Is Benevolence Internal and Righteousness External?
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
告子曰:“食、色,性也。仁,内也,非外也。义,外也,非内也。”
English translation
Gaozi said, “Appetite for food and sexual desire belong to human nature. Benevolence comes from within, not from outside; righteousness comes from outside, not from within.”
Original Chinese text
孟子曰:“何以谓仁内义外也?”
English translation
Mencius asked, “Why do you say that benevolence is internal and righteousness external?”
Original Chinese text
曰:“彼长而我长之,非有长于我也。犹彼白而我白之,从其白于外也。故谓之外也。”
English translation
Gaozi replied, “When someone is older and I treat him as an elder, the quality of being older is not in me. It is like seeing something white and calling it white: I follow its whiteness outside myself. That is why I say righteousness is external.”
Original Chinese text
曰:“异。于白马之白也,无以异于白人之白也。不识长马之长也,无以异于长人之长欤?且谓长者义乎?长之者义乎?”
English translation
Mencius said, “That is different. The whiteness of a white horse is no different from the whiteness of a white person. But is honoring an old horse no different from honoring an older person? And is mere age itself righteousness, or is it the act of honoring someone older that is righteous?”
Original Chinese text
曰:“吾弟则爱之,秦人之弟则不爱也,是以我为悦者也,故谓之内。长楚人之长,亦长吾之长,是以长为悦者也,故谓之外也。”
English translation
Gaozi replied, “I love my younger brother, but I do not love the younger brother of a man from Qin; that is because I take pleasure in him myself, so I call love internal. I honor the elders of Chu just as I honor my own elders; this is because I take pleasure in their being elders, so I call respect for elders external.”
Original Chinese text
曰:“嗜秦人之炙,无以异于嗜吾炙。夫物则亦有然者也。然则嗜炙亦有外欤?”
English translation
Mencius said, “Enjoying roasted meat prepared by a man from Qin is no different from enjoying roasted meat prepared by my own people. There are things of this kind. Does that mean that enjoying roasted meat is external too?”