Duke Wen of Teng, Part Two滕文公下

Chen Dai said, "That you will not see the feudal lords seems to be minding a small thing. If you see them just once now, at the greatest you would make a man a king, and at the least a hegemon. And the Zhi (志) says, 'Bend one foot and you straighten eight.' It seems a thing worth doing."

Mencius said, "Long ago, when Duke Jing of Qi was hunting, he summoned the gamekeeper with a flag. The man did not come, and the duke was going to kill him. 'A scholar of purpose does not forget that he may be left in a ditch or a gully, and a scholar of courage does not forget that he may lose his head.' What did Confucius take from this? He took this, that the man did not go when the summons was not the one fitting him. If a man goes without waiting for his own summons, what does he come to?

And bending one foot to straighten eight is said in terms of gain. If we go by gain, then if bending eight and straightening one foot were a gain, would you do that too?

Long ago Zhao Jianzi had Wang Liang drive for his favorite Xi (奚), and all day long they took not one bird. The favorite Xi came back and reported, 'He is the meanest driver under heaven.' Someone told Wang Liang of it, and Wang Liang said, 'Let me ask to do it again.' Only after he pressed hard was it allowed, and in one morning they took ten birds. The favorite Xi came back and reported, 'He is the finest driver under heaven.' Jianzi said, 'I shall have him drive for you,' and he told Wang Liang so.

Wang Liang would not have it, and said, 'For him I drove by the rules, and all day long we took nothing. For him I broke the rules to bring the game across, and in one morning we took ten. The Shi says, "He does not lose his pace, and the loosed arrow strikes as if it split the mark." I am not used to riding with a small man. I beg to decline.'

Even a driver was ashamed to curry favor with the archer. Though what he caught by currying favor were piled up like a hill, he would not do it. Then if a man bends the Way and follows those lords, what does he come to?

And you have it wrong. One who has bent himself has never yet been able to make another straight."

Jing Chun said, "Are Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi not truly great men? Once they are angry the feudal lords are afraid, and when they sit quiet all under heaven goes still."

Mencius said, "How can this be a great man? Have you not studied the rites? When a man is capped, his father gives him the charge. When a woman marries, her mother gives her the charge, goes with her to the gate, and warns her, saying, 'Go to your house, be always respectful, be always careful, and do not cross your husband.' To take obedience for what is right is the Way of a concubine and a wife.

To live in the wide house of all under heaven, to stand in the correct place of all under heaven, to walk the great road of all under heaven. Gaining his purpose, he goes that road together with the people. Not gaining it, he walks his Way alone. Wealth and rank cannot muddy him, poverty and low place cannot move him, force and arms cannot bend him — this is what is called a great man."

Zhou Xiao asked, "Did the gentlemen of old take office?"

Mencius said, "They took office. A record handed down says, 'When Confucius was three months without a ruler to serve, he was all restlessness, and when he crossed a border he always carried gifts of introduction.' Gongming Yi said, 'The men of old, when they were three months without a ruler to serve, were condoled with.'"

"Is it not too urgent, to condole with a man for being three months without a ruler?"

"For a scholar to lose his place is like a feudal lord losing his state. The Book of Rites says, 'The feudal lord plows to help, and so provides the grain of the sacrifice. His wife tends the silkworms and reels the thread, and so makes the robes. If the victim is not full grown, if the grain of the sacrifice is not clean, if the robes are not ready, he does not dare to sacrifice. Only, a scholar who has no field also does not sacrifice.' When the victim and the vessels and the robes are not ready and he does not dare to sacrifice, then he does not dare to feast either. Is that not worth condoling with?"

"Why does he always carry gifts of introduction when he crosses a border?"

"A scholar taking office is like a farmer plowing. Would a farmer throw away his plow and his plowshare because he is crossing a border?"

"Jin (晉) too is a state where men take office, but I have never heard of office being held as urgent as this. If office is as urgent as this, why is it that a gentleman finds it hard to take office?"

"When a boy is born, one wishes a wife for him. When a girl is born, one wishes a house for her to marry into. The heart of a father and a mother is a thing every person has. But if they do not wait for the charge of their parents and the words of a matchmaker, and bore a hole to peep at each other, and climb the wall to follow each other, then their parents and the people of the state all hold them cheap.

The men of old never failed to wish for office, and yet they hated going by any way but the right one. To go without going by the right way is of a kind with boring a hole."

Peng Geng asked, "Dozens of carriages follow behind you and hundreds of men are in your train, and you are fed by one feudal lord after another. Is that not too much?"

Mencius said, "If it is not the right way, then not even one basket of rice may be taken from another. If it is the right way, then Shun took the empire from Yao and did not hold it too much. Do you hold it too much?"

"No. I mean that a scholar eating without doing any work is not right."

"If you do not let work pass across and things be traded, so that what is over fills what is short, then the farmer will have grain to spare and the woman cloth to spare. If you let it pass across, then carpenters and cartwrights can all eat from you.

Here is a man who at home is filial and abroad is respectful to his elders, who keeps the Way of the former kings and waits for the learners who will come after, and yet he does not eat from you. Why do you honor the carpenter and the cartwright and hold light the man who does what is humane and right?"

"The carpenter and the cartwright have it in mind to seek their food. Does a gentleman practicing the Way also have it in mind to seek his food?"

"Why do you reckon by his mind? If he has done work for you and is worth feeding, you feed him. And do you feed the intent, or do you feed the work?"

"I feed the intent."

"Here is a man who breaks the tiles and scrawls on the wall, and his intent is to seek his food. Would you feed him?"

"No."

"Then you do not feed the intent. You feed the work."

Wan Zhang asked, "Song is a small state. Now it is about to carry out the government of a true king, and if Qi and Chu hate it and strike it, what then?"

Mencius said, "When Tang lived at Bo (亳), he was neighbor to Ge. The Earl of Ge was reckless and did not sacrifice, and Tang sent a man to ask him, 'Why do you not sacrifice?' He said, 'I have nothing to offer as the victim.' Tang sent him oxen and sheep, but the Earl of Ge ate them and still did not sacrifice.

Tang sent a man again to ask, 'Why do you not sacrifice?' He said, 'I have nothing to offer as the grain of the sacrifice.' So Tang sent the people of Bo to plow in his place, and the old and the young carried out the food. The Earl of Ge led his own people, blocked those who carried wine and food and millet and rice and took it from them, and killed those who would not hand it over. A boy was carrying millet and meat, and they killed him and took it. The Shu says, 'The Earl of Ge made enemies of those who carried the food.' This is what it means.

Because he had killed this boy, Tang went out against him, and all within the four seas said, 'It is not that he coveted the empire. He avenged one common man and one common woman.'

Tang's first campaign began with Ge. He campaigned eleven times and had no match under heaven. When he struck to the east, the tribes of the west complained, and when he struck to the south, the tribes of the north complained, saying, 'Why does he put us last?' The people looked for him as men in a great drought look for rain. Those going to market did not stop, and those weeding did not change. He cut down their ruler and comforted their people, and it was like rain falling in season, and the people greatly rejoiced.

The Shu says, 'We wait for our lord. When our lord comes there will be no punishment.' And it says, 'There were those who would not be subjects, and he struck to the east and gave peace to their men and women, and they filled baskets with black and yellow silk to see our king of Zhou and to carry on his glory, and they attached themselves as subjects to the great city of Zhou.'

The gentlemen of that state filled baskets with black and yellow silk to meet his gentlemen, and its common men filled baskets with rice and jars with drink to meet his common men. He drew the people out of water and fire and took away the cruel one, and that is all.

The Tai shi says, 'Our might is raised, we press into their borders, we take away the cruel one, and our killing and smiting is spread wide, more glorious than Tang.'

It is only that the government of a true king is not carried out. If the government of a true king is truly carried out, all within the four seas will lift their heads and look to it and wish to make its ruler their own. Though Qi and Chu are great, what is there to fear?"

Mencius said to Dai Busheng, "Do you wish your king to be good? Let me tell you plainly. Here is a great officer of Chu who wishes his son to speak the language of Qi. Would he have a man of Qi teach him, or have a man of Chu teach him?"

"I would have a man of Qi teach him."

"One man of Qi teaches him while a crowd of Chu men clamor at him. Then though you beat him daily and seek the speech of Qi from him, you will not get it. Take him and set him down a few years in Zhuangyue (莊嶽), and then though you beat him daily and seek the speech of Chu from him, you will not get that either.

You called Xue Juzhou a good man and had him live where the king is. If those who are where the king is, old and young, low and high, are all like Xue Juzhou, with whom would the king do what is not good? If those who are where the king is, old and young, low and high, are none of them Xue Juzhou, with whom would the king do what is good? What can one Xue Juzhou alone do with the king of Song?"

Gongsun Chou asked, "What is the meaning of your not seeing the feudal lords?"

Mencius said, "In old times a man did not see a lord unless he was his subject. Duan Ganmu climbed the wall to avoid it, and Xie Liu shut his gate and would not let the lord in. These both go too far. When a lord presses close, then one may see him.

Yang Huo wished to see Confucius, but he shrank from being without propriety. When a great officer gives a gift to a scholar and the scholar cannot receive it at his own house, then he goes to the officer's gate and bows. Yang Huo watched for a time when Confucius was out and sent him a steamed pig, and Confucius too watched for a time when Yang Huo was out and went and bowed. At that time Yang Huo had acted first. How could Confucius not see him?

Zengzi said, 'To hunch the shoulders and smile to flatter is harder labor than weeding a field in summer.' Zilu said, 'To speak with a man when you do not agree with him, and to look at his face and see it go red and pale, is not what You (由) knows of.' Looking at it this way, what the gentleman nurtures can be known."

Dai Yingzhi said, "The tax of one part in ten, and doing away with the levies at the passes and the markets, we cannot manage this year. Let me lighten them a little and wait for next year, and then stop. How would that be?"

Mencius said, "Suppose there is a man who steals his neighbor's chickens every day, and someone tells him, 'This is not the Way of a gentleman,' and he says, 'Let me cut it down and steal one chicken a month, and wait for next year, and then stop.' If he knows it is not right, he should stop at once. Why wait for next year?"

Gongduzi said, "Outsiders all say that you love to dispute. May I ask why?"

Mencius said, "How could I love to dispute? I cannot help it. People have lived under heaven a long time, and there has been one order and one disorder.

In the time of Yao the waters ran backward and flooded the central states. Snakes and dragons lived in them, and the people had nowhere to settle. Those low down made nests, and those high up dug caves. The Shu says, 'The overflowing waters (洚水) warned me.' The overflowing waters are the flood. Yu was set to govern them, and Yu dug the ground and led them to the sea, and drove the snakes and dragons out and loosed them in the marshes. The waters came to run through the middle of the land, and these are the Jiang, the Huai, the He and the Han. The steep and blocked places were now far off, and the harm that birds and beasts did to men was gone, and only then did men get level ground and live on it.

When Yao and Shun were gone, the Way of the sages declined. Cruel rulers rose one after another. They tore down palaces to make ponds, and the people had no place to rest. They threw away fields to make parks, and the people could not get clothing and food. Crooked talk and cruel deeds rose again. Parks and ponds and marshes grew many, and birds and beasts came in. By the time of Zhou Xin (紂), all under heaven was in great disorder again.

The Duke of Zhou helped King Wu. He cut down Zhou Xin and struck Yan, and in three years he brought its ruler down. He drove Feilian to a corner of the sea and put him to death. He wiped out fifty states. He drove the tigers and leopards and rhinoceroses and elephants far off, and all under heaven greatly rejoiced. The Shu says, 'Greatly bright was the plan of King Wen! Greatly carried on was the work of King Wu! He helped and opened the way for those who come after, and all are upright and without flaw.'

The age declined and the Way grew faint, and crooked talk and cruel deeds rose again. There were subjects who killed their rulers, and sons who killed their fathers. Confucius was afraid, and he made the Chunqiu. The Chunqiu is the business of the Son of Heaven. And so Confucius said, 'What knows me is the Chunqiu alone. What blames me is the Chunqiu alone.'

No sage king arises, the feudal lords are unrestrained, and scholars out of office argue as they please. The words of Yang Zhu and Mo Di fill all under heaven. Of the talk under heaven, what does not go to Yang goes to Mo. Yang is for himself, and this is to have no ruler. Mo loves all alike, and this is to have no father. To have no father and no ruler is to be a bird or a beast.

Gongming Yi said, 'There is fat meat in the kitchen and fat horses in the stable, while the people have the look of hunger and there are those starved to death in the fields. This is to lead beasts on to eat men.' If the Way of Yang and Mo does not cease, the Way of Confucius will not show itself, and this is crooked talk deceiving the people and choking off what is humane and right. When what is humane and right is choked off, beasts are led on to eat men, and men will come to eat one another.

It is this I fear, and so I guard the Way of the sages before me, hold off Yang and Mo, and drive away licentious talk, so that those who speak crookedly cannot rise. Rising in the heart, it harms the work. Rising in the work, it harms the government. If a sage should arise again, he would not change my words.

Long ago Yu held down the flood and all under heaven was made level. The Duke of Zhou brought in the barbarians and drove off the fierce beasts, and the people were at peace. Confucius completed the Chunqiu, and disorderly subjects and robber sons were afraid. The Shi says, 'He smote the Rong and the Di, he punished Jing and Shu, and then none dared face me.' To have no father and no ruler is what the Duke of Zhou smote.

I too wish to set men's hearts right, to stop crooked talk, to hold off one-sided deeds and drive away licentious talk, and so to carry on from the three sages. How could I love to dispute? I cannot help it. He who can speak and hold off Yang and Mo is of the company of the sages."

Kuang Zhang said, "Is Chen Zhongzi not truly a scholar of pure conduct? Living at Yuling, he went three days without food, until his ears heard nothing and his eyes saw nothing. There was a plum by the well, more than half eaten by grubs, and he crawled over and took it and ate it, and only after three swallows did his ears hear and his eyes see."

Mencius said, "Among the scholars of Qi I would surely count Zhongzi the thumb. Even so, how can Zhongzi be pure? To fill out what Zhongzi holds to, a man would have to become an earthworm first. The earthworm eats dry earth above and drinks the yellow spring below.

The house Zhongzi lives in, was it built by Bo Yi, or was it built by Robber Zhi? The grain he eats, was it planted by Bo Yi, or was it planted by Robber Zhi? This cannot be known."

"What harm is there in that? He weaves sandals with his own hands, and his wife spins hemp thread, and they trade them for these things."

"Zhongzi is of an old family of Qi. His elder brother Dai (戴) had a stipend of ten thousand zhong from Ge (蓋). He held his brother's stipend to be a stipend not rightly got and would not eat of it. He held his brother's house to be a house not rightly got and would not live in it. He kept away from his brother and left his mother and lived at Yuling.

Later he went home, and someone had sent his brother a live goose. He knit his brows and said, 'What use is this cackling thing?' Later his mother killed the goose and gave it to him to eat with them. His brother came in from outside and said, 'That is the flesh of the cackling thing,' and he went out and threw it up.

What his mother gives he will not eat, but what his wife gives he eats. His brother's house he will not live in, but at Yuling he lives. Can he still fill out his kind in this way? One like Zhongzi can fill out what he holds to only after becoming an earthworm."