other · wisdom

Mencius — Meng Zi

c. 300 BCE (compilation); Mencius c. 372–289 BCE · Warring States Period, China (4th century BCE) · Central China (Kingdom of Zou, present-day Shandong)

Book I — On Righteousness

1Mencius went to see king Hui of Liang. The king said, "Venerable sir, since you have not counted it far to come here,
2a distance of a thousand li, may I presume that you are provided with counsels to profit my kingdom?"
3Mencius replied, "Why must your Majesty use that word 'profit'?
4What I am provided with are counsels of benevolence and righteousness, and these are my only topics.
5"If your Majesty say, 'What is to be done to profit my kingdom?'
6the great officers will say, 'What is to be done to profit our families?'
7and the inferior officers and the common people will say, 'What is to be done to profit our persons?'
8"Superiors and inferiors will try to snatch this profit from one another,
9and the kingdom will be endangered."

Book II — The Original Goodness of Human Nature

10Mencius said, "All men have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others.
11"When I say that all men have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others,
12my meaning may be illustrated thus:
13"Even now-a-days, if men suddenly see a child about to fall into a well,
14they will without exception experience a feeling of alarm and distress.
15"They will feel so, not as a ground on which they may gain the favour of the child's parents,
16nor as a ground on which they may seek the praise of their neighbours and friends,
17nor from a dislike to the reputation of having been unmoved by such a thing.
18"From this case we may perceive that the feeling of commiseration is essential to man,
19that the feeling of shame and dislike is essential to man,
20that the feeling of modesty and complaisance is essential to man,
21and that the feeling of approving and disapproving is essential to man.
22"The feeling of commiseration is the principle of benevolence.
23The feeling of shame and dislike is the principle of righteousness.
24The feeling of modesty and complaisance is the principle of propriety.
25The feeling of approving and disapproving is the principle of knowledge.
26"Men have these four principles just as they have their four limbs."

Book III — On Governance

27Mencius said, "The great man does not think beforehand of his words that they may be sincere,
28nor of his actions that they may be resolute — he simply speaks and does what is right.
29"The people are the most important element in a nation;
30the spirits of the land and grain are the next;
31the sovereign is the lightest.
32"Therefore to gain the peasantry is the way to become sovereign;
33to gain the sovereign is the way to become a prince of a State;
34to gain the prince of a State is the way to become a great officer."

Book VI — On the Cultivation of Character

35Kao said, "Man's nature is like the ki-willow, and righteousness is like a cup or a bowl.
36The fashioning of benevolence and righteousness out of man's nature is like the making of cups and bowls from the ki-willow."
37Mencius replied, "Can you, leaving untouched the nature of the willow, make with it cups and bowls?
38You must do violence and injury to the willow, before you can make cups and bowls with it.
39"If you must do violence and injury to the willow in order to make cups and bowls with it,
40on your principles you must in the same way do violence and injury to humanity in order to fashion from it benevolence and righteousness!"
41Kao said, "The nature is like water whirling round in a corner.
42Open a passage for it to the east, and it will flow to the east;
43open a passage for it to the west, and it will flow to the west.
44Man's nature is indifferent to good and evil, just as the water is indifferent to east and west."
45Mencius replied, "Water indeed will flow indifferently to the east or west,
46but will it flow indifferently up or down?
47"The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards.
48There are none but have this tendency to good, just as all water flows downwards."

Book VII — The Complete Man

49Mencius said, "He who has exhausted all his mental constitution knows his nature.
50Knowing his nature, he knows Heaven.
51"To preserve one's mental constitution, and nourish one's nature, is the way to serve Heaven.
52"When neither a premature death nor long life causes a man any double-mindedness,
53but he waits in the cultivation of his personal character for whatever issue —
54this is the way in which he establishes his Heaven-ordained being."
55Mencius said, "There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination.
56"If, in extending compassion to others, one exercises forceful effort — one is very near attaining benevolence."
57Mencius said, "All things are already complete in us.
58"There is no greater joy than to reflect that we are true to ourselves."

notes

Mencius (Meng Ke, c. 372–289 BCE), known in the Western world by the Latinised form of his name, is regarded as the second-greatest sage of Confucianism after Confucius himself. His book — a collection of dialogues, mostly with rulers and disciples — is one of the Four Books of the Confucian canon. Mencius's most distinctive contribution is his doctrine of the original goodness of human nature (xing shan). The famous thought-experiment of the child about to fall into a well (Book II, 10-26 above) is designed to demonstrate that human beings are innately equipped with the four "sprouts" (duan) of moral life: commiseration, shame, modesty, and moral judgement. Cultivation is a matter of nurturing what is already there, not imposing an alien order from outside. The debate with Kao (Gaozi) about human nature — is it neutral like water, to be channeled in any direction? — became one of the central controversies of later Chinese philosophy. Translation: James Legge, "The Chinese Classics, Vol. II: The Works of Mencius," Hong Kong: London Missionary Society, 1861; revised 1895. Public domain.

PhilosophyEthicsConfucianVirtue

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