We say that "benevolence" is the highest goal and ultimate goal pursued by Confucianism, and everything they do is to practice the highest ideal of "benevolence".
Therefore, in their eyes, "benevolence" is above all else, and it is even more important than life. When faced with the choice between benevolence and righteousness and life and death, Confucius advocated "killing oneself to become benevolent". In the chapter of "Wei Linggong", Confucius said: "People with lofty ideals are benevolent, and there is no survival to harm benevolence, but there is killing to become benevolent." ”（
Mencius further developed Confucius's view and summarized it into a more popular expression, that is, "sacrificing one's life for righteousness": "Life is also what I want, and righteousness is also what I want."You can't have both, and those who sacrifice their lives to take righteousness are also. (Mencius, Gaozi I) so "killing oneself to become benevolent" and "sacrificing oneself for righteousness" have inspired many people with lofty ideals to fight and sacrifice for justice without regret from ancient times to the present.
Since Confucianism regards "benevolence" as more important than life, what is the core of Confucius's "benevolence"?
In the chapter "Yan Yuan", Confucius succinctly summarized the most basic meaning of "benevolence" in two words: "Pan Chi asks benevolence." Zi said: 'Love. Mencius also said, "The benevolent love others, and the courteous ones respect others." ”
From this, we can see that although Confucius's "benevolence" is an ethical and moral concept with a wide range of meanings, its most basic spirit is "love for others".
It can be said that "loving others" is indeed the essence of Confucianism.
It turns out that benevolence is not far from us, everyone can do it, but not everyone is willing to do it. That's why Confucius said, "For the sake of benevolence, it is up to oneself to be benevolent, and for others to be careful."This is because the practice of benevolence is a requirement that comes entirely from the heart of the individual, and is not imposed by external forces, which cannot be imposed. If you want to be unkind, it will be very difficult for outsiders to force you to do it. Just like a businessman who only seeks profit, he can take risks for the sake of profit, but he himself has no benevolence, and you can make them talk about benevolence and righteousness, isn't it more difficult than ascending to heaven?
How should we practice benevolence?Confucius was very specific when he replied to Zhong Gong's question of benevolence: "Do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
Here Confucius proposed the easiest method, which is to "do unto others what you do not want to be done to yourself", and do not impose on others what you do not want to want.
This sentence also contains this meaning, don't force others to do what you don't want to do. Treat people's hearts with your own heart, so that you have a clear standard of right and wrong for what you do, what you should do and what you shouldn't do.
But in real life, how many of us can do "do unto others as you would have them do unto you"?Intrigue in officialdom, deceit in the shopping mall, you at work and so on. If you don't have a noble character and personality, it is not easy to truly "do unto others as you would have them do unto you".