A chun-tzu must possess all the virtues Confucius viewed as being essential to being the "perfect gentleman", the most important of these being jen. Jen is variously translated as "love", "goodness", "humanity" and "human-heartedness". An ancient commentary says, "Jen is to love men joyously and from the innermost of one's heart". Jen is a supreme virtue that represents human qualities at their best and Confucius strived to encompass this virtue in all he did. He also stressed the importance of it onto his followers and as he wanted these young men to become as great as men as they could be, he also taught five other very important virtues. These were:.
-Li (correct behaviour).
-Ren (benevolence or humanity).
-Yi (honesty or uprightness).
-Zhi (knowledge - in the sense of moral wisdom) and:.
-Xin (faithfulness or integrity).
Li was one virtue that Confucius strongly believed in and had many affectations pertaining to this virtue. He wore an old-fashioned forked headdress, would not sit on a mat unless it was properly arranged or even eat meat that wasn't cut into precise squares. These peculiarities stemmed from the customs of the Zhou dynasty that fell from power centuries before. Confucius based many of his teachings on past customs and culture yet felt that personal behavior was the first step towards changing society. Li is second only to the virtue of jen and is instrumental in becoming chun-tzu. Yet outward signs of correct behavior were not enough for Confucius. A person who is chun-tzu must also reflect sincerity and inner spirit thus the formation of the other virtues of ren, yi, zhi and xin, all of which were ideals for all people to follow, from which they would benefit. In the Analects Confucius said, "the superior man feels neither anxiety nor fear" and "is always calm and at ease" ("superior man" being a variant on "perfect gentleman"). These different virtues were necessary for one to become chun-tzu and the whole concept is based around them.
