Confucius judged a good ruler by his possession of "de" ("virtue"): a sort of moral force that allows those in power to rule and gain the loyalty of others without the need for physical coercion ("Analects" 2.1). Confucius said that one of the most important ways that a ruler cultivates his sense of "de" is through a devotion to the correct practices of "li". Examples of rituals identified by Confucius as important to cultivate a ruler's "de" include: sacrificial rites held at ancestral temples to express thankfulness and humility; ceremonies of enfeoffment, toasting, and gift exchanges that bound nobility in complex hierarchical relationships of obligation and indebtedness; and, acts of formal politeness and decorum (i.e. bowing and yielding) that identify the performers as morally well-cultivated.