Review Questions for the Mid-Term Exam
(9th March 2015)
I. Review questions for short-answer questions
1. Briefly characterize the following terms:

a. Hexagram-The I Ching book consists of 64 hexagrams.[2] [3] A hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines (爻 yáo), where each line is either Yang (an unbroken, or solid line), or Yin (broken, an open line with a gap in the center). The hexagram lines are traditionally counted from the bottom up, so the lowest line is considered line one while the top line is line six. Hexagrams are formed by combining the original eight trigrams in different combinations. Each hexagram is accompanied with a description, often cryptic, akin to parables. Each line in every hexagram is also …show more content…

One way of cultivating ren is through caltivating yi by means of practicing adequate li.

g. li (in the Analects)- Although ren is the most fundamental virtue, the basis of humanity, and the ultimate guide to human action, Confucius recognizes that more concrete, particular and immediate guides to action are needed in everyday life. Those concrete guides Confucius found in the rules of propriety (li) which cover various socially established rules governing social, moral, and religious practices (ranging from rituals, customary codes, ceremony regulations to moral rules).
Confucius thinks that practicing li is one important or even indispensable way to cultivate and realize the potential of humanity. (i) The virtue potential needs to be revealed, strengthened, and cultivated through human actual actions which per se need those ready-made, socially established concrete guides to regulate. [The need for action-implementation guidance] (ii) Li has its social and public character and emphasizes the openness of the participants to each other; this kind of open, shared participation in life with other persons would evokes and fosters the development of ren. [The need for social-participation cultivation.]

h. shu (in the Analects)- Zi-gong asked, "Is there one single saying which one can put into practice through one's whole life?" Confucius replied, "Perhaps it is the saying of shu: 'Never do to others what one would