Confucius summarizes the most basic ethical virtue with one word: 恕 shù, which means "having the same mind with others" (Analects 15:24). That is, one needs to consider others as oneself. One must think from the other's perspective and have empathy with others. This idea is well expressed in his word: rén zhě rén yě (仁者人也), which means: "To love is to become the person" (The Doctrine of the Mean). By the way, love (Ren in Chinese: 仁) appears frequently, 106 times, in the Analects of Confucius.
Mencius, an indomitable interpreter of Confucius, expresses this idea of empathy with cè yǐn zhī xīn (惻隱之心), which means a mind of mercy toward others. The concept of shù corresponds to that of mercy as in the parables of Jesus who subverts the world of the hearers by emphasizing the need of caring for the needy and desperate. My recent article "Reading Mercy in the Parables of Jesus" investigates the theme of mercy in Jesus's parables. The article's abstract may be helpful:
The parables of Jesus deal with various issues in human lives, ranging from personal crisis to economic justice. The culture of competition and comparison has deleterious effects on the weak and marginalized. Some parables of Jesus address these problems: “Father and Two Sons” (Luke 15:11-32), “Pharisee and Tax Collector” (Luke 18:9-14), “Wheat and Weed” (Matt 13:24-30), and “Vineyard Workers” (Matt 20:1-16). In these parables, Jesus challenges the merciless society and the culture of competition, asking his audience to see others through the lens of mercy.