Respect, Righteousness, and the Heart

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Meng Jizi asked Gongduzi, “Why do you say that righteousness is internal?”

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Gongduzi replied, “I act according to the reverence within me; that is why I call it internal.”

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Meng Jizi asked, “If a villager is one year older than your eldest brother, whom do you honor?”

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Gongduzi replied, “I honor my elder brother.”

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Meng Jizi asked, “Then whom do you serve first when pouring wine?”

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Gongduzi replied, “I pour for the villager first.”

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Meng Jizi said, “The person you honor is here, while the person older than you is there. Surely this shows that righteousness is external, not derived from within.”

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Gongduzi could not answer and reported the exchange to Mencius.

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Mencius said, “Ask him, ‘Do you honor your uncle or your younger brother?’ He will answer, ‘My uncle.’ Then ask, ‘If your younger brother is serving as the ritual impersonator of an ancestor, whom do you honor?’ He will answer, ‘My younger brother.’ Ask, ‘Where, then, is your honoring of your uncle?’ He will reply, ‘Because of the position he occupies.’ You can answer in the same way: ‘Because of the position he occupies.’ Ordinarily one honors one’s elder brother, but for a time one honors the villager.”

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When Jizi heard this, he said, “Honoring an uncle is called honor, and honoring a younger brother is also called honor. Surely righteousness is external, not internal.”

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Gongduzi said, “In winter we drink hot soup; in summer we drink water. Does that mean our preferences in eating and drinking are external too?”

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