1. Mencius said,
'The opposite indeed of benevolent was the king Hûi of Liang!
The benevolent, beginning with what they care for, proceed to
what they do not care for. Those who are the opposite of
benevolent, beginning with what they do not care for, proceed to
what they care for.'
2. 'Kung-sun Ch'âu
said, 'What do you mean?' Mencius answered, 'The king Hûi of
Liang, for the matter of territory, tore and destroyed his
people, leading them to battle. Sustaining a great defeat, he
would engage again, and afraid lest they should not be able to
secure the victory, urged his son whom he loved till he
sacrificed him with them. This is what I call-- "beginning with
what they do not care for, and proceeding to what they care
for."'
1. Mencius said,
'In the "Spring and Autumn" there are no righteous wars.
Instances indeed there are of one war better than another.
2. '"Correction"
is when the supreme authority punishes its subjects by force of
arms. Hostile States do not correct one another.'
1. Mencius said,
'It would be better to be without the Book of History than to
give entire credit to it.
2. 'In the
"Completion of the War," I select two or three passages only,
which I believe.
3. '"The
benevolent man has no enemy under heaven. When the prince the
most benevolent was engaged against him who was the most the
opposite, how could the blood of the people have flowed till it
floated the pestles of the mortars?"'
1. Mencius said,
'There are men who say-- "I am skilful at marshalling troops, I
am skilful at conducting a battle!"-- They are great criminals.
2. 'If the ruler
of a State love benevolence, he will have no enemy in the
kingdom.
3. When T'ang was
executing his work of correction in the south, the rude tribes
on the north murmured. When he was executing it in the east, the
rude tribes on the west murmured. Their cry was-- "Why does he
make us last?"
4. 'When king Wû
punished Yin, he had only three hundred chariots of war, and
three thousand life-guards.
5. 'The king said,
"Do not fear. Let me give you repose. I am no enemy to the
people!" On this, they bowed their heads to the earth, like the
horns of animals falling off.
6. '"Royal
correction" is but another word for rectifying. Each State
wishing itself to be corrected, what need is there for
fighting?'
Mencius said, 'A
carpenter or a carriage-maker may give a man the circle and
square, but cannot make him skilful in the use of them.'
Mencius said, 'Shun's
manner of eating his parched grain and herbs was as if he were
to be doing so all his life. When he became sovereign, and had
the embroidered robes to wear, the lute to play, and the two
daughters of Yâo to wait on him, he was as if those things
belonged to him as a matter of course.'
Mencius said,
'From this time forth I know the heavy consequences of killing a
man's near relations. When a man kills another's father, that
other will kill his father; when a man kills another's elder
brother, that other will kill his elder brother. So he does not
himself indeed do the act, but there is only an interval between
him and it.'
1. Mencius said,
'Anciently, the establishment of the frontier-gates was to guard
against violence.
2. 'Nowadays, it
is to exercise violence.'
Mencius said, 'If
a man himself do not walk in the right path, it will not be
walked in even by his wife and children. If he order men
according to what is not the right way, he will not be able to
get the obedience of even his wife and children.'
Mencius said, 'A
bad year cannot prove the cause of death to him whose stores of
gain are large; an age of corruption cannot confound him whose
equipment of virtue is complete.'
Mencius said, 'A
man who loves fame may be able to decline a State of a thousand
chariots; but if he be not really the man to do such a thing, it
will appear in his countenance, in the matter of a dish of rice
or a platter of soup.'
1. Mencius said,
'If men of virtue and ability be not confided in, a State will
become empty and void.
2. 'Without the
rules of propriety and distinctions of right, the high and the
low will be thrown into confusion.
3. 'Without the
great principles of government and their various business, there
will not be wealth sufficient for the expenditure.'
1. Mencius said,
'The people are the most important element in a nation; the
spirits of the land and grain are the next; the sovereign is the
lightest.
2. 'Therefore to
gain the peasantry is the way to become sovereign; to gain the
sovereign is the way to become a prince of a State; to gain the
prince of a State is the way to become a great officer.
3. 'When a prince
endangers the altars of the spirits of the land and grain, he is
changed, and another appointed in his place.
4. 'When the
sacrificial victims have been perfect, the millet in its vessels
all pure, and the sacrifices offered at their proper seasons, if
yet there ensue drought, or the waters overflow, the spirits of
the land and grain are changed, and others appointed in their
place.'
Mencius said, 'A
sage is the teacher of a hundred generations:-- this is true of
Po-î and Hûi of Liû-Hsiâ. Therefore when men now bear the
character of Po-î, the corrupt become pure, and the weak acquire
determination. When they hear the character of Hûi of Liû-Hsiâ,
the mean become generous, and the niggardly become liberal.
Those two made themselves distinguished a hundred generations
ago, and after a hundred generations, those who hear of them,
are all aroused in this manner. Could such effects be produced
by them, if they had not been sages? And how much more did they
affect those who were in contiguity with them, and felt their
inspiring influence!'
Mencius said,
'When Confucius was leaving Lû, he said, "I will set out
by-and-by;"-- this was the way in which to leave the State of
his parents. When he was leaving Ch'î, he strained off with his
hand the water in which his rice was being rinsed, took the
rice, and went away;-- this was the way in which to leave a
strange State.'
Mencius said, 'The
reason why the superior man was reduced to straits between Ch'an
and Ts'âi was because neither the princes of the time nor their
ministers sympathized or communicated with him.'
1. Mo Ch'î said,
'Greatly am I from anything to depend upon from the mouths of
men.'
2. Mencius
observed, 'There is no harm in that. Scholars are more exposed
than others to suffer from the mouths of men.
3. 'It is said, in
the Book of Poetry,
"My heart is
disquieted and grieved,
I am hated by the crowd of mean creatures."
This might have been said by Confucius. And again,
"Though he did
not remove their wrath,
He did not let fall his own fame."
This might be said of king Wan.'
Mencius said,
'Anciently, men of virtue and talents by means of their own
enlightenment made others enlightened. Nowadays, it is tried,
while they are themselves in darkness, and by means of that
darkness, to make others enlightened.'
Mencius said to
the disciple Kâo, 'There are the footpaths along the hills;-- if
suddenly they be used, they become roads; and if, as suddenly
they are not used, the wild grass fills them up. Now, the wild
grass fills up your mind.'
1. The disciple
Kâo said, 'The music of Yü was better than that of king Wan.'
2. Mencius
observed, 'On what ground do you say so?' and the other replied,
'Because at the pivot the knob of Yü's bells is nearly worn
through.'
3. Mencius said,
'How can that be a sufficient proof? Are the ruts at the gate of
a city made by a single two-horsed chariot?'
1. When Ch'î was
suffering from famine, Ch'an Tsin said to Mencius, 'The people
are all thinking that you, Master, will again ask that the
granary of T'ang be opened for them. I apprehend you will not do
so a second time.'
2. Mencius said,
'To do it would be to act like Fang Fû. There was a man of that
name in Tsin, famous for his skill in seizing tigers. Afterwards
he became a scholar of reputation, and going once out to the
wild country, he found the people all in pursuit of a tiger. The
tiger took refuge in a corner of a hill, where no one dared to
attack him, but when they saw Fang Fû, they ran and met him.
Fang Fû immediately bared his arms, and descended from the
carriage. The multitude were pleased with him, but those who
were scholars laughed at him.' |