Book 3B · Duke Wen of Teng, Part Two

6.1 Chen Dai said, “Your refusal to see the lords seems a small point. Meet them just once and you could, at best, make a king; at least, a hegemon. The Records say, ‘Bend one foot to straighten eight.’ Surely that would be worth doing.”Mencius said, “Once, when Duke Jing of Qi was hunting, he summoned the gamekeeper with a banner. The keeper did not come, and the duke meant to execute him. Confucius said, ‘A man of principle never forgets that he may end in a ditch; a brave man never forgets that he may lose his head.’ What did Confucius admire in the gamekeeper? He did not come when summoned by the wrong signal. What would you make of someone who went without waiting to be summoned at all? Moreover, ‘bending one foot to straighten eight’ is an argument from profit. If profit is our guide, should we not bend eight feet to straighten one, if it pays? Zhao Jianzi once ordered Wang Liang to drive his favorite, Xi, on a hunt. They caught nothing all day. Xi reported, ‘He is the worst charioteer in the world.’ Someone told Wang Liang, who asked for another chance. Xi reluctantly agreed, and in one morning caught ten animals. ‘He is the best charioteer in the world,’ Xi reported. Jianzi said, ‘I shall make him your regular driver.’ But Wang Liang refused. ‘When I drove him according to the rules, we caught nothing all day. When I drove against the rules to bring him face-to-face with game, we caught ten in a morning. The Odes say, “He kept his horses to their course, and when he loosed his arrow, he struck his mark.” I am not accustomed to driving for petty men; let me decline.’ Even a charioteer is ashamed to collude with an archer. Even if such collusion brought game piled high as hills, he would refuse. Why, then, should I bend the Way to suit the lords? You are mistaken: no one who bends himself can make others upright.”

6.2 Jing Chun said, “Are Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi not truly great men? When they grow angry, the lords tremble; when they live quietly, the world rests.”Mencius said, “How can they be great men? Have you not learned the rites? When a young man receives his cap, his father instructs him; when a woman marries, her mother instructs her and accompanies her to the door, admonishing her, ‘When you enter your new household, be respectful and careful; never disobey your husband.’ To take submission as one's rule is the way of a wife or concubine. Dwell in the world's broadest dwelling; stand in its rightful place; walk its great Way. When you gain your purpose, share the Way with the people; when you fail, follow it alone. Wealth and honor cannot corrupt you, poverty and low rank cannot change you, force and power cannot bend you. That is a truly great man.”

6.3 Zhou Xiao asked, “Did the noble people of antiquity take office?”“Yes,” said Mencius. “The records say, ‘If Confucius was without a ruler for three months, he grew anxious. When he crossed a border, he always carried an introductory gift.’ Gongming Yi said, ‘In antiquity, if a man went three months without a ruler, people offered him condolences.’”“Is it not excessive to offer condolences after only three months?”“For a man of service to lose his position is like a lord losing his state. The Rites say, ‘The lord tills the shared field to provide grain for offerings; his wife raises silkworms and reels silk to make the ritual garments. If the sacrificial animals are inadequate, the grain impure, or the garments incomplete, he dares not offer sacrifice. And a man of service without a field does not sacrifice either.’ If he lacks the animals, vessels, and garments and cannot offer sacrifice, he cannot host a feast. Is that not cause enough for condolences?”“Why carry an introductory gift when crossing a border?”“Office is to a man of service what farming is to a farmer. Would a farmer leave his plow and hoe behind when crossing a border?”“In Jin, too, men take office, yet I have never heard such urgency. If office matters so much, why is it so difficult for a noble person to accept one?”“When a son is born, his parents wish him to have a wife; when a daughter is born, they wish her to have a husband. All parents feel this. But if the children peer through holes in the wall and climb over it to meet, without their parents' permission or a matchmaker's words, parents and neighbors alike despise them. The ancients certainly wanted office, but they detested taking it by the wrong path. To enter office the wrong way is like creeping through a hole in the wall.”

6.4 Peng Geng asked, “With dozens of carriages following you and hundreds of attendants, you go from lord to lord and receive your food. Is that not excessive?”Mencius replied, “If the Way does not allow it, one must not take even a basket of food from another person. If the Way allows it, Shun could accept the whole world from Yao without excess. Would you call that excessive?”“No. But it is wrong for a man of service to eat without doing any work.”“If you did not exchange the products of different labors, using surpluses to make up shortages, farmers would have grain left over and women cloth left over. When you allow exchange, woodworkers, carpenters, wheelwrights, and carriage-makers can all receive food from you. Here is a man who serves his parents devotedly at home and respects his elders abroad, upholds the Way of the former kings, and awaits students yet to come. Why can he not receive food from you? Why honor carpenters and carriage-makers but slight those who practice humaneness and rightness?”“The craftsmen work because they seek food. Is seeking food also the aim of a noble person who practices the Way?”“Why ask about his aim? His work benefits you; if he deserves food, feed him. Do you feed intentions or achievements?”“Intentions.”“Suppose a man smashes tiles and scribbles on walls, intending thereby to seek food. Would you feed him?”“No.”“Then you feed achievements, not intentions.”

6.5 Wan Zhang asked, “Song is a small state. If it now practices kingly government and Qi and Chu hate this and attack, what should it do?”Mencius said, “Tang lived at Bo, beside Ge. The lord of Ge was dissolute and neglected his sacrifices. Tang sent someone to ask why. ‘I have no animals to offer,’ he said. Tang sent cattle and sheep, but the lord ate them and still offered no sacrifices. Tang asked again why. ‘I have no grain for the offerings,’ he said. Tang sent people from Bo to cultivate his fields, while their old and young brought them food. The lord of Ge led his men to waylay those carrying food, drink, millet, and rice, seized their provisions, and killed anyone who refused. They killed one boy who was bringing millet and meat and took his food. The Documents say, ‘The lord of Ge made enemies of those bringing food.’ This is what it means. Tang marched against him because he had killed the boy. People within the four seas said, ‘He seeks not to enrich himself with the world, but to avenge an ordinary boy and girl.’ Tang began his campaigns at Ge. After eleven campaigns he had no enemy in the world. When he marched east, the western tribes complained; when south, the northern tribes complained, ‘Why leave us until last?’ The people looked for him as those in drought look for rain. Merchants went on coming to market and farmers continued weeding. He punished rulers and consoled their people, like rain falling at the right season. The people rejoiced. The Documents say, ‘We await our lord; when he comes, we shall suffer no more punishment.’ And: ‘Those who had not been his subjects saw him march east and bring peace to their men and women. They carried black and yellow silks in baskets to greet our Zhou king, saw his blessing, and became subjects of the great city of Zhou.’ The leading people filled baskets with dark and yellow silk to greet his leaders; ordinary people brought baskets of food and jars of drink to welcome his troops. They rescued the people from flood and fire by removing their cruel rulers. The Great Oath says, ‘Our might is displayed as we cross their border, seize their cruel ones, and wield force against them, surpassing even Tang in splendor.’ The question is merely whether Song will practice kingly government. If it does, people within the four seas will look up expectantly, desiring its ruler as their own. However large Qi and Chu may be, what is there to fear?”

6.6 Mencius said to Dai Busheng, “Do you want your king to become good? I shall tell you plainly. If a minister of Chu wanted his son to speak the language of Qi, would he choose a tutor from Qi or Chu?”“From Qi.”“If one person from Qi teaches him while a crowd from Chu shouts at him, you could whip him every day and still never make him speak Qi. Take him instead to live for years amid the streets of Zhuang and Yue in Qi, and though you whipped him daily, you could not make him speak Chu. You call Xue Juzhou a good man and have placed him beside the king. If all those near the king, old and young, humble and honored, were like Xue Juzhou, with whom could the king do wrong? If none of them were like him, with whom could the king do right? What can one Xue Juzhou do for the king of Song?”

6.7 Gongsun Chou asked, “What is the principle behind refusing to visit the lords?”Mencius said, “In antiquity one who was not a ruler's minister did not visit him. Duan Ganmu climbed over a wall to avoid one; Xie Liu shut his gate and refused one entrance. They went too far; under pressure, one may meet a ruler. Yang Huo wanted to meet Confucius but dreaded appearing discourteous. When a minister gives a man of service a gift that cannot be accepted in the recipient's home, the recipient visits the donor's house to thank him. Yang Huo waited until Confucius was away and sent him a roasted pig. Confucius, in turn, waited until Yang Huo was away and went to thank him. If Yang Huo had visited first, how could Confucius have avoided meeting him? Zengzi said, ‘Hunching your shoulders and smiling to flatter someone is more exhausting than working a field in summer.’ Zilu said, ‘To speak with someone you do not agree with, blushing as you watch his face, is something I cannot understand.’ From this you may see what a noble person seeks to cultivate.”

6.8 Dai Yingzhi said, “We cannot yet institute the one-tenth levy and abolish the taxes at border gates and markets. May we reduce them now and wait until next year to abolish them entirely?”Mencius said, “Suppose a man steals one chicken from his neighbor every day and someone tells him, ‘That is not the conduct of a noble person.’ He replies, ‘Let me reduce it to one chicken a month, and next year I will stop altogether.’ If you know it is wrong, stop at once. Why wait until next year?”

6.9 Gongduzi said, “Outsiders all say you love to argue. May I ask why?”Mencius said, “How could I love to argue? I have no choice. The world has existed a long time, with periods of order and disorder. In Yao's day the waters flowed backward and flooded the central lands. Serpents and dragons lived there; the people had no settled homes. Those on low ground made nests in trees; those on high ground dug caves. The Documents say, ‘The flooding waters alarmed me.’ These were the great floods. Yao sent Yu to control them. Yu cut channels through the earth to drain the waters into the sea and drove the serpents and dragons into marshes. The waters then flowed in their channels: the Yangtze, Huai, Yellow, and Han rivers. Once dangerous barriers receded and the birds and beasts that preyed on people disappeared, people could live on level ground.“After Yao and Shun died, the Way of the sages declined. Violent rulers arose, demolished houses to make ornamental ponds, leaving the people without shelter; they abandoned farmland to make gardens and game parks, leaving the people without clothes or food. Perverse teachings and violent deeds appeared. As parks, ponds, and marshes multiplied, beasts returned. In Zhou's time the world was again in great disorder. The Duke of Zhou assisted King Wu, executed Zhou, attacked Yan, and after three years captured its ruler. He drove Feilian to a corner of the sea and killed him. He destroyed fifty states and drove tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, and elephants far away. The world rejoiced. The Documents say, ‘How brilliant were King Wen's plans! How splendidly King Wu carried on his work! They aided and enlightened us, their descendants, so that all would follow what is right without defect.’“As the age declined, the Way grew faint, and perverse teachings and violent deeds arose again. Ministers killed their rulers; sons killed their fathers. Confucius was afraid and composed the Spring and Autumn Annals. Composing these Annals was the work of the Son of Heaven. Thus Confucius said, ‘Those who understand me will do so through the Annals; those who condemn me will do so through the Annals.’“No sage king has arisen. The lords act without restraint and scholars in private life dispute recklessly. The words of Yang Zhu and Mozi fill the world: people belong either to Yang's camp or Mo's. Yang's doctrine of ‘each for himself’ leaves no place for a ruler; Mo's doctrine of universal love leaves no place for a father. To have neither father nor ruler is to be a beast. Gongming Yi said, ‘There is fat meat in the kitchens and fat horses in the stables, while the people look hungry and starving bodies lie in the fields: this is leading beasts to devour human beings.’ Unless Yang and Mo are stopped, Confucius's Way cannot be made clear; their perverse teachings will deceive the people and obstruct humaneness and rightness. When these are obstructed, rulers lead beasts to eat people, and people will eat one another. Fearing this, I defend the Way of the former sages, oppose Yang and Mo, and banish their wild claims, so perverse teachings cannot arise. When they arise in the heart, they harm one's actions; when they arise in actions, they harm government. Were a sage to rise again, he would not change a word of what I say.“Yu once subdued the floods and brought peace to the world; the Duke of Zhou annexed the lands of the foreign tribes and drove off savage beasts, bringing security to the people; Confucius completed the Annals, frightening rebellious ministers and murderous sons. The Odes say, ‘He struck the Rong and Di and chastised Jing and Shu; none dared withstand us.’ Those without fathers or rulers are the very people the Duke of Zhou opposed. I too wish to set human hearts right, silence perverse teachings, resist deviant conduct, and drive out unbridled claims, continuing the work of the three sages. How could I love to argue? I have no choice. Anyone who speaks against Yang and Mo is a follower of the sages.”

6.10 Kuang Zhang said, “Is Chen Zhongzi not a truly incorruptible man? Living in Wuling, he went three days without food, until his ears could hear nothing and his eyes could see nothing. There was a plum beside a well, more than half eaten by grubs. He crawled to it and ate; after three swallows he could hear and see again.”Mencius said, “Among the men of Qi, I would certainly call Zhongzi a giant. But how can he be incorruptible? If he carried his principles through to the end, only an earthworm could do so. The worm feeds above on dry earth and drinks below from yellow springs. Was the house Zhongzi inhabited built by Bo Yi, or by the robber Zhi? Was the grain he ate planted by Bo Yi, or by the robber Zhi? We cannot know.”“What does that matter? He made his own sandals, and his wife spun hemp to exchange for what they needed.”“Zhongzi comes from a distinguished Qi family. His elder brother Dai received ten thousand measures of grain from Gai. Zhongzi considered his brother's stipend unjust and refused to eat from it; he considered his brother's house unjust and refused to live there. Leaving brother and mother, he settled in Wuling. One day, on visiting home, he found that someone had given his brother a live goose. He frowned and said, ‘What use is that honking thing?’ Later his mother cooked the goose and served it to him. His brother came in and said, ‘That is the honking thing's meat.’ Zhongzi went out and vomited it up. He will not eat food served by his mother, yet eats what his wife gives him; he will not live in his brother's house, yet lives in Wuling. Is he really able to carry his principles through? Only as an earthworm could he do so.”

6.1 Chen Dai said, “Refusing to meet the rulers seems like a small matter. If you met one, you could make him a true king at best and a leading power at least. Besides, the Records say, ‘Bend one foot to straighten eight.’ It seems worth doing.”Mencius replied, “Once Duke Jing of Qi went hunting and summoned the park keeper with a flag. The keeper refused to come, and the duke meant to kill him. Confucius said, ‘A committed man does not forget that he might end up dead in a ditch; a brave man does not forget that he might lose his head.’ What did Confucius admire in the keeper? He would not go when summoned by the wrong signal. If you go without even waiting to be summoned, what does that say? And ‘bend one foot to straighten eight’ speaks of advantage. If advantage is the measure, could you bend eight feet to straighten one if that brought a profit? Once Zhao Jianzi had Wang Liang drive a carriage for his favorite courtier Xi. They hunted all day without catching a single animal. Xi reported, ‘He is the worst driver in the world.’ When someone told Wang Liang, he asked to try again. Xi reluctantly agreed, and they caught ten animals in one morning. Xi reported, ‘He is the best driver in the world.’ Jianzi said, ‘I will make him your permanent driver.’ But Wang Liang refused. ‘When I drove correctly for him,’ he said, ‘we caught nothing all day. When I drove in a dishonest way to let him take unfair shots, we caught ten in one morning. The Book of Songs says, “He drives without error and shoots his arrows to break the target.” I am not used to driving for a petty man, so I decline.’ Even a driver was ashamed to cooperate with an archer like that. He would not do it even to get a mountain of game. Why should I abandon my principles to follow such rulers? You are mistaken. No one who compromises his own conduct can set other people straight.”

6.2 Jing Chun said, “Surely Gongsun Yan and Zhang Yi are truly great men. When they get angry, the lords tremble; when they sit quietly at home, the world grows calm.”Mencius said, “How can they be great men? Have you not studied proper conduct? At a boy's coming-of-age ceremony his father gives him instructions. When a girl marries, her mother gives her instructions, accompanies her to the gate, and warns her, ‘When you go to your new home, be careful and respectful, and never disobey your husband.’ Taking obedience as your rule is the way of a wife or concubine. A great man lives in the world's spacious home, kindness; he stands in its proper place, rightness; and he walks its broad road, proper conduct. When he can achieve his aims, he follows this road with the people. When he cannot, he follows it on his own. Wealth and rank cannot corrupt him, poverty and low status cannot change him, and force and threats cannot make him yield. That is a great man.”

6.3 Zhou Xiao asked, “Did noble people of old take public office?”“Yes,” said Mencius. “A record says, ‘If Confucius spent three months without a ruler, he grew anxious. When he crossed a border, he carried his credentials.’ Gongming Yi said, ‘In ancient times, if a man spent three months without a ruler, people offered condolences.’”“Condolences after just three months without a ruler? Isn't that too eager?”“For a man of service to lose his post is like a lord losing his state. The Book of Rites says, ‘A lord plows the shared fields to provide grain for offerings; his wife raises silkworms and spins silk for ceremonial clothes. If the animals are unfit, the grain unclean, or the clothes incomplete, they do not dare make offerings. And a man of service without land does not make offerings either.’ If someone lacks sacrificial animals, vessels, and clothes, he cannot make offerings or hold a feast. Isn't that enough reason for condolences?”“Why carry credentials when crossing a border?”“Taking office is to a man of service what working the land is to a farmer. Would a farmer leave his plow behind when crossing a border?”“Jin too is a state where men hold office, but I have never heard of such eagerness. If noble people are so eager, why is it hard for them to take office?”“Parents want a home for their son when he is born and a marriage for their daughter when she is born. All parents feel that way. But if the children peep at each other through holes in the wall and climb over walls to meet without their parents' permission or a matchmaker's help, both parents and neighbors look down on them. People of old wanted to hold office, but they hated entering it by the wrong path. Doing so would be like peeping through a hole in a wall.”

6.4 Peng Geng asked, “Isn't it excessive for you to travel with dozens of carriages and hundreds of followers and receive food from one lord after another?”Mencius said, “If it is not right, you should not accept even one basket of food. If it is right, Shun could accept the whole world from Yao without excess. Do you think that was excessive?”“No. But a man of service should not eat when he does no work.”“If people did not trade the results of their different work, sharing their excess to supply what others lack, farmers would have too much grain and women who weave would have too much cloth. Once they trade, carpenters and makers of wheels and carriages can get their food from you. Now suppose a man respects his parents at home and his elders outside, keeps the ancient kings' Way, and teaches later students. Why should he not get his food from you? Why value carpenters and carriage makers but look down on someone who practices kindness and rightness?”“Carpenters and carriage makers do their work intending to earn food. Does a noble person follow the Way with that intention?”“Why concern yourself with his intentions? If his work helps you and he deserves food, give him food. Do you pay for intentions or for work?”“For intentions.”“Suppose a man broke your roof tiles and scribbled on your walls, intending to earn food. Would you feed him?”“No.”“Then you pay for work, not intentions.”

6.5 Wan Zhang asked, “Song is small but is going to govern as a true king should. What if Qi and Chu dislike it and attack?”Mencius said, “Tang lived in Bo, near Ge. The ruler of Ge neglected his duties and made no offerings to his ancestors. Tang sent men to ask him why. ‘I have no animals to offer,’ he answered. Tang sent him cattle and sheep, but the ruler ate them and still made no offerings. Tang asked again why. ‘I have no grain to offer,’ the ruler said. Tang sent people from Bo to farm his land, while the old and young brought the farmers food. But the ruler of Ge led his people to intercept anyone bringing food, drink, millet, or rice. They stole the supplies and killed those who resisted. They killed a boy who was bringing millet and meat and stole his food. The Book of Documents says, ‘The ruler of Ge was the enemy of those who brought food.’ That is what it means. Tang attacked him because he had killed the boy. Throughout the world people said, ‘Tang is not trying to enrich himself with land. He is avenging an ordinary boy and girl.’ Tang's first campaign began at Ge. After eleven campaigns he had no enemy in the world. When he marched east, people in the west complained; when he marched south, people in the north complained, ‘Why are we last?’ They waited for him as people in a terrible drought wait for rain. Merchants did not stop going to market, and those weeding the fields kept working. Tang punished the rulers and comforted the people. Like timely rain, he made them rejoice. The Book of Documents says, ‘We wait for our lord; when our lord comes, no punishment will fall on us.’ Another passage says, ‘There were some who would not serve. He marched east and calmed their men and women. They brought baskets of dark and yellow silk to welcome our king of Zhou and see his good works; they attached themselves as subjects to the great city of Zhou.’ Their leaders brought baskets of silk to welcome his leaders, while the common people brought baskets of food and jars of drink to welcome his ordinary soldiers. To rescue people from flood and fire, it was only necessary to remove those who harmed them. The Great Oath says, ‘I raise my military strength, march into their territory, and take away those who harm them; I put my weapons to use, and outshine Tang.’ The danger arises only if Song does not practice kingly government. If it does, people throughout the world will lift their heads and look toward it, wanting its ruler as their own. Why fear Qi and Chu, however large they are?”

6.6 Mencius said to Dai Busheng, “Do you want your king to become good? Let me explain clearly. Suppose a minister from Chu wants his son to learn to speak the language of Qi. Should he hire a person from Qi to teach him, or one from Chu?”“Someone from Qi.”“If one Qi speaker teaches the boy but many Chu speakers chatter around him, you could beat him every day to make him speak Qi and still fail. But take him to live for several years in a neighborhood of Qi speakers between Zhuang and Yue, and you could beat him every day to make him speak Chu and still fail. You say Xue Juzhou is a good man and have arranged for him to stay with the king. If everyone around the king, old and young, high and low, were like Xue Juzhou, with whom could the king do wrong? If none of them were like him, with whom could the king do right? What can one Xue Juzhou do by himself for the king of Song?”

6.7 Gongsun Chou asked, “Why do you refuse to meet the rulers?”Mencius replied, “In ancient times a man who was not in a ruler's service did not meet him. Duan Ganmu climbed over a wall to avoid a ruler, and Xie Liu closed his door and would not let one in. That was going too far: if pressed, they could have met him. Yang Huo wanted to meet Confucius but did not want to be discourteous. When a high official gives a man of service a present and the man is not at home to receive it, he visits the official's home to thank him. Yang Huo waited until Confucius was away and sent him a cooked pig. Confucius in turn waited until Yang Huo was away and went to thank him. If Yang Huo had taken the first proper step, how could Confucius have avoided meeting him? Zengzi said, ‘Hunching your shoulders and smiling to flatter someone is harder than hoeing in the summer heat.’ Zilu said, ‘I do not know how a man can speak to someone with whom he does not agree while watching his own face grow red.’ From this you can see how a noble person takes care of his character.”

6.8 Dai Yingzhi said, “We cannot introduce a one-tenth tax and remove taxes at the border and market this year. Could we reduce them now and wait until next year to abolish them altogether?”Mencius said, “Suppose a man stole a chicken from his neighbor every day. Someone told him, ‘That is not how a noble person behaves.’ The man replied, ‘Let me steal fewer. I will steal one chicken a month, then stop next year.’ If you know something is wrong, stop at once. Why wait until next year?”

6.9 Gongduzi said, “People outside our circle all say you like to argue. May I ask why?”Mencius replied, “Do I like to argue? I have no choice. The world has existed for a long time and has gone through periods of order and disorder. In Yao's time the rivers flowed out of their channels and flooded the central states. Snakes and dragons lived there, and people had no safe homes. Some nested in trees; others lived in caves on high ground. The Book of Documents says, ‘The floodwaters alarm us.’ These were the great floods. Yao sent Yu to manage them. Yu dug channels to drain water to the sea and drove snakes and dragons into the marshes. The rivers then flowed in their channels: the Yangtze, Huai, Yellow River, and Han. Once the dangers of flood were removed and the wild animals that harmed people disappeared, people could settle on level land.“After Yao and Shun died, the sages' Way declined. Cruel rulers appeared one after another, tearing down homes to make ponds, so people had nowhere to live; they turned farmland into parks, so people lacked food and clothes. Bad teachings and violent conduct arose too. As parks, flooded land, and marshes spread, wild animals returned. By Zhou's time the world was in great disorder again. The Duke of Zhou helped King Wu punish Zhou and attack Yan; they spent three years defeating its ruler. They pursued Fei Lian to the edge of the sea and killed him. They destroyed fifty states and drove away tigers, leopards, rhinos, and elephants. The whole world rejoiced. The Book of Documents says, ‘How brilliant were King Wen's plans! How well King Wu carried on his work! They opened the way for us, their descendants, keeping everything right and sound.’“When the age declined and the Way grew faint, bad teachings and violent conduct returned. Ministers killed their rulers, and sons killed their fathers. Confucius was alarmed and wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals. Recording such judgments is the Son of Heaven's work. Confucius therefore said, ‘It will be the Spring and Autumn Annals that makes people understand me, and the Spring and Autumn Annals that makes them blame me.’“No sage king has arisen. The lords act as they please, and private thinkers spread claims without restraint. The teachings of Yang Zhu and Mozi fill the world. Anyone who speaks follows either Yang or Mozi. Yang's teaching puts himself first; that means he recognizes no ruler. Mozi teaches equal love for everyone; that means he recognizes no father. To have no father and no ruler is to be an animal. Gongming Yi said, ‘There is rich meat in the kitchen and fat horses in the stable, while the people look hungry and bodies of the starved lie in the fields. This is leading animals to eat people.’ If Yang's and Mozi's ways do not stop, Confucius's Way will not be clear. Bad teachings will deceive the people and block kindness and rightness. If kindness and rightness are blocked, people will lead animals to eat other people and will eventually eat one another. I fear this, so I defend the ancient sages' Way, reject Yang and Mozi, and drive out their excessive claims to keep bad teachings from spreading. They arise in people's hearts and harm their actions; expressed in actions, they harm government. If a sage appeared again, he would not change what I say.“Yu brought the floods under control and peace to the world; the Duke of Zhou dealt with the border peoples and drove off wild beasts so people could live securely; Confucius completed the Spring and Autumn Annals so rebellious ministers and criminal sons were afraid. The Book of Songs says, ‘He struck the Rong and Di and chastised Jing and Shu; no one dared resist us.’ People who recognize neither father nor ruler are the sort the Duke of Zhou fought. I too want to set people's hearts right, end bad teachings, resist wrongful actions, and drive away extravagant claims, carrying on the work of those three sages. Do I like arguing? I have no choice. Anyone who can argue against Yang and Mozi is a follower of the sages.”

6.10 Kuang Zhang asked, “Isn't Chen Zhongzi a genuinely upright man? When he lived in Wuling, he went without food for three days, until he could hear nothing and see nothing. There was a plum on a tree beside the well, more than half eaten by grubs. He crawled over to eat it, and only after swallowing it three times could he hear and see again.”Mencius said, “Among the men of Qi I would certainly count Zhongzi as outstanding. Even so, how can he be genuinely upright? To follow his principles fully, he would have to be an earthworm. An earthworm eats dry soil above and drinks groundwater below. Was the house Zhongzi lived in built by Bo Yi, or was it built by the robber Zhi? Was the grain he ate grown by Bo Yi, or by the robber Zhi? We cannot know.”“What does that matter? He makes sandals, his wife twists hemp fibers into thread, and they trade their work for food.”“Zhongzi comes from a family of high rank in Qi. His brother Dai receives a salary of ten thousand measures from Gai. Zhongzi thinks his brother's salary is wrongfully earned and will not eat from it; he thinks his brother's house is wrongfully owned and will not live in it. He left his brother and mother and settled in Wuling. One day he came home and saw that someone had given his brother a live goose. He frowned and said, ‘What is the use of that honking thing?’ Later his mother killed the goose and gave him some to eat. His brother returned from outside and said, ‘That is the meat of the honking bird.’ Zhongzi went out and vomited it. He would not eat what his mother served him but ate what his wife served; he would not live in his brother's house but lived in Wuling. Can he really follow his own principles to the end? A man like Zhongzi could do so only by becoming an earthworm.”