1. Mencius said,
'Confucius ascended the eastern hill, and Lû appeared to him
small. He ascended the T'âi mountain, and all beneath the
heavens appeared to him small. So he who has contemplated the
sea, finds it difficult to think anything of other waters, and
he who has wandered in the gate of the sage, finds it difficult
to think anything of the words of others.
2. 'There is an
art in the contemplation of water.-- It is necessary to look at
it as foaming in waves. The sun and moon being possessed of
brilliancy, their light admitted even through an orifice
illuminates.
3. 'Flowing water
is a thing which does not proceed till it has filled the hollows
in its course. The student who has set his mind on the doctrines
of the sage, does not advance to them but by completing one
lesson after another.'
1. Mencius said,
'He who rises at cock-crowing and addresses himself earnestly to
the practice of virtue, is a disciple of Shun.
2. 'He who rises
at cock-crowing, and addresses himself earnestly to the pursuit
of giin, is a disciple of Chih.
3. 'If you want to
know what separates Shun from Chih, it is simply this,-- the
interval between the thought of gain and the thought of virtue.'
1. Mencius said,
'The principle of the philosopher Yang was-- "Each one for
himself." Though he might have benefited the whole kingdom by
plucking out a single hair, he would not have done it.
2. 'The
philosopher Mo loves all equally. If by rubbing smooth his whole
body from the crown to the heel, he could have benefited the
kingdom, he would have done it.
3. 'Tsze-mo holds
a medium between these. By holding that medium, he is nearer the
right. But by holding it without leaving room for the exigency
of circumstances, it becomes like their holding their one point.
4. 'The reason why
I hate that holding to one point is the injury it does to the
way of right principle. It takes up one point and disregards a
hundred others.'
1. Mencius said,
'The hungry think any food sweet, and the thirsty think the same
of any drink, and thus they do not get the right taste of what
they eat and drink. The hunger and thirst, in fact, injure their
palate. And is it only the mouth and belly which are injured by
hunger and thirst? Men's minds are also injured by them.
2. 'If a man can
prevent the evils of hunger and thirst from being any evils to
his mind, he need not have any sorrow about not being equal to
other men.'
Mencius said, 'A
man with definite aims to be accomplished may be compared to one
digging a well. To dig the well to a depth of seventy-two
cubits, and stop without reaching the spring, is after all
throwing away the well.'
1. Mencius said,
'Benevolence and righteousness were natural to Yâo and Shun.
T'ang and Wû made them their own. The five chiefs of the princes
feigned them.
2. 'Having
borrowed them long and not returned them, how could it be known
they did not own them?'
1. Kung-sun Ch'âu
said, 'Î Yin said, "I cannot be near and see him so disobedient
to reason," and therewith he banished T'â-chiâ to T'ung. The
people were much pleased. When T'â-chiâ became virtuous, he
brought him back, and the people were again much pleased.
2. 'When worthies
are ministers, may they indeed banish their sovereigns in this
way when they are not virtuous?'
3. Mencius
replied, 'If they have the same purpose as Î Yin, they may. If
they have not the same purpose, it would be usurpation.'
Kung-sun Ch'âu
said, 'It is said, in the Book of Poetry,
"He will not
eat the bread of idleness!"
How is it that we see superior men eating without labouring?'
Mencius replied, 'When a superior man resides in a country, if
its sovereign employ his counsels, he comes to tranquillity,
wealth and glory. If the young in it follow his instructions,
they become filial, obedient to their elders, true-hearted, and
faithful. What greater example can there be than this of not
eating the bread of idleness?'
1. The king's son,
Tien, asked Mencius, saying, 'What is the business of the
unemployed scholar?'
2. Mencius
replied, 'To exalt his aim.'
3. Tien asked
again, 'What do you mean by exalting the aim?' The answer was,
'Setting it simply on benevolence and righteousness. He thinks
how to put a single innocent person to death is contrary to
benevolence; how to take what one has not a right to is contrary
to righteousness; that one's dwelling should be benevolence; and
one's path should be righteousness. Where else should he dwell?
What other path should he pursue? When benevolence is the
dwelling-place of the heart, and righteousness the path of the
life, the business of a great man is complete.'
Mencius said,
'Supposing that the kingdom of Ch'î were offered, contrary to
righteousness, to Ch'an Chung, he would not receive it, and all
people believe in him, as a man of the highest worth. But this
is only the righteousness which declines a dish of rice or a
plate of soup. A man can have no greater crimes than to disown
his parents and relatives, and the relations of sovereign and
minister, superiors and inferiors. How can it be allowed to give
a man credit for the great excellences because he possesses a
small one?'
1. T'âo Ying
asked, saying, 'Shun being sovereign, and Kâo-yâo chief minister
of justice, if Kû-sâu had murdered a man, what would have been
done in the case?'
2. Mencius said, 'Kâo-yâo
would simply have apprehended him.'
3. 'But would not
Shun have forbidden such a thing?'
4. 'Indeed, how
could Shun have forbidden it? Kâo-yâo had received the law from
a proper source.'
5. 'In that case
what would Shun have done?'
6. 'Shun would
have regarded abandoning the kingdom as throwing away a worn-out
sandal. He would privately have taken his father on his back,
and retired into concealment, living some where along the
sea-coast. There he would have been all his life, cheerful and
happy, forgetting the kingdom.'
1. Mencius, going
from Fan to Ch'î, saw the king of Ch'î's son at a distance, and
said with a deep sigh, 'One's position alters the air, just as
the nurture affects the body. Great is the influence of
position! Are we not all men's sons in this respect?'
2. Mencius said,
'The residence, the carriages and horses, and the dress of the
king's son, are mostly the same as those of other men. That he
looks so is occasioned by his position. How much more should a
peculiar air distinguish him whose position is in the wide house
of the world!
3. 'When the
prince of Lû went to Sung, he called out at the T'ieh-châi gate,
and the keeper said, "This is not our prince. How is it that his
voice is so like that of our prince?" This was occasioned by
nothing but the correspondence of their positions.'
1. Mencius said,
'To feed a scholar and not love him, is to treat him as a pig.
To love him and not respect him, is to keep him as a domestic
animal.
2. 'Honouring and
respecting are what exist before any offering of gifts.
3. 'If there be
honouring and respecting without the reality of them, a superior
man may not be retained by such empty demonstrations.'
Mencius said, 'The
bodily organs with their functions belong to our
Heaven-conferred nature. But a man must be a sage before he can
satisfy the design of his bodily organization.'
1. The king Hsüan
of Ch'î wanted to shorten the period of mourning. Kung-sun Ch'âu
said, 'To have one whole year's mourning is better than doing
away with it altogether.'
2. Mencius said,
'That is just as if there were one twisting the arm of his elder
brother, and you were merely to say to him "Gently, gently, if
you please." Your only course should be to teach such an one
filial piety and fraternal duty.'
3. At that time,
the mother of one of the king's sons had died, and his tutor
asked for him that he might be allowed to observe a few months'
mourning. Kung-sun Ch'âu asked, 'What do you say of this?'
4. Mencius
replied, 'This is a case where the party wishes to complete the
whole period, but finds it impossible to do so. The addition of
even a single day is better than not mourning at all. I spoke of
the case where there was no hindrance, and the party neglected
the thing itself.'
1. Mencius said,
'There are five ways in which the superior man effects his
teaching.
2. 'There are some
on whom his influence descends like seasonable rain.
3. 'There are some
whose virtue he perfects, and some of whose talents he assists
the development.
4. 'There are some
whose inquiries he answers.
5. 'There are some
who privately cultivate and correct themselves.
6. These five ways
are the methods in which the superior man effects his teaching.'
1. Kung-sun Ch'âu
said, 'Lofty are your principles and admirable, but to learn
them may well be likened to ascending the heavens,-- something
which cannot be reached. Why not adapt your teaching so as to
cause learners to consider them attainable, and so daily exert
themselves!'
2. Mencius said,
'A great artificer does not, for the sake of a stupid workman,
alter or do away with the marking-line. Î did not, for the sake
of a stupid archer, charge his rule for drawing the bow.
3. 'The superior
man draws the bow, but does not discharge the arrow, having
seemed to leap with it to the mark; and he there stands exactly
in the middle of the path. Those who are able, follow him.'
1. Mencius said,
'When right principles prevail throughout the kingdom, one's
principles must appear along with one's person. When right
principles disappear from the kingdom, one's person must vanish
along with one's principles.
2. 'I have not
heard of one's principles being dependent for their
manifestation on other men.'
1. The disciple
Kung-tû said, 'When Kang of T'ang made his appearance in your
school, it seemed proper that a polite consideration should be
paid to him, and yet you did not answer him. Why was that?'
2. Mencius
replied, 'I do not answer him who questions me presuming on his
nobility, nor him who presumes on his talents, nor him who
presumes on his age, nor him who presumes on services performed
to me, nor him who presumes on old acquaintance. Two of those
things were chargeable on Kang of T'ang.'
1. Mencius said,
'He who stops short where stopping is acknowledged to be not
allowable, will stop short in everything. He who behaves
shabbily to those whom he ought to treat well, will behave
shabbily to all.
2. 'He who
advances with precipitation will retire with speed.'
Mencius said, 'In
regard to inferior creatures, the superior man is kind to them,
but not loving. In regard to people generally, he is loving to
them, but not affectionate. He is affectionate to his parents,
and lovingly disposed to people generally. He is lovingly
disposed to people generally, and kind to creatures.'
1. Mencius said,
'The wise embrace all knowledge, but they are most earnest about
what is of the greatest importance. The benevolent embrace all
in their love, but what they consider of the greatest importance
is to cultivate an earnest affection for the virtuous. Even the
wisdom of Yâo and Shun did not extend to everything, but they
attended earnestly to what was important. Their benevolence did
not show itself in acts of kindness to every man, but they
earnestly cultivated an affection for the virtuous.
2. 'Not to be able
to keep the three years' mourning, and to be very particular
about that of three months, or that of five months; to eat
immoderately and swill down the soup, and at the same time to
inquire about the precept not to tear the meat with the teeth;--
such things show what I call an ignorance of what is most
important. |