Gaozi, Part One

告子曰：「性，猶杞柳也；義，猶桮棬也。以人性為仁義，猶以杞柳為桮棬。」

Gaozi said: "Human nature is like the willow; righteousness is like cups and bowls. To make humaneness and righteousness out of human nature is like making cups and bowls out of the willow."

孟子曰：「子能順杞柳之性而以為桮棬乎？將戕賊杞柳而後以為桮棬也？如將戕賊杞柳而以為桮棬，則亦將戕賊人以為仁義與？率天下之人而禍仁義者，必子之言夫！」

Mencius said: "Can you follow the nature of the willow and make cups and bowls from it? Or must you violate the willow and then make cups and bowls from it? If you must violate the willow to make cups and bowls, then must you also violate people to make humaneness and righteousness? Those who lead the world to harm humaneness and righteousness will surely be your words!"

告子曰：「性猶湍水也，決諸東方則東流，決諸西方則西流。人性之無分於善不善也，猶水之無分於東西也。」

Gaozi said: "Human nature is like swift water: breach it to the east and it flows east; breach it to the west and it flows west. Human nature has no distinction of good and not good, just as water has no distinction of east and west."

孟子曰：「水信無分於東西。無分於上下乎？人性之善也，猶水之就下也。人無有不善，水無有不下。今夫水，搏而躍之，可使過顙；激而行之，可使在山。是豈水之性哉？其勢則然也。人之可使為不善，其性亦猶是也。」

Mencius said: "Water indeed has no distinction of east and west. But has it no distinction of up and down? The goodness of human nature is like water flowing downward. There is no person who is not good, and no water that does not flow downward. Now, with this water, strike it and make it leap, and you can make it go over your forehead; dam it and drive it, and you can make it stay on a mountain. Is this the nature of water? It is the force that makes it so. People can be made to do what is not good, and their nature is like this."

告子曰：「生之謂性。」

Gaozi said: "What is born with one is called nature."

孟子曰：「生之謂性也，猶白之謂白與？」曰：「然。」

Mencius said: "Is what is born with one called nature, just as white is called white?" Gaozi said: "Yes."

「白羽之白也，猶白雪之白；白雪之白，猶白玉之白與？」曰：「然。」

(Mencius asked:) "Is the whiteness of white feathers like the whiteness of white snow, and the whiteness of white snow like the whiteness of white jade?" Gaozi said: "Yes."

「然則犬之性，猶牛之性；牛之性，猶人之性與？」

(Mencius asked:) "Then is the nature of a dog like the nature of an ox, and the nature of an ox like the nature of a human?"

告子曰：「食色，性也。仁，內也，非外也；義，外也，非內也。」

Gaozi said: "Food and sex are nature. Humaneness is internal, not external; righteousness is external, not internal."

孟子曰：「何以謂仁內義外也？」

Mencius said: "Why do you say humaneness is internal and righteousness external?"

曰：「彼長而我長之，非有長於我也；猶彼白而我白之，從其白於外也，故謂之外也。」

Gaozi said: "He is older and I treat him as elder; it is not that I originally have the elder in me. It is like his being white and my taking him as white; it comes from the whiteness outside, so it is called external."

曰：「異於白馬之白也，無以異於白人之白也；不識長馬之長也，無以異於長人之長與？且謂長者義乎？長之者義乎？」

Mencius said: "The whiteness of a white horse is no different from the whiteness of a white person; but is the 'elder' of an old horse no different from the 'elder' of an old person? And moreover, do you say that the older person is the righteousness, or that the one who treats him as elder is the righteousness?"

曰：「吾弟則愛之，秦人之弟則不愛也，是以我為悅者也，故謂之內。長楚人之長，亦長吾之長，是以長為悅者也，故謂之外也。」

Gaozi said: "My own younger brother I love, but the younger brother of a man of Qin I do not love; this is because I take it as my own pleasure, so it is called internal. I respect the elders of Chu just as I respect my own elders; this is because I take pleasure in the elder, so it is called external."

曰：「耆秦人之炙，無以異於耆吾炙。夫物則亦有然者也，然則耆炙亦有外與？」

Mencius said: "Relishing the roast meat of the people of Qin is no different from relishing my own roast meat. Things are also like this; then is relishing roast meat also external?"

孟季子問公都子曰：「何以謂義內也？」曰：「行吾敬，故謂之內也。」

Meng Jizi asked Gongdu Zi: "Why do you say righteousness is internal?" Gongdu Zi said: "It is because I carry out my own respect, so it is called internal."

「鄉人長於伯兄一歲，則誰敬？」曰：「敬兄。」

(Meng Jizi asked:) "If a fellow villager is one year older than your eldest brother, whom do you respect?" Gongdu Zi said: "I respect my brother."

「酌則誰先？」曰：「先酌鄉人。」

(Meng Jizi asked:) "When pouring wine, whom do you pour for first?" Gongdu Zi said: "I pour first for the villager."

「所敬在此，所長在彼，果在外，非由內也。」

(Meng Jizi said:) "What you respect is here, and what you treat as elder is there; so it is indeed external, not from within."

公都子不能答，以告孟子。孟子曰：「敬叔父乎？敬弟乎？彼將曰『敬叔父』。曰：『弟為屍，則誰敬？』彼將曰『敬弟。』子曰：『惡在其敬叔父也？』彼將曰『在位故也。』子亦曰：『在位故也。庸敬在兄，斯須之敬在鄉人。』」

Gongdu Zi could not answer and told Mencius. Mencius said: "Ask him: do you respect your uncle, or your younger brother? He will say 'my uncle.' Say: 'If your younger brother is the impersonator of the dead at a sacrifice, whom do you respect?' He will say 'my younger brother.' You say: 'Then where is respect for your uncle?' He will say 'because of the position.' You too say: 'because of the position. Ordinary respect is for the elder brother, and respect for the moment is for the villager.'"

季子聞之曰：「敬叔父則敬，敬弟則敬，果在外，非由內也。」

Jizi heard this and said: "Respect the uncle and one respects; respect the younger brother and one respects; so it is indeed external, not from within."

公都子曰：「冬日則飲湯，夏日則飲水，然則飲食亦在外也？」

Gongdu Zi said: "In winter one drinks hot water and in summer one drinks cold water; then is drinking and eating also external?"

公都子曰：「告子曰：『性無善無不善也。』或曰：『性可以為善，可以為不善；是故文武興，則民好善；幽厲興，則民好暴。』或曰：『有性善，有性不善；是故以堯為君而有象，以瞽瞍為父而有舜；以紂為兄之子且以為君，而有微子啟、王子比干。』今曰『性善』，然則彼皆非與？」

Gongdu Zi said: "Gaozi said: 'Nature is neither good nor not good.' Some say: 'Nature can be made good and can be made not good; therefore when Kings Wen and Wu arose the people loved goodness, and when Kings You and Li arose the people loved violence.' Some say: 'There are those whose nature is good and those whose nature is not good; therefore with Yao as ruler there was Xiang, with Gusou as father there was Shun, and with Zhou as nephew and ruler there were the Viscount of Wei, Qi, and Prince Bi Gan.' Now you say that 'nature is good'; then are all those wrong?"

孟子曰：「乃若其情，則可以為善矣，乃所謂善也。若夫為不善，非才之罪也。惻隱之心，人皆有之；羞惡之心，人皆有之；恭敬之心，人皆有之；是非之心，人皆有之。惻隱之心，仁也；羞惡之心，義也；恭敬之心，禮也；是非之心，智也。仁義禮智，非由外鑠我也，我固有之也，弗思耳矣。故曰：『求則得之，舍則失之。』或相倍蓰而無算者，不能盡其才者也。《詩》曰：『天生蒸民，有物有則。民之秉夷，好是懿德。』孔子曰：『為此詩者，其知道乎！故有物必有則，民之秉夷也，故好是懿德。』」

Mencius said: "As for its feelings, they can be made good, and this is what I mean by good. As for doing what is not good, that is not the fault of one's natural endowment. The heart of compassion is possessed by all people; the heart of shame and dislike is possessed by all people; the heart of respect and reverence is possessed by all people; the heart of right and wrong is possessed by all people. The heart of compassion is humaneness; the heart of shame and dislike is righteousness; the heart of respect and reverence is ritual; the heart of right and wrong is wisdom. Humaneness, righteousness, ritual and wisdom were not smelted into me from outside; I originally have them, but I simply do not think about them. So it is said: 'Seek and you get it; let go and you lose it.' Some differ by twice, five times, or without number, because they cannot fully use their natural endowment. The Book of Songs, in the Greater Odes, 'Zheng Min,' says: 'Heaven gave birth to the multitude of people; where there is a thing there is a rule. The people hold to their constant nature and love this fine virtue.' Confucius said: 'The one who made this poem must have known the Way! So where there is a thing there must be a rule; the people hold to their constant nature, and so they love this fine virtue.'"

孟子曰：「富歲，子弟多賴；凶歲，子弟多暴，非天之降才爾殊也，其所以陷溺其心者然也。今夫麰麥，播種而耰之，其地同，樹之時又同，浡然而生，至於日至之時，皆熟矣。雖有不同，則地有肥磽，雨露之養，人事之不齊也。故凡同類者，舉相似也，何獨至於人而疑之？聖人與我同類者。故龍子曰：『不知足而為屨，我知其不為蕢也。』屨之相似，天下之足同也。口之於味，有同耆也。易牙先得我口之所耆者也。如使口之於味也，其性與人殊，若犬馬之與我不同類也，則天下何耆皆從易牙之於味也？至於味，天下期於易牙，是天下之口相似也惟耳亦然。至於聲，天下期於師曠，是天下之耳相似也。惟目亦然。至於子都，天下莫不知其姣也。不知子都之姣者，無目者也。故曰：口之於味也，有同耆焉；耳之於聲也，有同聽焉；目之於色也，有同美焉。至於心，獨無所同然乎？心之所同然者何也？謂理也，義也。聖人先得我心之所同然耳。故理義之悅我心，猶芻豢之悅我口。」

Mencius said: "In years of plenty, the young people mostly become lazy; in years of calamity, the young people mostly become violent. It is not that the natural endowment sent down by Heaven is so different; it is that what drowns their hearts makes them so. Take barley, sown and covered with soil: the land is the same and the planting season is the same, it grows vigorously, and by the summer solstice it is all ripe. Even if there are differences, those are because the soil is rich or poor, because the nourishment of rain and dew differs, and because human effort is uneven. So whatever is of the same kind is alike; why only in the case of humans should we doubt it? The sage is of the same kind as I am. So Longzi said: 'Not knowing the foot, I make shoes, yet I know I will not make a basket.' Shoes are alike because the feet of the world are the same. The mouth has the same preferences for flavors. Yi Ya was the first to grasp what our mouths prefer. If the mouth's relation to flavor were by nature different from other people's, as dogs and horses are of different kinds from us, then why would the whole world follow Yi Ya in its taste for flavors? As for flavor, the world looks to Yi Ya, which means the mouths of the world are alike. The ears are the same. As for sound, the world looks to Shi Kuang, which means the ears of the world are alike. The eyes are the same. As for Zidu, there is no one in the world who does not know he is handsome. One who does not know that Zidu is handsome has no eyes. So it is said: the mouth has the same preferences for flavor; the ears have the same hearing for sound; the eyes have the same beauty for color. As for the heart, is it alone without a common approval? What does the heart approve in common? It is called principle, called righteousness. The sage was the first to grasp what our hearts approve in common. So principle and righteousness please my heart, just as grass-fed and grain-fed meats please my mouth."

孟子曰：「牛山之木嘗美矣，以其郊於大國也，斧斤伐之，可以為美乎？是其日夜之所息，雨露之所潤，非無萌櫱之生焉，牛羊又從而牧之，是以若彼濯濯也。人見其濯濯也，以為未嘗有材焉，此豈山之性也哉？雖存乎人者，豈無仁義之心哉？其所以放其良心者，亦猶斧斤之於木也，旦旦而伐之，可以為美乎？其日夜之所息，平旦之氣，其好惡與人相近也者幾希，則其旦晝之所為，有梏亡之矣。梏之反覆，則其夜氣不足以存；夜氣不足以存，則其違禽獸不遠矣。人見其禽獸也，而以為未嘗有才焉者，是豈人之情也哉？故苟得其養，無物不長；苟失其養，無物不消。孔子曰：『操則存，舍則亡；出入無時，莫知其鄉。』惟心之謂與？」

Mencius said: "The trees of Ox Mountain were once beautiful; because it lies on the outskirts of a great state, axes and hatchets cut them down, so can it remain beautiful? What grows by day and night and is moistened by rain and dew does not fail to send out sprouts and shoots, but cattle and sheep come to graze there too, and so it is bare like that. People see its bareness and think there was never any timber; is this the nature of the mountain? Even in what remains in human beings, how could there be no heart of humaneness and righteousness? The way they let go of their good heart is like axes and hatchets with trees: cut down day after day, can it remain beautiful? What grows by day and night, the qi of the calm dawn, in which their likes and dislikes are close to those of others, is very little, and what they do during the day again shackles and destroys it. When shackling and destroying are repeated, the night qi is not enough to preserve it; when the night qi is not enough to preserve it, one is not far from the beasts. People see him as a beast and think he never had natural endowment; is this the feeling of the human? So if it gets nourishment, nothing fails to grow; if it loses nourishment, nothing fails to perish. Confucius said: 'Hold fast and it remains; let go and it is lost; its coming and going have no fixed time, and no one knows its direction.' Is it not the heart that this speaks of?"

孟子曰：「無或乎王之不智也，雖有天下易生之物也，一日暴之、十日寒之，未有能生者也。吾見亦罕矣，吾退而寒之者至矣，吾如有萌焉何哉？今夫弈之為數，小數也；不專心致志，則不得也。弈秋，通國之善弈者也。使弈秋誨二人弈，其一人專心致志，惟弈秋之為聽。一人雖聽之，一心以為有鴻鵠將至，思援弓繳而射之，雖與之俱學，弗若之矣。為是其智弗若與？曰非然也。」

Mencius said: "Do not be surprised at the king's lack of wisdom. Even among the things in the world that grow easily, if you bask it one day and freeze it ten days, nothing can grow. I see him rarely, and when I withdraw, those who freeze him arrive; what can I do about the sprouts? Now, chess is a skill, a minor skill; without concentrating one's whole mind, one cannot master it. Yi Qiu was the best chess player in the whole country. Suppose Yi Qiu taught two men chess: one concentrates his whole mind and listens only to Yi Qiu. The other, though he listens, thinks all the time that a swan is about to arrive, and wants to take a bow and arrow to shoot it; though he studies together with the other, he is not as good. Is it because his intelligence is not as good? I say it is not so."

孟子曰：「魚，我所欲也；熊掌，亦我所欲也，二者不可得兼，舍魚而取熊掌者也。生，亦我所欲也；義，亦我所欲也，二者不可得兼，捨生而取義者也。生亦我所欲，所欲有甚於生者，故不為苟得也；死亦我所惡，所惡有甚於死者，故患有所不闢也。如使人之所欲莫甚於生，則凡可以得生者，何不用也？使人之所惡莫甚於死者，則凡可以闢患者，何不為也？由是則生而有不用也，由是則可以闢患而有不為也。是故所欲有甚於生者，所惡有甚於死者，非獨賢者有是心也，人皆有之，賢者能勿喪耳。一簞食，一豆羹，得之則生，弗得則死。嘑爾而與之，行道之人弗受；蹴爾而與之，乞人不屑也。萬鍾則不辨禮義而受之。萬鍾於我何加焉？為宮室之美、妻妾之奉、所識窮乏者得我與？鄉為身死而不受，今為宮室之美為之；鄉為身死而不受，今為妻妾之奉為之；鄉為身死而不受，今為所識窮乏者得我而為之，是亦不可以已乎？此之謂失其本心。」

Mencius said: "Fish is something I want; bear's paw is also something I want; if I cannot have both, I give up the fish and take the bear's paw. Life is also something I want; righteousness is also something I want; if I cannot have both, I give up life and take righteousness. Life is something I want, but there is something I want more than life, so I will not obtain it in a base way; death is something I dislike, but there is something I dislike more than death, so there are calamities I do not avoid. Suppose what people want were nothing more than life; then why would they not use any means by which life could be obtained? Suppose what people dislike were nothing more than death; then why would they not do whatever could avoid calamity? There are ways by which life could be obtained that people do not use, and ways by which calamity could be avoided that people do not do. Therefore there is something they want more than life and something they dislike more than death; it is not only the worthy who have this heart, everyone has it, but the worthy can avoid losing it. A basket of rice and a bowl of soup: with them one lives, without them one dies. If given with a shout, even a passer-by would not accept it; if given with a kick, even a beggar would not deign to take it. But ten thousand zhong of grain one accepts without distinguishing ritual and righteousness. What do ten thousand zhong add to me? Is it for the beauty of the house, the support of wives and concubines, or the gratitude of acquaintances in need? Formerly one would rather die than accept; now one does it for the beauty of the house; formerly one would rather die than accept; now one does it for the support of wives and concubines; formerly one would rather die than accept; now one does it for the gratitude of acquaintances in need; can this not be stopped? This is called losing one's original heart."

孟子曰：「仁，人心也；義，人路也。舍其路而弗由，放其心而不知求，哀哉！人有雞犬放，則知求之；有放心，而不知求。學問之道無他，求其放心而已矣。」

Mencius said: "Humaneness is the human heart; righteousness is the human road. To abandon the road and not follow it, to lose the heart and not know to seek it, how sad! When people lose chickens or dogs, they know to seek them; when they lose their heart, they do not know to seek it. The way of learning is nothing other than seeking the lost heart."

孟子曰：「今有無名之指，屈而不信，非疾痛害事也，如有能信之者，則不遠秦楚之路，為指之不若人也。指不若人，則知惡之；心不若人，則不知惡，此之謂不知類也。」

Mencius said: "Now suppose someone has a fourth finger that is bent and cannot straighten; it is not painful or harmful to his work, yet if there were someone who could straighten it, he would not think the journey to Qin or Chu too far, because his finger is not like other people's. When a finger is not like other people's, he knows to dislike it; when the heart is not like other people's, he does not know to dislike it; this is called not knowing the kinds of things."

孟子曰：「拱把之桐梓，人苟欲生之，皆知所以養之者。至於身，而不知所以養之者，豈愛身不若桐梓哉？弗思甚也。」

Mencius said: "As for a tung or catalpa tree of a handspan or two in girth, if people want it to grow they all know how to nurture it. But as for their own persons, they do not know how to nurture them. Do they love their own persons less than tung and catalpa trees? Their failure to think is extreme."

孟子曰：「人之於身也，兼所愛。兼所愛，則兼所養也。無尺寸之膚不愛焉，則無尺寸之膚不養也。所以考其善不善者，豈有他哉？於己取之而已矣。體有貴賤，有小大。無以小害大，無以賤害貴。養其小者為小人，養其大者為大人。今有場師，舍其梧檟，養其樲棘，則為賤場師焉。養其一指而失其肩背，而不知也，則為狼疾人也。飲食之人，則人賤之矣，為其養小以失大也。飲食之人無有失也，則口腹豈適為尺寸之膚哉？」

Mencius said: "People love their bodies in every part. If they love every part, they nourish every part. There is not an inch of skin they do not love, so there is not an inch of skin they do not nourish. So how does one examine whether he is good or not? Is there anything other than what he selects for himself? The body has noble and base parts, and small and great parts. Do not harm the great by the small, or the noble by the base. One who nourishes the small is a petty person, and one who nourishes the great is a great person. Now suppose a gardener abandons the wutong and the catalpa and nurtures the thorny jujube; he is a poor gardener. One who nourishes one finger while losing his shoulder and back without knowing it is a muddled and confused person. People despise one who only attends to food and drink, because he nourishes the small and loses the great. If one who only attends to food and drink had no loss, then would his mouth and belly be merely an inch of skin?"

公都子問曰：「鈞是人也，或為大人，或為小人，何也？」

Gongdu Zi asked: "All are equally human, yet some become great persons and some become petty persons; why?"

孟子曰：「從其大體為大人，從其小體為小人。」

Mencius said: "Those who follow their great part are great persons; those who follow their small part are petty persons."

曰：「鈞是人也，或從其大體，或從其小體，何也？」

Gongdu Zi said: "All are equally human, yet some follow their great part and some follow their small part; why?"

曰：「耳目之官不思，而蔽於物，物交物，則引之而已矣。心之官則思，思則得之，不思則不得也。此天之所與我者，先立乎其大者，則其小者弗能奪也。此為大人而已矣。」

Mencius said: "The organs of the ears and eyes do not think and are obscured by things; when a thing meets a thing, it simply draws it along. The organ of the heart thinks; if it thinks it gets it, and if it does not think it does not get it. This is what Heaven gave to me; if one first establishes the great part, the small part cannot seize it. This is simply what makes a great person."

孟子曰：「有天爵者，有人爵者。仁義忠信，樂善不倦，此天爵也；公卿大夫，此人爵也。古之人修其天爵，而人爵從之。今之人修其天爵，以要人爵；既得人爵，而棄其天爵，則惑之甚者也，終亦必亡而已矣。」

Mencius said: "There are heavenly ranks and there are human ranks. Humaneness, righteousness, loyalty and trustworthiness, delighting in goodness without weariness: these are the heavenly ranks; dukes, ministers and high officials are the human ranks. The ancients cultivated their heavenly ranks and the human ranks followed. People today cultivate their heavenly ranks in order to seek human ranks; once they have obtained human ranks, they throw away their heavenly ranks; those who are so deeply deluded will in the end certainly lose even these."

孟子曰：「欲貴者，人之同心也。人人有貴於己者，弗思耳。人之所貴者，非良貴也。趙孟之所貴，趙孟能賤之。《詩》云：『既醉以酒，既飽以德。』言飽乎仁義也，所以不願人之膏粱之味也；令聞廣譽施於身，所以不願人之文繡也。」

Mencius said: "The desire to be honored is a mind common to all people. Everyone has something honorable in himself, but simply does not think about it. What others honor is not true honor. What Zhao Meng honors, Zhao Meng can make base. The Book of Songs, in the Greater Odes, 'Ji Zui,' says: 'Already drunk with wine, already full of virtue.' This means being full of humaneness and righteousness, and so one does not envy the taste of other people's fine meats and grains; with a good reputation and wide renown upon one's person, one does not envy other people's embroidered robes."

孟子曰：「仁之勝不仁也，猶水勝火。今之為仁者，猶以一杯水，救一車薪之火也；不熄，則謂之水不勝火，此又與於不仁之甚者也。亦終必亡而已矣。」

Mencius said: "Humaneness overcomes inhumaneness as water overcomes fire. Those who practice humaneness today are like using a cup of water to save a cartload of burning firewood; when the fire is not put out, they say water cannot overcome fire, and this again helps the most extreme of inhumaneness. In the end they too will certainly be lost."

孟子曰：「五穀者，種之美者也；苟為不熟，不如荑稗。夫仁亦在乎熟之而已矣。」

Mencius said: "The five grains are the best of seeds; but if they do not ripen, they are worse than tares and wild grass. Humaneness too lies in bringing it to ripeness."

孟子曰：「羿之教人射，必志於彀；學者亦必志於彀。大匠誨人，必以規矩；學者亦必以規矩。」

Mencius said: "When Yi taught people archery, he surely aimed at drawing the bow to the full; and those who learned also surely aimed at drawing the bow to the full. When a master carpenter teaches people, he surely uses the compass and square; and those who learn also surely use the compass and square."