The original intention of "benevolence" is to be friendly to people or to hold a kind of sympathy, which developed into a theoretical and philosophical point of view from Confucius. The isomorphism of family and country based on national patriarchal clan system is a family world based on family blood relationship in the era of agricultural civilization. The spiritual thread parallel to this pedigree structure of family and world is a series of benevolence thoughts of Confucius. The core of this benevolence thought is "benevolence". Starting from this core, it is Confucius' "Benevolence loves others", and then "Filial piety is followed by filial piety", which is another essence and knot of Confucius' benevolence thought. Finally, he put forward "universal love" and completed the basic construction of benevolence thought.
In Confucius' view, only by respecting parents and brothers at home can the subjective ideal of "benevolence" extend from family to society and be "loved by all". Moreover, "he is also filial, and few people are prone to make mistakes." It can be seen that the purpose of Confucius' thought of benevolence is to maintain the order and survival foundation of slave countries. Finally, Confucius drew a full stop for the new spiritual line of his benevolence thought. He said, "self-denial, the world is benevolent." In order to "return benevolence to the world", he also put forward the method of "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" and regarded it as "the way of loyalty and forgiveness" Starting from "benevolence" to "returning to benevolence" is obviously a perfect spiritual realm that Confucius thinks.
According to Confucius' view that "the benevolent loves others", the basic meaning of benevolence should be to respect and love others. Specifically, we should acknowledge the existence of human beings, respect their personality, and have clear humanistic consciousness and behavior. Confucius' thought of "benevolence" emphasizes the obligation of human relations and hopes that everyone will be honest and conscientious. In this way, in dealing with people, we must strive to achieve "if you want to establish yourself, you can achieve it" and "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you." Confucius used "love" to explain benevolence, as the fundamental symbol of benevolence. He not only hopes to deal with the relationship between people with the spirit of "benevolence", but also hopes to manage the country and the country with the principle of "benevolence". If everyone in the society can be kind and have a caring heart, then it is not difficult to realize a society that respects the elderly and is orderly.
As a social ideology, Confucius' thought is naturally based on the in-depth thinking of social problems at that time, and so is his thought of benevolence. What Confucius thought was how to stabilize society and make politics clear. Therefore, on the political level, Confucius' thought of benevolence naturally leads to the thought of benevolent governance and rule by virtue, thus establishing a moral theoretical system with benevolence as the core, emphasizing the central position of benevolence among the important virtues such as wisdom, benevolence and courage, and taking the virtues of respect, kindness, sincerity, generosity and agility as the signs of realizing benevolence.
Several thinkers after Confucius, Mencius, Mozi and Xunzi have made important progress in benevolence. In particular, Mencius developed Confucius' thought of benevolence into the theory of "benevolent government", which had a great influence on later generations. Mencius regarded "compassion" as "the end of benevolence". Mencius saw the conscience and kindness of life, the pity and sympathy that people have, and then regarded benevolence as the fundamental basis of human beings. So Mencius said, "Without compassion, people are not people." A moral person is one who retains his innate kindness. Only with benevolence can he be kind to others.
After Mencius established the idea of benevolence as the basis of human nature theory, he pushed the spirit of benevolence to politics, thus producing his theory of benevolent governance. Mencius thought: "Everyone has a heart that can't bear others" and "can't bear others' heart and do things that can't bear others", which is Mencius' theory of benevolent governance. In his view, benevolence and inhumanity should be the foundation of governing the country. Historical experience has repeatedly proved that those who practice benevolent policies win the world, and those who lose benevolent policies lose the world. It is still possible for an unkind person to get the country, and "an unkind person will get nothing in the world". To unify the world and win the support of the people all over the world, it is absolutely impossible without benevolent government.
After Qin and Han Dynasties, Confucius and Mencius' thought of benevolence not only had a positive impact, but also continued to develop under the practice and elaboration of later generations.
The lesson of Qin's sudden death brought too much thought to the rulers in the early Han Dynasty. When the smoke and dust of the war cleared away, politicians and thinkers in the early Han Dynasty had to seriously sum up the lessons of Qin's death. Therefore, Lu Jia wrote Xin Yu, arguing that Qin's "haste to punish" and ignorance of enlightenment were the important reasons for the rapid demise of the Qin Dynasty. Jia Yi's words in On Qin hit the nail on the head, that is, "benevolence and righteousness are not applied, and the offensive and defensive trends are different", which had a certain influence on politics in the early Han Dynasty.
In the face of the grim reality that everything needs to be done, the rulers in the early Han Dynasty had to adopt the Huang Lao thought of "governing by doing nothing". They saw the characteristics of Confucianism, which is "hard to make progress, but can be kept" and "the gift of the monarch, the minister and the father, the difference between the old and the young". Therefore, after the economy developed to a certain extent, they chose Confucianism to consolidate the feudal ruling order and maintain social ethics.
The rulers of the Han dynasty used Confucianism, but it was not specialized Confucianism, and it could not be separated from some opinions of other schools. For example, the legalist thought of "respecting the monarch and restraining the ministers" was welcomed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Learning in Han Dynasty is a comprehensive learning. Thinkers at that time confused Confucianism with law to varying degrees, and benevolence and justice were juxtaposed with law and punishment. This is reflected in the policy of the Han dynasty, that is, the combination of rule of law and rule of virtue, "both punishment and morality." Xuan Di, the "Renaissance Master" of the Western Han Dynasty, admitted: "The Han family has its own system, which is a mixture of hegemony and kingliness." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "Different people have different opinions. Although they have many desires in their hearts, for the sake of the long-term stability of the country, they still have to suppress themselves and implement kingly, morally and benevolent policies.