"Charity," replied Confucius, "and duty towards one's neighbour."
"Tell me, please," asked Lao Tzŭ, "are these part of man's original nature?"
The question of an innate moral sense early occupied the attention of Chinese thinkers.
"They are," answered Confucius. "Without charity, the superior man could not become what he is. Without duty to one's neighbour, he would be of no effect. These two belong to the original nature of a pure man. What further would you have?"
"Tell me," said Lao Tzŭ, "in what consist charity and duty to one's neighbour?"
"They consist," answered Confucius, "in a capacity for rejoicing in all things; in universal love, without the element of self. These are the characteristics of charity and duty to one's neighbour."
"What stuff!" cried Lao Tzŭ. "Does not universal love contradict itself?
If every one loves every one, there can be no such thing as love, just as absolute altruism only achieves the same result as absolute egoism.
Is not your elimination of self a positive manifestation of self?