This paper is a study of Jia Zheng, a character in Honglou meng, who has not received the critical attention he deserves, arguing that he plays a pivotal role in the different dimensions of the novel: the individual self, family, and religion. His well-known clashes with son, Jia Baoyu, occur along these lines. While Jia Baoyu has retained his spontaneous and individual self, Jia Zheng has managed to suppress his for the sake of the family, hence the tensions within his personality and his complicatedness as a character. Jia Zheng is arguably the center of the family, sustaining it in various ways and shouldering the consequences of its collapse. He seems to be the most sensitive grown-up man, poignantly aware of an immanent doom. His desperate attempts to educate his son can be better understood if his side of the story is considered. Finally, the paper studies the tension between Jia Baoyu's personal salvation and his familial obligations, and Jia Xheng's response to this event, again contextualizing the renunciation within the family's long history of religious pursuits.