Mencius

Mencius in Life

Mencius was born in the Zou state in about 372 BCE. In several respects he lived a life similar to that of Confucius. Zou and Lu (the state of Confucius’ origin) were adjacent states. He lost his father when he was only three years old. His mother moved their home several times and finally settling near a school, so that hewould have the right kind of environmental influence and encouraging Mencius to persevere in his studies.

As a young scholar his mentor was a pupil of Zisi, who was himself the grandson of Confucius. Thus, the continuity of the Confucian orthodoxy in all its purity was assured. In time, he became a teacher and for a brief period served as an official in the state of Qi. Mencius spent much time traveling, offering advice and counsel to the various princes on government human-heartedness, or humane government. Because the times were chaotic, and the contending princes were not interested in humane government but in power, he found little sucess.

The Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE) was founded on the feudalistic principle of a sociopolitical hierarchy, with clearly defined privileges and responsibilities between those of high and low status. Ambition and intrigue resulted in deterioration of the feudalistic system and bringing on a condition of political and moral chaos. This trend continued to worsen at an accelerating rate, and is known in Chinese history as the period of Warring States (475–221 BCE). He preached to the princes on virtuous personal conduct and humane government but it all fell on deaf ears. Mencius believed that, the ruler was to provide for the welfare of the people in two respects: material conditions for their livelihood and moral and educational guidance for their edification; he to attain economic sufficiency for the common people. Including light taxes, free, conservation of natural resources, welfare measures for the old and disadvantaged, and more equal sharing of wealth, believing that “only when the people had a steady livelihood would they have a steady heart.”

Mencius tried to remind the princes of the responsibility that came to them with the mandate of Heaven to govern for the good of the people. He declared: “The people are the most important element in a nation; the spirits of the land and grain come next; the sovereign counts for the least.” He also quoted for all to hear from the Shujing (“Classic of History”), one of the Five Classics of Confucianism, the saying “Heaven sees as the people see; Heaven hears as the people hear.” He became a champion of the common people and an advocate of democratic principles in government.

Mencius's philosophic ideas might be regarded as complimenting the teachings of Confucius. Confucius taught the concept of ren, love or human-heartedness, as the basic virtue of manhood. The original goodness of human nature (xing) was the basis of his system. That the four beginnings (siduan)—the feeling of commiseration, the feeling of shame, the feeling of courtesy, and the feeling of right and wrong—are all inborn in man was a self-evident truth; and the “four beginnings,” when properly cultivated, will develop into the four cardinal virtues of ren, righteousness (yi), decorum (li), and wisdom (zhi). This doctrine of the goodness of human nature has become an enduring topic for debate among the Chinese thinkers throughout the ages.

He believed that through the training of the heart and mind in the correct principals, all people can become like the great sage-kings Yao and Shun, the legendary heroes of the archaic past.

Mencius is regarded as a major philosopher, by the neo-Confucians of the Song dynasty (960–1279). He is revered among the Chinese people as the cofounder of Confucianism, second only to Confucius himself.

References

Chang, Kang-i Sun, and Stephen Owen. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencius