distinguishes ‘‘the superior-minded’’ (jun zi) from the petty-minded
people (xiao ren), the sage-rulers from poor and bad ones. Only
individuals who are exemplary in all of these virtues are calledjun zi
(Ames and Rosemont, 1998 ) and onlyjun zishould be selected as
leaders; and if all act likejun zi, that is, being righteous, following
ritual propriety, exercising wisdom, being trustworthy, and being loyal
to parents, there will be benevolence everywhere (Legge, 1971 : 250;
Yang, 1958 ).
TheDaoof benevolent government(ren zheng)
While benevolence was proposed as the fundamental defining charac-
teristic of human goodness and as the guiding virtue of all virtues,
more importantly it is the guiding principle of leadership, known as
theDaoof benevolent government (ren zheng).
What does theDaoof benevolent government mean? First, it refers
to human superiority over all other elements of the universe. The
superiority of humans was argued on the basis of their intrinsic
goodness through compassion and love for fellow-beings and their
intelligence because they have the capacity to know and to be wise.
Given this superiority, all activities, be they political, economic, or
military, should be centered around human beings. Priority should
be given to the interests of the people over material resources for the
leaders. Confucius stated, ‘‘The government of King Wen and King
Wu is displayed in the records. Let there be people and the government
will flourish; but without people, their government decays and ceases’’
(Legge, 1971 : 405). Mencius also remarked, ‘‘Opportunities of time
vouchsafed by Heaven are not equal to advantages of situation
afforded by the Earth, and advantages of situation afforded by the
Earth are not equal to the union arising from the accord of Man’’
(Legge, 1970 : 208).
Second, the Daoof benevolent government prescribes that the
common people are the foundation (min ben) of governance and
therefore take precedence over the government and the king. Mencius
proposed that the common people are the most important, land and
grain the next, and the sovereign the last. Therefore, benevolence
toward the common people is the way to become sovereign and
the way to maintain and extend sovereignty (Legge, 1970 : 483–484).
The distinction between benevolence and brutality is whether or not
36 Xin-hui Yang, Yan-qin Peng, and Yueh-ting Lee