Jin Xin I · Passage 12 / 46 · 孟子 7A.12

Mencius 7A.12: rule for life, not by sacrificing lives

Mencius is not excusing harsh rule. He argues that toil and even death are judged by whether they belong to a genuine order of preserving life.

孟子曰：「以佚道使民，雖勞不怨。以生道殺民，雖死不怨殺者。」

mèng zǐ yuē：「yǐ yì dào shǐ mín， suī láo bú yuàn。 yǐ shēng dào shā mín， suī sǐ bú yuàn shā zhě。」

Mencius said, 'Let the people be employed in the way which is intended to secure their ease, and though they be toiled, they will not murmur. Let them be put to death in the way which is intended to preserve their lives, and though they die, they will not murmur at him who puts them to death.'

Priority note

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Central question

Why does Mencius say that people may toil without resentment, and even die without resenting those who kill them?

Direct answer

Because the issue is not pain alone, but whether the whole arrangement truly follows a way of preserving, settling, and protecting the people. When rule genuinely safeguards life, hardship is read differently from arbitrary injury.

First principle

Political action is judged not by whether it removes every burden, but by whether burdens are ordered within a real structure of preserving life.

Why it matters

This passage serves searches around humane rule, punishment, labor, and the political meaning of actions done for the sake of life rather than against it.

What this passage is doing

This is passage 12 of 46 in Jin Xin I. The cleanest entry point is "Let the people be employed in the way…". 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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