Mencius puts forward graded love: cherish creatures without full benevolence, treat people kindly yet less intimately than family. True virtue starts with loving relatives, expands to caring for people, and finally extends affection to all natural things.
The Mohist scholar Yi Zhi, through Xu Bi (a disciple of Mencius), requested to meet Mencius. Mencius said: “I’d be glad to see him, but I’m still unwell. Once I recover, I’ll go to him – Yi Zhi need not come!”