The Five Relations

The Five Cardinal Relations, or Wu Lun (五倫)¹, are a philosophical framework underpinning Chinese culture and social structure for over two millennia. The concept is attributed to Mencius (Mengzi)², a philosopher, teacher, social and political theorist considered the spiritual successor of Confucius (Kongzi). For Mencius a human is not a static being, but a dynamic becoming, striving toward sagehood. An infant is not born as an ‘‘individual,’’ but rather, born into a framework of familial and socio-cultural relations that would shape and nurture that infant’s benxing (original human nature).

The self-cultivation of the four virtues defining one’s benxing is a lifelong process of deepening one’s familial and social relationships to their fullest potential. The Five Relations are parent-child, ruler-minister, husband-wife, old-young, and friend-friend. The idea implies a relational, rather than an essential understanding of personhood, considering the progressive maturing of human nature within a matrix of reciprocal relations that, over a lifetime, define one’s identity.