• response to Buddhist and Taoist metaphysics

• many elements reminiscent of Platonic and Aristotelian thinking

• added elements of mystical metaphysics and reason to support basic social/humanistic ethics but also theoretically extends those ethics beyond humanity. Sees a more basic, underlying metaphysics behind Confucius’s original social ethics:

• concern for the "Great Ultimate" (T’ai Ch’i) as the metaphysical One, the Ultimate Reality, behind the many manifestations: all things proceed from the Great Ultimate: first comes Yin and Yang; from Yin and Yang come the five elements (water, wood, fire, metal, earth); from these come everything else:

T'ai Ch'i
/   \
Yin    Yang
\   /
Five Elements
|
V
everything that is

• Chi is seen as a material force, the raw material of which all things are composed. All people, all aspects of the universe, are thus seen as related (as one family) with heaven and earth as the original "parents". Thus "Filial Piety" extends to a cosmic level and morality extends to cosmic proportions.

• Relates the harmony of the individual with the harmony of the cosmos - all is interrelated: proper respect for hierarchical status in human relationships begins "at home", in the individual. Begin by cultivating the individual but Jen hardly starts there. The cultivated individual will relate well with others, according to status: