Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy Part 9

51The Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties.

52The settled, civilized Chinese as opposed to nomadic, uncivilized "barbarians."

53In addition to occurring in all three versions of "Heaven's Will," this line is also found in chapter 4 (not in this volume).

54The word translated as "guiding standard" is zheng , which often means "what is correct" and is related to the word zheng , which means "to rule." Mozi here is playing on these related senses.

55Notice that in what follows, Mozi appeals to the "three gauges" discussed in "A Condemnation of Fatalism." See Mozi, chapter 35, pp. 11011.

56Mozi wants to distinguish mere hearsay and vague claims about spiritual beings from firm and clear testimony of their existence. In the examples he cites as evidence, the testimony is first hand, detailed, and corroborated by multiple witnesses.

57A king who ruled during the tenth generation of the Zhou dynasty. His reign dates are 827782 B.C.E.

58Ruler of the state of Qin from 659 to 621 B.C.E.

59In very early Chinese texts, spirits savored the mingde , "shining virtue," of pious worshippers in the same visceral way they were thought to enjoy the smells and flavors of the sacrifice, and the pageantry and music of the ceremony. True virtue would elicit spontaneous feelings of approval and joy while character or behavior that was e , "vile," would give rise to disapproval and disgust. Such ideas can be seen in the later tradition. For example, in chapter 6 of the Daxue, "Great Learning," a cultivated person is said to be attracted to the good "as if seeing something beautiful" and repelled by the bad "as if smelling something malodorous."

60A span of nineteen years marked a specific astronomical and calendrical period called a zhang . Unaware of the precession of the equinoxes, ancient Chinese astronomers believed that every nineteen years the winter solstice was the first day of the first month of the year and that on that day the sun would appear at exactly the same place in the zodiac. Hence nineteen years were thought to define a significant period of time, something akin to a generation. Compare the story of the butcher in Zhuangzi, chapter 3, pp. 22425, whose knife remained keen for a period of nineteen years.

61Ruler of the state of Yan. His reign dates are 504493 B.C.E.

62The name of a specific sacrificial site in the state of Yan. This adds an ironic cast to the story, for it was commonly held that a state is maintained through the spiritual power of its state sacrifices. The following lines, which are clearly a later note that became incorporated into the text, describe the locations of the state sacrifices of other contemporary states and the fact that many people witnessed these events (and hence the spiritual sighting noted in Mozi's story), "The state of Yan performed its great sacrifice at Zu, while the state of Qi offered its sacrifice at Sheji, Song at Sanglin, and Chu at Yunmeng. Large numbers of men and women would gather to observe these rituals."

63Bao is the personal name of the king whose posthumous name was Lord Wen. He ruled the state of Song from 610 to 589 B.C.E. He was also known as Duke Wen.

64Ruler of the state of Qi. His reign dates are 553548 B.C.E.

65The text is slightly garbled at this point. But the sense is something like "the sage-kings of the three dynasties (i.e., Yu, Tang, Wen, and Wu) plus Yao and Shun."

66The interior sacrifices were to the Yin royal ancestors and hence needed to be carried out by their direct descendants. Mozi's point is that if there were no ghosts and spirits who received these sacrifices and were aware of who was sacrificing to them, there would have been no point in dividing up these religious duties.

67Mozi's point here is that the conscious effort to properly align cities to harmonize with spiritual forces also reflects a belief in the existence of ghosts and spirits. For the seminal study of this aspect of Chinese culture, see Paul Wheatley, The Pivot of the Four Corners: A Preliminary Enquiry into the Origins and Character of the Ancient Chinese City (Chicago, IL: Aldine Publishing Company, 1971).

68The quotation is from the ode "King Wen" in the Elegies section of the Odes (Mao # 235). For a complete translation, see Legge, The She King, op. cit., pp. 42731.

69The quoted pa.s.sage is similar in content to parts of the "Instructions of Yi" section of the History. Cf. Legge, The Shoo King, pp. 19394.

70In the present version of the History there is a pa.s.sage that shares some of the language and general thrust of the text Mozi quotes. This pa.s.sage is called the "Declaration at Gan" with Gan being the place named in the Mozi pa.s.sage. For the present version, see Legge, The Shoo King, pp. 15255.

71A state ruled by relatives who shared the same surname as the Xia royal line. It was located in present-day Shanxi province.

72These are the basic phases that the natural and human realms are supposed to pa.s.s through in orderly succession. They are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. While a given phase is in "ascendance," the activities and phenomena a.s.sociated with that phase are thought to guide the major course of events.

73The realms of Heaven, earth, and human beings.

74This line also occurs at the very beginning of the chapter.

75Cf. "Honoring the Worthy." See Mozi, chapter 8, pp. 6165.

76That is, those who share the father's surname and are in line to continue his family's ancestral sacrifices.

77Mozi shows no evidence of doubting the existence of ghosts and spirits, but the more sociological explanation for ritual sacrifice he offers here antic.i.p.ates Xunzi's rich and wholly secular defense of ritual. Cf. Xunzi's "Discourse on Ritual." See Xunzi, chapter 19, pp. 27485.

78Mozi criticizes the elaborate musical performances that were sponsored by many states in early China. These events included complex and expensive orchestras, elaborate dancing, and often were accompanied by lavish feasts. He argues that these waste vast resources of time, material, and effort without producing any tangible results. He is not directly criticizing music per se. On the other hand, he shows no sense that music serves any useful purpose in life. For a meticulous and incisive study of the production, performance, ritual, and beliefs regarding ancient Chinese chime bells, see Lothar von Falkenhausen, Suspended Music: Chime Bells in the Culture of Bronze Age China (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1993).

79Ruler of the state of Qi. His reign dates are 404379 B.C.E.

80A ch.o.r.eographed performance with musical accompaniment. For a description, see Waley, The Book of Songs, op. cit., pp. 33840.

81There is no such section in the present History but in the chapter called "Instructions of Yin," there is a pa.s.sage that shares much of the language and general thrust of Mozi's quotation. See Legge, The Shoo King, p. 196.

82The text of the last line is garbled and the translation is tentative.

83"He" refers to the tyrant Jie. The point of the pa.s.sage is that Jie's personal debauchery testifies to his low character, which makes him offensive to Heaven and unfit to rule. Thus it justifies Tang's attack on him.

84An unknown text.

85Qi is the son of Yu, founder of the Xia dynasty. He succeeded his father to the throne. The point of the pa.s.sage is to ill.u.s.trate his bad moral character that makes him offensive to Heaven and unfit to rule.

86These same lines occur as the opening of "Honoring the Worthy." See Mozi, chapter 8, p. 61.

87This describes the practice of determining how far from true east and west the sun would rise and set. It consisted of aligning a set of gnomons (see the following note) with the rising and setting sun and using these to triangulate true east and west. It would be impossible to carry out this procedure on the surface of a spinning potter's wheel just as it would be impossible to use such a wheel as a sundial. For a description and discussion of this procedure and other uses of such gnomon, see A. C. Graham, Later Mohist Logic, Ethics and Science (Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1978), pp. 37071, and Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China, vol. 3 (London: Cambridge University Press, 1959), pp. 284302.

88The word I have translated as "gauge" (biao ) is a gnomon used to "gauge" the direction and movement of the sun's shadow. For an ill.u.s.tration, see the discussion in Needham or the web page for this volume.

CHAPTER THREE.

MENGZI (MENCIUS).

Introduction.

Mengzi was a Chinese Confucian philosopher who lived in the fourth century B.C.E. He was born after Kongzi died, so he never studied under Kongzi, or even met him. However, Mengzi tried to teach, practice, and defend the Way of Kongzi as he understood it. Although he is not nearly as well known in the West as Kongzi, Mengzi has long been regarded in China (and throughout East Asia) as second only to Kongzi himself in importance as a Confucian thinker.

The collection of Mengzi's sayings, dialogues, and debates with others is known simply as the Mengzi (or, following the Jesuit Latinization of his name, the Mencius). It is divided into seven "books," each of which is subdivided into two parts (called the "A" and "B" parts), which are then further divided into "chapters." So, for example, Mengzi 1B3 is book 1, second part, chapter 3.

Mengzi saw the main intellectual opponents of the Way of Kongzi as being the teachings of Yang Zhu and Mozi (3B9, 7A26). Mozi, as we saw in Chapter 2, advocated a kind of universalistic consequentialism. There are few, if any, texts that have survived to the present day that we can confidently identify as presenting the teachings of Yang Zhu, so we do not know exactly what his philosophy was. However, it seems clear that Yang Zhu emphasized following one's xing , "nature" (see Important Terms), and claimed that the teachings of both Mohism and Confucianism ask us to act contrary to our natures by making what Yang Zhu saw as excessive sacrifices for others. (See the Supplemental Text on Yangism ["Robber Zhi"], pp. 36975.) On this basis, Mengzi accused Yang Zhu (perhaps unfairly) of being a sort of extreme egoist.

Mengzi agrees with Yang Zhu that humans have a nature, which they should follow. Indeed, he criticizes a rival philosopher, Gaozi, for suggesting that ethical cultivation must involve violating one's nature (Mengzi 6A1). However, Mengzi argues against Yang Zhu that there are incipient virtuous inclinations in one's nature (Mengzi 6A6). He frequently describes these inclinations using a metaphor of "sprouts," and compares ethical cultivation to tending these sprouts (Mengzi 2A6, 2A2, 6A78). Mengzi presents various kinds of evidence for the existence of ethical "sprouts" in humans, including the "giveaway" actions of adults who spontaneously manifest these inclinations (such as King Xuan, whose sympathy for an ox being led to slaughter shows his nascent compa.s.sion [Mengzi 1A7]), and "thought experiments" (such as asking us what our intuitions are about how a normal human would react to the sight of a child about to fall into a well [Mengzi 2A6], or to the sight of the corpses of loved ones rotting by the roadside [Mengzi 3A5]).

It is important to understand that, although the presence of the sprouts guarantees the goodness of human nature, this does not entail that most humans are actually good. Mengzi stresses that a bad environment (and failure to cultivate oneself) can almost destroy one's original nature (Mengzi 6A8). Furthermore, our compa.s.sion for others and disdain to do what is wrong are innate, but only incipient. Thus the task of moral cultivation is to "extend" or "fill out" the reactions from the paradigmatic cases where we already have them to the relevantly similar cases where we do not yet have them, but ought to (Mengzi 7A15, 7A17, 7B31).

Mengzi thinks that most people will be unable to develop their nature without having their basic needs for things such as food met (Mengzi 7A27). Indeed, Mengzi provides specific advice about proper farm management (Mengzi 3A3), showing his concern with the practicalities of governing. Once their fundamental needs are met, basic-but universal- ethical education is crucial (Mengzi 1A7, 3A4). However, Mengzi recognizes that, while everyone has the capacity to become a sage, not everyone will realize that ability.

Advanced ethical cultivation requires education under a wise teacher. Mengzi's students pose him questions, often involving conundrums from two works that were already quite old and almost canonical by Mengzi's time: the History and the Odes (Mengzi 5A2, 7B3, see also Important Texts). It is significant that much of Mengzi's teaching is based on concrete cases, rather than abstract principles. Although he clearly thinks that there is a best Way to live, and a best choice in every situation (Mengzi 4B29), his approach is "particularistic" in emphasizing the context-sensitivity of virtue (Mengzi 4A17). Thus, he tries to cultivate in his students a skill that goes beyond any simple tool or technique (Mengzi 7B5). This is perhaps part of his reason for suggesting that you should "seek for in your heart" what "you do not get from doctrines" (Mengzi 2A2).

Mengzi uses his particular conception of human nature to provide a response to both Mohism and Yangism. As we have seen, Mengzi agrees with the Yangists that humans have a nature that they should follow, but argues that the Yangists have supplied an impoverished account of the contents of that nature. Against the Mohists, Mengzi argues that there is a natural order of development of human compa.s.sion, and that, as a matter of psychological fact, humans must learn to love members of their own family before they can learn to love strangers (Mengzi 7A15, 7A45). Some Mohists in Mengzi's era seem to have conceded this point, but argued that the feeling of compa.s.sion cultivated in the family should be extended outward to love everyone equally. However, Mengzi claims that, given the way in which our compa.s.sion develops out of love of kin, any effort to love everyone equally violates our naturally greater compa.s.sion for family members (Mengzi 3A5). Finally, Mengzi argues that the effort to base one's actions on li , "benefit" or "profit," even if it is the profit of one's kingdom as a whole, will be self-defeating (Mengzi 1A1).

Book One 1A1 Mengzi had an audience with King Hui of Liang. The King said, "Sir, you have come, not regarding one thousand li as too far. Surely you will have something to profit my state?"

Mengzi said in response, "Why must Your Majesty say, 'profit'? Let there be benevolence and righteousness and that is all. Your Majesty says, 'How can my state be profited?' The Counsellors say, 'How can my family be profited?' The scholars and commoners say, 'How can I be profited?' Those above and those below mutually compete for profit and the state is endangered.

"In a case where the ruler of a state that can field ten thousand chariots is murdered, it must be by a family that can field a thousand chariots. In a case where the ruler of a state that can field a thousand chariots is murdered, it must be by a family that can field a hundred chariots. One thousand out of ten thousand, or one hundred out of a thousand, cannot be considered to not be a lot. But if righteousness is put behind and profit is put ahead, one will not be satisfied without grasping from others.

"There have never been those who were benevolent who abandoned their parents. There have never been those who were righteous who put their ruler last. Let Your Majesty say, 'Benevolence and righteousness,' and that is all. Why must you say 'profit'?"

1A3 King Hui of Liang said, "In relation to the state, We exert our heart to the utmost. When there is a famine in the region inside the river, then We move people to the region east of the river, and move grain to the region inside the river. When there is a famine in the region east of the river, We do the converse. When We examine the government of neighboring states, there is none that exerts itself as We do. Yet the people of neighboring states do not grow fewer, and Our people do not grow more numerous. How is this?"

Mengzi responded, "Your Majesty is fond of war. Allow me to use an ill.u.s.tration from warfare: Thunderingly, the drums beat the soldiers forward; their swords have already clashed; casting aside their armor and trailing their weapons they run away. Some run a hundred paces and then stop; others run fifty paces and then stop. How would it be if those who ran fifty paces laughed at those who ran a hundred paces?"

He responded, "That is unacceptable. They simply did not run a hundred paces. But what they did is running away too."

Mengzi said, "If Your Majesty understands this, then you will not expect your people to be more numerous than those of neighboring states.". . .

1A7 King Xuan of Qi asked, "May I hear from you of the actions of the Lord Protectors Huan of Qi and Wen of Jin?"

Mengzi said in response, "The disciples of Zhongni [i.e., Kongzi] did not give accounts of the actions of Huan and Wen. Because of this, they were not pa.s.sed on to later generations, and I, your servant, have not heard of them.1 But, if you insist, then may we talk about being a genuine king?"2 Xuan said, "What must one's Virtue be like so that one can become a king?"

Mengzi said, "One cares for the people and becomes a king. This is something no one can stop."

Xuan said, "Can one such as I care for the people?"

Mengzi said, "He can."

Xuan said, "How do you know that I can?"

Mengzi said, "I heard your attendant Hu He say, The King was sitting up in his hall.3 There was an ox being led past below. The King saw it and said, "Where is the ox going?" Someone responded, "We are about to consecrate a bell with its blood." The King said, "Spare it. I cannot bear its frightened appearance, like an innocent going to the execution ground." Someone responded, "So should we abandon the consecrating of the bell?" The King said, "How can that be abandoned? Exchange it for a sheep."

Mengzi continued, "I do not know if this happened."

Xuan said, "It happened."

Mengzi said, "This feeling is sufficient to be a king.4 The commoners all thought Your Majesty was being stingy. But I knew that Your Majesty could not bear the frightened appearance of the ox."

The King said, "That is so. There really were commoners like that. Although Qi is a small state, how could I be stingy about one ox? It was just that I could not bear its frightened appearance, like an innocent going to the execution ground. Hence, I exchanged it for a sheep."

Mengzi said, "Let Your Majesty not be surprised at the commoners' taking you to be stingy. You took a small thing and exchanged it for a big thing. How could they understand? If Your Majesty were pained at its being innocent and going to the execution ground, then what is there to choose between an ox and a sheep?"

The King laughed, saying, "What was this feeling really?! It's not the case that I grudged its value and exchanged it for a sheep. But it makes sense that the commoners would say I was stingy."

Mengzi said, "There is no harm. This is just the way benevolence works. You saw the ox but had not seen the sheep. As for the relation of gentlemen to birds and beasts, if they see them living, they cannot bear to see them die. If they hear their cries, they cannot bear to eat their flesh. Hence, gentlemen keep their distance from the kitchen."

The King was pleased and said, "The Odes say, Another person had the heart, But I measured it.5 This describes you. I was the one who did it. I reflected and sought it out, but did not understand my heart. You spoke, and in my heart there was a feeling of compa.s.sion. In what way does this heart accord with being a king?"

Mengzi said, "Suppose there were someone who reported to Your Majesty, saying, 'My strength is sufficient to lift five hundred pounds, but not sufficient to lift one feather. My eyesight is sufficient to examine the tip of an autumn hair,6 but I cannot see a wagon of firewood.' Would Your Majesty accept that?"

Xuan said, "No."

Mengzi said, "In the present case your kindness is sufficient to reach birds and beasts, but the benefits do not reach the commoners. Why is this case alone different? Hence, not lifting one feather is due to not using one's strength. Not seeing a wagon of firewood is due to not using one's eyesight. The commoners not receiving care is due to not using one's kindness. Hence, Your Majesty's not being a genuine king is due to not acting; it is not due to not being able."

Xuan said, "What is the difference between concrete cases of not doing and not being able?"

Mengzi said, "'Pick up Mount Tai and leap over the North Sea.' If you say, 'I cannot,' this is truly not being able. 'Ma.s.sage the stiff joints of an elderly person.' If you say, 'I cannot,' this is not acting; it is not a case of not being able. So Your Majesty's not being a king is not in the category of picking up Mount Tai and leaping over the North Sea. Your Majesty's not being a king is in the category of ma.s.saging the stiff joints of an elderly person.

"Treat your elders as elders, and extend it to the elders of others; treat your young ones as young ones,7 and extend it to the young ones of others; then you can turn the whole world in the palm of your hand. The Odes say, He set an example for his wife, It extended to his brothers, And so he controlled his family and state.8 This means that he simply took this feeling and applied it to that. Hence, if one extends one's kindness, it will be sufficient to care for all within the Four Seas. If one does not extend one's kindness, one will lack the wherewithal to care for one's wife and children. That in which the ancients greatly exceeded others was no other than this. They were simply good at extending what they did. In the present case your kindness is sufficient to reach birds and beasts, but the benefits do not reach the commoners. Why is this case alone different? Weigh, and then you will distinguish the light and the heavy. Measure, and then you will distinguish the long and the short. Things are all like this, the heart most of all. Let Your Majesty measure it.

"Perhaps Your Majesty can only be happy in his heart by rallying soldiers, endangering his scholars and ministers, and incurring the resentment of the other lords?"

Xuan said, "No. How could I be happy about these things?" Mengzi said, "Could I hear Your Majesty's greatest desire?" The King smiled and did not speak.

Mengzi said, "Is it because your hearty and sweet foods are insufficient for your mouth? Are your light and warm clothes insufficient for your body? Or yet because the beautiful and charming sights are insufficient for your eyes to look at? The melodies are insufficient for your ears to listen to? The servants are insufficient to order about in front of you? Your Majesty's various ministers are sufficient to serve you. Does Your Majesty actually do what you do for these things?!"

Xuan said, "No. It is not for the sake of these things."

Mengzi said, "Then Your Majesty's greatest desire can be known. You desire to govern the land, bring to your court the states of Qin and Chu, oversee the Central Kingdom, and dominate the barbarians. By means of such things as you do, to seek such things as you desire, is like climbing a tree in search of a fish."

The King said, "Is it as extreme as that?"

Mengzi said, "The danger is greater than that! If one climbs a tree in search of a fish, although one will not get a fish, there will not be any disaster afterward. By means of such things as you do, to seek such things as you desire, if one exhausts the strength of one's heart in doing it, afterward there must be disaster."

Xuan said, "Could I hear of this?"

Mengzi said, "If the people of Zou and the people of Chu fought, who does Your Majesty think would win?"

Xuan said, "The people of Chu would win."

Mengzi said, "So the small definitely cannot match the big, the few definitely cannot match the many, the weak definitely cannot match the strong. The region within the seas is nine thousand square li. Qi amounts to one thousand. To take on eight with one, how is this different from Zou matching Chu?!

"Simply return to the fundamentals. Suppose Your Majesty were to bestow benevolence in governing. This would cause all under Heaven who serve others to all want to take their place in Your Majesty's court, those who plough to all want to plough in Your Majesty's uncultivated fields, merchants to all want to place their goods in Your Majesty's markets, those who travel to all wish to use Your Majesty's roads. All under Heaven who wish to complain of their rulers would all desire to report to Your Majesty. If it were like this, who could stop it?"9 The King said, "I am ignorant and unable to undertake this. But I am willing for you, Master, to redirect my resolution, enlighten, and instruct me. Although I am not clever, please let me try."

Mengzi said, " To lack a constant livelihood, yet to have a constant heart-only a scholar is capable of this. As for the people, if they lack a constant livelihood, it follows that they will lack a constant heart. And if one simply fails to have a constant heart, dissipation and evil will not be avoided. When they thereupon sink into crime, to go and punish them is to trap the people. When there are benevolent people in positions of authority, how is it possible to trap the people? For this reason, an enlightened ruler, in regulating the people's livelihood, must ensure that it is sufficient, on the one hand, to serve one's father and mother, and on the other hand, to nurture wife and children. In good years, one is always full. In years of famine, one escapes death. Only when the people have a regulated livelihood do they rush toward the good, and thus the people follow the ruler easily.

"Nowadays, in regulating the people's livelihood, on the one hand it is insufficient to serve one's father and mother, on the other it is insufficient to nurture wife and children. In good years, one is always bitter. In years of famine, one cannot escape death. This is a case in which one fears not having the means to save people from death. How could one have leisure for teaching ritual and righteousness?