Nature, Practice, and Borrowed Virtue

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孟（mèng）子（zǐ）曰（yuē）：（）“（）尧（yáo）舜（shùn），（）性（xìng）之（zhī）也（yě）；（）汤（tāng）武（wǔ），（）身（shēn）之（zhī）也（yě）；（）五（wǔ）霸（bà），（）假（jiǎ）之（zhī）也（yě）。（）久（jiǔ）假（jiǎ）而（ér）不（bù）归（guī），（）恶（wū）知（zhī）其（qí）非（fēi）有（yǒu）也（yě）？（）”（）

Mencius said, “Yao and Shun embodied the Way by nature; Tang and King Wu embodied it through personal practice; the Five Hegemons borrowed it. If something is borrowed for a long time and never returned, how can we know it is not truly theirs?”

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Nature, Practice, and Borrowed Virtue

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