jen / ren complete manliness, ideal virtue, virtue, perfect virtue, complete virtue, goodness, perfect goodness, the essence and ideal root of all kinds of manifestations of all virtues, nobleness, character, self-purification, purity, liberation, real person, authentic person, authentic self, being human, self-realization, self-conquest, soul purity, natural goodness of heart, humanity creativity, tao manifested in proper human conduct and relationships, the nature of one's being, complete pure virtue, complete character beauty, emotional self-control, supreme level of worthy attributes and conduct, inherent human capacity to do good a person should do, inner capacity possessed by all human beings to do good, what makes humans divinely human, soul goodness, soul virtue, love, the center of Heaven & Earth, developing & sublimating the self and faculties, being human, humanity, humanness, benevolence, that which can make a person a chun tzu and then a jen person.

Unfortunately, many Analects translators have almost exclusively translated jen as humanity, benevolence, humaneness, etc.—definitions that for the most part miss the main meaning, are misleading, and have distorted much of the world’s understanding of the Analects.