Humans are born with innate conscience and the ability to know and act upon

it. The term liangzhi (良知) was first used by Mencius, who believed that what

man knew by instinct was liangzhi (knowledge of goodness). The term includes

ren (仁), i.e. love for one's parents and yi (义), i.e. respect for one's elder brothers.

The concept is an important component of Mencius' belief in the innate

goodness of human nature. The Ming-dynasty philosopher Wang Shouren

raised the idea of "attaining liangzhi." He extended the Mencius' liangzhi to

mean the principles of heaven, maintaining that all things under heaven and

their laws were covered by liangzhi. With liangzhi being extended to its fullest

(through self-cultivation and moral practice), it is possible to know and put in

practice all moral truths.