He
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He
He (和, hé) is harmony: the appropriate, creative, and life-supporting coordination of different elements within the person, human relationships, society, and the cosmos. It does not mean uniformity or the elimination of difference; Confucians explicitly distinguish he from tong (同), mere identity or sameness. Harmony is both an ethical achievement and the destination of the Dao: Yao calls it “the culmination of the Confucian way” and “the point where the Way of Heaven and the Way of Humans converge.”[1] In LP terms, he names individual Perfection (an internal harmony) and the harmonious conditions that arise as one pursues Alignment through Right Action, Right Thought, and Right Environment. Its fullest social expression approaches a Harmonic Social Order.
Concept Map
Key Terms
List of Human Development Frameworks
Confucian Terms
Syncretic Terms
Dao > He, Zhonghe, Tianren Heyi
Outer Alignment > He, Qijia, Zhiguo
Harmonic Social Order > He, Datong, Ping Tianxia
Notes
Meanings and Dimensions of He
| Dimension | Definition and significance | Textual basis |
|---|---|---|
| Musical harmony | The early understanding of he is associated with harmonising different tones. Music both expresses and helps create harmony by touching the human heart and adjusting conduct. Ritual differentiates roles while music unites people, allowing differentiation and union to work together.[2] | The Book of Rites and Yao’s discussion of the musical background of he. |
| An orderly combination of differences | Harmony is the coordination of different elements through which a new unity comes into being. It is compared to combining ingredients and flavours in proper measure to produce a successful soup.[3] | The Zuo Commentary, as discussed by Yao. |
| Creative rather than uniform unity | Harmony is explicitly distinguished from identity (tong 同). Mere identification reproduces what already exists; harmonious interaction can produce (sheng), transform (hua), and enlarge (da). Difference is therefore constitutive of harmony rather than simply an obstacle to it.[3] | Yao’s account of he and tong. |
| Inner emotional harmony | Within the person, harmony means that emotions arise and are expressed in due measure and degree. It does not require the elimination of emotion. Emotional appropriateness depends upon cultivation of character.[3] | The Doctrine of the Mean, as discussed by Yao. |
| The highest virtue | Harmony supports the peaceful life of the individual, family, and state. Dong Zhongshu calls it the highest virtue because it is that through which Heaven and Earth produce the myriad things.[4] | Chunqiu Fanlu, as quoted by Yao. |
| Central harmony (zhonghe 中和) |
Harmony is rooted in centrality and equilibrium and is central to existence and activity. In the Doctrine of the Mean, centredness and harmony join personal emotional integration with the proper ordering of Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things.[5] | The Doctrine of the Mean and later Confucian interpretation. |
| Harmony between Heaven and humanity | Harmony concerns the proper relationship between heavenly principles and human behaviour. Interpretations vary: some schools emphasise the oneness of Heaven and humanity, while others emphasise human conformity to natural law.[6] | Mencian, Han, Neo-Confucian, and naturalistic accounts discussed by Yao. |
| Social harmony | Social harmony is achieved through self-cultivation, reciprocal responsibility, reconciliation, and humane relationships. It is not simply the absence of open conflict but the appropriate accommodation of oneself and others.[7] | Yao’s account of conflict and its Confucian resolution. |
| Family harmony | Family relationships are a primary sphere in which harmony is learned and practised. Mutual responsibilities among parents, children, spouses, and siblings provide a foundation for wider social peace.[8] | Mencius 4A11 and related Confucian teachings. |
| Political harmony | Political harmony requires humane government, moral example, education, and responsibility for the people rather than reliance upon coercion alone. It also requires attention to material well-being and unfair distribution.[9] | Yao’s discussion of political and economic conflict. |
| Ecological harmony | Harmony between humanity and nature requires understanding natural patterns, acting in accordance with them, and avoiding actions that unnecessarily impair growth. Yao presents this as an early basis for a Confucian ecological ethic, while cautioning that these authors were not environmentalists in the modern sense.[10] | Xunzi and later naturalistic Confucians. |
| Dynamic reconciliation | Harmony is not a static condition in which nothing changes. It can emerge through the recognition, reconciliation, and resolution of opposition and conflict. It therefore involves continual adjustment rather than the simple preservation of an existing arrangement.[11] | Zhang Zai and Yao’s account of harmony and conflict. |
He Is Not Uniformity
The distinction between harmony (he 和) and identity (tong 同) is fundamental. A harmonious community does not require everyone to hold identical views, perform identical functions, or suppress every difference. Its unity arises from appropriately coordinated differences.
The musical image is instructive: harmony requires different notes, not endless repetition of one note. Similarly, the image of a soup requires different ingredients in suitable proportions. In human relationships, harmony therefore involves differentiation, responsiveness, and appropriate measure rather than homogeneity.[2][3]
This distinguishes authentic harmony from mere conformity. A silent or apparently orderly society is not necessarily harmonious if its apparent peace depends upon suppressing people, needs, or legitimate differences.
Harmony as a Process
Harmony is not simply a pre-existing state that humans passively receive. Individuals must actively cultivate it by reshaping their conduct, improving understanding, examining their motives, and manifesting their nature.[12]
Nor does harmony mean the total absence of tension. Confucian accounts recognise opposition and conflict, but seek their reconciliation and resolution. Harmony is consequently dynamic: it must be renewed as circumstances, relationships, and needs change.[13]
In LP terms, this makes he an outcome of continuing Alignment rather than a fixed state achieved once and for all. It depends upon Right Thought, Right Action, and environments that allow different persons to flourish together.
Related Terms
| Term | Relationship to He |
|---|---|
| 中和 (zhonghe) |
Centredness/equilibrium and harmony. Especially important for personal emotional integration and the corresponding order of the cosmos. It is a close parallel to Internal Alignment and its cosmic extension. |
| 太和 (taihe) |
Supreme, great, or primordial harmony. Associated with the comprehensive harmony of the cosmos and the proper realisation of things. |
| 天人合一 (tianren heyi) |
The harmonious oneness of Heaven and humanity. It concerns the larger relationship within which human moral and spiritual development occurs. |
| 平天下 (ping tianxia) |
Peace and good order throughout all-under-Heaven. In the Great Learning, it is the outward completion of the movement from personal cultivation through family and state.[14] |
| 大同 (datong) |
Grand Unity or Great Community. The social ideal presented in “Li Yun,” involving public-mindedness, care beyond the immediate family, and provision for people in conditions of vulnerability. It offers a particularly strong classical image of a Harmonic Social Order.[15] |
He and the Destination of the Dao
The Dao is the Way; he is its harmonious realisation. The Great Learning expresses the corresponding social sequence as movement from cultivated persons to regulated families, rightly governed states, and peace throughout the world. Harmony therefore cannot be confined to private tranquillity: inner balance must become humane relationships and responsible institutions.
Anna Sun similarly summarises the Confucian ideal as a “peaceful, just, and harmonious society,” whose proper means of achievement is the dao.[16]
In LP terms, this gives harmony two inseparable dimensions:
- Personal realisation: balanced emotions, integrated intention, sincere character, and mature virtue, approaching Perfection.
- Collective realisation: harmonious families, reciprocal relationships, humane government, and social conditions supporting flourishing, approaching a Harmonic Social Order.
Critical Qualification
An appeal to harmony can be used to silence dissent, preserve hierarchy, or place the entire burden of reconciliation upon subordinate people. Yao notes that Confucian harmony has sometimes supported rigid relationships and that reliance upon personal virtue alone may be insufficient to address structural causes of conflict.[17]
For that reason, he should not be interpreted as compulsory agreement, passive obedience, or the suppression of justified conflict. Authentic harmony emerges from Connection achieved through Alignment, Aligned activities must remain compatible with truth, justice, safety, and the flourishing of all participants. From an LP perspective, a social arrangement that depends upon harm or systematic needs denial is not harmonious in the fullest sense, even if it appears orderly.
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Footnotes
- ↑ Xinzhong Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 169.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 170.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 171.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 171–72.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 172.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 172–76.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 178–81.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 181.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 182–85.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 175–77.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 178.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 172.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 178.
- ↑ James Legge, trans., “The Great Learning,” Ruism.org, accessed October 27, 2026, https://ruism.org/library/the-great-learning/1, classic chapter.
- ↑ James Legge, trans., The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism, Part III: The Li Ki (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1885), “Li Yun.”
- ↑ Anna Sun, Confucianism as a World Religion: Contested Histories and Contemporary Realities (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013), 19.
- ↑ Yao, An Introduction to Confucianism, 187–88.