A Study On Mencius Benevolence Philosophy

As the successor and developer of the sophistication of custom and sacrifice and spirit of Zhou dynasty,Mencius,living in the spring and autumn and warring states period,advocated a filial piety as the starting point for the reconstruction of a harmonious society.Through rule by morality and education,he wanted to build this benevolent society with priority in rank,protection of people's livelihood and prosperous morality.The benevolence philosophy of Mencius can be divided into three levels:family harmony,political harmony and the core,social harmony.All of them are based on the goodness of human nature.Mencius believed that human beings were born good.He said:"When I say human beings are inherently good,I am talking about their most fundamental emotional qualities.If someone does evil,it is not the fault of their natural endowment."That's also where his theory came from.The core of the goodness of human nature is the process from"four hearts"to"four senses".Here"four basic senses"refers to the origins of"four virtues".Only by fostering and expanding self-cultivation can people reach this goal.As Mencius said that human beings need to maintain and develop their nature goodness,or they will lose their goodness easily.He also mentioned the ways to preserve people's goodness:the first one is to lessen one's desires,as Mencius said"For cultivating the mind,there is nothing better than to lessen desire.Secondly,always be truthful.Being itself is the way of nature;seeking the way of nature is what man is set for.Mencius said,If I reflect on myself and find that I am sincere,shouldn't I be overjoyed?The last one is nourishing one's vast ch'i.According to Mencius,the vast ch'i is something that is produced by accumulating Rightness.With it one can ecome a true great man whom no money and rank can confuse, no poverty and hardship can shake,and no power and force can suffocate.He also pointed out that Foundation of the world is countries,foundation of country is families,and foundation of family is oneself.In Mencius's view,filial piety originates from one's very natural blood bond.Kindness or benevolence,as a human nature,can be made use of to handle interpersonal relationships within the patriarchal family,and then to direct the construction of political and social order.This is because in the patriarchal society,family,clan and country have much in common in organizational structure,that is,a family is a small community,a country is a large one,and they two are combined with clan by the natural bond----blood relationship to form a united whole,in which the core content is hierarchal order.A country's stability depends on the peace of its families,therefore,filial piety is of vital importance in national stability.As Mencius said in his article Li Lou,"a country can enjoy peace as long as every person loves his parents and respects his elders."Mencius said:"All people have a heart which cannot stand to see the suffering of others.The ancient kings had this heart which could not stand to see the suffering of others,and,with this,operated a government which could not stand to see the suffering of the people.If,in this state of mind,you ran a government which could not endure people's suffering,you could govern the realm as if you were turning it in the palm of your hand.""Mencius?Gongsun Chou")Everyone,including the ruler,has a heart which cannot stand to see the suffering of others.It is this kind of heart that distinguishes human beings from animals.The policy of benevolence is simply the expansion of the ruler's mercy from life to politics.It is mainly about how to protect,preserve and educate people.Besides,whether the policy of benevolence can come into force depends on the extending affection from the ruler.Mencius based his idea of social benevolence and harmony on individual's good nature.The idea has two levels,enlightenment and love to nature,which helps to build harmonious relation between people,and the relation between human and nature through the means of"being close to enlighten the people,then love the nature"(Chin Hsin(part one)).Therefore,Mencius's thought of benevolence and harmony is based on the theory of the goodness of human nature,paying attention on the effect of filial piety,which is the essence of morality.Among all the traits of morality,filial piety is the most important one. It reflects the logic pattern of mood, morality,benevolence, enlightenment,harmony,which reveals the character of Confucian theory that collect the family and state.