shu

The other half of Jen’s expressions is the Shu. The Shu or altruism is defined as relating unto others. According to Eisenberg (1986), Altruistic behavior aims to benefit others without expecting a prize in return. It is in being altruistic that one treats his fellowmen with goodness and helps them in their need for the sake of helping. It is extending oneself towards others in a humane way and with empathy.

By translation, Jen is ‘humaneness’ which is a high Confucian principle. Upon achieving this humaneness, one cultivates one’s innate goodness and manifests it to others. This manifestation comes from that genuine urge of a person to be benevolent and caring towards his fellowmen. In analects 14:45, Confucius speaks of a superior man who enriches oneself in order to pass it on to others. The superior man, therefore, is one who is generous and sensitive to the need of humanity. So much so that one can assume that the superior man loves himself as much as he loves humanity.

Talking about the superior man as a giving person, the saying ‘you cannot give what you do not have’ is what he has in practice of both chung and shu.

In analects 15:23, Confucius described shu as a guiding principle throughout life. Along with this, Confucius mentions his golden rule ‘Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you’. We can say that in another sense, a superior man exercises altruism not just through giving but also in not giving. What does this mean? What the superior man extends to others is not just giving for the sake of giving. It is giving what is upright and worthy to be given. The golden rule implicates that one must reflect what he is about to give. The superior man gives security and peace to others. Therefore he does not give anything ill to the people. The superior man recognizes the importance of generosity as well as reflecting on the effects of what he is giving because the ill effects of these actions might also come back to haunt.