The people of Yen having rebelled, the king of Ch'î said, 'I feel very much ashamed when I think of Mencius.'Go here to read the introductory post to this serialized version of the Works of Mencius.
Ch'an Chiâ said to him, 'Let not your Majesty be grieved. Whether does your Majesty consider yourself or Châu-kung the more benevolent and wise?' The king replied, 'Oh! what words are those?'
'The duke of Châu,' said Chiâ, 'appointed Kwan-shû to oversee the heir of Yin, but Kwan-shû with the power of the Yin State rebelled. If knowing that this would happen he appointed Kwan-shû, he was deficient in benevolence. If he appointed him, not knowing that it would happen, he was deficient in knowledge. If the duke of Châu was not completely benevolent and wise, how much less can your Majesty be expected to be so! I beg to go and see Mencius, and relieve your Majesty from that feeling.'
~ James Legge translation via nothingistic.org ~
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Mencius - Book 2, Part 2, Chapter 9A
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are unmoderated, so you can write whatever you want.