Han Wangxi

HUMANS are the essence of the universe. The baseline of being a man of virtue is to do good and stay away from evil. Following one’s conscience, a person will sympathize with those in trouble and rejoice when they regain hope. He will never regret helping others.

Kindness is the core of human virtues. Virtue is knowledge, according to Socrates, who believed reason to be the foundation of ethics. That, however, cannot fully explain what morals are about. The search for self-value and meaning in one’s life is not limited to exploring the world.

Emotional experience plays a role. Life, death, kindness and care, these themes touch people’s heartstrings, through which humans can have a more profound understanding of their value. These emotional experiences form the other side of ethics, which is related to both sense and sensibility. One’s relationship with others and attitude toward them make an indispensable part of his emotional experiences.

A pandemic of the modern society is the estrangement between people. Living in harmony is the ideal of Chinese culture, which promotes kindness, respect, care and a clear conscience. To bring people closer, it’s essential to practice such virtues as caring for the children and elderly, respecting teachers and treating women with respect. The modern society consists of all its citizens, whose moral standards speak of the soul of their civilization.

The traditional Chinese morals teach a person to be benevolent, and value the harmonious and caring relations between people. One needs to be kind toward his lord, father, wife, brothers and friends, and they need to reciprocate his kindness.

According to Confucius, benevolence implies caring for others and strict self-discipline. A benevolent person cares for others, and treats all people across the country as his brothers. Thanks to his loving heart and clear conscience, he is able to feel the joys and sorrows of others.

Mencius believed that all humans have four qualities — compassion, shame, deference and judgment. He gave an example to further elaborate on compassion: “If a person watches a child about to fall into a well, he will naturally feel shock and sympathy; it’s not because he wants to make acquaintance with the child’s parents, or impress his friends as kind, and least because he dislikes the crying of the child.”

Kindness is reciprocal in relations. Mencius said, “A loving person will always be loved, and a respectful person respected.”

In an ideal society, the father is caring, the son filial; the elder brother is kind and the younger respectful; friends can always trust each other. Only with empathy can a person relate to others; and with his own kindness he will win their love and respect.

Those who have no kindness in them are no different from animals. While on the other hand, if one can have empathy for others, he will extend the subject of his love from his family to others, and to the society and his country.

If all can follow the preaching “respect other people’s elderly family members as if they were your own, and care for other people’s children as if they were your own,” we will have a harmonious society.

Wang Yangming, a Neo-Confucian philosopher from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), believed that one’s conscience and kindness are the supreme principle. If a person has a kind heart, he will find happiness in his own virtues and restrict his own desires with self-discipline.

Confucius said, “A man of virtue will not betray the principle of benevolence in the shortest while; he will follow this rule in times of danger or trouble.”

It’s important to promote kindness and respect between people. Respect for others is a key principle in ethics. A benevolent person cares for others, and a person with good etiquette respects others.

According to French philosopher Henri Bergson, life is a process, and manifests itself as endurance and duration, continually developing and generating new forms, while simultaneously increasing in consciousness and in élan vital.

Everyone and everything in this world is related. Kindness, respect and communication are vital in all circumstances as long as humanity prevails.

(The author is a cultural scholar)

(Translated by Debra Li)