儒学以“仁”和“礼”为内在核心。作为儒学的思想内核，“仁”和“礼”构成了儒学之为儒学的根本，并使儒学区别于历史上的其他学派。在儒学之中，“仁”与“礼”的统一既体现于儒家自身的整个思想系统之中，又展现于人之存在的各个领域，后者包括精神世界、社会领域以及天人之际。精神世界体现的是人的精神的追求、精神的安顿，以及精神的提升，其具体展开关乎宗教性、伦理性维度，以及具有综合意义的精神境界。在哲学的层面上，儒学所由以展开的社会领域则关乎政治、伦理，以及日常的生活世界。就人的存在而言，精神世界主要涉及人与自我的关系，社会领域则指向人与人之间的关系。从更广的视域看，人的存在同时关乎天人之际，而儒家对天人关系的理解，亦同样基于“仁”与“礼”的观念。要而言之，“仁”与“礼”的统一作为儒学的核心观念渗透在儒学的各个方面，儒学本身则由此展开为综合性的文化观念系统，儒学的具体性、真实性也体现于此。时下所谓心性儒学、政治儒学、制度儒学、生活儒学往往将儒学在某一方面的体现视为儒学的全部，这类进路难以避免对儒学的片面理解。
What is the Confucianism: Its Kernel and Multiple Dimensions
Yang Guorong
It is ren (benevolence or humanity) and li (the ritual or etiquette) that constitute the kernel of the Confucianism, which makes it pecular to other schools in the history of Chinese thought. Besides being reflectd in the system of Confucian thought the unity of ren and li is also manifested in various domains of human existence including spiritual world, social area and the transition region between Heaven and Humanity. The spiritual world is composed of the spiritual pursuit, the spiritual comfort and the spiritual promotion specifically referring to the religious and ethical dimensions and the comprehensive spiritual status. From the perspective of philosophy the social domains in which the Confucianism expands include politics, ethics and the world of everyday life. As to human existence, the spiritual world refers to the relationship between a human being and oneself, while the social domains related to the relationship among human beings. Observing from the wider horizon, the human existence also contians the transition region between Heaven and Humanity which should also be understood from the perspective of ren and li. In one word, as the key idea the unity of ren and li runs through all the aspects of the Confucianism, through which the Confucianism manifest itself as a comprehensive cultural idea system. The embodiment and reality of the Confucianism also lie here, contrasting to which the contemporary mind-focused Confucianism, politics-focused Confucianism, institute-focused Confucianism, life-focused Confucianism usually take some aspect as the whole Confucianism and thus being trapped in various partial understanding of Confucianism.
