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The Heaven-Earth Cosmic Faith 57

responsibility for the family. The philosopher You Ruo (有若 ca. 508 B.C.E.–?), one
of Confucius’ disciples, was quoted in The Analects as saying, “The man of virtue
bends his attention to what is the essence of being. That being established, the Dao
arises. Filial piety and fraternal submission—are they not the very essence of
benevolence” (“Xue Er” in The Analects, 《论语 · 学而》)? The “essence of being”
here should not be confused with the notion of “being” in Western ontology, lest
the virtue of filial piety should be narrowly confined to “what it is to be a thing,”
with benevolence being divided for the “thing” and directed only toward the next
of kin. The “essence of being” implies absolute, Heavenly-ordained connectedness
and oneness. Given this foundation, filial piety expands into benevolence, or the
way of Ren, as a universal virtue.
In Confucian thinking, love is a virtue of compassion for humanity, as docu-
mented in The Analects:
The Master said, “A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his
elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should love all and be close with the virtuous.”
This tenet of universal love is central to Confucianism. The Classic of Filial Piety,
e.g., refers to “setting before them an example of the most extended love.” The
Han-dynasty Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒 179 B.C.E.–104 B.C.E.)
also emphasized that one should “be loyal, honourable, and love extensively”
(“Deeply Examine Names and Designations” in Luxuriant Dew of The Spring and
Autumn Annals, 《春秋繁露 · 深察名号》). The Discourses on Salt and Iron (《盐铁
)
论》cites an argument by the “learned” that “A true sovereign expands love and
extends benefaction; he achieves harmony with the close and the remote alike.” By
the Tang Dynasty, the eminent Confucian scholar Han Yu (韩愈 768–824) simply
used compassion to define Ren (humanity), “To love generously is called Ren”
(“The Origins of Dao” in The Works of Han Yu, 《韩昌黎集 · 原道》).
One chapter in Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals (《吕氏春秋》was dedicated to
)
“love for one’skind,” i.e. for all fellow humans. It cites a passage that reads, “To be
Ren (kind) to things, rather than people, is not Ren;to be Ren to people, but not to
things, is still Ren.Thus, to be Ren is to be benevolent to one’skind.” In his com-
mentary on a passage from The Analects [“When Fan Chi asked about benevolence,
the Master said, ‘It is to love all men.’”], the modern era political thinker Kang
Youwei (康有为 1858–1927) proposed, “The benevolent embrace all, yet first and
foremost fellow humans, intheir love, … for onlyuniversal compassionis called Ren
(benevolence). Confucius uses myriad words to imply Ren. Yet here, he uses ‘to love
all men,’ which is truly the essence of Ren” (“Yan Yuan” in Annotations on The
Analects, 《论语注 · 颜渊》).