1 Mencius said: “To fathom the mind is to understand your nature. And when you understand your nature, you understand Heaven. Foster your mind, nurture your nature – then you are serving Heaven.
“Don’t worry about dying young or living long. What will come will come. Cultivate yourself well – and patient in that perfection, let it come. Then you will stand firm in your fate.”
2 Mencius said: “Whatever happens is destiny, but we should accept only what is truly fated. Hence, one who understands destiny won’t stand beneath a wall teetering on the verge of collapse.
“To fathom the Way in life, and then die – that is our true fate. To live tangled in fetters, and then die – that is no one’s true fate.”
3 Mencius said: “What you seek you will find, and what you ignore you will lose. Where this saying is right, and to seek means to find, we’re seeking something within ourselves.
“To seek is a question of the Way, and to find is a question of destiny. Where this is right, and to seek doesn’t necessarily mean to find, we’re seeking something outside ourselves.”
4 Mencius said: “The ten thousand things are all there in me. And there’s no joy greater than looking within and finding myself faithful to them. Treat others as you would be treated. Devote yourself to that, for there’s no more direct approach to Humanity.”
5 Mencius said: “To enact it without making it clear, to enact it over and over without inquiring into it, to enact it for a lifetime without ever understanding its Way – that’s how it is for nearly everyone.”
6 Mencius said: “It’s impossible to be shameless. The shame of being shameless – that is shameless indeed.”
7 Mencius said: “Shame is a great thing for people. Crafty schemers have no use for shame. And if you aren’t ashamed of being inhuman, what will ever make you human?”
8 Mencius said: “In their love of virtue and benevolence, sage emperors of ancient times forgot about their exalted position. How could sage scholars of ancient times be any different? Delighting in the Way, they too forgot about exalted positions. So unless emperors and dukes came in reverence and according to Ritual, they were rarely admitted to see such scholars. And if it was nearly impossible to see them, how could those rulers ever convince them to take office?”
9 Mencius said to Sung Kou-chien: “You love to travel, offering your counsel to leaders, so I’ll tell you something about such things: Know contentment when your counsel is valued, and contentment when it’s ignored.”
“What must a person be to know such contentment?” asked Sung Kou-chien.
“If you honor Integrity and delight in Duty you can know such contentment,” replied Mencius. “The worthy never forget Duty when destitute, and never abandon the Way when they succeed. Not forgetting Duty when destitute, the worthy realize themselves. And when they succeed without abandoning the Way, the people’s faith in them never falters.
“When the ancients fulfilled their ambitions, bounty rained down on the people. When they failed, they were still worthy exemplars for all the world to see. Cultivate virtue and benevolence in yourself when destitute and alone. And when you succeed, share that virtue and benevolence with all beneath Heaven.”
10 Mencius said: “A commoner only feels called to great work when an Emperor Wen appears. But a great man sets to work even when there’s no sign of an Emperor Wen.”
11 Mencius said: “To live humble and dissatisfied with yourself, even if all the wealth of Han and Wei were added to your own – that is the mark of a person beyond compare.”
12 Mencius said: “If your Way is making life easier for them, the people won’t resent hard work. And if your Way is helping them live, the people won’t resent being led to their death.”
13 Mencius said: “Under the finest of august lords, the people seem peaceful and happy. Under a true emperor, they seem utterly content. They neither resent him when put to death, nor praise him when richly rewarded. They grow more virtuous and benevolent every day, without ever realizing who makes this happen.
“So it is that when the noble-minded pass through a place, they leave transformations behind. And when they dwell in a place, they work miracles. They grace the same stream as Heaven above and earth below: who can doubt their healing power?”
14 Mencius said: “It’s Humane music that goes deep inside people, not Humane words. And it’s virtuous teaching that wins people over, not virtuous government. The people fear virtuous government, but they love virtuous teaching. Virtuous government can win people’s wealth, but virtuous teaching can win their hearts.”
15 Mencius said: “To have an ability without being taught – that is true ability. To know without struggling to know – that is true knowing.
“Young children all know love for their parents. And when they grow up, they all know respect for their elders. Loving parents is Humanity, and respecting elders is Duty. That’s the secret. Just extend it throughout all beneath Heaven.”
16 Mencius said: “When Shun dwelled deep in the mountains, he dwelled among trees and stones, roamed with boar and deer. The difference between him and the other mountain people was slight indeed. But then he heard a single word of virtue, saw a single act of virtue, and it was like a great river breaking through its banks: nothing could stop it.”
17 Mencius said: “Don’t do what should not be done, and don’t desire what should not be desired. Abide by this one precept, and everything else will follow.”
18 Mencius said: “Integrity, wisdom, skill, intelligence – such things are forged in adversity. Like the son of a common mistress, a forsaken minister is ever cautious, ever watchful. That’s how he avoids danger and succeeds.”
19 Mencius said: “There are people who find satisfaction in serving a sovereign. There are ministers who find satisfaction in keeping the gods of grain content. There are the denizens of Heaven who learn what will benefit all beneath Heaven and put it into practice. And then there are the truly great: they can rectify all things by rectifying themselves.”
20 Mencius said: “The noble-minded have three great joys, and ruling all beneath Heaven is not one of them. To have parents alive and brothers well – that is the first joy. To face Heaven above and people below without any shame – that is the second joy. To attract the finest students in all beneath Heaven, and to teach and nurture them – that is the third joy. The noble-minded have three great joys, and ruling all beneath Heaven is not one of them.”
21 Mencius said: “The noble-minded may want a large country and vast population, but that isn’t what fills them with joy. To stand at the center of all beneath Heaven and bring contentment to people everywhere within the four seas – that’s what fills the noble-minded with joy. But it isn’t what answers to their nature. Their nature gains nothing if they manage the great affairs of state, and it loses nothing if they live in destitute obscurity. This is because the noble-minded know their given nature to be complete in itself.
“Humanity, Duty, Ritual, wisdom – such aspects of their nature take root in mind, flourish in appearance. There’s a calmness in the face of the noble-minded, a calmness that also graces their back, radiates through their four limbs. And so the body of someone noble-minded speaks a parable without words.”
22 Mencius said: “Po Yi fled the tyrant Chou and settled on the shores of the North Sea. On hearing Emperor Wen had come to power, he said I hear Wen takes good care of the old, so why not go back and serve him? Duke T’ai fled the tyrant Chou and settled on the shores of the West Sea. On hearing Emperor Wen had come to power, he said I hear Wen takes good care of the old, so why not go back and serve him? When there’s a ruler somewhere in all beneath Heaven who takes good care of the old, the Humane flock to serve him.
“When every five-acre farm has mulberry trees along the walls and a woman to raise silkworms, the old can wear silk. And when there are five hens and two sows, and their proper seasons aren’t neglected, the old need not go without meat. When every hundred-acre farm has a man to till the fields, even large families don’t go hungry.
“This is what they meant by Wen takes good care of the old. He organized farmlands and villages, taught people to plant mulberries and raise livestock, showed the women how to care for the aged. Without silk at fifty, people can’t keep warm. And without meat at seventy, they can’t get full. Not warm and not full – that is called freezing and starving. Among Emperor Wen’s people, the old never froze or starved. That’s what Po Yi and Duke T’ai were saying.”
23 Mencius said: “If you expand their fields and reduce their taxes, you’ll make the people rich. And if they use food according to season and wares according to Ritual, they’ll never exhaust their wealth.
“People can’t live without fire and water. But if you go knocking on gates at nightfall, asking for fire and water, no one will refuse you. That’s because fire and water are so plentiful. In ruling all beneath Heaven, the sage makes beans and millet as plentiful as fire and water. When beans and millet are as plentiful as fire and water, how can any of the people be Inhumane?”
24 Mencius said: “When Confucius climbed Tung Mountain, he realized how tiny Lu is. And when he climbed T’ai Mountain, he realized how tiny all beneath Heaven is. So it is that once you’ve seen oceans, water seems petty. And once you’ve entered the gate of a sage, words seem petty.
“But there’s an art to seeing water: look at its ripples, for the brilliance of sun and moon ignite anything that will hold light. And when water flows, it fills every hollow before moving on. It’s like this for the noble-minded in the Way: they succeed only if the pattern they make is beautiful.”
25 Mencius said: “To rise at the cock’s cry and practice virtue and benevolence with untiring diligence – that is to be a follower of Shun. To rise at the cock’s cry and chase profits with untiring diligence – that is to be a follower of Chih the bandit. There’s nothing more to the difference between Shun and Chih than this: the distinction between virtue and profit.”
26 Mencius said: “Yang Chu valued self above all: even if it would bring great profit to all beneath Heaven, he wouldn’t pluck a single hair from his head. Mo Tzu proposed universal love: if it would bring any profit to all beneath Heaven, he would toil long and hard, wearing every hair from his body.
“Now we have Master Mo who clings to the middle ground. The middle ground is closer to the mark, but unless he allows for the complexity of circumstance he’s still clinging to a single doctrine. The problem with clinging to a single doctrine is that it plunders the Way: to glorify the one, you cast out a hundred.”
27 Mencius said: “The hungry savor any food. The thirsty savor any drink. They have no discrimination in food and drink: hunger and thirst has ruined it. And hunger and thirst can ruin more than people’s tongues: it can also ruin their minds. Once you free your mind from the ruin of hunger and thirst, you no longer worry about failing to equal the great sages.”
28 Mencius said: “All the wealth of three dukes couldn’t make Liu-hsia Hui waver in his resolve.”
29 Mencius said: “Getting something done is like digging a well. You can dig a well seventy feet deep, but if you don’t hit water it’s just an abandoned well.”
30 Mencius said: “Yao and Shun possessed it by nature. T’ang and Wu embodied it. And the five chiefs of the august lords borrowed it. But if you borrow something long enough, who would know it isn’t yours?”
31 Kung-sun Ch’ou said: “Yi Yin banished T’ai Chia to T’ung,1 saying: I can’t be so intimately involved with someone who is so contrary. The people were greatly pleased. And when T’ai Chia returned to Yi Yin a sage, the people were again greatly pleased. When a sage serves as minister under a sovereign who is not a sage, can he banish the sovereign?”
“He can if his motives are like Yi Yin’s,” replied Mencius. “But if his motives aren’t like Yi Yin’s, it’s usurping the throne.”
32 Kung-sun Ch’ou said: “The Songs say the noble-minded never eat the food of idleness. What do you think of the noble-minded living on food they haven’t grown themselves?”
“When a noble-minded man lives in a country and the sovereign values him,” replied Mencius, “the sovereign gains peace and wealth, honor and glory. When disciples follow him, they learn to honor parents and elders, to earn trust and stand by their words. If there’s anyone who never eats the food of idleness, surely it’s him.”
33 Prince T’ien asked: “What is the task of a worthy official?”
“To cultivate the highest of purposes,” replied Mencius.
“What do you mean by the highest of purposes?”
“It’s simple: Humanity and Duty. You defy Humanity if you cause the death of a single innocent person, and you defy Duty if you take what is not yours. What is our dwelling-place if not Humanity? And what is our road if not Duty? To dwell in Humanity and follow Duty – that is the perfection of a great person’s task.”
34 Mencius said: “If he were offered the state of Ch’i in violation of Duty, everyone believes Master Chung would refuse. But this is only the Duty that refuses a basket of rice and a bowl of soup.
“There’s nothing great about abandoning your place in the bonds of parent and family, sovereign and minister, leader and citizen. How is it people see something so small and believe it to be great?”
35 T’ao Ying asked: “When Shun was the Son of Heaven and Kao Yao was the justice minister, what would have happened if Blind Purblind killed someone?”
“Kao Yao would have arrested him,” replied Mencius.
“But wouldn’t Shun have forbidden it?”
“How could he forbid it? Kao Yao had been given authority.”
“Then what would Shun have done?”
“Casting all beneath Heaven aside meant no more to Shun than casting aside an old sandal,” said Mencius. “He would have stolen away with his father on his back, and gone to live beside the sea. He would have lived out his life happily there, forgetting all beneath Heaven entirely.”
36 When Mencius was traveling from Fan to Ch’i, he saw the Ch’i prince and said with a sigh: “A dwelling-place transforms the ch’i, just as food transforms the body. Great indeed is the influence of a dwelling-place – for aren’t we all alike born of humankind?”
Then he continued: “This prince’s house, carriage, and clothes aren’t much different from other people’s. And yet he’s so different. If his dwelling-place can do that, imagine dwelling in the most boundless dwelling-place of all beneath Heaven.
“The sovereign of Lu once went to Sung and called out at Tieh-tse Gate. Hearing him, the gatekeeper said: This isn’t my sovereign. How is it he sounds so much like my sovereign? The reason is simple: their dwelling-places were so much alike.”
37 Mencius said: “To feed people without showing them love – that is to treat them like pigs. To love people without showing them reverence – that is to keep them like pets. But honor and reverence are gifts not yet given. Honor and reverence without substance – you can’t lure the noble-minded with such empty gestures.”
38 Mencius said: “Our appearance belongs to the nature of Heaven. Only as a true sage can you abide by your appearance.”
39 When Emperor Hsüan of Ch’i wanted to shorten his mourning period, Kung-sun Ch’ou said: “A year of mourning is better than none at all, isn’t it?”
“That’s like watching someone twist an elder’s arm and saying: Gently. Do it gently,” replied Mencius. “What you should do is teach him how to honor parents and elders.”
At the same time, there was a prince whose mother had died. On the prince’s behalf, his teacher asked that he be allowed a mourning period of several months. “What do you think of that?” asked Kung-sun Ch’ou.
“The prince wants to observe the full mourning period,” replied Mencius, “but he cannot. In this case, even a single day is better than nothing. There was nothing preventing Emperor Hsüan from mourning: he just wanted to avoid it.”
40 Mencius said: “The noble-minded teach in five ways. They transform like rain coming in its season. They realize Integrity. They perfect talents. They answer questions. They cultivate themselves and so stand apart as examples. These five ways are how the noble-minded teach.”
41 Kung-sun Ch’ou said: “The Way is lofty and beautiful indeed, but it’s like climbing to Heaven: it seems impossible to reach. Why not offer something people can hope to reach, something they can work at day after day with untiring diligence?”
“A great carpenter doesn’t abandon the measuring string to make woodwork easy for inept apprentices,” replied Mencius. “And Yi didn’t give up a strong full draw to make archery easy for inept students. The noble-minded draw the bow and hold it. Then it seems they’ve leapt into the center of the Way, letting whoever is able follow them there.”
42 Mencius said: “When all beneath Heaven abides in the Way, people use the Way to find themselves. When all beneath Heaven ignores the Way, people use themselves to find the Way. I never hear of using the Way to find the human anymore.”
43 Adept Kung-tu said: “When T’eng Keng was your disciple, he seemed a man deserving of the Ritual respect, but you refused to answer his questions. Why?”
“When people wield such privileged positions as renown or wisdom, age or merit or friendship,” replied Mencius, “I never answer them. And T’eng Keng wielded two of them.”
44 Mencius said: “If someone stops where they should not, they’ll stop anywhere. If someone slights a person they should treat generously, they’ll slight anyone. And if someone races ahead, they retreat in a hurry.”
45 Mencius said: “The noble-minded love things, but don’t treat them with Humanity. They treat the people with Humanity, but don’t treat them as kindred. Once you treat kindred as kindred, you treat the people with Humanity. And once you treat the people with Humanity, you love things.”
46 Mencius said: “The wise understand all things, and so devote themselves to the essentials. The Humane love all things, and so consider kindred devotion to the sages essential. The wisdom of Yao and Shun was that they didn’t treat all things alike: they devoted themselves to essentials first. And the Humanity of Yao and Shun was that they didn’t love all people alike: they devoted themselves to kindred affection for the sages.
“To be meticulous about mourning for a few months while declining to mourn the full three years, to ask about the etiquette of dining while swilling soup and wolfing down food – such things are called not understanding the essentials.”