Mencius

Mencius in Life

Meng Ke or Mencius was born in the Zou state in about 372 BCE, nearly a century after Confucius. In several respects I lived a life similar to that of Confucius. Zou and Lu (the state of Confucius’ origin) were adjacent states. I lost his father when I was only three years old. My mother moved Our home several times and finally settling near a school, so that I would have the right kind of environmental influence and encouraging Mencius to persevere in my studies.

As a young scholar my 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 (Ebrey). In time, I 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, I found little sucess. I had many discussions with the various leaders of these states. Some of them considered my teachings as being very valid, but because of the tense situation of the wars and interference by rival advisors, they seldom implemented my teachings into their governments. My teachings and discussions with the kings of the warring states are recorded in the book Mencious which was written by my pupils after my death.

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). This was when larger feudal states warred on and defeated smaller states (De Bary and Bloom). War at that time was very brutal and pitted armies in hand to hand combat. Farmers were forced to fight alongside the regular army with crossbows and even at times with hies from their fields. Families were torn apart in order to have enough fighters in the battles to face the enemy. I preached to the princes on virtuous personal conduct and humane government but it all fell on deaf ears. The kings were only interested in winning the war against the enemy states at all costs, so they could remain in power themselves.

My beliefs were 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; this to attain economic sufficiency for the common people. Including light taxes, 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.” "Why must the king speak of profit? There are humaneness and rightness, that is all. If the King says 'How can I profit my state?' the officers will say 'How can I profit my house?' and the gentleman and the common people will say, 'How can I profit my person?' Those above and those below will be competing with one another for profit, and the state will be imperiled. One who would murder the ruler of a state with ten thousand chariots would have to be from a house of a thousand chariots; one who would murder the ruler of a state of a thousand chariots would have to be from a house of a hundred chariots. A share of a thousand out of ten thousand or a hundred out of a thousand is hardly negligible; yet when rightness is subordinated to profit the urge to lay claim to more becomes irresistible. It has never happened that one given to humaneness abandons his parents, or that one given to rightness subordinates the interests of his lord. The king should speak of humaneness and rightness. Why is it necessary to speak of profit?" (De Bary and Bloom)

Always I 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. I 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.” I 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.” I became a champion of the common people and an advocate of democratic principles in government. I taught King Hui of Liang: "The king's dogss and pigs eat food intended for human biengs, and he does not know enough to prohibit this. On the roads there are people dying of starvation, and he does not know enough to distribute food. People die, and he says 'it was not I, it was the year.' How is this different from killing a person by stabbibg him and then saying ' It was not I, it was the weapon'? When the king ceases to place the blame on the year, then the people of the world will come to him."(De Bary and Bloom).

My 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.(Chang and Owen).

I 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. I taught the king that people need to be able to have sufficient to serve themselves and their parents, then they will be able to observe the rites. "At present, the regulation of the people's livelihood is such that, above, they do not have enough to serve their parents, and below, they do not have enough to support wives and children. Even in years of prosperity their lives are bitter, while in years of dearth they are unable to escape starvation. Under these circumstances they only try to save themselves from death, fearful that they will not suceed. How could they spare the time for the practice of rites and rightness?" (De Bary and Bloom).

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, because his teachings reached many more people than Confucius was able to reach. His teachings were like those of Confucius and were considered to be reinforcement of the teachings and principals he taught, especially on the "right principals of government."

"Gaozi said,'Human nature is like whirling water When an outlet is opened to the east, it flows east; when an outlet is opened to the west, it flows west Human nature is no more inclined to good or bad than water is inclined to east or west'. Mencius responded, Water, it is true is not inclined to either east or west, but does it have no preference for high or low? Goodness is to human nature like flowing downward to water. There are no people who are not good and no water that does not flow down . Still water if splashed can go higher than your head; if forced, it can be brought up a hill This isn't the nature of water; it is the specific circumstances. Although people can be made to be bad, their natures are not changed." (De Bary and Bloom).

Mencius taught the rulers of the warring states that if they had the needs of the people foremost in mind, the needs of the kingdom would follow suit because the two were inseparable from each other. He said "Ask what is best for the people not what is profitable for the kingdom. If the king looks for profit, the minister will look for profit, the general will look for profit, the farmer will look for profit, and none will be happy. If the King looks for what is best for the people so will the minister and the general and the farmer and the people will have what they need and all will be happy." This teaches that in greed no one prospers and everyone suffers, but when all look after each other, everyone can prosper and all can be in a happy state. He urged the kings to work on expanding their "Qi" which is a mental and spiritual state of being in which one feels the energy that comes from doing the right thing for the right reason. This sympathetic responsiveness towards others would become one of the most important contributions to the later Chinese philosophy. "Heaven in giving birth to humankind, created for each thing its own rule. The people's common disposition is to love this admirable virtue." (Ebrey)--Bill P 16:09, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

References

• Patricia Ebrey, Chinese Civilization : A Sourcebook, 2d ed. (New York: Free Press, 1993), pp. 22-24
• Chang, Kang-i Sun, and Stephen Owen. The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.
• De Bary, Theodore and Irene Bloom. Sources of Chinese Tradition 2nd edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999

Weblinks

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mencius
• http://www.iep.utm.edu/mencius/

Classroom Presentations

• Powerpoint file by Olivia Media:Mencius.pptx
• Powerpoint file by Bill P. Media:Mencius.pptx