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

(内容主要节录自：《中华传统的人伦至上对西方的爱至上》)

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 (人伦). 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" (五伦 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.

西方是以爱为至上的，而中华文明则不承认爱是至上的，中华文化认为是至上的是“人伦”。人伦就是人与人之间的关系中，各方所应该履行的义务和责任。

人与人的关系有很多种，所以人伦关系也有很多个：亲戚之间、邻居之间、老师和学生之间、等等。中华传统特地强调五个最重要的人伦关系，即“五伦”。五伦就是以下的五种关系：

1. 古时的“君臣”（统治者和被统治者）即现代的政府和人民的关系、
2. “父子”即父母和子女的关系、
3. “夫妻”即丈夫和妻子的关系、
4. “兄弟”即兄弟姊妹之间的关系、
5. “朋友”即朋友之间的关系。

此外，我认为，现代社会不像以前自足自给的农民社会，现代社会的商品和贸易极为普遍和重要，所以传统的五伦，五个最重要的人伦关系，应该加多一个，成为“六伦”。那就是:

6. “买卖”即买者与卖者的人伦关系：所有经济关系，包括雇主（劳动力买者）与雇员（劳动力卖者）的关系，都属于这个买者与卖者的人伦关系。

把我们每天都进行多次的买卖，上升为重大人伦关系之一，能够把买卖伦理化、道德化、和规范化，使买卖脱离工业化之前传统社会的鄙视，也使买卖双方之间应该存在的义务和责任，不需要只有在朋友之间才履行，不需要先用喝酒作乐等方法，让买方和卖方先结交为“朋友”，然后才敢进行生意交易。买卖成为第六伦，双方便能够不言而喻地互相信任，认为买卖遵守诚信是必然的、正常的情况，而不守诚信是脱离常轨的、异常的现象。（见我的博客文章“五伦：续”，“第六伦：买者和卖者之间”，和“第六伦：买者和卖者的关系”。）

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。

那么，根据中华孔教传统，人伦定义的义务和责任是什么呢？说一说传统最重要的五伦吧：

1. 政府与人民（君臣）之间：政府一定要有效地、明智地保护人民的安全和财产，这就是相当于古时的君主要做“明主”的义务，而人民则一定要向政府交税、服从政府的法律、被政府征召时忠心地和尽全力地服役、适当时对政府反映意见或进行劝谏，这就是相当于古时的臣民要做“忠臣”的义务;
   
   
2. 父母与子女之间：父母一定要养育和教导子女，而子女一定要对父母行孝和奉养，照顾老弱的父母;
   
   
3. 夫妻之间：双方要齐心合力，互相帮助，一起建立家庭生活，既养育下一代，也照顾上一代;
   
   
4. 兄弟姐妹之间：兄辈对弟辈友爱，弟辈对兄辈恭敬，兄弟之间要互相帮助;
   
   
5. 朋友之间：互相帮助，尤其是互相勉励、提供建议和劝谏。

至于我所提倡的第六伦，买者与卖者之间的义务和责任是：

6. 买卖要以诚信和遵守诺言为原则，买者必须按照明言的或不言而喻的合约所指定的价格和时间，来向卖者付钱，而卖者必须按照明言的或不言而喻的合约所指定的数量、质量及时间，把货物或服务向买者供应。

除此之外，不胜枚举的其他人与人关系，都拥有人伦定义的义务和责任，都有人伦来规范。所有这些义务和责任都可以总结为“正义”。所以，跟任何人接触、来往，都要遵守人伦，亦即是都要遵守正义。

要看读对人伦更全面的解释，请点击这里：中华传统的人伦至上对西方的爱至上。