In an excerpt from Sources of Chinese Tradition, “On the Study of Humanity” by T’an Ssu-T’ung draws on elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity and one of the elements that is focused on in this text is the Confucian idea of jen. The concept of jen in Confucianism is tat of goodness and benevolence, and these generalized feelings of good will are what make man distinctively human. It differs slightly from the Christian value of “charity” or Buddhist “compassion,” jen is what the text calls “a cosmic love” and it unites man to Heaven and earth. I found it interesting that the excerpt mentions that while Confucius’ teachings “transformed inequality into equality” and sought to reform and improve society, future scholars left behind the “true meaning” of Confucius’ teachings and instead, used Confucianism in what the text refers to as a “superficial” way to allow for unlimited power and a supreme ruler. The excerpt also noted that the rule-minister relationship is especially “dark and inhuman” because the ruler is not any different or intellectually superior to the man and because of this, the system is full of prejudice. This idea also extended to the husband-wife relationship discussed in the passage and that in ancient China, when the husband was considered the master, his wife was not treated as an equal human being and did not have the right to make her own choices in society. I also enjoyed the passage’s discussion of the five relationships and three bonds and I thought the idea that the relationship between friends was superior to the other four relationships and should serve as a model for them because it relies of equality and mutual feelings was especially interesting.