When Duke Wen of Teng was crown prince, he was on his way to Chu and passed through Song, where he went to see Mencius. Mencius talked to him about the goodness of human nature, and in everything he said he invoked Yao and Shun. On his way back from Chu, the crown prince went to see Mencius again. Mencius said, "Does the crown prince doubt my words? The Way is one, and only one. Cheng Jian said to Duke Jing of Qi, 'They are men, and I am a man. Why should I be in awe of them?' Yan Yuan said, 'Who was Shun? Who am I? Whoever makes the effort can be like him.' Gongming Yi said, 'King Wen is my teacher; would the Duke of Zhou deceive me?' Now Teng, if you cut off what is too long to make up for what is too short, will come to about fifty li square. That is still enough to make a good state. The Book of Documents says: 'If the medicine does not make you dizzy, the illness will not be cured.'"
Duke Ding of Teng died. The crown prince said to Ran You, "Some time ago Mencius spoke with me in Song, and I have never forgotten what he said. Now that this great misfortune has come upon me, I want you to go and ask Mencius before I carry out the funeral." Ran You went to Zou and asked Mencius. Mencius said, "Is this not good! In mourning for one's parents one should certainly give all one has. Zengzi said, 'When they are alive, serve them according to the rites; when they die, bury them according to the rites and sacrifice to them according to the rites. This may be called filial piety.' I have not studied the rites of the feudal lords. Even so, I have heard this: three years of mourning, garments of coarse cloth with hemmed edges, a diet of thin gruel; from the Son of Heaven down to the common people, the three dynasties all shared this." Ran You returned with his report, and it was decided to observe three years of mourning. The elders of the ruling house and all the officials were against it, saying, "None of the former rulers of Lu, our senior state, practised it, and none of our own former rulers practised it. It is not right for you to depart from them. Moreover, the records say: 'In mourning and sacrifice, follow the ancestors.'" The prince said, "I have received [this teaching] from someone." He said to Ran You, "In the past I never cared for learning. I liked galloping horses and fencing. Now the elders and the officials are not satisfied with me, and I fear I shall not be able to do my utmost in this great matter. Please ask Mencius for me." Ran You went to Zou again and asked Mencius. Mencius said, "Yes. This is not something to be sought from others. Confucius said, 'When the ruler dies, [the heir] leaves affairs to the chief minister. He sips gruel and his face turns deep black. When he takes his place [as chief mourner] and weeps, none of the officials and functionaries dares not to grieve, because he leads the way.' When those above love something, those below are sure to love it even more. 'The virtue of the gentleman is the wind; the virtue of the common people is the grass. When the wind blows over the grass, the grass is sure to bend.' It rests with the crown prince." Ran You returned with his report. The crown prince said, "That is so. It truly rests with me." For five months he lived in the mourning hut and issued no commands or prohibitions. The officials and his kinsmen approved and said he understood [the rites]. When the burial came, people came from all quarters to watch it. The sorrow of his countenance and the grief of his weeping greatly pleased those who came to offer condolences.
Duke Wen of Teng asked about governing a state. Mencius said, "The people's work must not be neglected. The Book of Odes says: 'By day you gather thatch; by night you twist rope. Hurry to mend the roofs, for soon you must begin sowing the hundred grains.' This is the way of the people: those who have a constant livelihood have a constant heart; those who have no constant livelihood have no constant heart. If they have no constant heart, there is nothing they will not do in the way of self-abandonment, depravity, deviance and excess. Then, when they have fallen into crime, to follow up by punishing them is to set a trap for the people. How can a humane man in a position of authority set traps for the people? Therefore a worthy ruler is always respectful and frugal, courteous to those below, and takes from the people only within fixed limits. Yang Hu said, 'One who seeks to be rich will not be humane; one who seeks to be humane will not be rich.' The Xia rulers gave each family fifty mu and used the tribute system; the people of Yin gave seventy mu and used the assistance system; the people of Zhou gave a hundred mu and used the share system. In reality all of these took one-tenth. 'Share' means sharing; 'assistance' means relying [on the people's labor]. Longzi said, 'For managing land there is no better system than assistance and none worse than tribute. Under the tribute system, a fixed amount is set by comparing the average of several years. In good years, when grain lies scattered everywhere and much could be taken without cruelty, little is taken; in bad years, when the harvest is not even enough to pay for manuring the fields, the full amount is exacted. If one who is father and mother to the people makes them look on in bitterness, toiling all year long and still unable to support their parents, so that they must borrow to make up the amount, until the old and young are tossed into the ditches and gullies, where is his being father and mother to the people?' As for hereditary salaries, Teng already has them. The Book of Odes says: 'May it rain on our public field, and then on our private fields.' Only under the assistance system is there a public field. From this we can see that even the Zhou used the assistance system. Set up xiang, xu, xue and xiao to teach the people. Xiang means nurturing; xiao means teaching; xu means archery. The Xia called them xiao, the Yin called them xu, the Zhou called them xiang; xue was the name shared by all three dynasties. All of them served to make clear the human relationships. When the human relationships are made clear by those above, the common people below will be affectionate toward one another. If a true king arises, he will surely come to take you as his model; thus you will be the teacher of a true king. The Book of Odes says, 'Though Zhou was an old state, its mandate was new.' This refers to King Wen. If you put this into practice with all your strength, you too will renew your state." The duke sent Bi Zhan to ask about the well-field system. Mencius said, "Your ruler is about to practise humane government, and he has chosen you and sent you. You must do your best! Humane government must begin with the boundaries. If the boundaries are not correct, the well-fields will not be equal, and the grain allotted as salaries will not be fair. That is why tyrannical rulers and corrupt officials always neglect the boundaries. Once the boundaries are correct, the dividing of the fields and the fixing of salaries can be settled without effort. Although the territory of Teng is narrow and small, there must be gentlemen [to govern] and there must be country people [to farm]. Without gentlemen there would be no one to govern the country people; without country people there would be no one to feed the gentlemen. I suggest that in the countryside you use the assistance system of one in nine, and that in the city and its environs one-tenth be paid in tax by the people themselves. From the high ministers down, every officer should have a sacrificial field of fifty mu. Extra males in a household should have twenty-five mu each. Then, whether at a death or a change of dwelling, no one will leave his district. The families in a district share the same well-field; they befriend one another going out and coming in, help one another in keeping watch, and support one another in sickness. Then the people will live in affection and harmony. A square li makes one well-field, and a well-field is nine hundred mu. The middle portion is the public field. Eight families each have a private hundred mu, and together they cultivate the public field. Only when the public work is finished do they dare to attend to their private work. This is what distinguishes the country people. This is the general outline. As for adapting and refining it, that rests with your ruler and with you."
There was a man named Xu Xing who taught the doctrines of Shennong. He came from Chu to Teng, went straight to the gate of Duke Wen, and told him, "I, a man from a distant land, have heard that you practise humane government. I would like to be given a dwelling and become one of your people." Duke Wen gave him a place to live. His followers, some tens of them, all wore coarse hemp and made their living by weaving sandals and mats. Chen Xiang, a follower of Chen Liang, together with his younger brother Xin, came from Song to Teng carrying their plows on their backs and said, "We have heard that you practise the government of the sages, so you too are a sage. We would like to become the people of a sage." Chen Xiang met Xu Xing and was delighted with him. He threw away everything he had learned and studied under him instead. Chen Xiang went to see Mencius and repeated Xu Xing's words: "The ruler of Teng is truly a worthy ruler. Even so, he has not yet heard the Way. A worthy ruler plows side by side with the people and eats [what he grows]; he cooks his own meals while governing. Now Teng has granaries and treasuries, which means the ruler oppresses the people in order to support himself. How can he be called worthy?" Mencius said, "Does Master Xu always sow grain himself before he eats?" "Yes." "Does Master Xu always weave cloth himself before he wears clothes?" "No. Master Xu wears coarse hemp." "Does Master Xu wear a cap?" "He does." "What kind of cap?" "A cap of plain silk." "Does he weave it himself?" "No. He trades grain for it." "Why does Master Xu not weave it himself?" "It would interfere with his plowing." "Does Master Xu cook with pots and steamers, and plow with iron implements?" "Yes." "Does he make them himself?" "No. He trades grain for them." "Then trading grain for tools and utensils does not oppress the potter and the smith; and when the potter and the smith trade their tools and utensils for grain, how does that oppress the farmer? And why does Master Xu not work as a potter and smith himself, so that he has everything he uses from within his own house? Why does he go to all the bother of trading with the hundred artisans? Why does Master Xu not mind the trouble?" "The work of the hundred artisans certainly cannot be done alongside plowing." "Then can governing the world alone be done alongside plowing? There is the work of great men and the work of small men. Moreover, a single person needs the products of all the hundred crafts. If everyone had to make everything himself before using it, the whole world would be kept running to and fro on the roads. So it is said: some labor with their minds, and some labor with their strength. Those who labor with their minds govern others; those who labor with their strength are governed by others. Those who are governed feed others; those who govern are fed by others. This is a principle accepted throughout the world. In the time of Yao the world had not yet been brought to order. The flood waters flowed out of their courses and inundated the world. Grasses and trees grew thick and luxuriant; birds and beasts multiplied; the five grains did not ripen; birds and beasts pressed upon people, and the tracks of hoof and claw crisscrossed the Central States. Yao alone was troubled by this. He raised up Shun and put him in charge of setting things in order. Shun appointed Yi to take charge of fire. Yi set the mountains and marshes ablaze and burned them, and the birds and beasts fled and hid. Yu dredged the Nine Rivers, cleared the Ji and the Ta, and led them into the sea; he opened up the Ru and the Han, drained the Huai and the Si, and led them into the Yangzi. Only then could the people of the Central States obtain food. At that time Yu spent eight years away from home, and three times he passed his own door without entering. Even if he had wanted to plow, could he have done so? Hou Ji taught the people to sow and reap and to cultivate the five grains. When the five grains ripened, the people were nourished. But human beings have a way of their own: if they are well fed, warmly clothed and comfortably housed but without instruction, they come close to being birds and beasts. The sage [Shun] was troubled by this too, and appointed Xie as Minister of Education to teach them the human relationships: affection between father and son, righteousness between ruler and minister, distinction between husband and wife, precedence between old and young, and trust between friends. Fangxun [Yao] said, 'Encourage them, bring them in, correct them, straighten them, help them, give them wings, so that they find [their own nature] for themselves; and then follow up by stirring them to virtue.' When the sages were so concerned for the people, did they have leisure to plow? Yao's worry was not finding Shun; Shun's worry was not finding Yu and Gao Yao. One whose worry is that his hundred mu are not tilled is a farmer. To share one's wealth with others is called generosity; to teach others goodness is called loyalty; to find the right man for the world is called humaneness. That is why it is easy to give the world to someone, but hard to find the right man for the world. Confucius said, 'Great indeed was Yao as a ruler! Only Heaven is great, and only Yao modeled himself on it. So vast was he that the people could find no name for it! What a ruler Shun was! How lofty! He possessed the world, yet held himself aloof from it.' In governing the world, did Yao and Shun have nothing to occupy their minds? Only they did not occupy them with plowing. I have heard of the Xia [Chinese ways] changing the barbarians, but I have never heard of [the Xia] being changed by the barbarians. Chen Liang was a native of Chu. Delighting in the Way of the Duke of Zhou and Zhongni, he came north to study in the Central States. Among the scholars of the north, none surpassed him. He was what one calls an outstanding scholar. You and your brother served him for several decades, and when your teacher died you turned your back on him. Long ago, when Confucius died, after three years had passed his disciples packed their belongings to go home. They went in to bow to Zigong, and facing one another they wept until they lost their voices; only then did they go home. Zigong went back and built a hut beside the grave, and lived there alone for another three years before he went home. Another day Zixia, Zizhang and Ziyou, thinking that You Ruo resembled the sage, wanted to serve him as they had served Confucius, and they tried to force Zengzi to join them. Zengzi said, 'No. Washed in the Yangzi and the Han, bleached in the autumn sun: how glistening white he was! None could surpass him.' Now here is this southern barbarian with a voice like a shrike, who condemns the Way of the former kings, and you turn your back on your teacher to learn from him. You are very different from Zengzi. I have heard of birds coming out of a dark valley to move up into tall trees, but I have never heard of them coming down from tall trees to enter a dark valley. The Lu Hymns say: 'The Rong and the Di he smote; Jing and Shu he chastised.' The Duke of Zhou would have smitten such people, and you learn from them. That is a change for the worse." [Chen Xiang said,] "If Master Xu's Way were followed, there would not be two prices in the market, and there would be no deceit in the state. Even if a child of five feet were sent to the market, no one would cheat him. Cloth and silk of the same length would have the same price; hemp, thread, silk floss and silk wadding of the same weight would have the same price; the five grains in the same quantity would have the same price; sandals of the same size would have the same price." Mencius said, "That things are unequal is their nature. Some are worth twice or five times as much as others, some ten or a hundred times, some a thousand or ten thousand times. If you put them all on a par, you will throw the world into confusion. If big sandals and small sandals sold at the same price, would anyone make the big ones? Following Master Xu's Way would lead people one after another into deceit. How could it govern a state?"
Yi Zhi, a follower of Mozi, sought to see Mencius through Xu Bi. Mencius said, "I would certainly like to see him, but at present I am still ill. When I am better I will go to see him myself; Master Yi need not come." Another day he again sought to see Mencius. Mencius said, "Now I can see him. But if I do not speak plainly, the Way will not be made evident; so I shall speak plainly. I hear that Master Yi is a Mohist. In conducting funerals, the Mohists make frugality their way. Master Yi thinks to change the world with it; surely he would not think it wrong and fail to value it? Yet Master Yi buried his own parents lavishly. So he served his parents with what he despises." Master Xu told this to Master Yi. Master Yi said, "According to the Way of the Confucians, the ancients [acted] 'as if caring for an infant.' What does this saying mean? I take it to mean that love has no degrees or distinctions, but its practice begins with one's parents." Master Xu told this to Mencius. Mencius said, "Does Master Yi really believe that a man's affection for his brother's son is no greater than his affection for his neighbor's infant? What he has taken from that saying is only this: when an infant crawls toward a well, it is not the infant's fault [and anyone would save it]. Moreover, Heaven, in producing living things, gives them a single root, but Master Yi gives them two roots. That is the reason. Presumably in remote ages there were people who did not bury their parents. When their parents died, they picked them up and threw them into a ditch. Later, when they passed by, foxes were eating them, and flies and gnats were sucking at them. Sweat broke out on their foreheads, and they looked away and could not bear to see. That sweat was not put on for others to see; it came from the depths of their hearts and showed in their faces. They went home and came back with baskets and spades and covered the bodies. If covering them was indeed right, then filial sons and humane men, in covering their parents, must also have their proper way." Master Xu told this to Master Yi. Master Yi was silent and downcast for a while, and then said, "He has taught me."
