golden rule

n.
The biblical teaching that one should behave toward others as one would have others behave toward oneself.

The generally used appellation for the statement in the New Testament (Matt. 7:12; Luke 6:31), "As you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise." This is no more than a rephrasing of "Love your fellow as yourself" (Lev. 19:18). Hillel (1st cent. BCE), when asked by a gentile to teach him the entire Torah "in a nutshell," produced an operative rewording of this same idea, "Whatever is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow" (Shab. 31a). Hillel also phrased this positively (Avot 1:12): "Love all creatures."

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"Do unto others what you would have them do unto you," a staple of most religious traditions, is a philosophy known as the golden rule.

Sometimes it is cast in the negative:

Buddhism: Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful (Udanavarga).

Confucianism: Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you (Analects 15:2).

Hinduism: Do naught unto others [that] which would cause you pain if done to you (Mahabharata 5:1517).

Judaism: That which is hateful unto you, do not impose on others (Talmud, Shabbat 31a).

Other times it is put in positive terms:

Christianity: As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them (Luke 6:13).

Islam: No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself (Sunan).

(See also GOLGOTHA see Calvary/Golgotha)

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Any form of the dictum, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ In some form this is found in almost all religions and ethical systems. Kant's moral philosophy is centred on the enterprise of making a version of the rule compulsory for rational agents (see categorical/hypothetical imperative). The rule is sometimes parodied as, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto themselves.’