Gao Zi I · Passage 13 / 20 · 孟子 6A.13
Mencius 6A.13: growing wood but neglecting the self
Self-cultivation is not a mysterious art: people already know what it means to tend a growing thing, but fail to apply the same care to their own lives.
孟子曰：「拱把之桐、梓，人茍欲生之，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, 'Anybody who wishes to cultivate the tong or the zi, which may be grasped with both hands, perhaps with one, knows by what means to nourish them. In the case of their own persons, men do not know by what means to nourish them. Is it to be supposed that their regard of their own persons is inferior to their regard for a tong or zi? Their want of reflection is extreme.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius compare self-cultivation to knowing how to grow tong and zi trees?
Direct answer
Because everyone admits that a tree must be tended if it is to grow. Yet when the same logic applies to one's own heart and life, people often abandon the work. Mencius uses the contrast to expose a failure of seriousness, not a failure of knowledge.
First principle
Self-cultivation is not esoteric technique. It begins by admitting that the self, too, is something that must be tended over time and not left to decay.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around self-cultivation, nourishing the self, and Mencius on moral growth. It translates human goodness into a daily logic of maintenance.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 13 of 20 in Gao Zi I. The cleanest entry point is "Anybody who wishes to cultivate the tong or…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about human goodness, desire, and the debates with Gaozi and can be read alongside Human nature.
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Gao Zi I is the central battleground for human goodness and the arguments with Gaozi.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not reduce it to health advice. Mencius is not mainly discussing bodily regimen, but the deeper question of why people manage external things carefully while neglecting their own moral life.