"Benevolence" was a moral category with extensive meanings in ancient China. This refers to the mutual love between people. Confucius regards "benevolence" as the highest moral principle, standard and realm. He was the first to integrate the whole moral standard and formed an ethical thought structure with "benevolence" as the core, including filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, forgiveness, courtesy, knowledge, courage, respect, tolerance, faith, sensitivity and benefit. Filial piety is the foundation of benevolence and one of the basic pillars of benevolence's ideological system. He proposed to devote himself to the realization of "benevolence", that is, the view of "killing one's body to become benevolence", which had a great influence on later generations.

Confucius is one of the greatest thinkers and educators in China and even in the world, and the founder of China's ideology and culture. Confucius' thoughts are all-encompassing and profound, and all the rich features of China's cultural development can be found from Confucius. One of the main characteristics of Confucius' thought is that he put forward the famous idea of "benevolence", so that some people later summarized Confucius' thought as "benevolence". So, what are the characteristics of Confucius' thought about "benevolence"? In the Analects of Confucius, the word "benevolence" appears as many as 109 times, which shows that "benevolence" occupies a very important position in Confucius' ideological system. So, what does Confucius mean by "benevolence"? On different occasions, at different times and for different subjects, the meaning of "benevolence" expounded by Confucius is not exactly the same, which creates a free space for different value subjects to understand in the process of implementing "benevolence". Any theory can find its theoretical basis from Confucius' exposition.

Specifically, we should grasp Confucius' "benevolence" from the following four aspects:

First, the attitude towards "benevolence". Confucius advocated that everyone should have a "benevolent" desire and sincerely seek "benevolence". In doing so, you will get "benevolence". To achieve the realm of "benevolence" lies in how you do it yourself, not how others preach it. Only the active pursuit of the subject itself can achieve the ideal realm of "benevolence" It shows that Confucius believes that "benevolence" is a conscious internal emotional behavior that no one can replace. As long as he has a correct attitude, he can realize the requirement of "benevolence" Confucius emphasized that we should have a clear attitude towards "benevolence" in our inner values. Confucius' thought of pursuing the value of "benevolence" was extended to "four-terminal theory" by Mencius later. Confucius' emphasis on the thought of "benevolence" shows that the thought and theory of "benevolence" is the value core of Confucius' whole ideological system.

Second, the value connotation of "benevolence" Judging from Confucius' theory of "benevolence" in The Analects of Confucius, its value connotation mainly refers to the emotion and complacency of "benevolence". Confucius' thought is about how to deal with the relationship between people, people and society, and people and themselves, and it is also about people's own development. What Confucius advocated was how to realize the ideal personality in real life. An important embodiment of the spiritual value of "benevolence" is "to make a success by yourself" and "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you." Confucius believes that "benevolence" is "love". From the theoretical source, Confucius' "view of love" comes from the thoughts of "protecting the people" and "respecting the people" in the early Zhou Dynasty. As an important spiritual connotation of benevolence, "love" has a wide range of applicability. In the value connotation of Confucius' theory of benevolence, a series of contents derived from "love" profoundly reflect Confucius' concern for the general public in the development of human society as a whole, and his concern for the common and harmonious development among people, thus establishing Confucius' position as the greatest thinker in China and even the world. Moreover, thousands of years later, a series of ideas put forward by Confucius still have universal applicability and eternal value.

Third, the expression of "benevolence". Caring for the people with a broad and generous mind is the expression of "benevolence", that is, "loving the people and loving the people." First of all, it is the sublimation of self-cognition and the internal reflection of self-psychological state. Benevolence, as a reflection of the inner psychological state of the value subject, is an indispensable thing in the process of realizing the ideal personality. Only by strictly demanding yourself with the standard of "benevolence" and examining your thoughts with the realm of "benevolence" is the premise of reaching the lofty realm of truth, goodness and beauty. Confucius' expression of "benevolence" is also reflected in that man is always the subject and the object of human research and concern, and all the development of thought and behavior is centered around "man". According to Confucius, it is impossible for a person with essential problems and evil thoughts to reach the realm of "benevolence".

Fourth, the practical value of benevolence. Confucius' thought of "benevolence" is very practical. He pays attention to society and reality, and always pays attention to how to realize people's all-round development in real life. Confucius' theory of "benevolence" is not a purely speculative metaphysical theoretical system, but tells people what to do with specific behaviors. This is not the embodiment of practical rationality in the philosophical sense, but the ultimate concern for the sublimation of ordinary people's personality and the liberation of human nature. Confucius also believes that "the benevolent is benevolent, and there is no harm in saving, and there is benevolence in death." For the lofty realm of "benevolence", we will never do anything that violates the highest moral standards. If necessary, we will sacrifice ourselves to achieve this cause. As a result, "giving one's life for others" has become the code of conduct for some intellectuals in later generations to die for their country. Under the guidance of this principle, many "people with lofty ideals" have struggled for the cause of the country and the nation all their lives.

The connotation of the important concept of "benevolence" in Confucius' ideological system is extremely rich, including how to achieve the realm of "benevolence" internally and how to achieve the realm of "benevolence" externally. From the cultivation of personal ideal personality to the ideal social behavior of governing the country, it is an ideal personality cultivation system with profound connotation, including personal life and group life. Confucius' thought of "benevolence" still has its rationality and applicability today, which is also the strong vitality of Confucius' thought. Confucius' thought provided a theoretical reference for Mencius and Xunzi's thought of "being a saint inside and being a king outside", and some of his behaviors were even completely absorbed by later generations, becoming an eternal "eternal fire" in Confucian humanistic thought.