Book 3A · Duke Wen of Teng, Part One

5.1 While still heir to Teng, Duke Wen was on his way to Chu when he passed through Song and visited Mencius. Mencius spoke of the goodness of human nature, always invoking Yao and Shun.Returning from Chu, the heir saw Mencius again. Mencius said, “Do you doubt my words, my lord? There is only one Way. Cheng Jian told Duke Jing of Qi, ‘He is a man; I too am a man. Why should I fear him?’ Yan Yuan said, ‘What sort of man was Shun? What sort am I? Whoever acts can become like him.’ Gongming Yi said, ‘King Wen is my teacher. Surely the Duke of Zhou would not deceive me?’ If you measure Teng's land, adding its shorter reaches to its longer, it approaches fifty li square. Even so, it can become a good state. The Documents say, ‘If the medicine does not make you dizzy, your sickness will not be cured.’”

5.2 When Duke Ding of Teng died, the heir said to Ran You, “Once Mencius spoke to me in Song, and I have never forgotten his words. Now that this terrible loss has come, I want you to consult him before I arrange the funeral.”Ran You went to Zou and asked Mencius.“How good that is!” said Mencius. “In mourning for one's parent, one must give all of oneself. Zengzi said, ‘Serve them with ritual propriety while they live; bury them with ritual propriety when they die, and make offerings with ritual propriety: this may be called devotion to parents.’ I have not studied the funeral rites of the lords. Yet I have heard that mourning for three years, wearing coarse, plain garments and eating gruel, was common to the Xia, Yin, and Zhou, from the Son of Heaven down to ordinary people.”Ran You returned with this answer, and the heir decreed three years of mourning. His elder kinsmen and officials all opposed him. “None of the former rulers of Lu, our ancestral state, observed this,” they said, “and neither did our own predecessors. You must not change their custom in your reign. Besides, the Records say, ‘In funerals and sacrifices follow your ancestors.’ We have inherited this instruction.”The heir told Ran You, “In earlier days I never devoted myself to learning; I preferred racing horses and practicing swordplay. Now my elders and officials are dissatisfied with me, and I fear I may fail to do all that this great event demands. Ask Mencius for me once more.”Ran You went back to Zou and asked Mencius.“That is so,” said Mencius. “This is not something to seek from others. Confucius said, ‘When a ruler dies, the chief minister receives the orders. The heir eats gruel, his face dark with grief; he takes his place and weeps. None of the officials dare fail to mourn, for he has led them. What those above love, those below love still more. The virtue of a noble person is the wind; the virtue of ordinary people is grass. When wind blows over grass, it bends.’ It depends on the heir.”Ran You returned and delivered this answer.“Yes,” said the heir, “it truly depends on me.”For five months he dwelt in his mourning hut and issued no commands. His officials and kin said he understood the rites. At the burial, people came from all four quarters to watch. Seeing the grief on his face and hearing the sorrow of his weeping, those who came to console him were deeply pleased.

5.3 Duke Wen of Teng asked how to govern a state.Mencius said, “The people's livelihood cannot wait. The Odes say, ‘By day gather thatch; by night twist rope. Hurry to mend the roof, then begin to sow the hundred grains.’ The way of the people is this: those with a secure livelihood have a steadfast heart; those without one do not. Without a steadfast heart, there is nothing reckless, perverse, depraved, or extravagant they will not do. To wait until they have fallen into crime and then punish them is to trap the people. How can a humane person in power possibly trap them? A worthy ruler therefore governs reverently and frugally, treats his inferiors with ritual propriety, and sets limits to what he takes from the people. Yang Hu said, ‘Those who pursue wealth cannot be humane; those who pursue humaneness cannot be wealthy.’“Under the Xia rulers, fields of fifty mu paid a tribute; under Yin, fields of seventy mu required labor on a common field; under Zhou, fields of a hundred mu paid a tenth. In reality each took one part in ten. The Zhou levy was a collective contribution; the Yin system relied on shared labor. Longzi said, ‘For governing farmland no system is better than shared labor, none worse than tribute. Tribute fixes a customary amount by averaging the yield of several years. In abundant years, when grain lies scattered everywhere, even taking more would not oppress the people; instead the ruler takes little. In lean years, when there is not enough even to manure the fields, he still demands the full amount. If a ruler who calls himself the people's father and mother makes them look desperately toward the end of the year, labor without respite, fail to support their parents, and borrow to pay his levy, until their old and young fall into ditches and ravines, how can he call himself their father and mother?’ Teng already practices hereditary stipends. The Odes say, ‘Send rain upon our lord's field, and then upon our own.’ Only the shared-labor system has a lord's field. From this we see that even Zhou used shared labor.“Establish village schools and academies to teach the people. The village school fosters, the academy instructs, and the training school teaches archery. The Xia called theirs the academy, the Yin the training school, the Zhou the village school; all three dynasties had higher schools. Their purpose was to make human relationships clear. When these relationships are clear among those above, ordinary people below grow close to one another. If a true king arises, he will come here for his model; you will be the teacher of kings. The Odes say, ‘Though Zhou was an ancient state, its Mandate was new.’ That speaks of King Wen. Put this into practice with all your strength, and you too can renew your state!”The duke sent Bi Zhan to ask about the well-field system.Mencius said, “Your ruler intends to practice humane government and has chosen you for this work. You must strive. Humane government begins with marking out the boundaries. If boundaries are incorrectly drawn, the well-fields are uneven and grain stipends unequal. That is why violent rulers and corrupt officials always neglect the boundaries. Once the boundaries are correctly drawn, the allocation of land and stipends can be settled without difficulty.“Teng has little arable land, but it will always need both noble people and field workers. Without noble people, no one governs the workers; without workers, no one supports the noble people. I suggest that in the countryside you use the system of one part in nine, cultivated through shared labor; in the towns levy one part in ten, paid by each household. Ministers and everyone below them should have hereditary ceremonial land. Let a minister's ceremonial holding be fifty mu, and a younger son receive twenty-five mu. Those who die or move should not leave their village. Villagers should share a well-field, be friends when they come and go, help one another in watch and defense, and support one another in sickness; then the people will be close and harmonious. Mark out a square li as one well-field of nine hundred mu, with the central plot as the public field. Eight families each hold a private hundred mu and cultivate the public field together. Only after completing their public work may they attend to their own: this is how field workers are distinguished. That is the general outline. Refining it lies with your ruler and you.”

5.4 Xu Xing, who followed the teachings of Shennong, came from Chu to Teng, visited Duke Wen's gate, and said, “I have come from afar, having heard that you practice humane government. I wish for a plot of land where I may become your subject.” The duke gave him a place to live. His several dozen followers wore coarse clothes and supported themselves by making sandals and weaving mats.Chen Xiang, a disciple of Chen Liang, and his brother Xin carried their farming tools from Song to Teng. “We hear you practice the government of sages,” they said to the duke. “Then you are a sage yourself, and we wish to be your subjects.”Chen Xiang met Xu Xing, was delighted, abandoned everything he had learned, and studied with him.He visited Mencius and repeated Xu Xing's teaching: “The ruler of Teng is indeed worthy, but he has not yet heard the Way. A worthy ruler plows alongside the people to eat, cooking his own meals as he governs. Teng, however, has granaries and treasuries: the duke exploits the people to support himself. How can he be worthy?”Mencius asked, “Does Master Xu grow grain before he eats it?”“Yes.”“Does he weave cloth before he wears it?”“No. He wears coarse cloth.”“Does he wear a cap?”“Yes.”“What kind?”“An undyed cap.”“Does he weave it himself?”“No. He trades grain for it.”“Why does he not weave it himself?”“That would interfere with farming.”“Does Master Xu cook with pots and steamers and plow with iron tools?”“Yes.”“Does he make them himself?”“No. He trades grain for them.”“Trading grain for tools does not mean exploiting potters and smiths; do potters and smiths exploit farmers when they trade their tools for grain? Why does Master Xu not become a potter and smith and produce everything he needs at home? Why take the trouble of trading with all the artisans?”“One cannot both farm and practice every craft.”“Then can one farm and govern the world at the same time? There is work for great people and work for ordinary people. The body of a single person needs the products of a hundred crafts. If each person had to make everything before using it, everyone would be driven to exhaustion. Thus some labor with their hearts, others with their strength. Those who labor with their hearts govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed. The governed feed the governors; the governors are fed by the governed. This is the universal principle of the world.“In Yao's time the world was not yet settled. Floodwaters ran wild and covered the earth; plants flourished unchecked and birds and beasts multiplied. The five grains would not ripen, and beasts pressed upon humankind. Trails of hoofprints and birds' tracks crossed the central lands. Yao alone was troubled by this and raised Shun to bring order. Shun appointed Yi to take charge of fire; Yi burned the mountain forests and marshes, and the beasts fled into hiding. Yu opened channels for nine rivers, cleared the Ji and Ta and sent them into the sea; he opened the Ru and Han and drained the Huai and Si into the Yangtze. Only then could the people of the central lands grow food. Yu spent eight years away and passed his own door three times without entering. Even if he had wanted to farm, could he have done so?“Hou Ji taught the people to sow and harvest, to cultivate the five grains. When the grains ripened, the people were nourished. But the way of human beings is such that if they eat their fill, wear warm clothes, and dwell in comfort without being taught, they become close to beasts. The sage was troubled by this and made Xie minister of instruction to teach human relationships: affection between father and son, rightness between ruler and minister, distinction between husband and wife, order between elder and younger, and trust between friends. Fangxun said, ‘Bring them together, work for them, guide and straighten them, assist and support them, help them find their own way, and raise them up through virtue.’ Such was the sage's concern for the people. Did he have time to plow?“Yao worried that he might not find Shun; Shun worried that he might not find Yu and Gao Yao. The man who worries that his hundred-mu field will not be well cultivated is a farmer. To distribute wealth is generosity; to teach goodness is loyalty; to find the right people for the world is humaneness. It is easy to give the world away, but hard to find the right people to serve it. Confucius said, ‘How great was Yao as a ruler! Heaven alone is great, and Yao modeled himself on it. His greatness was so vast the people could not name it! How lordly was Shun! Sublime in possessing the world without concern for possession!’ Did Yao and Shun govern without applying their hearts? They simply did not apply them to farming.“I have heard of people using the Xia ways to transform foreigners; I have not heard of people being transformed by foreigners. Chen Liang was born in Chu; he loved the Way of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius and went north to study in the central lands. None of the scholars there surpassed him; he was what we call an outstanding man. You and your brother served him for decades, but as soon as your teacher died you turned your backs on him. When Confucius died, after three years his disciples packed to go home. They came to take leave of Zigong, faced each other, and wept aloud before they parted. Zigong returned to the burial ground, built a hut, and stayed alone another three years before going home. Later Zixia, Zizhang, and Ziyou thought You Ruo resembled the sage and wanted to serve him as they had served Confucius. They pressed Zengzi, but he said, ‘No. Even if you washed him in the Yangtze and Han and dried him under the autumn sun, the Master's brightness would still stand beyond all comparison.’ Now a man of the southern tribes, whose speech sounds like a shrike's, rejects the Way of the former kings; you abandon your teacher to study with him. You differ indeed from Zengzi. I have heard of one rising from a dark valley to a tall tree, but never of one descending from a tall tree into a dark valley. The Hymns of Lu say, ‘He struck back at the Rong and Di, and chastised Jing and Shu.’ The Duke of Zhou opposed them, yet you study one of them: you have chosen a transformation for the worse.”Chen Xiang said, “If we follow Master Xu's Way, there will be no two prices in the market and no deceit in the state. Even a child five feet tall can visit the market without being cheated. If lengths of cloth and silk are equal, their prices will be alike; if hemp, thread, silk, and floss have equal weight, their prices alike; if quantities of the five grains are equal, their prices alike; if sandals are the same size, their prices alike.”Mencius said, “Things are unequal by nature: one may be worth twice or five times another, ten or a hundred times, a thousand or ten thousand times. To lump them together and make them equal is to throw the world into disorder. If coarse and fine sandals have the same price, who will make fine ones? Following Master Xu's Way would lead everyone into deceit. How could it govern a state?”

5.5 The Mohist Yi Zhi asked through Xu Bi to meet Mencius. Mencius said, “I have long wanted to meet him, but I am still ill. When I recover, I will go and see him.” Yi Zhi did not come.On another day he again asked to meet Mencius. Mencius said, “Now I can see him. Unless we speak frankly, the Way will not become clear; let me be frank. I hear Yi Zhi is a Mohist, and the Mohists make simplicity their principle in arranging funerals. Yi Zhi would reform the world by this principle; surely he does not think it wrong or unworthy of esteem. Yet he buried his own parents lavishly. He has served them according to a practice he professes to despise.”Xu Bi told Yi Zhi.Yi Zhi said, “The teaching of the classicists says the ancients cared for the people ‘as though protecting a newborn child.’ What does that mean? I believe love has no degrees, though we begin its practice with our parents.”Xu Bi reported this to Mencius.Mencius said, “Does Yi Zhi truly believe that a man loves his brother's child no more than a neighbor's newborn? The saying has a particular meaning: a crawling baby about to fall into a well is not to blame. Moreover Heaven gives each creature one root, whereas Yi Zhi gives people two. Long ago there was a man who did not bury his parents. When one died, he carried the body and left it in a ravine. Another day, passing by, he saw foxes eating the body and flies and gnats sucking it. Sweat broke out on his brow, and he glanced away. The sweat was not for others to see; his inward feeling broke through to his face. He returned for tools and covered the body. If it was right to cover it, then a devoted child or humane person surely has a reason to bury a parent.”Xu Bi told Yi Zhi. Yi Zhi sat silent for a while, then said, “You have instructed me.”

5.1 When Duke Wen of Teng was still crown prince, he met Mencius while passing through Song on his way to Chu. Mencius spoke of the goodness of human nature and always referred to Yao and Shun.The crown prince met Mencius again on his return from Chu. Mencius asked, “Do you doubt what I told you? There is only one Way. Cheng Jian told Duke Jing of Qi, ‘He is a man and I am a man. Why should I fear him?’ Yan Yuan said, ‘What sort of person was Shun? What sort of person am I? Anyone who works at it can be like him.’ Gongming Yi said, ‘King Wen is my teacher; surely the Duke of Zhou would not deceive me.’ Teng measures almost fifty li across, counting its long and short stretches together. That is still enough land to make a good state. The Book of Documents says, ‘If medicine does not make you dizzy, it will not cure your disease.’”

5.2 Duke Ding of Teng died. The crown prince told Ran You, “Mencius spoke to me once in Song, and I have never forgotten his words. Now this misfortune has come to us. I want you to consult Mencius before I make arrangements.”Ran You went to Zou to ask Mencius. Mencius said, “That is a fine thing to do! At a parent's death one should express all one's feelings. Zengzi said, ‘Serve your parents according to proper conduct while they live; bury them and make offerings to them according to proper conduct after they die. That is respect for parents.’ I have not studied the mourning rites of the lords, but I have heard that mourning for three years, wearing coarse cloth and eating thin porridge, was the custom of all three dynasties, from the Son of Heaven down to ordinary people.”Ran You returned with this answer, and the prince decided on three years of mourning. His older relatives and officials all opposed it. They said, “The former rulers of Lu, the state our family came from, did not do this, and neither did our own former rulers. You cannot reverse the custom now. Besides, the Records say, ‘In mourning and offerings, follow your ancestors.’” They added, “We have received this teaching.”The prince said to Ran You, “In the past I did not study. I liked riding horses and practicing swordsmanship. Now my older relatives and officials do not think I am capable, and I am afraid I cannot do my full duty at this grave time. Ask Mencius for me.”Ran You went again to Zou and asked Mencius. Mencius said, “Yes. He cannot look for the answer anywhere else. Confucius said, ‘When the ruler dies, his chief steward directs affairs. His son eats thin porridge, his face dark with grief; he takes his place and weeps. None of the officials dares not to mourn, because he leads them. Whatever those above care about, those below care about still more. A noble person's virtue is the wind; ordinary people's virtue is the grass. When wind blows over grass, the grass bends.’ The choice lies with the crown prince.”Ran You brought back his answer. The prince said, “Yes, it truly lies with me.”For five months he lived in a mourning hut and issued no orders or instructions. The officials and family members said he understood mourning. When the burial came, people arrived from every direction to watch. His sorrowful expression and his crying deeply pleased those who came to offer condolences.

5.3 Duke Wen of Teng asked how to govern the state. Mencius said, “You cannot delay attending to the people's work. The Book of Songs says, ‘By day collect thatch, by night twist rope. Hurry to repair the roof, and then begin sowing all the grains.’ People with a steady livelihood have steady hearts; without a steady livelihood they have no steady hearts. Then there is nothing they will not do: behave recklessly, go astray, and break the law. To let them fall into crime and then punish them is to set a trap for them. How could a kind person set traps for people while in power? A worthy ruler therefore shows respect, lives simply, treats his subordinates properly, and places limits on what he takes from the people. Yang Hu said, ‘Those who strive to be rich cannot be kind; those who strive to be kind cannot be rich.’“Under Xia farmers with fifty mu gave a share of the crop; under Yin those with seventy mu worked a shared field; under Zhou farmers had a hundred mu under a different tax method. In practice, all three took a tenth. The Zhou system was meant to apply equally, and the Yin system drew on shared labor. Longzi said, ‘For governing farmland, nothing is better than the shared-labor system and nothing worse than the crop-share system. Crop shares are set by averaging several years. In a good year grain lies everywhere, and the ruler takes only a little, though taking more would not be cruel. In a bad year, when farmers cannot even gather enough to fertilize their fields, the ruler still takes the full share. A ruler who claims to be a parent to the people forces them to labor hard all year, without enough to support their parents, and then to borrow still more. The old and the young tumble into ditches and ravines. How is that being a parent to the people?’ Teng already practices hereditary stipends. The Book of Songs says, ‘Let rain fall on our shared fields and then on my own.’ Only the shared-labor system has shared fields. This suggests that even Zhou used it.“Set up local and higher schools to teach the people. The names for local schools refer to caring for people, teaching them, and training them in archery. Xia called them schools for teaching; Yin called them archery schools; Zhou called them schools for caring. All three dynasties had higher schools as well. Their purpose was to make human relationships clear. When those above make those relationships clear, ordinary people below become close to one another. When a true king arises, he will come here to take your government as his model. Then you will be the teacher of a king. The Book of Songs says, ‘Though Zhou was an old state, its mandate was new.’ That refers to King Wen. Put this into practice with all your strength, and you too can renew your state!”The duke sent Bi Zhan to ask about dividing land into well-fields. Mencius said, “Your ruler intends to practice kind government and has chosen you for the task. You must do your best. Kind government has to begin with clearly marked field boundaries. If the boundaries are not correct, the well-fields will not be allotted equally and grain stipends will be unfair. That is why cruel rulers and corrupt officials neglect the boundaries. Once boundaries are properly marked, land and stipends can be assigned without difficulty.“Teng has little land. It will have officials who govern and farmers who work in the fields. Without officials there is no one to govern the farmers; without farmers there is no one to support the officials. I suggest that in the countryside farmers work one shared part in nine, while in towns households assess and pay a tenth themselves. Ministers and lower-ranking officials should have special fields of their own, of fifty mu each. Unmarried adult men should get twenty-five mu. People should not leave their village when they die or move. If the village fields are grouped in the same well-field, people will come and go as friends, help one another keep watch, and support one another in sickness. This will bring neighbors together. Lay out each well-field a li square, with nine hundred mu. The middle hundred mu is the public field. Each of eight households has a private hundred mu, and all work the public field together. Only after finishing that work may they work their own plots. This arrangement distinguishes the farmers' work from other work. That is the general plan. The details are for you and your ruler to work out.”

5.4 Xu Xing, a follower of the teachings of the Divine Farmer, came from Chu to Teng and presented himself at Duke Wen's gate. He said, “I have come from far away because I heard you govern kindly. I would like a place to live and become one of your people.” Duke Wen gave him a place. His several dozen followers all wore rough cloth and supported themselves by making sandals and weaving mats.Chen Xiang and his younger brother Xin, pupils of Chen Liang, carried farm tools from Song to Teng. They said, “We hear that you govern as a sage would. That makes you a sage too, and we want to be your people.”Chen Xiang met Xu Xing and was delighted. He gave up everything he had learned and studied with Xu Xing instead.Chen Xiang met Mencius and repeated Xu Xing's teaching: “The ruler of Teng is indeed a good ruler, but he still does not understand the Way. A worthy ruler farms alongside his people for his food while governing and preparing his meals. Teng now has barns and treasuries. This means the ruler exploits the people to support himself. How can he be worthy?”Mencius asked, “Does Xu Xing grow his own grain before eating it?”“Yes.”“Does he weave his own cloth before wearing it?”“No, he wears rough cloth.”“Does he wear a cap?”“Yes.”“What kind of cap?”“A plain one.”“Does he weave it himself?”“No, he trades grain for it.”“Why doesn't he weave it?”“That would interfere with his farming.”“Does Xu Xing cook in pots and steamers and farm with iron tools?”“Yes.”“Does he make them himself?”“No, he trades grain for them.”“When he trades grain for tools, he does not exploit the potters and metalworkers. And when they trade tools for his grain, surely they do not exploit the farmer. Why doesn't Xu Xing make his own pots and iron tools and use everything from his own home? Why does he keep trading with the different craftsmen? Why doesn't he avoid all that trouble?”“One cannot both farm and do all the crafts.”“Can one both farm and govern the whole world, then? Some tasks belong to leaders and some to working people. A single person needs the products of many crafts. If everyone had to make everything they used, the whole world would be worn out. So some people work with their minds and some work with their bodies. Those who work with their minds govern others; those who work with their bodies are governed by others. Those who are governed provide food for others; those who govern receive food from others. This is a common principle throughout the world.“In Yao's time the world was still unsettled. Floodwaters spread far and wide across the land; plants grew thick and wild animals multiplied. The five grains did not grow, and animals threatened people. Paths made by birds and beasts crossed the central states. Yao alone worried about this. He appointed Shun to establish order. Shun put Yi in charge of fire. Yi burned the forests and marshes fiercely, driving the animals into hiding. Yu opened channels for the nine rivers, cleared the Ji and Ta to the sea, cut openings for the Ru and Han, and guided the Huai and Si into the Yangtze. Only then could people in the central states grow food. Yu spent eight years away from home and passed his own door three times without entering. Even if he had wanted to farm, could he have done so?“Hou Ji taught the people to farm and plant the five grains; when these ripened, people could be raised. But people need guidance. If they have full stomachs, warm clothes, and comfortable homes but receive no teaching, they become little different from animals. A sage worried about this and put Xie in charge of teaching human relationships: affection between parent and child, rightness between ruler and minister, distinct roles for husband and wife, the proper order between old and young, and trust between friends. Yao said, ‘Work with them and welcome them; correct them and set them straight; help and support them until they understand for themselves; then continue to encourage their goodness.’ Sages cared so much about the people. Did they have time to farm?“Yao worried about finding Shun; Shun worried about finding Yu and Gao Yao. A farmer worries about making his hundred mu productive. Giving people wealth is generosity; teaching them goodness is loyalty; finding people fit to govern the world is kindness. So handing the world over to another person is easier than finding someone fit to govern it. Confucius said, ‘How great Yao was as a ruler! Only Heaven is great, and Yao followed it. His greatness was so vast that the people could not describe it. What a ruler Shun was! How grand that he had the whole world but treated it as nothing personal!’ Do you think Yao and Shun did not put their minds to governing? They simply did not devote themselves to farming.“I have heard of people bringing the peoples on the borders toward Xia's culture, but never of people changing themselves to follow the border peoples. Chen Liang was born in Chu. He admired the way of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius and traveled north to study in the central states. No scholar of the north could surpass him. He was what we call an outstanding man. You and your brother served him for decades, yet as soon as he died you turned away from him. When Confucius died, his disciples mourned for three years. As they packed to go home, they went in to bow to Zigong, faced each other and wept so hard they lost their voices before leaving. Zigong returned, built a hut by the grave, and lived there alone for three more years before going home. Later Zixia, Zizhang, and Ziyou thought You Ruo resembled Confucius and wanted to serve him as they had served the Master. They urged Zengzi to do so. Zengzi said, ‘No! He is as if washed by the Yangtze and Han rivers and dried by the autumn sun. His brightness cannot be surpassed.’ But now you turn from your teacher to study with a man from the southern border whose speech sounds like a shrike's and who condemns the ancient kings' Way. You are quite unlike Zengzi. I have heard of a bird leaving a dark valley for a tall tree, not of one coming down from a tall tree to a dark valley. The Hymns of Lu say, ‘He struck the Rong and Di and chastised Jing and Shu.’ The Duke of Zhou fought them, but you study one of them. This is a change for the worse.”Chen Xiang said, “If everyone followed Xu Xing's way, market prices would not vary and there would be no fraud in the state. Even a small child could go to market without being cheated. Cloth and silk of the same length would have the same price. Hemp, thread, silk, and floss of the same weight would have the same price. Equal quantities of the different grains would have the same price. Shoes of the same size would have the same price.”Mencius replied, “Things naturally differ in quality. Some cost twice or five times as much as others, some ten or a hundred times, some a thousand or ten thousand times. If you force them all to have the same price, you throw the world into disorder. If large, well-made shoes and small, poorly made shoes cost the same, who will make good ones? Following Xu Xing's way will lead everyone to cheat. How could you govern a state that way?”

5.5 Yi Zhi, a follower of Mozi, asked Xu Bi to arrange a meeting with Mencius. Mencius said, “I would like to see him, but I am still ill. When I recover I will go to him.” Yi Zhi did not come.Later Yi Zhi asked again for a meeting. Mencius said, “Now I can see him. Unless I speak directly, the Way will not be clear; let me be direct. I hear Yi Zhi is a follower of Mozi. Mozi's followers consider simple funerals the proper way to bury the dead. Yi Zhi wants to change the whole world with this teaching, so he must surely think it right. Yet he gave his parents a costly burial. That means he served his parents by doing something his own teaching considers wrong.”Xu Bi told Yi Zhi, who replied, “Confucian teaching says of people of old, ‘Care for them like infants.’ What does this mean? I take it to mean that love does not vary from person to person, though we put it into practice starting with our parents.”Xu Bi repeated this to Mencius. Mencius said, “Does Yi Zhi truly think people care for their brother's baby exactly as they care for a neighbor's baby? The old saying has a particular meaning: a baby crawling toward a well is not to blame for the danger it is in. Moreover, Heaven gives every living thing a single root, but Yi Zhi gives it two. In very ancient times some people did not bury their parents. When a parent died, they carried the body away and left it in a ravine. Later they passed by and saw foxes eating it and flies and gnats sucking it. Sweat broke out on their foreheads, and they looked away. They did not sweat to impress others: the feeling inside them showed on their faces. They went home for spades and baskets, returned, and covered the body. If it was right to cover it, then respectful children and kind people must have good reason to bury their parents.”Xu Bi told Yi Zhi. Yi Zhi was silent in thought for a while, then said, “I have received your instruction.”