| ATC | Presence: You had seen the ox, but you had not seen the sheep. |
- King Xuan of Qi asked, “Will you teach me about the great hegemons, Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin?”
- Mencius replied, “The disciples of Confucius did not speak of the affairs of these rulers, so later generations of followers had nothing to pass on. I have not learned of them. Failing in this, may I speak to you of True Kingship?”
- “What sort of virtue must one have to rule as a True King?”
- Mencius said, “If one rules by protecting the people, none can stop him.”
- “Could a man like me rule as a protector of the people?”
- “Yes.”
- “How do you know I could?”
- Mencius said, “I heard from your courtier Hu He that when Your Majesty was sitting up in the great hall, an ox was dragged by in the court below, and that seeing it you asked, ‘Where are you taking that ox?’ Your courtiers told you that it was to be slaughtered and its blood used to anoint a newly cast bell, and you said, ‘Spare it. I can’t bear to see it whimpering like an innocent man being taken for execution.’ And when your courtiers asked whether you wished them not to consecrate the bell you said, ‘How can we do away with that? Use a sheep instead.’ I wonder whether the story is accurate.”
- “Yes, it is.”
- “Well then, your heart is sufficient for you to reign as a True King. The people all thought you spared the ox because you were stingy, but I understand that it was because you could not bear its distress.”
- The King said, “That’s right. That’s just what they said. But even though Qi is not a big state, how could I begrudge sacrificing a single ox? It was that I couldn’t bear its whimpering like an innocent man being taken for execution, so I told them to substitute a sheep.”
- “Your Majesty should not be surprised that the people took you to be stingy, since you substituted a smaller animal for a large one. How could they know? If your concern was that they were being executed despite their innocence, what difference would there be between an ox and a sheep?”
- The King laughed. “Really, what was I thinking? I wasn’t thinking about the expense when I said to substitute a sheep, but it’s natural that the people said I was just being stingy.”
- Mencius said, “There was no harm in what you did – it was the working of humanity. You had seen the ox, but you had not seen the sheep. For a junzi, if he has seen a bird or beast alive, he cannot watch it die; if he has heard its voice, he cannot bear to eat its flesh. This is why the junzi keeps his distance from the kitchen!”
- The King was pleased. “The Poetry says,
The heart lies within another,
Yet it is I who takes its measure.
How perfectly this describes you, Sir!
When I reflected on my actions, I could not grasp my own mind in this, but your words match perfectly with my feelings at the time. But now tell me how such feelings accord with one who rules as a True King.” - Mencius said, “If someone said to Your Majesty, ‘I have strength enough to lift half a ton, but not to lift a feather; vision clear enough to observe the tip of a hair but not a load of firewood,’ would you accept what he said?”
- “No.”
- “Well then, why would one accept that Your Majesty’s kindness could extend even to the birds and beasts, but its works could not extend to the people? If one cannot lift a feather it is because he won’t use his use strength; if one cannot see a cartload of firewood it is because he won’t use his sight. If the people have no protector it is because you are not using your kindness. Hence, Your Majesty does not rule as a True King only because you will not, not because you cannot.”
- The King said, “How are being unwilling and unable truly different?”
- “When it comes to picking up Mt. Tai and carrying it over the Northern Sea, if you tell someone, ‘I can’t do it,’ it is because you truly are not able. When it comes to helping an elderly man crack his joints, if you tell someone, ‘I can’t do it,’ it means you’re unwilling to do it, not that you truly are unable. That Your Majesty does not rule as a True King is not a matter of carrying Mt. Tai over the Northern Sea, it is like being unwilling to help an old man crack his joints.
- “Treat your aged kin as the elderly should be treated, and then extend that to the treatment of the aged kinsmen of others; treat your young kin as the young should be treated, and then extend it to the young children of others. If you do this, you will be able to govern the world as though you turned it in your palm. The Poetry says:An exemplar in treating his wife,
And extending to his brothers,
Thus he ruled the family and the state.What this is speaking of is taking one’s own heart and applying it in the treatment of others. If you extend your kindness it will be enough to protect all within the Four Seas of the world; if you don’t extend your kindness, you can’t even protect your wife and children. The reason that the ancients so far exceeded other men is none other than this: they excelled in extending what they did. Now, why is it that you are kind enough in your treatment of birds and beasts, but your works do not extend to the people? - Mencius continued, “But perhaps Your Majesty’s heart is only content when you have mobilized your troops, imperiled your subjects, and incited the resentment of other lords.”
- “No,” said the King. “How could this bring me contentment? It is just that I wish to attain my great desire.”
- “May I hear what this desire may be?”
- The King smiled but did not speak.
- Mencius said, “Is it that you lack rich foods that satisfy your palate, fine clothes that bring comfort to your body, colorful décor that can bring pleasure to your eyes, beautiful music to stimulate your ears, or court favorites to carry out your every order? Surely your royal officers could supply such wants – surely these are not what you mean.”
- “No,” said the King. “It is not because of such things.”
- “In that case, I can guess Your Majesty’s great desire. It is to broaden your territories, to have the rulers of Qin and Chu pay homage at your court, to stand at the center of the states and subdue the barbarians beyond the borders in all directions. But to pursue these ambitions by the means you now employ is like trying to catch fish by climbing a tree.”
- The King said, “Is it as bad as that?”
- “Likely worse! Climbing a tree in search of fish, though you will find no fish, no disaster will follow. Using your methods to seek your ambitions, if you exhaust your heart’s effort in the pursuit, disaster will surely follow.”
- “May I hear more?”
- Mencius said, “If the state of Zou fought the state of Chu, whom does Your Majesty think would prevail?”
- “The men of Chu would prevail.”
- “Precisely so. And this is because the small is inherently no match for the large, the few are no match for the many, and the weak are no match for the strong. Within all the four quarters, there are only nine regions of a thousand square li each, and your state of Qi commands altogether only one of these. To subdue eight by means of one – how is this different from little Zou trying to be a match for Chu? Indeed, you must instead reexamine theroot of the matter.
- “If Your Majesty were now to proclaim policies that were governed by humanity, you would cause all the warriors in the world to wish they could attend Your Majesty at court, all the tillers in the world to wish they could till Your Majesty’s lands, all the merchants in the world to wish they could collect at Your Majesty’s markets, all the travelers in the world to wish they could journey on Your Majesty’s roads. Everyone in the world who feels distress because of their rulers would wish to come denounce them before Your Majesty. If this were so, who could stop them?
- The King said, “I am slow witted – I can’t think through your strategy. I ask you, Sir, to assist me in my goals and instruct me in plain terms. Though I am not quick, please make the attempt.”
- Mencius said, “Only a gentleman can maintain a constant heart without constant means. For the common people, if they have no constant means of support, they cannot sustain their hearts’ resolve. Without the constant resolve of the heart, they will slip into excesses and deviant behavior, stopping at nothing. Now to allow them to fall into criminal ways in this manner and only then to punish them is to entrap the people. Whenever has there been a man of humanity in authority who set traps for peopl“The enlightened ruler regulates the people’s means of support, ensuring that these are sufficient for them to serve their parents and nurture their wives and children. Through good years, they will always have enough to eat their fill; in bad years, they will at least escape starvation. Then, when he guides them towards goodness, the people will find it no burden to follow.“But now, regulation of the people’s means of support does not provide them goods sufficient to serve their parents or nurture their wives and children. They live through good years in bitterness and in bad years they cannot escape starvation. In this way, they live in fear that nothing they can do will stave off death – where would they find the time to attend to matters of ritual and right?
- “If Your Majesty wishes to put these matters into practice, reexamine the root of the matter. When on every five mu plot of land a mulberry tree is planted, those fifty and over are able to wear silk clothes. When chicken, pigs, and dogs are bred in a timely way, all who are seventy and older have meat to eat. If laborers in fields of a hundred mu are not taken from their fieldwork during growing season, then even families with eight mouths to feed will never go hungry. When a ruler attends to the education given in village schools and sees that it is extended by the example of behavior that is filial to parents and deferential to elders, then none with white hair will carry heavy loads along the roads. There has never been a ruler who did not rule as a True King when the aged wore silk and ate meat, and when the people were never hungry or cold.”