(Contents Mostly Excerpted From: “The Traditional Chinese Supremacy of Relationship-Defined Obligations vs. The West's Supremacy of Love”)

(內容主要節錄自：《中華傳統的人倫至上對西方的愛至上》)

Instead of considering love to be supreme as in the West, what Chinese civilization has always considered to be supreme has been "relationship-defined obligations" or ren lun (人倫). These are the obligations that the parties in a relationship should carry out towards each other.

There are many kinds of human relationships: that among relatives, that among neighbors, that between teachers and students, and so on. The Chinese Confucian tradition emphatically points out that there are five relationships that are most important, i.e. the "Five Cardinal Relationships" (五倫 or wu lun). They are the relationships

1. Between the government and citizens (between the "ruler and subjects" in the olden days),
2. Between parents and offspring,
3. Between husband and wife,
4. Among siblings, and
5. Among friends.

Also, in my opinion, since modern society is no longer an agricultural society of farmers producing for self sufficiency but one where commodities and commerce are universal and of great importance, so the traditional Five Cardinal Relationships should embrace one more to become the Six Cardinal Relationships. The Cardinal Relation to be added is the relationship

6. Between the buyer and the seller. All economic relationships, including that between the employer (buyer of labor) and the employee (seller of labor), belong to this relationship.

By elevating buying and selling to a Cardinal, moral, Relationship, we can demand that buying and selling, which is something we engage in many times daily, be always moral and ethical and shake off the contempt with which traditional pre-industrial societies view buying and selling. This makes it unnecessary for buyer and seller to be friends first before the obligations that buyer and seller should carry out toward each other anyway will be carried out, unnecessary to use methods like drinking and making merry to get buyer and seller to become "friends" first, and only then do they dare to do business. When buying and selling becomes a Cardinal Relationship, both parties in any transaction will be able to implicitly trust each other, as they will consider it the normal, ordinarily expected situation for the other side to adhere to trustworthiness, honesty and integrity, and will consider not doing so to be a deviant, extraordinary occurrence. (See my blog articles "The Cardinal Obligations Continued", "Cardinal Obligation 6: Between Buyer and Seller", and "The Sixth Cardinal Relationship, That Between Buyer and Seller".)

Besides the most important traditional Five, or my Six, Cardinal Relationships, there are many other human relationships, too many to list. As long as there is a contact or a dealing among humans, even a very temporary or very occassional one, there is a human relationship, and all human relationships possess relationship-defined obligations.

西方是以愛為至上的，而中華文明則不承認愛是至上的，中華文化認為是至上的是“人倫”。人倫就是人與人之間的關係中，各方所應該履行的義務和責任。

人與人的關係有很多種，所以人倫關係也有很多個：親戚之間、鄰居之間、老師和學生之間、等等。中華傳統特地強調五個最重要的人倫關係，即“五倫”。五倫就是以下的五種關係：

1. 古時的“君臣”（統治者和被統治者）即現代的政府和人民的關係、
2. “父子”即父母和子女的關係、
3. “夫妻”即丈夫和妻子的關係、
4. “兄弟”即兄弟姊妹之間的關係、
5. “朋友”即朋友之間的關係。

此外，我認為，現代社會不像以前自足自給的農民社會，現代社會的商品和貿易極為普遍和重要，所以傳統的五倫，五個最重要的人倫關係，應該加多一個，成為“六倫”。那就是:

6. “買賣”即買者與賣者的人倫關係：所有經濟關係，包括雇主（勞動力買者）與僱員（勞動力賣者）的關係，都屬於這個買者與賣者的人倫關係。

把我們每天都進行多次的買賣，上升為重大人倫關係之一，能夠把買賣倫理化、道德化、和規範化，使買賣脫離工業化之前傳統社會的鄙視，也使買賣雙方之間應該存在的義務和責任，不需要只有在朋友之間才履行，不需要先用喝酒作樂等方法，讓買方和賣方先結交為“朋友”，然後才敢進行生意交易。買賣成為第六倫，雙方便能夠不言而喻地互相信任，認為買賣遵守誠信是必然的、正常的情況，而不守誠信是脫離常軌的、異常的現象。（見我的博客文章“五倫：續”，“第六倫：買者和賣者之間”，和“第六倫：買者和賣者的關係”。）

除了最重要的傳統五倫或我的六倫以外，還有很多人倫關係，不勝枚舉。只要跟任何人有接觸，有來往，儘管是很短暫或偶爾的，便有了人與人關係，而所有人與人關係都屬於人倫關係。

那麼，根據中華孔教傳統，人倫定義的義務和責任是甚麼呢？說一說傳統最重要的五倫吧：

1. 政府與人民（君臣）之間：政府一定要有效地、明智地保護人民的安全和財產，這就是相當於古時的君主要做“明主”的義務，而人民則一定要向政府交稅、服從政府的法律、被政府徵召時忠心地和盡全力地服役、適當時對政府反映意見或進行勸諫，這就是相當於古時的臣民要做“忠臣”的義務;
   
   
2. 父母與子女之間：父母一定要養育和教導子女，而子女一定要對父母行孝和奉養，照顧老弱的父母;
   
   
3. 夫妻之間：雙方要齊心合力，互相幫助，一起建立家庭生活，既養育下一代，也照顧上一代;
   
   
4. 兄弟姐妹之間：兄輩對弟輩友愛，弟輩對兄輩恭敬，兄弟之間要互相幫助;
   
   
5. 朋友之間：互相幫助，尤其是互相勉勵、提供建議和勸諫。

至於我所提倡的第六倫，買者與賣者之間的義務和責任是：

6. 買賣要以誠信和遵守諾言為原則，買者必須按照明言的或不言而喻的合約所指定的價格和時間，來向賣者付錢，而賣者必須按照明言的或不言而喻的合約所指定的數量、質量及時間，把貨物或服務向買者供應。

除此之外，不勝枚舉的其他人與人關係，都擁有人倫定義的義務和責任，都有人倫來規範。所有這些義務和責任都可以總結為“正義”。所以，跟任何人接觸、來往，都要遵守人倫，亦即是都要遵守正義。

要看讀對人倫更全面的解釋，請點擊這裡：中華傳統的人倫至上對西方的愛至上。