Selfish vs Self Interest

Confucius believed  very heavily that in order to follow the Decree of Heaven you must be able to do something for nothing or "Acting in order to do what is right, rather that what is profitable," (16). I questioned this statement wondering if it was truly possible for someone to do something for simply moral reasons, in such a way that they gain nothing. My initial reaction was 'no, we would only ever do something that we would potentially gain from.' After talking about this very issue in class I discovered that it was a very large debate among scholars and the true issue the Confucius was concerned with was selfishness versus self interest.
Even if you do something like charity, giving your own time to help an organization like a homeless shelter, or giving money to a fundraiser, you always gain something. When people are asked why they do volunteer at a homeless shelter a common response is 'because helping people makes me feel good' or 'I want to help people.' These seem like perfectly innocent and selfless acts, but as soon as you add makes me or I want you are doing it fill your own desires.
But is this not exactly what Confucius preached; that we need to practice benevolence? There is no way to escape seeming somewhat selfish. As humans we are programmed to be so and there is nothing we can do about it. For some, this can be a very agitating thought, so let me put it in different terms for you. What Confucius warned against was taking actions that were profitable in the sense that you would gain money, or a higher position, or profit financially in any way (what we will call selfish). Instead he wished for people to take actions to help other people because they want to and it is the right thing to do, yes there is still self interest there but it is much different.
So be at ease, as humans we can not escape doing something without some sort of self interest but that is perfectly fine.