Protect the People and Rule

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King Xuan of Qi asked, ‘May I hear about the deeds of Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Wen of Jin?’ Mencius replied, ‘Confucius's followers did not discuss those hegemons, so no account was passed down to later generations. I have not heard one either. If we must speak of rule, shall we speak of the way to become a true king?’

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The king asked, ‘What kind of virtue would let me rule as a true king?’ Mencius answered, ‘Protect the people, and no one can stand in the way of your kingship.’ ‘Could someone like me protect them?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘How do you know I could?’

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Mencius said, ‘Hu He told me this: while you sat in the hall, a man led an ox past below. You asked, “Where is the ox going?” He answered, “It is to be slaughtered so its blood can consecrate a new bell.” You said, “Release it. I cannot bear to see it trembling, like an innocent being led to death.”’

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‘The man asked, “Should the bell rite be canceled, then?” You said, “How could it be? Replace the ox with a sheep.” Did this happen?’ The king answered, ‘It did.’

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Mencius said, ‘That feeling is enough for you to achieve kingly rule. The people think you were being stingy, but I knew you could not bear the ox's suffering.’ The king said, ‘Yes, some people do say that. Even if Qi is small, why would I begrudge one ox? I changed it for a sheep because I could not bear to see it trembling as if it were innocent and led to death.’

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Mencius said, ‘Do not be surprised that the people thought you stingy. You exchanged a larger animal for a smaller one; how could they know your reason? If it was an innocent creature's death that pained you, what difference is there between ox and sheep?’

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The king laughed. ‘What was I thinking? It was not to save the cost of an ox that I exchanged it for a sheep. No wonder the people called me stingy.’

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Mencius said, ‘That does no harm. It was a way for your humane impulse to find expression: you had seen the ox, not the sheep. A person of conscience, having seen an animal alive, cannot bear to watch it die; having heard its cry, cannot bear to eat its flesh. That is why such a person keeps away from the kitchen.’

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Pleased, the king said, ‘The Odes say, “Another has a thought; I can fathom it.” That is you, Master. I acted as I did, but when I looked back I could not understand my own heart. Your words have struck a chord with me. How can this feeling lead to kingly rule?’

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Mencius asked, ‘Suppose someone told you, “I can lift a hundred jun but not a feather; I can see the tip of an autumn hair but not a cartload of firewood.” Would you believe him?’ The king answered, ‘No.’

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‘Your concern can reach an animal, yet your people receive no benefit from it. Why? Not lifting a feather means failing to use one's strength; not seeing a cartload of wood means failing to use one's sight. If the people are not protected, it is because you have not put that concern to work for them. Your failure to rule as a true king comes from not doing so, not from being unable to do so.’

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The king asked, ‘How can one tell unwillingness from inability?’ Mencius answered, ‘If someone says, “I cannot carry Mount Tai under my arm and leap across the northern sea,” that is genuine inability. If someone says, “I cannot perform a small service for an elder,” that is unwillingness, not inability.’

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‘So your failure to rule as a true king is not like failing to carry Mount Tai across the sea. It is like declining that small service for an elder.’

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‘Honor your own elders, then extend that care to others' elders. Care for your own children, then extend it to others' children. Governing the realm would be as easy as turning something in your palm. The Odes say, “Set an example for one's wife, then for one's brothers, and so govern household and state.” It is simply a matter of extending a concern you already have.’

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‘Extend that concern and you can protect all within the four seas; fail to extend it and you cannot even protect your own family. People of old surpassed others for no other reason than that they were good at extending what they already practiced. Your concern reaches animals, yet the people do not benefit. Why?’

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‘Only by weighing do we know how heavy a thing is; only by measuring do we know its length. That is true of objects, and still more of the heart. Your Majesty, weigh this in your own mind.’

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Mencius asked, ‘Do you take pleasure in raising armies, putting your officers and soldiers in danger, and making enemies of other lords?’ The king said, ‘No. Why would I enjoy that? I do it to obtain what I most desire.’

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Mencius asked, ‘May I hear what you desire most?’ The king smiled but said nothing. Mencius continued, ‘Is it that you lack fine food, warm and light clothing, colors to look at, music to hear, or favored companions to attend you? Your ministers can provide all of these. Surely they are not why you go to war?’

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The king said, ‘No, that is not why.’ Mencius replied, ‘Then your great desire is clear: to enlarge your territory, make Qin and Chu pay court, rule over the central states, and bring the surrounding peoples under your sway. To seek that by your present course is like climbing a tree to catch fish.’

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The king asked, ‘Is it really that bad?’ Mencius answered, ‘It is worse. Climb a tree in search of fish and you may fail, but you will cause no later disaster. Pursue your ambition by your present means, giving it all your strength, and disaster will follow.’

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The king asked, ‘May I hear why?’ Mencius asked, ‘If the people of Zou fought the people of Chu, who would win?’ ‘Chu,’ the king replied.

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Mencius said, ‘The small cannot overpower the large, the few the many, or the weak the strong. Think of the lands under heaven as nine regions, each a thousand li square: Qi holds only one. Trying to subdue the other eight with that one is no different from Zou fighting Chu. You must return to the root of the matter.’

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‘If you govern humanely now, people seeking office will want to serve at your court, farmers to work in your fields, merchants to store their wares in your markets, travelers to pass along your roads, and those aggrieved by their rulers to bring their complaints to you. If that happens, who could stop them from coming?’

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The king said, ‘I am muddled and cannot follow this any further. Please help me find my way and explain it clearly. Though I am slow to understand, I would like to try.’

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Mencius said, ‘Only the educated can keep a steady moral purpose without a secure livelihood. Ordinary people, without a secure livelihood, cannot be expected to keep such steadiness. Once that purpose is lost, they may stop at nothing, straying into reckless and wrongful conduct.’

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‘To punish them only after they have fallen into crime is to set a net for the people. How could a humane ruler in office do that?’

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‘A wise ruler therefore secures a livelihood for the people: enough to support parents and to provide for a wife and children, enough to stay fed in good years and survive bad ones. Only then is it easy to guide them toward good conduct.’

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‘As things stand, people's livelihoods do not support their parents or sustain their wives and children. Even in good years they suffer hardship throughout their lives, and in bad years they cannot escape death. When they can scarcely keep themselves alive, how can they attend to rites and right conduct? If Your Majesty wishes to act, why not return to this foundation?’

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‘Plant mulberry on a five-mu homestead, and people of fifty can wear silk. Raise chickens, piglets, dogs, and grown pigs at the proper times, and people of seventy can eat meat. Do not take away the seasons needed to farm a hundred-mu field, and a household of eight need not go hungry.’

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‘Give careful attention to local schools and teach respect for parents and elder siblings, so that gray-haired people need not carry loads along the roads. If the old wear silk and eat meat while ordinary people suffer neither hunger nor cold, there has never been a ruler who failed to achieve kingly rule.’

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