Taoism and Confucianism Confucius had one overwhelming message: if we are to achieve a state of orderliness and peace, we need to return to traditional values of virtue. These values are based entirely on one concept: Jen, which is best, translated as "humaneness." This humaneness is a relatively strange concept to Western people, because it is not primarily a practicable virtue. The rules of propriety offered a code of accepted behaviour that demonstrated to themselves and others that they were cultured and proper gentlemen. For Confucius, the gentleman knew and behaved according to the rules of propriety. In the first chapter of Analects, Yu-T The