Gao Zi II · Passage 11 / 16 · 孟子 6B.11
Mencius 6B.11: making neighboring states the ditch
Mencius rejects Bai Gui's boast not on technical grounds alone, but on ethical ones: if your solution works by pushing the damage onto neighbors.
白圭曰：「丹之治水也愈於禹。」孟子曰：「子過矣。禹之治水，水之道也。是故禹以四海為壑。今吾子以鄰國為壑。水逆行，謂之洚水；洚水者，洪水也，仁人之所惡也。吾子過矣。」
Bai Gui said, 'My management of the waters is superior to that of Yu.' Mencius replied, 'You are wrong, Sir. Yu's regulation of the waters was according to the laws of water. He therefore made the four seas their receptacle, while you make the neighbouring States their receptacle. Water flowing out of its channels is called an inundation. Inundating waters are a vast waste of water, and what a benevolent man detests. You are wrong, my good Sir.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius say that Bai Gui's method of making neighboring states the ditch does not count as real flood control?
Direct answer
Because real governance does not solve a problem by exporting its cost. If the local flood is handled only by causing a greater flood elsewhere, the damage has merely changed address. The water has not been governed according to its own way.
First principle
Any policy that produces local success by externalizing cost is not true resolution. It is disguised transfer.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around externalized cost, flood control, and Mencius on why genuine governance cannot consist in shifting harm to others.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 11 of 16 in Gao Zi II. The cleanest entry point is "My management of the waters is superior to…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about nourishing the heart, judgment, and the formation of character and can be read alongside Humane government / kingly way.
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Gao Zi II connects nourishing the heart, judgment, and character formation into one path of cultivation.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not treat it as a narrow ancient dispute over hydraulics. Mencius is condemning every style of governance that pretends to solve problems by making someone else bear the burden.