Jin Xin I · Passage 17 / 46 · 孟子 7A.17
Mencius 7A.17: why state the work so simply
Mencius compresses self-cultivation into a minimal standard: many forms of collapse begin not from lack of lofty ideals.
孟子曰：「無為其所不為，無欲其所不欲，如此而已矣。」
Mencius said, 'Let a man not do what his own sense of righteousness tells him not to do, and let him not desire what his sense of righteousness tells him not to desire - to act thus is all he has to do.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius state the work so simply: do not do what should not be done, and do not desire what should not be desired?
Direct answer
Because the hard thing is often not inventing a more complex ethic, but refusing to cross the line one already knows. If a person can hold against what he should not do and should not want, many later distortions never get their opening.
First principle
Self-cultivation often begins not by adding more complexity, but by sealing the obvious breaches through which the whole structure leaks.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around moral limits, desire, and Mencius on discipline. It brings complex cultivation back to a first-principles baseline.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 17 of 46 in Jin Xin I. The cleanest entry point is "Let a man not do what his own…". 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 Flood-like qi.
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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 a merely negative morality. Mencius is not reducing the whole life to prohibition, but insisting that positive ideals collapse if the lower boundary is left open.