Jin Xin I · Passage 10 / 46 · 孟子 7A.10
Mencius 7A.10: heroes rouse themselves without king Wen
Mencius grants that most people wait for a king Wen, but insists that outstanding persons do not hand all responsibility to their environment.
孟子曰：「待文王而後興者，凡民也。若夫豪杰之士，雖無文王猶興。」
Mencius said, 'The mass of men wait for a king Wen, and then they will receive a rousing impulse. Scholars distinguished from the mass, without a king Wan, rouse themselves.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius say that heroes can rouse themselves even without a king Wen?
Direct answer
Because he wants to pull the beginning of growth back from circumstance. Most people do need a better age to stir them, but the outstanding person does not surrender all possibility to external conditions.
First principle
Conditions matter, but the highest development of a person cannot be fully outsourced to conditions. Some inward power must rise first.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around king Wen, heroes, self-starting moral growth, and the relation between character and environment.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 10 of 46 in Jin Xin I. The cleanest entry point is "The mass of men wait for a king…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about exhausting the heart, sincerity, and preserving the original heart and can be read alongside Humane government / kingly way.
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Jin Xin I centers on exhausting the heart, sincerity, and preserving the capacities already given in the human heart.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not turn it into contempt for ordinary people. Mencius is distinguishing the special mark of the outstanding person: he can begin before the ideal age arrives.