6. Mencius said, “No man is devoid of a heart sensitive to the suffering of others. Such a sensitive heart was possessed by the Former Kings and this manifested itself in compassionate government. With such a sensitive heart behind compassionate government, it was as easy to rule the Empire as rolling it on your palm.
“My reason for saying that no man is devoid of a heart sensitive to the suffering of others is this. Suppose a man were, all of a sudden, to see a young child on the verge of falling into a well. He would certainly be moved to compassion, not because he wanted to get in the good graces of the parents, nor because he wished to win the praise of his fellow villagers or friends, nor yet because he disliked the cry of the child. From this it can be seen that whoever is devoid of the heart of compassion is not human, whoever is devoid of the heart of shame is not human, whoever is devoid of the heart of courtesy and modesty is not human, and whoever is devoid of the heart of right and wrong is not human. The heart of compassion is the germ of benevolence; the heart of shame, of dutifulness; the heart of courtesy and modesty, of observance of the rites; the heart of right and wrong, of wisdom. Man has these four germs just as he has four limbs. For a man possessing these four germs to deny his own potentialities is for him to cripple himself; for him to deny the potentialities of his prince is for him to cripple his prince. If a man is able to develop all these four germs that he possesses, it will be like a fire starting up or a spring coming through. When these are fully developed, he can tend the whole realm within the Four Seas, but if he fails to develop them, he will not be able even to serve his parents.”
7. Mencius said, “Is the maker of arrows really more unfeeling than the maker of armour? He is afraid lest he should fail to harm people, whereas the maker of armour is afraid lest he should fail to protect them. The case is similar with the sorcerer-doctor and the coffin-maker. For this reason one cannot be too careful in the choice of one’s calling.”
Confucius said, “The best neighbourhood is where benevolence is to be found. Not to live in such a neighbourhood when one has the choice cannot by any means be considered wise.”1 Benevolence is the high honour bestowed by Heaven and the peaceful abode of man. Not to be benevolent when nothing stands in the way is to show a lack of wisdom. A man neither benevolent nor wise, devoid of courtesy and dutifulness, is a slave. A slave ashamed of serving is like a maker of bows ashamed of making bows, or a maker of arrows ashamed of making arrows. If one is ashamed, there is no better remedy than to practise benevolence. Benevolence is like archery: an archer makes sure his stance is correct before letting fly the arrow, and if he fails to hit the mark, he does not hold it against his victor. He simply seeks the cause within himself.”
27. Mencius said, “The content of benevolence is the serving of one’s parents; the content of dutifulness is obedience to one’s elder brothers; the content of wisdom is to understand these two and to hold fast to them; the content of the rites is the regulation and adornment of them; the content of music is the joy that comes of delighting in them. When joy arises how can one stop it? And when one cannot stop it, then one begins to dance with one’s feet and wave one’s arms without knowing it.
12. Mencius said, “A great man is one who retains the heart of a new-born babe.”
19. Mencius said, “Slight is the difference between man and the brutes. The common man loses this distinguishing feature, while the gentleman retains it. Shun understood the way of things and had a keen insight into human relationships. He followed the path of morality. He did not just put morality into practice.”
26. Mencius said, “In the theories about human nature put forth by the world there is nothing else other than resort to precedents. The primary thing in any resort to precedents is ease of explanation. What one dislikes in clever men is their tortuosity. If clever men could act as Yü did in guiding the flood waters, then there would be nothing to dislike in them. Yü guided the water by imposing nothing on it that was against its natural tendency. If clever men can also do this, then great indeed will their cleverness be. In spite of the height of the heavens and the distance of the heavenly bodies, if one seeks out former instances, one can calculate the solstices of a thousand years hence without stirring from one’s seat.”
1. Kao Tzu said, “Human nature is like the ch’i willow. Dutifulness is like cups and bowls. To make morality out of human nature is like making cups and bowls out of the willow.”
“Can you,” said Mencius, “make cups and bowls by following the nature of the willow? Or must you mutilate the willow before you can make it into cups and bowls? If you have to mutilate the willow to make it into cups and bowls, must you, then, also mutilate a man to make him moral? Surely it will be these words of yours men in the world will follow in bringing disaster upon morality.”
2. Kao Tzu said, “Human nature is like whirling water. Give it an outlet in the east and it will flow east; give it an outlet in the west and it will flow west. Human nature does not show any preference for either good or bad just as water does not show any preference for either east or west.”
“It certainly is the case,” said Mencius, “that water does not show any preference for either east or west, but does it show the same indifference to high and low? Human nature is good just as water seeks low ground. There is no man who is not good; there is no water that does not flow downwards.
“Now in the case of water, by splashing it one can make it shoot up higher than one’s forehead, and by forcing it one can make it stay on a hill. How can that be the nature of water? It is the circumstances being what they are. That man can be made bad shows that his nature is no different from that of water in this respect.”
3. Kao Tzu said, “The inborn is what is meant by ‘nature.’ ”2
“Is that,” said Mencius, “the same as white is what is meant by ‘white?’ ”
“Yes.”
“Is the whiteness of white feathers the same as the whiteness of white snow and the whiteness of white snow the same as the whiteness of white jade?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, is the nature of a hound the same as the nature of an ox and the nature of an ox the same as the nature of a man?”
4. Kao Tzu said, “Appetite for food and sex is nature. Benevolence is internal, not external; rightness is external, not internal.”
“Why do you say,” said Mencius, “that benevolence is internal and rightness is external?”
“That man there is old and I treat him as elder. He owes nothing of his elderliness to me, just as in treating him as white because he is white I only do so because of his whiteness which is external to me. That is why I call it external.”
“The case of rightness is different from that of whiteness. ‘Treating as white’ is the same whether one is treating a horse as white or a man as white. But I wonder if you would think that ‘treating as old’ is the same whether one is treating a horse as old or a man as elder? Furthermore, is it the one who is old that is dutiful, or is it the one who treats him as elder that is dutiful?”
“My brother I love, but the brother of a man from Ch’in I do not love. This means that the explanation lies in me. Hence I call it internal. Treating an elder of a man from Ch’u as elder is no different from treating an elder of my own family as elder. This means that the explanation lies in their elderliness. Hence I call it external.”
“My enjoyment of the roast provided by a man from Ch’in is no different from my enjoyment of my own roast. Even with inanimate things we can find cases similar to the one under discussion. Are we, then, to say that there is something external even in the enjoyment of roast?”
5. Meng Chi-tzu asked Kung-tu Tzu, “Why do you say that rightness is internal?”
“It is the respect in me that is being put into effect. That is why I say it is internal.”
“If a man from your village is a year older than your eldest brother, which do you respect?”
“My brother.”
“In filling their cups with wine, which do you give precedence to?”
“The man from my village.”
“The one you respect is the former; the one you treat as elder is the latter. This shows that it is in fact external, not internal.”
Kung-tu Tzu was unable to find an answer and gave an account of the discussion to Mencius.
Mencius said, “[Ask him,] ‘Which do you respect, your uncle or your younger brother?’ He will say, ‘My uncle.’ ‘When your younger brother is impersonating an ancestor at a sacrifice, then which do you respect?’ He will say, ‘My younger brother.’ You ask him, ‘What has happened to your respect for your uncle?’ He will say, ‘It is because of the position my younger brother occupies.’ You can then say, ‘[In the case of the man from my village] it is also because of the position he occupies. Normal respect is due to my elder brother; temporary respect is due to the man from my village.’ ”
When Meng Chi-tzu heard this, he said, “It is the same respect whether I am respecting my uncle or my younger brother. It is, as I have said, external and does not come from within.”
“In winter,” said Kung-tu Tzu, “one drinks hot water, in summer cold. Does that mean that even food and drink can be a matter of what is external?”
6. Kung-tu Tzu said, “Kao Tzu said, ‘There is neither good nor bad in human nature,’ but others say, ‘Human nature can become good or it can become bad, and that is why with the rise of King Wen and King Wu the people were given to goodness, while with the rise of King Yü and King Li they were given to cruelty.’ Then there are others who say, ‘There are those, who are good by nature, and there are those who are bad by nature. For this reason, Hsiang could have Yao as prince, and Shun could have the Blind Man as father, and Ch’i,3 Viscount of Wei and Prince Pi Kan could have Tchou as nephew as well as sovereign.’ Now you say human nature is good. Does this mean that all the others are mistaken?”
“As far as what is genuinely in him is concerned, a man is capable of becoming good,” said Mencius. “That is what I mean by good. As for his becoming bad, that is not the fault of his native endowment. The heart of compassion is possessed by all men alike; likewise the heart of shame, the heart of respect, and the heart of right and wrong. The heart of compassion pertains to benevolence, the heart of shame to dutifulness, the heart of respect to the observance of the rites, and the rites, and the heart of right and wrong to wisdom. Benevolence, dutifulness, observance of the rites, and wisdom do not give me a lustre from the outside, they are in me originally. Only this has never dawned on me. That is why it is said, Seek and you will find it; let go and you will lose it.” There are cases where one man is twice, five times or countless times better than another man, but this is only because there are people who fail to make the best of their native endowment. The Book of Odes says,
Heaven produces the teeming masses,
And where there is a thing there is a norm.
If the people held on to their constant nature,
They would be drawn to superior virtue.
Confucius commented, “The author of this poem must have had knowledge of the Way. Thus where there is a thing there is a norm, and because the people hold on to their constant nature they are drawn to superior virtue.”
8. Mencius said, “There was a time when the trees were luxuriant on the Ox Mountain, but as it is on the outskirts of a great metropolis, the trees are constantly lopped by axes. Is it any wonder that they are no longer fine? With the respite they get in the day and in the night, and the moistening by the rain and dew, there is certainly no lack of new shoots coming out, but then the cattle and sheep come to graze upon the mountain. That is why it is as bald as it is. People, seeing only its baldness, tend to think that it never had any trees. But can this possibly be the nature of a mountain? Can what is in man be completely lacking in moral inclinations? A man’s letting go of his true heart is like the case of the trees and the axes. When the trees are lopped day after day, is it any wonder that they are no longer fine? If, in spite of the respite a man gets in the day and in the night and of the effect of the morning air on him, scarcely any of his likes and dislikes resemble those of other men, it is because what he does in the course of the day once again dissipates what he has gained. If this dissipation happens repeatedly, then the influence of the air in the night will no longer be able to preserve what was originally in him, and when that happens, the man is not far removed from an animal. Others, seeing his resemblance to an animal, will be led to think that he never had any native endowment. But can that be what a man is genuinely like? Hence, given the right nourishment there is nothing that will not grow, while deprived of it there is nothing that will not wither away.” Confucius said, “Hold on to it and it will remain; let go of it and it will disappear. One never knows the time it comes or goes, neither does one know the direction. It is perhaps to the heart this refers.”
9. Mencius said, “Do not be puzzled by the King’s lack of wisdom. Even a plant that grows most readily will not survive if it is placed in the sun for one day and exposed to the cold for ten. It is very rarely that I have an opportunity of seeing the King, and as soon as I leave, those who expose him to the cold arrive on the scene. What can I do with the few new shoots that come out? Now take yi,4 which is only an art of little consequence. Yet if one does not give one’s whole mind to it, one will never master it. Yi Ch’iu is the best player in the whole country. Get him to teach two people to play, one of whom concentrates his mind on the game and listens only to what Yi Ch’iu has to say, while the other, though he listens, not accept when it was a matter of life and death. I now accept for the sake of the gratitude my needy acquaintances will show me. Is there no way of putting a stop to this? This way of thinking is known as losing one’s original heart.”
11. Mencius said, “Benevolence is the heart of man, and rightness his road. Sad it is indeed when a man gives up the right road instead of following it and allows his heart to stray without enough sense to go after it. When his chickens and dogs stray, he has sense enough to go after them, but not when his heart strays.5 The sole concern of learning is to go after this strayed heart. That is all.”
15. Kung-tu Tzu asked, “Though equally human, why are some men greater than others?”
“He who is guided by the interests of the parts of his person that are of greater importance is a great man; he who is guided by the interests of the parts of his person that are of smaller importance is a small man.”
“Though equally human, why are some men guided one way and others guided another way?”
“The organs of hearing and sight are unable to think and can be misled by external things. When one thing acts on another, all it does is to attract it. The organ of the heart can think. But it will find the answer only if it does think; otherwise, it will not find the answer. This is what Heaven has given me. If one makes one’s stand on what is of greater importance in the first instance, what is of smaller importance cannot displace it. In this way, one cannot but be a great man.”
1. A man from Jen asked Wu-lu Tzu, “Which is more important, the rites or food?”
“The rites.”
“Which is more important, the rites or sex?”
“The rites.”
“Suppose you would starve to death if you insisted on the observance of the rites, but would manage to get something to eat if you did not. Would you still insist on their observance? Again, suppose you would not get a wife if you insisted on the observance of ch’in ying,6 but would get one if you did not. Would you still insist on its observance?”
Wu-lu Tzu was unable to answer. The following day he went to Tsou and gave an account of the discussion to Mencius.
“What difficulty is there,” said Mencius, “in answering this? If you bring the tips to the same level without measuring the difference in the bases, you can make a piece of wood an inch long reach a greater height than a tall building. In saying that gold is heavier than feathers, surely one is not referring to the amount of gold in a clasp and a whole cartload of feathers? If you compare a case where food is important with a case where the rite is inconsequential, then the greater importance of food is not the only absurd conclusion you can draw. Similarly with sex. Go and reply to the questioner in this way, suppose you would manage to get something to eat if you took the food from your elder brother by twisting his arm, but would not get it if you did not. Would you twist his arm? Again, suppose you would get a wife if you climbed over the wall of your neighbour on the east side and dragged away the daughter of the house by force, but would not if you did not. Would you drag her away by force?”
4. Sung K’eng was on his way to Ch’u. Mencius, meeting him at Shih Ch’iu, asked him, “Where are you going, sir?”
“I heard that hostilities had broken out between Ch’in and Ch’u. I am going to see the king of Ch’u and try to persuade him to bring an end to them. If I fail to find favour with the king of Ch’u I shall go to see the king of Ch’in and try to persuade him instead. I hope I shall have success with one or other of the two kings.”
“I do not wish to know the details, but may I ask about the gist of your argument? How are you going to persuade the kings?”
“I shall explain to them the unprofitability of war.”
“Your purpose is lofty indeed, but your slogan is wrong. If you place profit before the kings of Ch’in and Ch’u, and they call off their armies because they are drawn to profit, then it means that the soldiers in their armies retire because they are drawn to profit. If a subject, in serving his prince, cherished the profit motive, and a son, in serving his father, and a younger brother, in serving his elder brother, did likewise, then it would mean that in their mutual relations, prince and subject, father and son, elder brother and younger brother, all cherished the profit motive to the total exclusion of morality. The prince of such a state is sure to perish. If, on the other hand, you placed morality before the kings of Ch’in and Ch’u and they called off their armies because they were drawn to morality, then it would mean that the soldiers in their armies retired because they were drawn to morality. If a subject, in serving his prince, cherished morality, and a son, in serving his father, and a younger brother, in serving his elder brother, did likewise, then it would mean that in their mutual relations, prince and subject, father and son, elder brother and younger brother, all cherished morality to the exclusion of profit. The prince of such a state is sure to become a true King. What is the point of mentioning the word ‘profit’?”
1. Mencius said, “For a man to give full realization to his heart is for him to understand his own nature, and a man who knows his own nature will know Heaven. By retaining his heart and nurturing his nature he is serving Heaven. Whether he is going to die young or to live to a ripe old age makes no difference to his steadfastness of purpose. It is through awaiting whatever is to befall him with a perfected character that he stands firm on his proper Destiny.”
4. Mencius said, “All the ten thousand things are there in me. There is no greater joy for me than to find, on self-examination, that I am true to myself. Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest way to benevolence.”
9. Mencius said to Sung Kou-chien, “You are fond of travelling from state to state, offering advice. I shall tell you how this should be done. You should be content whether your worth is recognized by others or not.”
“What must a man be before he can be content?”
“If he reveres virtue and delights in rightness, he can be content. Hence a Gentleman never abandons rightness in adversity, nor does he depart from the Way in success. By not abandoning rightness in adversity, he finds delight in himself; by not departing from the Way in success, he remains an example the people can look up to. Men of antiquity made the people feel the effect of their bounty when they realized their ambition, and, when they failed to realize their ambition, were at least able to show the world an exemplary character. In obscurity a man makes perfect his own person, but in prominence he makes perfect the whole Empire as well.”
21. Mencius said, “An extensive territory and a huge population are things a gentleman desires, but what he delights in lies elsewhere. To stand in the centre of the Empire and bring peace to the people within the Four Seas is what a gentleman delights in, but that which he follows as his nature lies elsewhere. That which a gentleman follows as his nature is not added to when he holds sway over the Empire, nor is it detracted from when he is reduced to straitened circumstances. This is because he knows his allotted station. That which a gentleman follows as his nature, that is to say, benevolence, rightness, the rites and wisdom, is rooted in his heart, and manifests itself in his face, giving it a sleek appearance. It also shows in his back and extends to his limbs, rendering their message intelligible without words.”
30. Mencius said, “Yao and Shun had it as their nature. T’ang and King Wu embodied it. The Five Leaders of the feudal lords borrowed it.7 But if a man borrows a thing and keeps it long enough, how can one be sure that it will not become truly his?”
31. Mencius said, “For every man there are things he cannot bear. To extend this to what he can bear is benevolence.8 For every man there are things he is not willing to do. To extend this to what he is willing to do is rightness. If a man can extend to the full his natural aversion to harming others, then there will be an overabundance of benevolence. If a man can extend his dislike for boring holes and climbing over walls, then there will be an overabundance of rightness. If a man can extend his unwillingness to suffer the actual humiliation of being addressed as ‘thou’ and ‘thee’, then wherever he goes he will not do anything that is not right.
To speak to a Gentleman who cannot be spoken to is to use speech as a bait; on the other hand, not to speak to one who could be spoken to is to use silence as a bait.9 In either case, the action is of the same kind as that of boring holes and climbing over walls.”
32. Mencius said, “Words near at hand but with far-reaching import are good words. The way of holding on to the essential while giving it wide application is a good way. The words of a gentleman never go as far as below the sash, yet in them is to be found the Way. What the gentleman holds on to is the cultivation of his own character, yet this brings order to the Empire. The trouble with people is that they leave their own fields to weed the fields of others. They are exacting towards others but indulgent towards themselves.”
33. Mencius said, “Yao and Shun had it as their nature; T’ang and King Wu returned to it.10 To be in accord with the rites in every movement is the highest of virtue. When one mourns sorrowfully over the dead it is not to impress the living. When one follows unswervingly the path of virtue it is not to win advancement. When one invariably keeps one’s word it is not to establish the rectitude of one’s actions. A gentleman merely follows the norm and awaits his destiny.”
1. cf. the Analects of Confucius, IV. I.
2. In sheng chih wei hsing (“the inborn is what is meant by ‘nature’ ”), the two words “sheng” and “hsing” though slightly different in pronunciation, were probably written by the same character in Mencius’s time. This would make the statement at least taulological in written form and so parallel to “pai chih wei pai” (“white is what is meant by ‘white’ ”).
3. According to the Shi chi (Records of the Historian) (1607) the Viscount of Wei was an elder brother of Tchou, and son of a concubine of low rank. For this reason, it has been pointed out that the description of having Tchou as nephew applies only to Pi Kan. Cf. the coupling of the name of Chi with that of Yü in IV. B. 29.
4. The ancient name for the game of wei ch’i, better known in the West by the name go which is simply the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word ch’i. This game is also mentioned in IV. B. 30.
5. As quoted in the Han shih wai chuan 4/27, this goes on as follows: “Does he think less of his heart than of his chickens and dogs? This is an extreme case of failure to see that one thing is the same in kind as another. How sad! In the end such a man is sure only to perish.” This further passage must have dropped out of the present text by accident.
6. This is the part of the marriage rites where the groom goes to the home of the bride to fetch her.
7. Cf. 11. A. 3. The “it” here would seem to refer to benevolence.
8. Cf. VII. B. I.
9. Cf. the Analects of Confucius, XV. 8.
10. Cf. VII. A. 30. The “it” here must also be referring to benevolence.
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From Mencius, translated by D.C. Lau, pp. 160–201. Copyright © by Penguin 1970. Text and footnotes edited.