The Humane Heart and Four Beginnings

English translation

Mencius said: All people have a heart that cannot bear to see others suffer. The former kings had a heart that could not bear to see others suffer, and therefore they had a government that could not bear to see others suffer. By means of a heart that cannot bear to see others suffer, to carry out a government that cannot bear to see others suffer—governing the world could be turned in the palm of the hand. The reason I say that all people have a heart that cannot bear to see others suffer is this: if people today suddenly see a young child about to fall into a well, they all have a heart of alarm and compassion. This is not because they want to use it to make connections with the child’s parents, not because they want to seek praise from neighbors and friends, and not because they hate the child’s cry and therefore act this way. From this we see that without a heart of compassion, one is not human; without a heart of shame and dislike, one is not human; without a heart of declining and yielding, one is not human; without a heart of right and wrong, one is not human. The heart of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the heart of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness; the heart of declining and yielding is the beginning of ritual propriety; the heart of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom. People have these four beginnings just as they have four limbs. One who has these four beginnings but says of himself that he cannot practice them harms himself; one who says his ruler cannot practice them harms his ruler. Anyone who has these four beginnings within knows to expand and fully develop them, just as fire begins to burn and a spring begins to flow. If one can fully develop them, they are enough to secure the realm within the four seas; if one does not, they are not enough even to serve one’s parents.