Duke Wen of Teng, Part One滕文公上

When Duke Wen of Teng was crown prince, he was on his way to Chu and passed through Song, where he saw Mencius. Mencius spoke of the goodness of human nature (性善), and whenever he spoke he always cited Yao and Shun.

The crown prince, coming back from Chu, saw Mencius again. Mencius said, "Does the crown prince doubt my words? The Way is one, and that is all.

Cheng Jian said to Duke Jing of Qi, 'He is a man and I am a man. Why should I fear him?' Yan Yuan said, 'What kind of man was Shun, and what kind of man am I? One who sets himself to it is also like that.' Gongming Yi said, 'King Wen is my teacher. How would the Duke of Zhou deceive me?'

Now if Teng cuts off where it is long and fills in where it is short, it will be some fifty li, and even so a good state can be made of it. The Shu says, 'If the medicine does not make the head swim, the illness will not be cured.'"

When Duke Ding of Teng died, the crown prince said to Ranyou, "What Mencius once said to me in Song I have never been able to forget. Now misfortune has brought this great matter upon us. I wish to send you to ask Mencius, and to carry out the rites after that."

Ranyou went to Zou and asked Mencius.

Mencius said, "Is this not good! Mourning for a parent is a thing a man must fulfill to the utmost of himself. Zengzi said, 'While they live, serve them according to the rites; when they die, bury them according to the rites and sacrifice to them according to the rites. This may be called filial.' The rites of the feudal lords I have not studied. Even so, I have heard this: the three-year mourning, the coarse hempen garment, the food of thin gruel and porridge — from the Son of Heaven down to the common man, the three dynasties held these in common."

Ranyou came back and reported, and the three-year mourning was settled upon. The kinsmen of his father's and elder brothers' generation and the hundred officers all were unwilling, and they said, "The former rulers of Lu, our ancestral state, did not practice it, and our own former rulers did not practice it. To overturn this in your generation cannot be done. And the Zhi (志) says, 'In mourning and sacrifice, follow the ancestors.'" The crown prince said, "I have that which I received."

He said to Ranyou, "In past days I never studied or asked questions. I liked galloping horses and trying swords. Now the kinsmen and the hundred officers do not think me equal to this, and I fear I cannot fulfill the great matter. Ask Mencius for me."

Ranyou went again to Zou and asked Mencius.

Mencius said, "So it is. This is not a thing to be sought elsewhere. Confucius said, 'When a ruler dies, the government is given over to the prime minister. The heir eats gruel, his face turns deep black, he takes his place and wails. Among the hundred officers and the functionaries there is none who dares not to grieve, because he has gone before them. When there is something the one above loves, below there is always one who loves it more. The virtue of the gentleman is the wind, and the virtue of the small man is the grass. When the wind passes over the grass, the grass must bend.' This rests with the crown prince."

Ranyou came back and reported.

The crown prince said, "So it is. This rests truly with me."

For five months he lived in the mourning hut and gave out no order or warning. The hundred officers and his kinsmen could be said to know. When the burial came, people came from the four quarters to see it, and at the grief in his face and the sorrow of his weeping the mourners were greatly satisfied.

Duke Wen of Teng asked about governing the state.

Mencius said, "The work of the people cannot be put off. The Shi says, 'By day you cut the thatch, by night you twist the rope. Hurry up onto the roof, for then you begin to sow the hundred grains.'

The Way of the people is this. Those who have a settled livelihood have a settled heart, and those who have no settled livelihood have no settled heart. If a man truly has no settled heart, there is nothing he will not do, loose and wayward and crooked and extravagant. And when he has fallen into crime, to go after him and punish him is to net the people. How could a benevolent man in office do a thing like netting the people?

Therefore a worthy ruler is always respectful and thrifty and treats those below him with courtesy, and there is a measure in what he takes from the people. Yang Hu said, 'He who works for riches is not benevolent, and he who works for benevolence does not grow rich.'

The house of Xiahou gave fifty mu and used the tribute method (貢法), the men of Yin gave seventy mu and used the aid method (助法), and the men of Zhou gave a hundred mu and used the through method (徹法). In substance all of them were one part in ten. Che (徹) means to gather in, and zhu (助) means to borrow.

Master Long said, 'For managing land there is nothing better than the aid method and nothing worse than the tribute method. The tribute method compares the middle of several years and makes that the fixed amount. In a good year the grain lies scattered in plenty, and to take much would not be harsh, yet little is taken; in a bad year there is not even enough to manure the field, yet the full amount is always taken. To be father and mother to the people, and to make the people look with resentful eyes, toiling the whole year long and still unable to support their own parents, and then to make them borrow to fill out the tax, so that the old and the young roll into the ditches and gullies — where is the being father and mother to the people in that?'

Hereditary stipends Teng has practiced all along. The Shi says, 'Rain upon our public field, and then reach our private fields.' Only the aid method has a public field. Looking at it this way, Zhou too used the aid method.

Set up the xiang (庠), the xu (序), the xue (學) and the xiao (校) to teach them. Xiang means to nourish, xiao means to teach, and xu means to shoot the bow. Xia called it xiao, Yin called it xu, Zhou called it xiang, and the xue the three dynasties held in common. All of them are for making human relations clear. When human relations are clear above, the small people are close to one another below.

If a true king arises, he will surely come and take his model here, and this is to be the teacher of a king. The Shi says, 'Though Zhou is an old state, its mandate is new.' This speaks of King Wen. Put it into practice with all your strength, and you too will make your state new!"

He sent Bi Zhan to ask about the well-field system.

Mencius said, "Your ruler is about to practice benevolent government, and he chose you and sent you, so you must put your strength into it. Benevolent government must begin with setting the boundaries right. If the boundaries are not right, the well-fields are not even and the grain stipends are not fair. Therefore a cruel ruler and a filthy official are always careless about the boundaries. Once the boundaries are right, dividing the fields and fixing the stipends can be settled sitting down.

Teng is narrow and small in its land, yet it must have gentlemen and it must have countrymen. Without gentlemen there is no one to govern the countrymen, and without countrymen there is no one to feed the gentlemen.

I ask that in the country you use one part in nine with the aid method, and that within the capital they pay one part in ten themselves. From the rank of minister (卿) downward there must be a sacrificial field (圭田). The sacrificial field is fifty mu, and each grown man over and above gets twenty-five mu.

Though they die or move, they do not leave the district. The fields of the district lie in the same well, and going out and coming in they are friends to one another, they help one another in guarding and watching, and they hold one another up in sickness and disease. Then the people are close and harmonious.

A square li makes one well. One well is nine hundred mu, and the middle of it is the public field. The eight households each hold a hundred mu of private field and together tend the public field. Only when the public work is finished do they dare to see to their private work, and this is how the countrymen are set apart. This is the outline of it. As for smoothing and polishing it, that rests with your ruler and with you."

There was one Xu Xing, who spoke the words of Shennong. He came from Chu to Teng, went up to the gate and said to Duke Wen, "A man from a far country has heard that you practice benevolent government, and he wishes to receive a plot of ground and become one of your people." Duke Wen gave him a place to live. His followers, several dozen men, all wore coarse cloth and made sandals and wove mats for their living.

Chen Xiang, a disciple of Chen Liang, came with his younger brother Xin from Song to Teng, carrying plow and plowshare on their backs, and said, "We have heard that you practice the government of the sages, and this makes you a sage as well. We wish to become the people of a sage."

When Chen Xiang saw Xu Xing he was greatly delighted, and he threw away all that he had learned and learned from him.

Chen Xiang saw Mencius and passed on the words of Xu Xing. "The ruler of Teng is truly a worthy ruler. Even so, he has not yet heard the Way. A worthy man plows together with the people and eats, and cooks his own morning and evening meal while he governs. Now Teng has granaries and storehouses, and this is to afflict the people in order to feed himself. How can he be called worthy?"

Mencius said, "Must Master Xu sow grain before he eats?"

"He must."

"Must Master Xu weave cloth before he wears it?"

"No. Master Xu wears coarse cloth."

"Does Master Xu wear a cap?"

"He does."

"What cap does he wear?"

"He wears a plain white cap."

"Does he weave it himself?"

"No. He trades grain for it."

"Why does Master Xu not weave it himself?"

"Because it would get in the way of his plowing."

"Does Master Xu cook with a kettle and an earthen steamer, and plow with iron?"

"He does."

"Does he make them himself?"

"No. He trades grain for them."

"If trading grain for vessels and tools does not afflict the potter and the smith, how should the potter and the smith, trading their vessels and tools for grain, be afflicting the farmer?

And why does Master Xu not work as a potter and a smith, and take everything he uses from his own house? Why does he trade back and forth in such confusion with all the hundred craftsmen? Why does Master Xu not shrink from all that trouble?"

"The work of the hundred craftsmen certainly cannot be done while plowing."

"Then is governing all under heaven the one thing that can be done while plowing? There is the work of great men and there is the work of small men. And in the body of a single man the work of the hundred craftsmen is provided. If a man must make everything himself before he uses it, this is to lead all under heaven out onto the road.

Therefore it is said, 'Some labor with their minds and some labor with their strength. Those who labor with their minds govern others, and those who labor with their strength are governed by others. Those who are governed by others feed them, and those who govern others are fed by them.' This is the right that runs through all under heaven.

In the time of Yao all under heaven was not yet settled. The flood waters ran crosswise and spread over all under heaven. Grasses and trees grew thick and birds and beasts multiplied, the five grains did not ripen and birds and beasts pressed upon men. The tracks of beasts and the marks of birds crossed one another through the central states. Yao alone grieved over this, and he raised up Shun to spread order over it.

Shun put Yi in charge of fire, and Yi set the mountains and marshes ablaze and burned them, and the birds and beasts fled and hid. Yu opened the nine rivers, cleared the Ji and the Ta and led them into the sea, cut through the Ru and the Han, pushed out the Huai and the Si and led them into the Jiang. Only after that could the central states get food. In that time Yu was eight years outside, and three times he passed his own gate and did not go in. Even if he had wished to plow, could he have done it?

Houji taught the people to sow and reap and to plant and tend the five grains, and when the five grains ripened the people were nourished. Men have their way. If they eat their fill and dress warmly and live at ease without teaching, they come near to the birds and beasts. The sage grieved over this and made Xie (契) Minister of Instruction, to teach human relations: that between father and son there is affection, between ruler and minister there is duty, between husband and wife there is distinction, between elder and younger there is order, and between friends there is trust.

Fangxun said, 'Toil for them and draw them near, set them straight and make them upright, help them and lend them wings, so that they may get it for themselves, and then follow after and raise them up with kindness.' The sage grieved for the people like this. Had he leisure to plow?

Yao made his own grief of not getting Shun, and Shun made his own grief of not getting Yu and Gao Yao. The man who makes his own grief of a hundred mu untilled is a farmer.

To share one's wealth with others is called kindness. To teach others what is good is called loyalty. To find the right man for all under heaven is called benevolence. Therefore it is easy to give all under heaven to another, and hard to find the right man for all under heaven.

Confucius said, 'Great was Yao as a ruler! Only Heaven is great, and only Yao took it for his model. So vast that the people could find no name for it! What a ruler was Shun! So lofty that he held all under heaven and was not bound by it!' In governing all under heaven, how could Yao and Shun have had nothing on which they used their minds? Only they did not use it on plowing.

I have heard of using the ways of Xia (夏) to change the tribes, but I have never heard of being changed by the barbarians. Chen Liang was born in Chu. He delighted in the Way of the Duke of Zhou and of Zhongni, and he went north to study in the central states, and among the scholars of the north there was none who could go before him. He was what is called a man of heroic gifts.

You and your brother served him for several dozen years, and when your teacher died you turned your backs on him. In the old days, when Confucius died, after three years his disciples packed their bags and were about to go home. They went in and bowed to Zigong, and facing one another they wailed until all had lost their voices, and then they went home. Zigong came back, built a hut by the grave mound and lived alone for three years, and then he went home.

Later Zixia, Zizhang and Ziyou, because You Ruo resembled the sage, wished to serve him as they had served Confucius, and they pressed Zengzi hard. Zengzi said, 'It cannot be done. Washed in the Jiang and the Han, bleached in the autumn sun, so white and bright that nothing can be added to it.'

Now a man of the southern barbarians with the tongue of a shrike says the Way of the former kings is wrong, and you turn your back on your teacher and learn from him. In this too you differ from Zengzi. I have heard of coming out of a dark valley and moving up to a tall tree, but I have never heard of coming down from a tall tree and going into a dark valley. The Lu Odes say, 'He struck the Rong and the Di, he punished Jing and Shu.' The Duke of Zhou was just then striking them, and you learn from these men. In this too you have not changed for the better."

"If we follow the Way of Master Xu, there will not be two prices in the market and there will be no falsehood in the state. Even if a child five feet tall is sent to the market, no one will cheat him. If cloth and silk are the same in length, their price is the same. If hemp and thread and silk floss are the same in weight, their price is the same. If the five grains are the same in quantity, their price is the same. If shoes are the same in size, their price is the same."

"That things are not equal is the nature of things. Some are twice or five times as much as others, some ten or a hundred times, some a thousand or ten thousand times. You would set them side by side and make them one, and this is to throw all under heaven into confusion. If a coarse shoe and a fine shoe are the same price, who would make the fine one? To follow the Way of Master Xu is to lead one another into falsehood. How could that govern a state?"

Yi Zhi, a Mohist, asked through Xu Bi to see Mencius. Mencius said, "I have long wished to see him, but I am still ill. When the illness is better, I will go and see him." Master Yi did not come.

Another day he asked again to see Mencius. Mencius said, "Now I can see him. If I am not straight with him, the Way will not show itself, so I will be straight.

I hear that Master Yi is a Mohist. In conducting a funeral the Mohists take frugality for their way. Master Yi thinks to change all under heaven with it, so how should he hold it wrong and not prize it? And yet Master Yi buried his own parent richly, and this is to serve a parent with what he holds cheap."

Master Xu told this to Master Yi.

Master Yi said, "In the Way of the Confucians, the men of old were 'as though protecting a newborn child.' What does this saying mean? I take it that love has no degrees, but that the giving begins with one's parents."

Master Xu told this to Mencius.

Mencius said, "Does Master Yi truly believe that a man loves his elder brother's child as he loves his neighbor's newborn? There is something to be taken from that saying. A newborn crawling toward a well is not at fault.

And Heaven, in giving birth to things, made them have one root, while Master Yi makes two roots.

In the old world there were men who did not bury their parents. When his parent died, such a man took up the body and threw it into a gully. Passing the place another day, he saw foxes and wildcats eating it, and flies and gnats gathered and sucking at it. Sweat broke out on his forehead, and he looked sidelong and could not look straight. That sweat was not sweat for the sake of other men. His inmost heart had come out upon his face. He must have gone home and come back with basket and spade and covered it. If the covering was truly right, then in the covering of their parents by filial sons and benevolent men there must also be a way."

Master Xu told this to Master Yi. Master Yi stood blank for a while and said, "He has taught me!"