The Bent Finger and the Heart

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孟（mèng）子（zi）曰（yuē）：（）“（）今（jīn）有（yǒu）无（wú）名（míng）之（zhī）指（zhǐ），（）屈（qū）而（ér）不（bù）信（shēn），（）非（fēi）疾（jí）痛（tòng）害（hài）事（shì）也（yě）。（）如（rú）有（yǒu）能（néng）信（xìn）之（zhī）者（zhě），（）则（zé）不（bù）远（yuǎn）秦（qín）、（）楚（chǔ）之（zhī）路（lù），（）为（wèi）指（zhǐ）之（zhī）不（bù）若（ruò）人（rén）也（yě）。（）指（zhǐ）不（bù）若（ruò）人（rén），（）则（zé）知（zhī）恶（wù）之（zhī）；（）心（xīn）不（bù）若（ruò）人（rén），（）则（zé）不（bù）知（zhī）恶（wù）。（）此（cǐ）之（zhī）谓（wèi）不（bù）知（zhī）类（lèi）也（yě）。（）”（）

Mencius said, “Suppose someone’s ring finger is bent and will not straighten. It neither hurts nor interferes with work. Yet if someone could straighten it, that person would travel as far as Qin or Chu to have it done, because the finger is inferior to other people’s. When a finger is inferior, one knows to dislike that; when one’s heart is inferior, one does not. This is what it means to fail to distinguish things by their proper kind.”

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The Bent Finger and the Heart

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