-Good thoughts. Confucius emphasized "benevolence" and advocated that "benevolent people love others". In The Analects of Confucius, there are "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you", "It is important to establish a person and reach out", and "A person who can do five things in the world (respect, tolerance, faith, sensitivity and benefit) is a benevolent person". Confucius regards "benevolence" as the highest moral standard and quality, and "loving others" means putting yourself in others' shoes. For the rulers, the people should get more benefits. After the development of Mencius, this thought of Confucius formed a more systematic people-oriented thought.
-the spirit of the whole. In Confucianism, national interests, social interests, national interests and overall interests all occupy a particularly important position. Confucius believes that the only condition to realize "benevolence" is "self-denial and courtesy", that is, to restrain oneself from all thoughts and behaviors that do not conform to "courtesy", and this "courtesy" is the political system, legal norms and ethics of the country. In addition to "ceremony", Confucianism emphasizes "righteousness" and advocates "righteousness first" and "righteousness before benefit". "Righteousness" here mainly refers to the overall interests, and "profit" mainly refers to personal self-interest. After the Song Dynasty, the Confucian division of justice and benefit also emphasized the importance of national interests and social interests, and believed that the essence of the division of justice and benefit was the division of public and private interests. Confucian holism has played an important role in carrying forward the patriotic spirit of the Chinese nation.
-The value of interpersonal relationships. Confucianism attaches importance to and emphasizes everyone's position, obligations and rights in social relations. Confucius emphasized the importance of the relationship between "Jun Jun, minister, father and son", while Mencius put forward the principle of "father and son are blind, monarch and minister are righteous, husband and wife are different, young and old are orderly, and friends are trustworthy". Confucianism pays special attention to "filial piety" as the foundation and basis of various interpersonal relationships, and then emphasizes "changing filial piety into loyalty" to achieve the purpose of maintaining the ruling order and national interests.
-the meaning of self-cultivation. Confucius advocated that the pursuit of ideal personality should be regarded as an advanced fishing demand among various needs of life under the condition that material life is basically satisfied. He believes that even in the case of hard material life, you can still live an optimistic and happy life as long as you have a noble spiritual pursuit. Confucius praised Yan Hui, a student, and said, "One scoop of food and one scoop of drink, in a mean alley, people can't bear to worry, so they won't change their interest when they go back. It's good to go back! " Talking about himself, he said, "Eat less, drink more water, bend your arms to rest on it and have fun." Unjust wealth is like a cloud to me. Confucius advocated self-cultivation, self-denial and cautious independence, while Mencius advocated self-cultivation, keeping the family in order and self-cultivation. Confucianism believes that in order to make the country rich and strong, "from Tian Zi to Shu Ren, self-cultivation is the foundation", emphasizing that "self-cultivation" is the premise and foundation of managing the family, governing the country and leveling the world. Confucianism also believes that "those who put an end to the chaos are not guilty, those who are thick are thin, and those who are thin are thick and omnipresent." "That is to say, everyone's moral cultivation is like the root of a tree, and the prosperity of a country is like lush branches and leaves. If the roots wither, how can there be lush branches and leaves? Emphasizing personal cultivation is related to the prosperity of the country.
Therefore, the core of Confucianism is "benevolence"-benevolence loves others, which is simply "courtesy"-self-denial. Its characteristic is to emphasize the moral spirit of benevolence and courtesy, which is a close combination of ethics and politics, and its essence is an ethical thought serving politics. For governing the country, its general plan for governing the country and ensuring national security mainly includes the following four points: First, it insists on the combination of "benefiting the people", "benefiting the people" and "enriching the people" with "teaching the people", "reforming the people" and "guiding the people". The second is to adhere to the unity of "punishment" and "moral education". Third, governing the country should be "people-oriented". The fourth is to set an example for politics.
The politicization of ethics and ethics are the fundamental reasons why Confucianism can be respected by the rulers and become the ideology of the ruling class in China's long feudal society.