'"It showed its will by his personal conduct and his conduct of affairs:" how was this?' Mencius's answer was, 'The sovereign can present a man to Heaven, but he cannot make Heaven give that man the throne. A prince can present a man to the sovereign, but he cannot cause the sovereign to make that man a prince. A great officer can present a man to his prince, but he cannot cause the prince to make that man a great officer. Yâo presented Shun to Heaven, and Heaven accepted him. He presented him to the people, and the people accepted him. Therefore I say, "Heaven does not speak. It simply indicated its will by his personal conduct and his conduct of affairs."'Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Works of Mencius.
~ James Legge translation via nothingistic.org ~
Pages
▼
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.