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= Mencius =
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Introduction
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Mencius (孟子, 'Mèngzǐ', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often
described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem
relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth
generation of disciples, inheriting his ideology and developing it
further. Living during the Warring States period, he is said to have
spent much of his life travelling around the states offering counsel
to different rulers. Conversations with these rulers form the basis of
the 'Mencius', which would later be canonised as a Confucian classic.
One primary principle of his work is that human nature is righteous
and humane. The responses of citizens to the policies of rulers
embodies this principle, and a state with righteous and humane
policies will flourish by nature. The citizens, with freedom from good
rule, will then allocate time to caring for their wives, brothers,
elders, and children, and be educated with rites and naturally become
better citizens. This placed him at odds with his near contemporary,
Xunzi, who believed that human nature is evil by birth.
Life
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Mencius was born Meng Ke in the state of Zou, in what is now Zoucheng,
Shandong. He was an itinerant philosopher and sage, and one of the
principal interpreters of Confucianism. He was supposedly a pupil of
Confucius's grandson Zisi (). Like Confucius, according to legend, he
travelled throughout China for forty years to offer advice to rulers
for reform. During the Warring States period (221 BC), Mencius served
as an official and scholar at the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi
from 319 to 312 BC. He expressed his filial piety when he took three
years leave of absence from his official duties for Qi to mourn his
mother's death. Disappointed at his failure to effect changes in his
contemporary world, he retired from public life.
It is written in 'Fengsu Tongyi' by Ying Shao that King Hui of Liang
appointed Mencius as a high official at some point after the capital
of Wei was moved from Anyi to Daliang.
Mencius was buried in the Cemetery of Mencius (), located to the
northeast of Zoucheng's central urban area. A stele carried by a giant
stone tortoise and crowned with dragons stands in front of his grave.
Mother
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Mencius's mother is often held up as an exemplary female figure in
Chinese culture. One of the most famous traditional 'chengyu' is ;
this saying refers to the legend that Mencius's mother moved houses
three times before finding a location that she felt was suitable for
the child's upbringing. As an expression, the idiom refers to the
importance of finding the proper environment for raising children.
Mencius's father Meng Ji () died when Mencius was very young. His
mother Meng Mu (), born Zhang (), raised her son alone. They were very
poor. At first they lived by a cemetery, where the mother found her
son imitating the paid mourners in funeral processions. Therefore, the
mother decided to move. The next house was near a market in the town.
There the boy began to imitate the cries of butchers. So the mother
moved to a house next to a school. Inspired by the scholars and
students, Mencius began to study. His mother decided to remain, and
Mencius became a scholar.
Another story further illustrates the emphasis that Mencius's mother
placed on her son's education. As the story goes, once when Mencius
was young, he was a truant. His mother responded to his apparent
disregard for his education by taking up a pair of scissors and
cutting the cloth she had been weaving in front of him. This was
intended to illustrate that one cannot stop a task midway, and her
example inspired Mencius to be diligent in his studies.
There is another legend about his mother and his wife, involving a
time when his wife was at home alone and was discovered by Mencius not
to be sitting properly. Mencius thought his wife had violated a rite,
and demanded a divorce. His mother claimed that it was written in 'The
Book of Rites' that before a person entered a room, he should announce
his imminent presence loudly to let others prepare for his arrival; as
he had not done that in this case, the person who had violated the
rite was Mencius himself. Eventually Mencius admitted his fault.
She is one of 125 women of which biographies have been included in the
'Biographies of Exemplary Women', written by Liu Xiang.
Human nature
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Mencius expounds on the concept that the human is naturally righteous
and humane. It is the influence of society that causes bad moral
character. Mencius describes this in the context of educating rulers
and citizens about the nature of man. "He who exerts his mind to the
utmost knows his nature" and "the way of learning is none other than
finding the lost mind."
The four beginnings
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To show innate goodness, Mencius used the example of a child falling
down a well.
Human nature has an innate tendency towards goodness, but moral
rightness cannot be instructed down to the last detail. This is why
merely external controls always fail in improving society. True
improvement results from educational cultivation in favorable
environments. Likewise, bad environments tend to corrupt the human
will. This, however, is not proof of innate evil because a clear
thinking person would avoid causing harm to others. This position of
Mencius puts him between Confucians such as Xunzi, who thought people
were innately bad, and Taoists who believed humans did not need
cultivation, they just needed to accept their innate, natural, and
effortless goodness. The four beginnings/sprouts could grow and
develop, or they could fail. In this way Mencius synthesized integral
parts of Taoism into Confucianism. Individual effort was needed to
cultivate oneself, but one's natural tendencies were good to begin
with. The object of education is the cultivation of benevolence
('ren').
Education
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According to Mencius, education must awaken the innate abilities of
the human mind. He denounced memorization and advocated active
interrogation of the text, saying "One who believes all in the Book of
Documents would be better off without the Book" (, from ). One should
check for internal consistency by comparing sections and debate the
probability of factual accounts by comparing them with experience.
Destiny
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Mencius also believed in the power of Destiny in shaping the roles of
human beings in society. What is destined cannot be contrived by the
human intellect or foreseen. Destiny is shown when a path arises that
is both unforeseen and constructive. Destiny should not be confused
with Fate. Mencius denied that Heaven would protect a person
regardless of his actions, saying, "One who understands Destiny will
not stand beneath a tottering wall". The proper path is one which is
natural and unforced. This path must also be maintained because,
"Unused pathways are covered with weeds." One who follows Destiny will
live a long and successful life. One who rebels against Destiny will
die before his time.
Politics and economics
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Mencius emphasized the significance of the common citizens in the
state. While Confucianism generally regards rulers highly, he argued
that it is acceptable for the subjects to overthrow or even kill a
ruler who ignores the people's needs and rules harshly. This is
because a ruler who does not rule justly is no longer a true ruler.
Speaking of the overthrow of the wicked King Zhou of Shang, Mencius
said, "I have merely heard of killing a villain Zhou, but I have not
heard of murdering [him as] the ruler."
This saying should not be taken as an instigation to violence against
authorities but as an application of Confucian philosophy to society.
Confucianism requires a clarification of what may be reasonably
expected in any given relationship. All relationships should be
beneficial, but each has its own principle or inner logic. A ruler
must justify his position by acting benevolently before he can expect
reciprocation from the people. In this view, a king is like a steward.
Although Confucius admired kings of great accomplishment, Mencius is
clarifying the proper hierarchy of human society. Although a king has
presumably higher status than a commoner, he is actually subordinate
to the masses of people and the resources of society. Otherwise, there
would be an implied disregard of the potential of human society
heading into the future. One is significant only for what one gives,
not for what one takes.
Mencius distinguished between superior men who recognize and follow
the virtues of righteousness and benevolence and inferior men who do
not. He suggested that superior men considered only righteousness, not
benefits. That assumes "permanent property" to uphold common morality.
To secure benefits for the disadvantaged and the aged, he advocated
free trade, low tax rates, and a more equal sharing of the tax burden.
In regards to the Confucian perspective of the marketplace, more about
Confucius' thoughts from Mencius than from the philosopher himself are
learned. The government should have a mostly hands-off approach
regarding the marketplace. This was in part, to prevent state-run
monopolies, however, it was also the state's responsibility to protect
against future monopolies that might come into existence. Mencius also
advocated for no taxes on imports; the market was to exchange for what
you lacked so taxing merchants importing goods would ultimately hurt
the villagers. The thought behind this is that people are inherently
good and rational and can be trusted to regulate themselves, so price
gouging or deception would not be an issue. Taxes on the property were
acceptable and to be the only means by which the dukes and states
would collect money. They did not need to collect much because taxes
were only for supplemental funds. These taxes were also progressive,
meaning the families that owned larger, more fertile pieces of land
would pay more than the families with uniform land allotments.
Scarcity is an issue in any market; however, Mencius emphasizes the
reframing of the idea of a scarce resource. Instead of scarce,
resources are to be seen as abundant. Resources are gained through
work ethic not by any other means so there are no unfair competitions
or gains. To preserve these natural resources, they needed to be used
or harvested according to their cycles of growth or replenishing. In
many cases, posterity has priority over profit.
Influence
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Mencius's interpretation of Confucianism has generally been considered
the orthodox version by subsequent Chinese philosophers, especially by
the Neo-Confucians of the Song dynasty. Mencius's disciples included a
large number of feudal lords, and he is said to have been more
influential than Confucius had been.
The 'Mencius' is one of the Four Books that Zhu Xi (1130-1200) grouped
as the core of orthodox Neo-Confucian thought. In contrast to the
sayings of Confucius, which are short and self-contained, the
'Mencius' consists of long dialogues, including arguments, with
extensive prose. It was generally neglected by the Jesuit missionaries
who first translated the Confucian canon into Latin and other European
languages, as they felt that the Neo-Confucian school largely
consisted of Buddhist and Taoist contamination of Confucianism. Matteo
Ricci also particularly disliked what they had believed to be
condemnation of celibacy as unfilial, which is rather a mistranslation
of a similar word referring more to aspects of personality. François
Noël, who felt that Zhu's ideas represented a natural and native
development of Confucius's thought, was the first to publish a full
edition of the 'Mencius' at Prague in 1711 as the Chinese Rites
controversy had been recently decided against the Jesuits; however,
his edition attained little influence outside central and eastern
Europe.
Mencius Institute
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The first Mencius Institute (a research and educational academic
institute in theoretical Confucianism) was established in Xuzhou,
China, in 2008 under a collaboration between Jiangsu Normal
University, China Zoucheng Heritage Tourism Bureau, and Xuzhou Mengshi
Clan Friendship Network.
First Mencius Institute outside of China is located at Universiti
Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) Kampar Campus, Malaysia in 2016.
See also
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* Cheng Yi (philosopher)
* Lu Jiuyuan
* Wang Yangming
Bibliography
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*Chan, Alan K. L. (ed.), 2002, 'Mencius: Contexts and
Interpretations', Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
*Chan, Wing-tsit (trans.), 1963, 'A Source Book in Chinese
Philosophy', Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
*Graham, A.C., 1993, 'Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in
Ancient China', Chicago: Open Court Press.
*Mingyuan Hu (trans.), 2023, 'Virtue Politics: Mencius on Kingly
Rule', London: Hermits United.
*Ivanhoe, Philip J., 2002, 'Ethics in the Confucian Tradition: The
Thought of Mencius and Wang Yangming', 2nd edition, Indianapolis:
Hackett Publishing.
* .
* .
* .
*Nivison, David S., 1996, 'The Ways of Confucianism: Investigations in
Chinese Philosophy', La Salle, Illinois: Open Court. (Includes a
number of seminal essays on Mencius, including "Motivation and Moral
Action in Mencius," "Two Roots or One?" and "On Translating Mencius.")
*Shun, Kwong-loi, 1997, 'Mencius and Early Chinese Thought', Stanford:
Stanford University Press.
*Van Norden, Bryan W. (trans.), 2008, 'Mengzi: With Selections from
Traditional Commentaries', Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing.
*Van Norden, Bryan W., 2007, 'Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism in
Early Chinese Philosophy', New York: Cambridge University Press.
(Chapter 4 is on Mencius.)
*Wang, Robin R. (ed.), 2003, 'Images of Women in Chinese Thought and
Culture: Writings from the Pre-Qin Period through the Song Dynasty',
Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing. (See the translation of the stories
about Mencius's mother on pp. 150-155.)
*Yearley, Lee H., 1990, 'Mencius and Aquinas: Theories of Virtue and
Conceptions of Courage', Albany: State University of New York Press.
External links
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* [
https://iep.utm.edu/mencius/ Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
entry]
*[
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mencius/ Stanford Encyclopedia of
Philosophy entry]
*[
http://ctext.org/mengzi Mengzi]: Chinese text with English
translation and links to Zhuxi's commentary
*[
http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/mencius.html English translation by
A. Charles Muller] Annotated scholarly translation with Chinese text
*[
https://web.archive.org/web/20060529010501/http://www.the-philosopher.co.uk/good%26evil.htm
Article discussing the view of ethics of Mencius from 'The
Philosopher']
*
*
*
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