Benxing — Our Original Nature本性篇
情性者，人治之本，禮樂所由生也。故原情性之極，禮為之防，樂為之節。性有卑謙辭讓，故制禮以適其宜；情有好惡喜怒哀樂，故作樂以通其敬。即所以制，樂所為作者，情與性也。昔儒舊生，著作篇章，莫不論說，莫能實定。
Feeling and nature are the root of the governing of men, and that from which rites and music arose. Therefore the ancients traced feeling and nature to their utmost, and made rites a barrier for them and music a measure for them. Nature has in it lowliness, modesty, and yielding, and so rites were framed to fit what is proper to it. Feeling has in it liking and hating, joy and anger, grief and delight, and so music was made to let its reverence flow through. That for which rites were framed and that for which music was made are feeling and nature. The scholars and old masters of former days wrote chapters and essays, and there is not one who did not discuss and speak of this, but none could settle what is true in it.
周人世碩，以為人性有善有惡，舉人之善性，養而致之則善長；性惡，養而致之則惡長。如此，則性各有陰陽，善惡在所養焉。故世子作《養書》一篇。密子賤、漆雕開、公孫尼子之徒，亦論情性，與世子相出入，皆言性有善有惡。
Shi Shuo, a man of Zhou, held that the nature of men has good in it and has evil in it. Take up the good nature in a man, nurture it and bring it on, and the good grows; where the nature is evil, nurture it and bring it on, and the evil grows. If this is so, then every nature has its yin and its yang, and good and evil lie in what is nurtured. So Shizi wrote one chapter, the Yang shu. Mi Zijian, Qi Diaokai, Gongsun Nizi and their like also discussed feeling and nature, and went in and out with Shizi, and all said that nature has good in it and evil in it.
孟子作性善之篇，以為人性皆善，及其不善，物亂之也。謂人生於天地，皆稟善性，長大與物交接者，放縱悖亂，不善日以生矣。若孟子之言，人幼小之時，無有不善也。微子曰「我舊云孩子，王子不出。」
Mencius wrote the chapter on the goodness of nature, holding that the nature of men is all good, and that where it is not good, things have thrown it into disorder. He said that men are born of Heaven and earth and all receive a good nature, and that those who grow up and meet with things run loose and go astray, so that what is not good is born day by day. If it is as Mencius says, then in the time when a man is small there can be nothing in him that is not good. Weizi said, "Long ago I spoke of him from when he was a child, and the king's son did not come out."
紂為孩子時，微子睹其不善之性。性惡不出眾庶，長大為亂不變，故云也。羊舌食我初生之時，叔姬視之，及堂，聞其啼聲而還，曰：「其聲，豺狼之聲也。野心無親，非是莫滅羊舌氏。」隧不肯見。及長，祁勝為亂，食我與焉。
When Zhou was a child, Weizi saw the nature in him that was not good. His evil nature did not pass beyond that of the common run, but he grew up, raised disorder, and did not change, and so it was said. When Yangshe Shiwo was newly born, Shuji went to look at him, and on reaching the hall heard the sound of his crying and turned back, saying, "That voice is the voice of a jackal and a wolf. A wild heart has no kin. If it is not this child, there is none who will wipe out the house of Yangshe." In the end she would not see him. When he had grown, Qi Sheng raised a disorder, and Shiwo had a part in it.
國人殺食我。羊舌氏由是滅矣。紂之惡在孩子之時，食我之亂見始生之聲。孩子始生，未與物接，誰令悖者？丹朱（士）〔生〕於唐宮，商均生於虞室。唐、虞之時，可比屋而封，所與接者，必多善矣。二帝之旁，必多賢也。然而丹朱傲，商均虐，并失帝統，歷世為戒。且孟子相人眸子焉，心清而眸子了，心濁而眸子。人生目輒了，了稟之於天，不同氣也；非幼小之時了，長大與人接，乃更也。性本自然，善惡有質。孟子之言情性，未為實也。然而性善之論，亦有所緣。
The men of the state killed Shiwo, and by this the house of Yangshe was wiped out. The evil of Zhou was there in his childhood, and the disorder of Shiwo showed in the sound he made when he was newly born. A child newly born has not yet met with things. Who made him go astray? Danzhu was born in the palace of Tang, Shangjun in the house of Yu. In the days of Tang and Yu, house after house could have been given a fief, so those they met with must have been good men in plenty. Beside the two emperors there must have been worthy men in plenty. Yet Danzhu was insolent and Shangjun was cruel, and both lost the line of the emperors and were a warning to the ages.
Again, Mencius looked at the pupils of men's eyes, and said that when the mind is clear the pupils are bright, and when the mind is muddy the pupils are dim. A man is born and his eyes are at once bright or dim. Bright and dim are received from Heaven, for the breath is not the same. It is not that they are bright while he is small and grow dim only after he has grown and met with men. Nature is of itself so, and good and evil have their stuff in it. What Mencius said of feeling and nature is not the truth. Yet the argument for the goodness of nature also has something it came from.
或仁或義，性朮乖也。動作趨翔，性識詭也。面色或白或黑，身形或長或短，至老極死，不可變易，天性然也。皆知水土物器形性不同，而莫知善惡稟之異也。一歲嬰兒無爭奪之心，長大之後，或漸利色，狂心悖行，由此生也。告子與孟子同時，其論性無善惡之分，譬之湍水，決之東則東，決之西則西，夫水無分於東西，猶人無分於善惡也。
Some are benevolent and some are righteous, for the paths of their natures are at odds. Their stirring and walking and flying differ, for the knowing of their natures is other. That the color of the face is white in one and black in another, that the body is long in one and short in another, and that to old age and the end of death it cannot be changed, is because the nature given at birth is so. All know that water and soil, things and vessels, are not the same in shape and nature, yet none know that what is received of good and evil differs. A child of one year has no mind to strive and snatch, but after he has grown some are steeped in gain and beauty, and a mad heart and crooked conduct are born from this.
Gaozi was a man of the same time as Mencius, and in discussing nature he said that it has no division into good and evil, and likened it to swirling water. Open it to the east and it goes east; open it to the west and it goes west. That water has no division into east and west is like men having no division into good and evil.
夫告子之言，謂人之性與水同也。以性若水，可以水喻性，猶金之為金，水之為水也。人善因善，惡亦因惡。初稟天然之姿，受純壹之質，故生而兆見，善惡可察。無分於善惡，可推移者，謂中人也，不善不惡，須教成者也。故孔子曰：「中人以上可以語上也，中人以下不可以語上也。」告子之以決水喻者，徒謂中人，不指極善極惡也。孔子曰：「性相近也，習相遠也。」夫中人之性，在所習焉。習善而為善，習惡而為惡也。至於極善極惡，非復在習。故孔子曰：「惟上智與下愚不移。」性有善不善，聖化賢教，不能復移易也。孔子道德之祖，諸子之中最卓者也，而曰「上智下愚不移」，故知告子之言，未得實也。夫告子之言，亦有緣也。《詩》曰：「彼姝之子，何以與之？」其傳曰：「譬猶練絲，染之藍則青，染之朱則赤。」夫決水使之東西，猶染絲令之青赤也。
Now what Gaozi said is that the nature of men is the same as water. If nature is like water, and water may be used to liken nature, then it is as gold is gold and water is water. In men the good comes from good, and the evil too comes from evil. At the first they receive the bearing that Heaven made and take on a pure and single stuff, and so from birth the signs are seen, and good and evil may be looked into. Those who have no division into good and evil and may be moved over are the middling men, who are neither good nor evil and must be taught before they are made. So Confucius said, "To men above the middling sort one may speak of what is above; to men below the middling sort one may not speak of what is above." When Gaozi likened it to the opening of water, he spoke only of the middling men; he did not point at the utterly good and the utterly evil.
Confucius said, "In nature men are near to one another; in practice they grow far apart." Now the nature of middling men lies in what they practice. Practice good and they become good; practice evil and they become evil. As for the utterly good and the utterly evil, these no longer lie in practice. So Confucius said, "Only the wisest above and the most foolish below do not move." Nature has in it good and what is not good, and the teaching of sages and the instruction of the worthy cannot move or change it again. Confucius is the forefather of the way and its power, and the most towering among the many masters, and he said, "The wisest above and the most foolish below do not move." From this it may be known that what Gaozi said did not get the truth.
Now what Gaozi said also has something it came from. The Shi says, "To that fair one, what shall be given?" It is handed down that he is like boiled silk. Dye it in indigo and it is blue, dye it in cinnabar and it is red. Now to open water and let it go east or west is like dyeing silk and making it blue or red.
丹朱、商均已染於唐、虞之化矣，然而丹朱傲而商均虐者，至惡之質，不受藍朱變也。
Danzhu and Shangjun had already been dyed in the transforming ways of Tang and Yu, yet Danzhu was insolent and Shangjun was cruel. Theirs was stuff of the utmost evil, which does not take the change of indigo and cinnabar.
孫卿有反孟子，作《性惡》之篇，以為人性惡，其善者偽也。性惡者，以為人生皆得惡性也。偽者，長大之後，勉使為善也。若孫卿之言，人幼小無有善也。稷為兒，以種樹為戲；孔子能行，以俎豆為弄。石生而堅，蘭生而香。稟善氣，長大就成，故種樹之戲為唐司馬，俎豆之弄為周聖師。稟蘭石之性，故有堅香之驗。夫孫卿之言，未為得實。然而性惡之言，有緣也。一對嬰兒，無推讓之心，見食，號欲食之；睹好，啼欲玩之。長大之後，禁情割欲，勉勵為善矣。劉子政非之曰：「如此，則天無氣也。陰陽善惡之相當，則人之為善安從生？」
Sun Qing went against Mencius and wrote the chapter on the evil of nature, holding that the nature of men is evil and that what is good in them is made. To say that nature is evil is to say that men are born and all get an evil nature. What is made is what they force themselves to do for good after they have grown. If it is as Sun Qing says, then in the time when a man is small there can be no good in him. Ji, when he was a boy, made a game of planting trees, and Confucius, when he could walk, made a plaything of the stands and dishes of sacrifice. Stone is born hard and the orchid is born fragrant. They received a good breath and grew up and were made, and so the game of planting trees became the Minister of War (司馬) of Tang, and the play with stands and dishes became the holy teacher of Zhou. They received the nature of orchid and of stone, and so there was the proof of hardness and of fragrance. Now what Sun Qing said did not get the truth.
Yet the words on the evil of nature also have something they came from. A pair of newborn children have no mind to defer and yield. They see food and cry out to eat it; they see something fine and weep to play with it. After they have grown they curb their feelings and cut off their desires, and force themselves to do good. Liu Zizheng found fault with this, saying, "If it were so, then Heaven would have no breath in it. If the good and evil of yin and yang match each other, from where does a man's doing of good arise?"
陸賈曰：「天地生人也，以禮義之性。人能察己所以受命則順，順之謂道。」
Lu Jia said, "Heaven and earth gave birth to men with a nature of rites and righteousness. If a man can look into why he received his destiny, he is in accord, and being in accord is called the way."
夫陸賈知人禮義為性，人亦能察所以受命。性善者，不待察而自善；性惡者，雖能察之，猶背禮畔義，義挹於善不能為也。故貪者能言廉，亂者能言治。盜蹠非人之竊也，庄刺人之濫也，明能察己，口能論賢，性惡不為，何益於善？陸賈之言未能得實。
Now Lu Jia knew that men have rites and righteousness for their nature, and that men can also look into why they received their destiny. Those whose nature is good are good of themselves without waiting to look into it. Those whose nature is evil, though they can look into it, still turn their backs on rites and betray righteousness, and what is right draws back from the good and they cannot do it. So the greedy can speak of honesty and the disorderly can speak of good rule. Robber Zhi found fault with the stealing of others, and Zhuang Qiao censured the excesses of others. Though a man can look clearly into himself and can discuss worthiness with his mouth, if his nature is evil and he does not act, what does it add to the good? What Lu Jia said could not get the truth.
董仲舒覽孫、孟之書，作情性之說曰：「天之大經，一陰一陽。人之大經，一情一性。性生於陽，情生於陰。陰氣鄙，陽氣仁。曰性善者，是見其陽也。謂惡者，是見其陰者也。」若仲舒之言，謂孟子見其陽，孫卿見其陰也。處二家各有見，可也。不處人情性，情性有善有惡，未也。夫人情性同生於陰陽，其生於陰陽，有渥有泊。玉生於石，有純有駁，性情〔生〕於陰陽，安能純善？仲舒之言，未能得實。
Dong Zhongshu looked at the books of Sun and of Meng, and made a discourse on feeling and nature, saying, "The great warp of Heaven is one yin and one yang; the great warp of man is one feeling and one nature. Nature is born of yang and feeling is born of yin. The breath of yin is mean and the breath of yang is benevolent. Those who say that nature is good have seen its yang; those who call it evil have seen its yin." If it is as Zhongshu says, then Mencius saw its yang and Sun Qing saw its yin. To set the two houses down as each having seen something is right. But not to set down the feeling and nature of men, and to say only that feeling and nature have good in them and evil in them, is not yet enough. Now the feeling and nature of men are alike born of yin and yang, and in this birth from yin and yang there is what is thick and what is thin. Jade is born of stone, and some of it is pure and some is mixed. Since nature and feeling are born of yin and yang, how can they be purely good? What Zhongshu said could not get the truth.
劉子政曰：「性，生而然者也，在於身而不發。情，接於物而然者也，出形於外。形外則謂之陽，不發者則謂之陰。」夫子政之言，謂性在身而不發。情接於物，形出於外，故謂之陽；性不發，不與物接，故謂之陰。夫如子政之言，乃謂情為陽、性為陰也；不據本所生起，苟以形出與不發見定陰陽也。必以形出為陽，性亦與物接，造此必於是，顛沛必於是。惻隱，不忍；不忍，仁之氣也。卑歉辭讓，性之發也。有與接會，故惻隱卑謙，形出於外。謂性在內不與物接，恐非其實。不論性之善惡，徒議外內陰陽，理難以知。且從子政之言，以性為陰，情為陽，夫人稟情，竟有善惡不也？
Liu Zizheng said, "Nature is what is so from birth; it lies in the body and does not come forth. Feeling is what is so upon meeting with things; it takes shape outside. What takes shape outside is called yang, and what does not come forth is called yin." Now what Zizheng said is that nature lies in the body and does not come forth. Feeling meets with things and takes shape outside, and so is called yang; nature does not come forth and does not meet with things, and so is called yin. If it is as Zizheng says, then feeling is called yang and nature is called yin, and he does not rest on where they arise from at the root, but settles yin and yang merely by taking shape or not being seen.
If taking shape must be yang, then nature too meets with things. In haste a man must be here in it; in stumbling and falling he must be here in it. Pity is not being able to bear; not being able to bear is the breath of benevolence. Lowliness, modesty, and yielding are nature coming forth. There is a meeting and a gathering with things, and so pity and lowliness and modesty take shape outside. To say that nature is within and does not meet with things would seem not to be the truth of it. Not to discuss the good and evil of nature, and to argue only over inside and outside and yin and yang, makes the principle hard to know. And if one follows Zizheng's words and makes nature yin and feeling yang, then when a man receives his feeling, is there good and evil in it in the end, or is there not?
自孟子以下至劉子政，鴻儒博生，聞見多矣。然而論情性，竟無定是。唯世碩（儒）、公孫尼子之徒，頗得其正。由此言之，事易知，道難論也。酆文茂記，繁如榮華，恢諧劇談，甘如飴蜜，未必得實。實者，人性有善有惡，猶人才有高有下也。高不可下，下不可高。謂性無善惡，是謂人才無高下也。稟性受命，同一實也。命有貴賤，性有善惡。謂性無善惡，是謂人命無貴賤也。
From Mencius down to Liu Zizheng, the great scholars and the broad students have heard and seen much. Yet in discussing feeling and nature they came in the end to no settled rightness. Only Shi Shuo and Gongsun Nizi and their like got a good part of what is right in it. Speaking from this, affairs are easy to know but the way is hard to discuss. Rich writing and lush records are as thick as flowers, and jesting and grand talk are as sweet as syrup and honey, but they do not always get the truth. The truth is that the nature of men has good in it and evil in it, as the talent of men has what is high and what is low. What is high cannot be made low, and what is low cannot be made high. To say that nature has no good and evil is to say that the talent of men has nothing high and low. Receiving a nature and receiving a destiny are one and the same. Destinies have the noble and the base; natures have the good and the evil. To say that nature has no good and evil is to say that the destinies of men have nothing noble and base.
九州田土之性，善惡不均。故有黃赤黑之別，上中下之差。水潦不同，故有清濁之流，東西南北之趨。人稟天地之性，懷五常之氣，或仁或義，性朮乖也；動作趨翔，或重或輕，性識詭也；面色或白或黑，身形或長或短，至老極死不可變易，天性然也。余固以孟軻言人性善者，中人以上者也；孫卿言人性惡者，中人以下者也；揚雄言人性善惡混者，中人也。若反經合道，則可以為教；盡性之理，則未也。
The nature of the fields and soil of the nine provinces is not even in good and bad. So there is the division of yellow and red and black, and the difference of upper and middle and lower. Waters are not the same, and so there are clear streams and muddy ones, and courses that run east and west and south and north. Men receive the nature of Heaven and earth and bear the breath of the five constants. Some are benevolent and some are righteous, for the paths of their natures are at odds. In stirring and walking and flying, some are heavy and some are light, for the knowing of their natures is other. That the color of the face is white in one and black in another, that the body is long in one and short in another, and that to old age and the end of death it cannot be changed, is because the nature given at birth is so.
I have always held that when Meng Ke said the nature of men is good, he spoke of men above the middling sort; that when Sun Qing said the nature of men is evil, he spoke of men below the middling sort; and that when Yang Ziyun said that in the nature of men good and evil are mixed, he spoke of the middling men. If they turn back to the canon and meet with the way, they may be taken for teaching; but they have not yet exhausted the principle of nature.