TERMBASES
Junzi (君子) was originally used to indicate a person’s social status, generally referring to a ruler or a member of the aristocracy. Beginning with Confucius（551-479 BC), the term acquired an additional moral dimension and came to mean someone of true virtue. The opposite of junzi is xiaoren (小人), which roughly means the “petty men.” In the Confucian tradition, junzi is someone who is above a scholar and below a sage in terms of moral influence. A man of virtue pursues and practices the ideal known as dao and regards dao as the fundamental meaning of life above power or gains.
Even under pressure, a man of virtue maintains his moral values. Junzi or man of virtue originally referred to a ruler or a man of the aristocracy. Later, it came to mean any educated, upright person. Guqiong (固穷) means to adhere to one’s ideals and values even in times of difficulties and frustrations. The ancients believed that frustrated situations were ordeals for a man of virtue, in which he would not falter in his quest or touch the bottom line. This term summarizes the values of leadership, responsibility and integrity the political and cultural elites should retain in the face of difficulties and hardships.
Relations between men of virtue are the opposite of those between petty men. The former are people with moral integrity and their relations are based on shared values. These relations may not seem close, but they are in fact strong and deep. The latter have low moral character and their relations are based on the pursuit of personal gains. These relations may seem intimate, but they will come to an end when nothing more is to be gained from them. Relations between men of virtue has been extolled by the Chinese since ancient times. This term distinguishes between moral integrity and pursuit of personal gains and between men of virtue and the petty men in the context of social interactions. It represents values of moral integrity possessed by men of virtue while censuring selfish pursuit of the petty man.
A person of virtue takes righteousness as a fundamental principle to guide his or her acts. A “person of virtue” refers to dignitaries or persons with great talent or moral quality. Righteousness means morality and justice, as well as derivative concepts such as social norms and duties. This concept demonstrates that the qualities of the elite are shown by their righteous acts and social responsibilities.
The term was originally used to indicate a person’s social status, usually referring to the rulers’ subjects or those low in social ranking. Later generations also used the term to indicate one’s moral standard in a disapproving way. Those of base character were called petty men as opposed to men of virtue. A petty man only pursues his personal interests or profits, even by violating morality and righteousness; and such people have no understanding of or regard for dao.
The term refers to the highest realm of human integrity and morality, hence one who has reached this state is a sage. It is often used in relation to “intelligence,” since an intelligent man understands the way of man, while a sage understands the way of heaven. Thus a sage with knowledge of the way of heaven will interact successfully with other people.
The term has four meanings. First, it indicates a deity in a personified sense, possessing superhuman capabilities. Natural things, such as heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, sun and moon, and stars, have their deity. A human soul may also become a deity after death. Second, it indicates the human spirit and mind. Daoism considers “spirit” to be the dominating factor in human life. Therefore, maintaining and refining the spirit is most important to prolong life. Third, it indicates the subtle and unfathomable changing of all things as well as heaven and earth occurring under the interaction of yin and yang. In this sense the term is often used together with hua (化 change), the combination being called “divine change.” Fourth, it indicates a marvelous and unfathomable realm in life attained by a person.
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