Note 30 — THE SAYINGS OF CONFUCIUS

Legge translates shu "reciprocity," apparently for no other reason than to explain the maxim that follows. But it really stands for something higher than the strictly utilitarian principle of do ut des. Both here and in another famous passage (see p. 118) it is almost equivalent to jên, goodness of heart, only with the idea of altruism more explicitly brought out. It connotes sympathetic consideration for others, and hence the best rendering would seem to be "loving-kindness" or "charity." The concluding maxim is really nothing more nor less than the Golden Rule of Christ, though less familiar to us in its negative form.