Tension: Lessons From Confucius's Pupil Zigong

Zhong and Shu in Tension: Lessons from Confucius’s Pupil Zigong

Confucian philosophy is centered on the idea of cultivating ren, or human-heartedness, throughout all citizens as the best way to ensure societal harmony. This concept of ren is further described as a balance of zhong, or dutifulness, and shu, or sympathetic understanding, but many question whether or not these aspects of ren can exist without tension. This paper presents brief summaries of ren and its relationship to zhong and shu, followed by an argument that zhong and shu are indeed in tension for the sake of cultivating ren as evidenced by Confucius’s pupil Zigong.

Confucius never outright defines ren, but we the readers come to understand it as the fundamental goodness of

After Confucius conveyed to his pupil Zheng that all of his teachings could be “strung together on a single thread” Zheng realized that “all the Master teaches amounts to nothing more than dutifulness [zhong] tempered by sympathetic understanding [shu]” (4:15). The tension cited between these two aspects of ren comes from the fact that shu is said to temper zhong. This suggests that, if unchecked, zhong can obstruct proper cultivation of ren, such as in situations where strict adherence to one’s duty blinds them to whether or not another person would prefer that duty acted out. This is indeed the case as evidenced through Confucius’s conversations with

When asked by Zhong what he thought of him, Confucius answered bluntly that he is nothing more than “a precious ritual vessel” (5:4). Zigong was also famously strict in imposing dutifulness on his peers, with his criticisms of other earning him a sharp rebuke from his master, who exclaimed in exasperation, “What a worthy man that Zigong must be! As for me, I hardly have time for this” (14:29). This last passage especially highlights the obstruction that zhong can place on ren if left unchecked. By focusing on zhong, Zigong was not only blinded the way his peers would prefer to be treated, but also to his own areas for improvement as well, thereby losing sight of