Jin Xin I · Passage 11 / 46 · 孟子 7A.11
Mencius 7A.11: why prize the ability to regard
Mencius argues that true superiority lies not in having more, but in remaining inwardly uninflated even when wealth and status are greatly increased.
孟子曰：「附之以韓、魏之家，如其自視欿然，則過人遠矣。」
Mencius said, 'Add to a man the families of Han and Wei. If he then look upon himself without being elated, he is far beyond the mass of men.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius prize the ability to regard oneself without inflation so highly?
Direct answer
Because when resources, rank, or reputation increase, the self most easily swells with them. If a person can receive outer additions without mistaking them for the substance of the self, he has already gone far beyond ordinary reflex.
First principle
Real steadiness is not the absence of outer increase, but the refusal to let outer increase replace the inner scale.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around humility, wealth, and Mencius on self-regard. It is especially suited to modern translation of classical self-cultivation.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 11 of 46 in Jin Xin I. The cleanest entry point is "Add to a man the families of Han…". 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 Human nature.
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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 read it as self-belittlement. Mencius is not praising fake modesty, but the refusal to let externals usurp the place of truthful self-knowledge.