) |
| de (te) | "virtue," "character," "power" (Waley, Tao Te Ching), "integrity" (Mair, Tao Te Ching) | (1) The "moral charisma" of political leaders that enables them to rule others without the use of force. This is something one gets from tian (q.v.), and is partly a result, and partly a cause, of (2) personal ethical excellence in general. The word later comes to refer to (3) the characteristic quality or power of something (which is not necessarily ethically good). Eventually, the term comes to mean (4) individual excellences of character. (Contrast this with sense (2), which does not refer to particular, numerically distinct, virtues.) | (1) The rule of virtue can be compared to the Pole Star which commands the homage of the multitude of stars without leaving its place. (Analects 2:1) The virtue of the gentleman [junzi, q.v.] is like wind; the virtue of the small man is like grass. Let the wind blow over the grass and it is sure to bend. (Analects 12:19) (1, 2) Heaven is the author of the virtue that is in me. (Analects 7:23) (2) It is these things that cause me concern: failure to cultivate virtue... (Analects 7:3) (3) Ran Qiu was steward of the Ji family, but was unable to alter their character. (BVN, Mengzi 4A14) (4) Wisdom, benevolence and courage -- these three are the universal virtues of the world. (BVN, The Mean 20) |
| junzi (chün tzu) | "gentleman," "noble" (BVN) | (1) Literally, this means "son of a lord," and refers to a male child of a noble family. (2) Confucius shifts the sense toward "a person of high moral character," whether of noble descent or not. The opposite of a junzi is a xiao ren, "small man" (Lau). | (2) The gentleman never deserts benevolence [ren, q.v.], not even for as long as it takes to eat a meal. (Analects 4:5) The gentleman understands what is moral. The small man understands what is profitable. (Analects 4:16) |
| li (li) | "ritual," "rites," "etiquette" (Mair, Tao Te Ching) | (1) Religious rituals, such as sacrifices to ancestors. (2) Matters of etiquette and ceremony in general. (3) Proper behavior in general. (Almost synonymous with "ethics" in this last sense.) | (1, 3) When your parents are alive, comply with the rites in serving them; when they die, comply with the rites in burying them; comply with the rites in sacrificing to them. (Analects 2:5) (2) A ceremonial cap of linen is what is prescribed by the rites. (Analects 9:3) (3) Do not look unless it is in accordance with the rites; do not listen unless it is in accordance with the rites; do not speak unless it is in accordance with the rites, do not move unless it is in accordance with the rites. (Analects 12:1) |
| li (li) | "good order," "reason" (Mencius), "principle" | (1) In Warring States texts this term simply means "good order." (2) Hua-yan Buddhists adopt the term to refer to the web of causal relationships among aspects of existence. (3) Neo- Confucians use the term to refer to the pattern or principle of order that is manifested in different kinds of qi (q.v.). | (1) What do all hearts have in common? Good order and righteousness. (BVN, Mengzi 6A7; cf. Lau's translation) (2) ...dust has the character of roundness and smallness. This is fact. Its nature is empty and nonexistent. This is principle. (Chan, p. 420, quoting a Buddhist text from around C.E. 700) (3) The reason why it is said that all things form one body is that all have this principle.... (Chan, p. 533, quoting the Neo-Confucian philosopher Cheng Hao, 11th century C.E.) |
| ming (ming) | "mandate," "decree," "fate," "destiny," and others | (1) The mandate to rule given by tian (q.v.) to the virtuous. Related to this are two other senses: (2) a command or order in general, and (3) what is beyond human control: hence, "fate." | (1) Heaven accordingly gave a grand charge to King Wen to exterminate the great dynasty Yin and grandly receive its appointment .... (Shu ching, p. 147) (2) A man who..., when sent abroad, does not disgrace the commission of his lord can be said to be a Gentleman (Analects 13:20) (3) Unfortunately his allotted span was a short one and he died. (Analects 6:3) It is Destiny if the Way [dao, q.v.] prevails; it is equally Destiny if the Way falls into disuse. (Analects 14:36) |
| qi (chÕi) | qi, Òmist,Ó "spirit" (Chuang Tzu), "air" (Mencius), "vapors" (Mair, Tao Te Ching), "material force" (Chan), "ether" (Graham), "psychophysical stuff" (Gardner) | (1) This term may originally have referred to the vapor rising from heated sacrificial offerings. It soon came to mean (2) "mist" in general, and (3) a sort of fluid, found in the atmosphere and the human body, responsible for the intensity of one's emotional reactions, and the reactions of others to oneself. Later (perhaps beginning in the Han Dynasty), (4) qi came to be thought of as the primal "stuff" out of which the things in the universe congealed. (It is an anachronism to read this last sense back into Warring States period texts, though.) | (2) He doesn't eat the five grains, but sucks the wind, drinks the dew, climbs up on the clouds and mist... (Chuang Tzu, p. 27) (3) There are...things the gentleman should guard against... In the prime of life when the blood and ch'i have become unyielding, he should guard against bellicosity. (Analects 16:7) What you do not get from your heart, do not seek for in the qi. (BVN, Mengzi 2A2) A man's surroundings transform his air just as the food he eats changes his body. (Mencius 7A36) ...don't listen with your mind, but listen with your spirit. (Chuang Tzu, p. 54) (4) Material force of necessity integrates to become the myriad things. (Chan, p. 501, citing the 11th-century C.E. philosopher Chang Tsai) |
| ren (jen) | "benevolence," "humaneness" (Mair, Tao Te Ching), "Goodness" (Waley, Analects) | (1) In the Analects, this refers to the consummation of personal ethical excellence. (2) In later Confucian thinkers, ren is "graded compassion" (i.e., compassion that should be stronger for family members than for strangers). (3) For Mohists, ren is "universal love" (i.e., equal compassion for each human). | (1) A man who finds benevolence attractive cannot be surpassed. (Analects 4:6) (2) The feeling of compassion is the sprout of benevolence. (BVN, Mengzi 2A6) Loving one's parents is benevolence.... What is left to be done is simply the extension of [this] to the whole Empire. (Mencius 7A15) (3) It is the business of the benevolent man to try to promote what is beneficial to the world and to eliminate what is harmful. (Mo Tzu, p. 39) |
| tian (tÕien) | "heaven" | (1) The sky or "the heavens," or (2) an entity,
originally a high diety, sometimes later conceived of as more
impersonal, even to the point of being thought of as (3) impersonal "fate" or "nature." Note: The expression "heaven and earth" refers to the entire natural world. | (1) There cannot be two kings for the people just as there cannot be two suns in the heavens. (Mencius 5A4) (2) In pretending that I had retainers when I had none, who would we be deceiving? Would we be deceiving Heaven? (Analects 9:12) If I am understood at all, it is, perhaps, by Heaven. (Analects 14: 35) (3) What does Heaven ever say? Yet there are the four seasons going round and there are the hundred things coming into being. (Analects 17: 19) |
| yi (i) | "right," "righteousness," "moral" (Mencius) | (1) The quality of
an action that makes it "fitting" or "appropiate," or (2) the quality of a person disposed to
perform such acts. This second sense is closely related to (3) Mencius's use of yi to refer
to a disposition to feel shame or disdain toward certain actions. Note: Yi tends to refer to qualities of acts, while ren (q.v.) tends to refer to qualities of individuals: "Benevolence is the heart of man, and rightness his road." (Mencius 6A11) | (1) Faced with what is right, to leave it undone shows a lack of courage. (Analects 2:24) (2) To be trustworthy in word is close to being moral.... (Analects 1:13) (3) The heart of disdain and dislike is the sprout of righteousness. (BVN, Mengzi2A6) |