Mo Di’s life was sandwiched between the death of Confucius and the birth of Mencius, who was Confucius’ most significant early interpreter and is said to have studied Confucian doctrine under a disciple of Zi Si, who was Confucius’ grandson.
Mencius is a Latinised form of the Chinese name Mengzi, ‘Master Meng’, and in this chapter we shall refer to the individual as Mencius and the book about his life and teaching as the Mengzi.
The earliest account of Mencius’ life is to be found in the Shiji of Si-ma Qian, where he is stated to have been from the state of Zou, from where he began his travels to converse with various rulers on the matter of government. He first secured official status in around 320 BCE under King Hui of Liang, but subsequently found problems in getting his ideas accepted because, as Si-ma Qian records, the Warring States had entered a phase of major inter-state alliances, and their concentration on military and security affairs meant that Mencius’ teaching of the Sage Kings and Confucius’ philosophy was largely irrelevant to the turbulent environment. The extent of militarisation at this time can be gauged from the reference made by Si-ma Qian to the employment of Sunzi, author of the still authoritative book The Art of War, to assist the state of Qi in obtaining the subjection of the feudal lords to its rule. As in the case of Confucius, the disappointed philosopher retired to teach, and his disciples, possibly with the participation of Mencius himself, set down his teaching in the book that bears his name, the Mengzi.
The Mengzi is a compilation of stories about Mencius, his disciples and his teaching, and is a rich source of information about Confucianism in the fifth century BCE. Because of its directly anecdotal nature, it is far easier to follow than the Analects of Confucius, and because of its authorship, even if Mencius’ own authorship is imaginary, it is much closer in time to Mencius than is the Analects to Confucius. The stories in the Mengzi also relate to individuals who are known from other historical records and traditions, so we get a very clear impression of Mencius’ times and the key elements of Confucian philosophy of the period.
One of Mencius’ main projects in philosophy was to close a gap in the Confucian account of humanity. In all his recorded sayings, Confucius never presented an argument about why it was that a man should act in accordance with yi, righteous conduct, and practice ren, human-heartedness. Mencius made it one of his aims to explain this principle, and in so doing he explored the quality of human nature.
According to Mencius, this question had previously been given three possibilities:
In Mencius’ opinion these views were all in error. He taught that human nature was inherently good, and that other elements, which although not inherently bad might lead to bad results, were those that mankind held in common with the animal kingdom, and so were not strictly part of human nature. Therefore, concluded Mencius, human nature could be seen as inherently good. The Mengzi expresses this as follows:
Mencius said, ‘All men by nature have a kind2 heart. The kings of antiquity had kind hearts, and so their government was kind. By applying a kind heart to practice kind government, in administering the whole world one may turn it in the palm of one’s hand. ‘It follows from the proposition that all men have a kind heart, that if now anyone suddenly were to see an infant about to fall into a well, they would react with alarm and distress. This is not because they seek praise from the child’s parents, nor is it because they wish to gain the praise of their neighbours and friends, nor because they fear for their reputation should they not intervene in the situation.
‘From this we can see one who lacks compassion is not fully human, one who fails to abhor evil is not fully human, one who lacks modesty is not fully human, one who lacks a conscience3 is not fully human. Compassion is the origin of Ren, abhorrence of evil is the origin of right conduct, modesty is the origin of ritual and conscience is the origin of wisdom.’
From this conclusion, Mencius then proceeds to the proposition that it is the duty of mankind to develop these four characteristics – ren (
), yi (
), li (
) and zhi (
) – to become a fully developed human being. From this it follows that education in the Confucian manner is a matter of guiding the goodness inherent in human nature. In this way Mencius uses a single parable to tie together ren, yi, li and zhi in a coherent scheme. This was to become the dominant theme of Confucianism through the ages, and survived despite efforts by later Confucian thinkers to overturn Mencius’ idea of the inherent goodness of mankind.
In addition to Mencius’ innovation in declaring this innate goodness, the Mengzi also expands and clarifies the basic ideas referred to in Confucius’ Analects. A key idea in this category is the Mandate of Heaven (
, tian ming), deriving from a very early idea in Chinese philosophy, probably current among the early occultists. There had long been a theory that Man’s activities were conducted under a generally benign influence of tian, which literally means ‘sky’, and had extended connotations similar to the Western word ‘heaven’, although the Chinese tian is perhaps more of a power base than a mystical paradise. We first come across the phrase tian ming in the Book of Documents (Shu Jing), sometimes referred to as the Book of History.
The Shu Jing is a collection of documents referring to very ancient events, from the earliest times down to the Zhou Dynasty, which was believed to have been either written or edited by Confucius. This gave it an exalted status among the Confucians and others, and it formed a valued source of historical information for later generations of Chinese scholars and administrators. We now know that Confucius probably had nothing to do with its compilation, and that much of its material dates from the third century BCE, although stylistic grounds indicate that it contains material from very early times. Other material is almost certainly an imaginative re-creation of the third century BCE or thereabouts, and one such passage is ‘the Proclamation of Tang’, which purports to be the inaugural speech of the first ruler of the Shang Dynasty.
In the Proclamation, Tang has returned from the conquest of Xia to great acclaim, and addresses ‘the populace from all the ten thousand directions’. He invokes ‘the August Emperor of Tian’ as the one who sends down righteousness upon the people of the earth. If, he says, one has a constant nature, then one can restrain one’s discourse and consider one’s successors. However, the king of Xia had extinguished virtue and practised oppression, visiting great calamity on those who now made up his audience, and dragging them into his cruelty so that they could not endure the consequences and shouted in protest to spirits both high and low. Since Tian’s way is to reward the good and punish evil, calamity fell upon Xia as punishment for its crimes. Tang continues:
Then, taking the bright majesty of the Mandate of Heaven, I did not dare to grant pardon. I presumed to use a dark-coloured male sacrifice,4 and to call on the spirits of highest Tian, requesting that Xia be punished. Then I sought the primal Sage and joined my strength with his so that together with you all I should request the Mandate. Highest Tian confirmed its blessing of the people, and the criminal has been crushed. The Mandate of Heaven did not err in this; embellished like the grasses and trees, the augury showed that the people will grow in trust.5
This passage, taken from one of the Confucian Classics, clearly shows how a ruler was considered to rule only so long as he had Tian’s authority to do so. Should he fail to rule well, Tian would withdraw the mandate from the present ruler and grant it instead to the leader of the successor regime. This had two long-term consequences for government administration in China. First, successful rebellion was philosophically and politically viewed as legitimate, so the administration of the state could continue uninterrupted, often with the same civil service in place. Secondly, because the succession of regimes was built into the conceptual system of the administrators, each regime from the Han onward was to have an Office of History that would compile an archive of material specifically for use by the successor regime to write the history of its predecessor.
This explanation puts into perspective the brief reference to the Mandate of Heaven in the Analects, where Confucius is recorded as saying:
At fifteen my mind was set on study, by thirty I was established, by forty I had no doubts, at fifty I understood the Mandate of Heaven, at sixty I understood all I heard, at seventy I followed my heart’s wishes, without offending.
Confucius clearly felt that the Mandate of Heaven was something one only understood after considerable study, which would have involved the study of the Book of Documents and the Book of Odes. The latter, as we have seen, was another of the Confucian Classics, and is a collection of ancient verse. Mencius refers to it in the one chapter of the Mengzi where he uses the phrase 
, tian ming:
Mencius said, ‘If the world is characterised by Dao, those of lesser virtue will serve those of greater virtue, and those of lesser wisdom will serve those of greater wisdom, whereas if the world lacks Dao, the small serve the great and the weak serve the strong. These two cases are a consequence of Tian. Those who follow Tian survive, but those who rebel against Tian are lost. Duke Jing of Qi said, “Since we cannot successfully command, neither can we receive the Mandate; this means that we are finished.” Weeping, he sent his womenfolk to the state of Wu.6 Today small states emulate large states, but are ashamed at receiving their orders, but this is like a small boy being ashamed at taking instruction from his teacher. If one is ashamed like this, none is more worth emulating than King Wen. By emulating King Wen, a large state could extend its rule to the whole world within five years, a small state within seven years. The Book of Odes says:
“The descendants of Shang
numbered not less than one hundred thousand,
Shangdi terminated the Mandate,
they were bound in subjection to Zhou.
Subjected to Zhou
because Tian’s Mandate is not unchanging.
The knights of Yin are fine active men,
but they poured their libations in the capital of Zhou.”
Confucius said, “Ren cannot be achieved by
numbers. However, consider when the ruler loves
Ren, his realm will have no enemies.” Today, to wish
to have no enemies in the realm, while not using Ren,
is like grasping fire before quenching it. The Book of Odes says,
“Who is able to grasp the flame
without even thinking of quenching it?” ’
This passage, with its references to Confucius and the Book of Odes, makes it clear where Mencius stands on the question of the Mandate of Heaven. He also makes many references to Tian as an entity which influences the destiny of rulers and states, and in this way he established the doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven as a cornerstone of Confucianism.
Having secured the Mandate of Heaven, how then should the ruler maintain it? Mencius confirms very clearly that the well-being of the state is based on Confucius’ idea of a series of hierarchical relationships, and he gives a number of examples which flesh out the brief statements in the Analects.
One of his conversations with Duke Xuan of Qi, who asked him about governing his state, concluded with the following:
If you wish to practice it, then why do you not return to its fundamentals? If a plot of 5 mu were planted up with mulberry trees,7 then people of fifty may be clothed in silk. If the husbandry of chickens, pigs, dogs and boar is well-conducted, then people of seventy may eat meat. If you do not snatch away cultivation time from 100 mu of arable land, then a household of eight people will avoid starvation. If you supervise what is taught in the schools, and ensure that it will teach fraternal right-conduct, then those whose hair is streaked with white will not carry burdens on the road. There has never been a failure of rule when the old are well-dressed and well-fed and the populace is free from hunger and calamity.
So, in Mencius’ view, the basis of good government demands physical and mental well-being among the people, and the foundation of the latter is a sound education in filial duty. The reference to cultivation time being ‘snatched away’ from the land in this passage refers to the tendency of landowners to demand service from agricultural workers, who could not then tend their own crops. In Confucian theory, land tenure and duty to the landowner were described in terms of what was known as the ‘well field’ system 
). The shape of the character for a well (
) divides a roughly square area into nine equal sub-areas, and in the following passage the descriptions of areas and sub-areas are based on this pattern, referred to as a ‘well’. It is unlikely that the areas discussed actually constituted a neat ‘well’ pattern, but rather that the ‘well’ analogy neatly defined an 8:1 ratio:
Bi Zhan of Teng was sent to ask about dividing land according to the well pattern.
Mencius said, ‘Your ruler wants to conduct human-hearted government, and he selected you as his ambassador, so you must be worthy of your insignia of office.
‘Now, as to human-hearted government, it must originate in the fixing of boundaries. If the boundaries are not correctly fixed, the well pattern will not be regular, and the yield of crops will not be even, which is why harsh rulers and vile ministers8 are lax in fixing boundaries. If boundaries are fixed correctly, then both the areas and the yields can be determined in accordance with rank.
‘Now, as to the state of Teng, its territory is limited, but there must be a ruler there, and there must be people. If there were no ruler, there would be nobody to govern the people, while if there were no people, there would be nobody to provide for the ruler’s needs. I would respectfully suggest that in the country there be a labour obligation of one ninth, while in the city9 there be a tax levy of one tenth. Ministers of state and below would have land to support their ritual sacrifices, this land to be 50 mu in area. Additional able-bodied men should be allocated 25 mu. Neither funerals nor changes of address shall pass outside the village boundaries. The village land shall be in a well pattern, and if those with business there enjoy mutual friendship, are vigilant in mutual support and help each other in times of sickness, then the people will coalesce in harmony.
‘The well pattern should be one li square,10 giving a total area of 900 mu. The central area should be the common field, and eight households should each have a private area of 100 mu. They should work together to cultivate the common field, and when the common work is completed, they should be at liberty to begin their private work. This is how people living in the country would make their contribution, as distinct from the others.
‘This is a broad summary of the idea; if you wish to elaborate it, then it is for your ruler and yourself to do.’
This explanation of the well field system by Mencius establishes that land allocation is at the heart of an administration conducted according to ren. He explicitly criticises the unfair distributions that have taken place to line the pockets of officials and sets out a formalised system in which in rural areas the population can have an allocation of land within strictly defined terms, but the local grandee is supported by the produce of the common field at the centre of the well field pattern and has priority over the labour of the villagers, who have to work the common field before working on their own. The village is seen as a self-contained and self-perpetuating unit, and would form the background to the situation set out in the previous passage. One implication of the passage is that the capital city of the state, where the distinctive form of rural agricultural service was not required, was a city of traders and artisans who were not involved in agriculture but worked in a money economy and could buy in agricultural produce. This is consistent with the early rise of copper currency in China. Archaeologists date this from at least as far back as the eighth century BCE.
One thing which is clear from the Mengzi is the need for mutual regard and support, and as we have seen, Mozi had already diverged from Confucius’ view of graded love. Mencius favoured the Confucian rather than the Mohist line on this question, and he is recorded in the Mengzi as specifically opposing Mozi’s theory:
[Mencius said:] ‘… there have been no Sage Kings [since the time of the Spring and Autumn Annals]. The feudal lords are wildly unconstrained, the unattached officers express themselves perversely, Yang Zhu and Mo Di’s words fill up the world. If the words of the world do not follow Yang, then they follow Mo. The followers of Yang serve themselves; this is to remove the role of one’s ruler. The followers of Mo love in an all-embracing manner; this is to remove the role of one’s father. To act as if there were no ruler or parent is the way of animals.… If the Dao of Yang and Mo does not cease, and the Dao of Confucius is not proclaimed, the people will be deceived by depraved teaching, and so human-heartedness and righteous conduct will be completely suppressed. If this were to happen, then the people would be consumed by the encouragement of animal behaviour, and the people would consume each other. Because I am afraid of this, I guard the Dao of the former sages, distance myself from Yang and Mo, and refute licentious teachings, so that these heretics will not prevail. If their thought were to prevail, it would be carried out through their actions, and if their actions were to prevail, this would destroy government. Were another sage to arise, he would not vary my words.’
Mencius’ strength of feeling is very clear from this passage, his support of traditional Confucian and sagely attitudes is very explicit, and he further cites the examples of Yu the Great and the Duke of Zhou in dealing with rebellious subjects and unfilial sons. Yet in aligning himself with these worthy figures, he remains self-deprecating:
How could anyone claim that I like disputing? But I cannot manage to avoid it. One who can by his words oppose Yang and Mo is a true follower of the Sages.
Mencius’ appeal, in this and other passages in the Mengzi, to the traditional values of Confucianism backed by the examples of the earlier sages and Sage Kings, both real and legendary, was to provide a platform for all later strands of Confucian philosophy, despite various attempts to introduce modifications.