Is Benevolence Internal and Righteousness External?

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English translation

Original Chinese text

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

English translation

Mencius asked, “Why do you say that benevolence is internal and righteousness external?”

Original Chinese text

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

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

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

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?”

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