寸。背 肖之相去其閒不能以 才也棄不才則賢不 而後可以有爲 孟子日人有不爲也 日患 仲何。 人為。有 當如後患何 国孟子日仲尼不爲已 暨孟子曰言人之不善 孟子日大人者言不 the Mean spurn those who do not, and they who have abilities spurn those who have not, then the space between them-those so gifted and the ungifted-will not admit an inch.' CHAP. VIII. Mencius said, 'Men must be decided on what they will NOT do, and then they are able to act with vigour in what they ought to do.' CHAP. IX. Mencius said, 'What future misery have they and ought they to endure, who talk of what is not good in others!' CHAP. X. Mencius said, 'Chung-ni did not do extraordinary things.’ CHAP. XI. Mencius said, "The great man does not think before ='given the Mean,' 'given abilities.', the Mean, the rightly ordered course of con duct. Both it and must be taken here in the concrete.-as in Bk. III. Pt. I. ii. 3. the remark was made with some peculiar refer, creates a difficulty. Cha Het supposes If we knew that, the difficulty would ence. vanish. The original implies, I think, all that 如中也云云,一by neglecting their I have expressed in the translation. duty, the one class bring themselves to the level of the other. embraces both the and the 才 above. 不肯 —see the Doctrine 10. THAT CONFUCIUS KEPT THE MEAN. 已甚 i. e. 'excessive things,' but 'extraordin ary' rather approaches the meaning. It may strike the student that the meaning is-'Con of the Mean, iv. 以寸(with an inch, fucius's inaction (slowness to not) was excee i.e. be measured with an inch. 8. CLEAR DISCRIMINATION OF WHAT IS WRONG |sive,' but in that case we should have had 矣 AND RIGHT MUST PRECEDE VIGOROUS RIGHT-DOING. and not, at the end. We may compare Literally, 'men have the not-do, and after with the sentiment the Doctrine of the Mean, wards they can have the do.' implies xi, xiii; Analects, VII. xx, et al vigour in the action. Chao Ch'i's commentary 11. WHAT IS RIGHT IS THE SUPREME PURSUIT is :—If a man will not condescend to take in OF THE GREAT MAN. Compare Analects, IV. x. any irregular way, he will be found able to yield a thousand chariots.' does not must," he is beyond the 9. Eva SPEAKING IS SURE TO BRING WITH IT habit of caring for that. hand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his actions that they may be resolute;-he simply speaks and does what is right.' CHAP. XII. Mencius said,The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.’ CHAP. XIII. Mencius said, 'The nourishment of parents when living is not sufficient to be accounted the great thing. It is only in the performing their obsequies when dead that we have what can be considered the great thing.' CHAP. XIV. Mencius said, 'The superior man makes his advances in what he is learning with deep earnestness and by the proper course, wishing to get hold of it as in himself. Having got "only that in which righteousness is;' that only | but keeps his original simplicity and freedom is his concern. In fact he can hardly be said from hypocrisy. Carrying this out, he beto be concerned about this. It is natural to him comes omniscient and omnipotent, great in the to pursue the right. highest degree.' We need not suppose that Mencius would himseif have expanded his thought in this way. 12. A MAN IS GREAT BECAUSE HE IS CHILDLIKE. Chao Ch't makes ‘the great man' to be a 13. FILIAL PIETY SEEN IN THE OBSEQUIES OF sovereign,' and 其赤子, (his children, ie. his pecple, and the sentiment is that the PARENTS. 養生者-者字指養 people's hearts. I mention this interpretation, 生之事—the character 者 refers to the true sovereign is he who does not lose his as showing how learned men have varied and ways by which the living may be nourished.' may vary in fixing the meaning of these books. It belongs to the phrase, and not to It is sufficiently absurd, and has been entirely dieplaced by the interpretation which is given 生alone. 當-爲'to be considered, to in the version. The sentiment may suggest the Saviour's words, ‘Except yo be converted, and constitute.’送死 literally, ‘to accom. become as little children, ye shall not enter into pany the dead,' but denoting all the last duties the kingdom of heaven.' But Christ speaks of the child's-heart as a thing to be regained; to them. It= -X, Analects, I. ix. The Mencius speaks of it as a thing not to be lost. sentiment needs a good deal of explaining and With Christ, to become as children is to display guarding. The obsequies are done, it is said, certain characteristics of children. With Mencius, 'the child's-heart' is the ideal moral condition of humanity. Chû Hsi says:-"The mind of the great man comprehends all changes of phenomena, and the mind of the child is nothing but a pure simplicity, free from all hypocrisy. Yet the great man is the great man, just as he is not led astray by external things, | once for all. If done wrong, the fault cannot be remedied. Probably the remark had a peculiar reference. The supposes it was spoken against the Mohist practice of burying parents with a spare simplicity;-see UI. Pt. I. v. 14. THE VALUE OF LEARNING THOROUGHLY IN 天以者 說 得 善 未孟之孟之 不然服以反博 其原故君子欲其 之深則取之左右逢 居之安則資之深資 自逢 逢資 hold of it in himself, he abides in it calmly and firmly. Abiding in it calmly and firmly, he reposes a deep reliance on it. Reposing a deep reliance on it, he seizes it on the left and right, meeting everywhere with it as a fountain from which things flow. It is on this account that the superior man wishes to get hold of what he is learning as in himself.' CHAP. XV. Mencius said, 'In learning extensively and discussing minutely what is learned, the object of the superior man is that he may be able to go back and set forth in brief what is essential.' CHAP. XVI. Mencius said, 'Never has he who would by his excellence subdue men been able to subdue them. Let a prince seek by his excellence to nourish men, and he will be able to subdue the whole kingdom. It is impossible that any one should become ruler of the people to whom they have not yielded the subjection of the heart.' 深造之一造 mind of the teaching of Mencius in this chapter. Chao Ch'l gives WROUGHT INTO THE MIND. read tráo, 4th tone, ‘to arrive at;' must refer to the, or principles of the subject which is being learnt. is understood of the proper course or order, the successive steps of study,-✯✯✯ a more substantive mean why the superior man pursues with earnestness ing than in the translation; thus:-"The reason to arrive at the depth and mystery of, is from a wish to get hold for himself of its source and as nature. Most critics understand the subject study,依着次序其自得root, ne something belonging to his own studied to be man's own self, not things external to him. We must leave the subject in gives the key to the chapter; his self-getting,' I.e. his getting hold of the subject so that his knowledge of it becomes a kind of intuition. its own mist. -'to rely on.' The subject so appre- that this is a continuation of the last chapter, 15. Chú Hst says, apparently with reason, hended in its principles is capable of indefinite showing that the object of the superior man application. He seizes it on the right and in the extensive studies which he pursues, is left,'-i.e. he no longer needs his early efforts not vain-glory, but to get to the substance and to apprehend it. It underlies numberless phenomena, in all which he at once detects it, just essence of things. conveys the two ideas as water below the earth is found easily and of condensation and importance. anywhere, on digging the surface. -One may 16. The object of this chapter, say comread scores of pages in the Chinese commenta- mentators, is to stimulate rulers to do good in tors, and yet not get a clear idea in his own sincerity, with a view, that is, to the good of 是数舍 哉 是乎畫子水尼 之四夜白哉亟 取海盈原何稱 祥不祥之實蔽賢者 王者未之有也 玉字孟子 日言無實 CHAP. XVII. Mencius said, 'Words which are not true are inauspicious, and the words which are most truly obnoxious to the name of inauspicious, are those which throw into the shade men of talents and virtue. CHAP. XVIII. 1. The disciple Hsü said, 'Chung-nt often praised water, saying, "O water! O water!" What did he find in water to praise ? ) 2. Mencius replied, There is a spring of water; how it gushes out! It rests not day nor night. It fills up every hole, and then advances, flowing on to the four seas. Such is water having a spring! It was this which he found in it to praise. others. I confess it is to me very enigmatical. Paul's sentiment,-'Scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die,'-occurs to the mind on reading it, but this is clashed with by its being insisted on that 養人以善 has regarded as really inauspicious which throw into,' &c. He says he is unable to decide between the two interpretations, and thinks the text may be mutilated. has reference to, and not to, to 'words,' not to 'men.' no reference to the nourishing men's bodies, 18. How MENCIUS EXPLAINED CONFUCIUS'S but is the bringing them to the nourisher's own moral excellence. Chao Ch'i takes the PRAISE OF WATER. 1.-read chi, the and as strength.’But this is inadmissible. The irst 善 au meaning 威力, (majesty and tone, often.’稱 (in the sense of (to praise ') point of the chapter is evidently to be found 於水 於 marking the objective case, in the contrast of 服 and 養 |or = found something to praise in water. See Analects, IX. xvi, though we have not 17. The translation takes 無實 as an there the exact words of this passage. adjective qualifying, and there is a play 2 -, a pit,' i. e. every hollow in its on the term in the use of 實 in the two parta course,是之取爾‘it was just the seizing of this.' One commentator brings out Chú Haf mentions another view making the 是之 in this way-以是之故 an adverb joined to 不祥 'there are 實 no words really inauspicious; i.e. generally 而取之爾 3 Here; again, the months speaking, only those are obnoxious to be are those of Châu, corresponding to the present 存希以國情而皆月 之庶異孟君待盈之 舞民於子子也其閒 偷明去禽日恥故涸雨無 之獸人之聲也集本 於人倫由仁義 君者之 可溝七 立澮入 子 3. But suppose that the water has no spring.-In the seventh and eighth months when the rain falls abundantly, the channels in the fields are all filled, but their being dried up again may be expected in a short time. So a superior man is ashamed of a reputation beyond his merits.' CHAP. XIX. 1. Mencius said, 'That whereby man differs from the lower animals is but small. The mass of people cast it away, while superior men preserve it. 2. 'Shun clearly understood the multitude of things, and closely observed the relations of humanity. He walked along the path of benevolence and righteousness; he did not need to pursue benevolence and righteousness.' third and sixth. 雨集 (the raine are col- 也知義與不知義之間耳 lected.’溝澮 were channels belonging to 幾希 means not much. It is simply the squares system. 可立而待一wo might ness and the want of that knowledge. This the irrigation of the lands divided on the nine-interval between the knowledge of righteous-we is so far correct, but the difference which it translate as 'one may stand and wait till indicates cannot be said to be 'not great.'they are dry, but is often used = (quickly. But it is not the object of Mencius to indicate the character of that which differences men 情-實, as in the Great Learning, Commen- and animale, and not its amount? 幾希一 tary, chap. iv. 19. WHEREBY SAGES ARE DISTINGUISHED FROM is something minute. One commentator refers OTHER MEN ;—ILLUSTRATED IN SHUN. I. It is to be us to the expression in the Shu-ching,-^ wished that Mencius had said distinctly what 心惟危道心惟微(II. ii I3), a the small (幾 the Ist tone, 希) point diso forming a key to the passage. In that,人心 tinguishing men from birds and beasts was. is the mind prone to err, in distinction from the According to Chú Hsi, men and creatures have 道心, the mind of reason,' which it is said the 理 (intellectual and moral principle) of is minute. 2. Shun preserving and cultivating Heaven and Earth to form their nature, and this distinctive endowment was led to the the (matter) of Heaven and Earth to form character and achievements which are here their bodies, only mer's 氣 is more correct than briefly described. The phrase 庶物, it is that of beaste, so that they are able to fill up said, 該得廣凡天地間事物 the capacity of their nature. nshindonismai, 皆是 essential difference between men and animals, covers a wide extent of meaning, and what difference it allows is corporeal or embracing all matters and things in heaven material. Chao Ch'i says :一幾希無幾 and earth. The 日講 refers to it all the |