1. Mencius said,
'It is not to be wondered at that the king is not wise!
2. 'Suppose the
case of the most easily growing thing in the world;-- if you let
it have one day's genial heat, and then expose it for ten days
to cold, it will not be able to grow. It is but seldom that I
have an audience of the king, and when I retire, there come all
those who act upon him like the cold. Though I succeed in
bringing out some buds of goodness, of what avail is it?
3. 'Now
chess-playing is but a small art, but without his whole mind
being given, and his will bent, to it, a man cannot succeed at
it. Chess Ch'iû is the best chess-player in all the kingdom.
Suppose that he is teaching two men to play.-- The one gives to
the subject his whole mind and bends to it all his will, doing
nothing but listening to Chess Ch'iû. The other, although he
seems to be listening to him, has his whole mind running on a
swan which he thinks is approaching, and wishes to bend his bow,
adjust the string to the arrow, and shoot it. Although he is
learning along with the other, he does not come up to him.
Why?-- because his intelligence is not equal? Not so.'
1. Mencius said,
'I like fish, and I also like bear's paws. If I cannot have the
two together, I will let the fish go, and take the bear's paws.
So, I like life, and I also like righteousness. If I cannot keep
the two together, I will let life go, and choose righteousness.
2. 'I like life
indeed, but there is that which I like more than life, and
therefore, I will not seek to possess it by any improper ways. I
dislike death indeed, but there is that which I dislike more
than death, and therefore there are occasions when I will not
avoid danger.
3. 'If among the
things which man likes there were nothing which he liked more
than life, why should he not use every means by which he could
preserve it? If among the things which man dislikes there were
nothing which he disliked more than death, why should he not do
everything by which he could avoid danger?
4. 'There are
cases when men by a certain course might preserve life, and they
do not employ it; when by certain things they might avoid
danger, and they will not do them.
5. 'Therefore, men
have that which they like more than life, and that which they
dislike more than death. They are not men of distinguished
talents and virtue only who have this mental nature. All men
have it; what belongs to such men is simply that they do not
lose it.
6. 'Here are a
small basket of rice and a platter of soup, and the case is one
in which the getting them will preserve life, and the want of
them will be death;-- if they are offered with an insulting
voice, even a tramper will not receive them, or if you first
tread upon them, even a beggar will not stoop to take them.
7. 'And yet a man
will accept of ten thousand chung, without any consideration of
propriety or righteousness. What can the ten thousand chung add
to him? When he takes them, is it not that he may obtain
beautiful mansions, that he may secure the services of wives and
concubines, or that the poor and needy of his acquaintance may
be helped by him?
8. 'In the former
case the offered bounty was not received, though it would have
saved from death, and now the emolument is taken for the sake of
beautiful mansions. The bounty that would have preserved from
death was not received, and the emolument is taken to get the
service of wives and concubines. The bounty that would have
saved from death was not received, and the emolument is taken
that one's poor and needy acquaintance may be helped by him. Was
it then not possible likewise to decline this? This is a case of
what is called-- "Losing the proper nature of one's mind."'
1. Mencius said,
'Benevolence is man's mind, and righteousness is man's path.
2. 'How lamentable
is it to neglect the path and not pursue it, to lose this mind
and not know to seek it again!
3. 'When men's
fowls and dogs are lost, they know to seek for them again, but
they lose their mind, and do not know to seek for it.
4. 'The great end
of learning is nothing else but to seek for the lost mind.'
1. Mencius said,
'Here is a man whose fourth finger is bent and cannot be
stretched out straight. It is not painful, nor does it incommode
his business, and yet if there be any one who can make it
straight, he will not think the way from Ch'in to Ch'û far to go
to him; because his finger is not like the finger of other
people.
2. 'When a man's
finger is not like those of other people, he knows to feel
dissatisfied, but if his mind be not like that of other people,
he does not know to feel dissatisfaction. This is called--
"Ignorance of the relative importance of things."'
Mencius said,
'Anybody who wishes to cultivate the t'ung or the tsze, which
may be grasped with both hands, perhaps with one, knows by what
means to nourish them. In the case of their own persons, men do
not know by what means to nourish them. Is it to be supposed
that their regard of their own persons is inferior to their
regard for a t'ung or tsze? Their want of reflection is
extreme.'
1. Mencius said,
'There is no part of himself which a man does not love, and as
he loves all, so he must nourish all. There is not an inch of
skin which he does not love, and so there is not an inch of skin
which he will not nourish. For examining whether his way of
nourishing be good or not, what other rule is there but this,
that he determine by reflecting on himself where it should be
applied?
2. 'Some parts of
the body are noble, and some ignoble; some great, and some
small. The great must not be injured for the small, nor the
noble for the ignoble. He who nourishes the little belonging to
him is a little man, and he who nourishes the great is a great
man.
3. 'Here is a
plantation-keeper, who neglects his wû and chiâ, and cultivates
his sour jujube-trees;-- he is a poor plantation-keeper.
4. 'He who
nourishes one of his fingers, neglecting his shoulders or his
back, without knowing that he is doing so, is a man who
resembles a hurried wolf.
5. 'A man who only
eats and drinks is counted mean by others;-- because he
nourishes what is little to the neglect of what is great.
6. 'If a man, fond
of his eating and drinking, were not to neglect what is of more
importance, how should his mouth and belly be considered as no
more than an inch of skin?'
1. The disciple
Kung-tû said, 'All are equally men, but some are great men, and
some are little men;-- how is this?' Mencius replied, 'Those who
follow that part of themselves which is great are great men;
those who follow that part which is little are little men.'
2. Kung-tû
pursued, 'All are equally men, but some follow that part of
themselves which is great, and some follow that part which is
little;-- how is this?' Mencius answered, 'The senses of hearing
and seeing do not think, and are obscured by external things.
When one thing comes into contact with another, as a matter of
course it leads it away. To the mind belongs the office of
thinking. By thinking, it gets the right view of things; by
neglecting to think, it fails to do this. These-- the senses and
the mind-- are what Heaven has given to us. Let a man first
stand fast in the supremacy of the nobler part of his
constitution, and the inferior part will not be able to take it
from him. It is simply this which makes the great man.'
1. Mencius said,
'There is a nobility of Heaven, and there is a nobility of man.
Benevolence, righteousness, self-consecration, and fidelity,
with unwearied joy in these virtues;-- these constitute the
nobility of Heaven. To be a kung, a ch'ing, or a tâ-fû;-- this
constitutes the nobility of man.
2. 'The men of
antiquity cultivated their nobility of Heaven, and the nobility
of man came to them in its train.
3. 'The men of the
present day cultivate their nobility of Heaven in order to seek
for the nobility of man, and when they have obtained that, they
throw away the other:-- their delusion is extreme. The issue is
simply this, that they must lose that nobility of man as well.'
2. 'The honour
which men confer is not good honour. Those whom Châo the Great
ennobles he can make mean again.
3. 'It is said in
the Book of Poetry,
"He has filled
us with his wine,
He has satiated us with his goodness."
"Satiated us with his goodness," that is, satiated us with
benevolence and righteousness, and he who is so satiated,
consequently, does not wish for the fat meat and fine millet of
men. A good reputation and far-reaching praise fall to him, and
he does not desire the elegant embroidered garments of men.'
1. Mencius said,
'Benevolence subdues its opposite just as water subdues fire.
Those, however, who now-a-days practise benevolence do it as if
with one cup of water they could save a whole waggon-load of
fuel which was on fire, and when the flames were not
extinguished, were to say that water cannot subdue fire. This
conduct, moreover, greatly encourages those who are not
benevolent.
2. 'The final
issue will simply be this-- the loss of that small amount of
benevolence.'
2. 'A
master-workman, in teaching others, uses the compass and square,
and his pupils do the same.' |