On the issue of how to deal with those who have wronged us, Confucius holds a view very different from Jesus, although they are both against “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” While Jesus asks us to turn the left cheeks when someone strikes us on the right, Confucius advises us to repay an injury with uprightness. It is commonly believed that the position Confucius recommends here lies between the position Jesus recommends and the position they are both against: while the former is morally too demanding and the latter is morally too permissive, Confucius’s position is morally realistic. This essay argues against such a common conception and claims that the position Confucius advocates actually sets a moral standard that is even higher than Jesus’ position, since what Confucius asks us to do is to do all that we can to help the wrongdoer cease to be a wrongdoer and become a moral person.

在如何對待傷害我們的作惡者問題上，孔子和耶穌持很不相同的看法，雖然他們都反對以牙還牙或者以怨報怨。耶穌要求我們在右臉被打了以後轉過左臉；孔子則明確反對這樣一種以德報怨的做法，而主張以直報怨。一種通常的看法是，孔子贊成的這種以直報怨的立場介於耶穌的以德報怨和他們都反對的以怨報怨之間：前者過於理想主義，很難做到，而後者過於放任，沒有原則，唯有孔子的主張比較實際。本文反對這樣一種看法，認為孔子所主張的立場實際上比耶穌的以德報怨理想更高，要求更嚴，因為孔子的以直報怨之直乃是正曲為直之直，因此以直報怨就是要求我們想方設法使傷害我們的作惡者不再成為作惡者，並成為為善者。