Jin Xin I · Passage 35 / 46 · 孟子 7A.35
Mencius 7A.35: why refuse to let Shun simply
Mencius handles the collision of filiality and law by refusing to erase either side: Shun would not destroy public justice.
桃應問曰：「舜為天子，皋陶為士，瞽瞍殺人，則如之何？」孟子曰：「執之而已矣。」「然則舜不禁與？」曰：「夫舜惡得而禁之？夫有所受之也。」「然則舜如之何？」曰：「舜視棄天下，猶棄敝蹝也。竊負而逃，遵海濱而處，終身欣然，樂而忘天下。」
Tao Ying asked, saying, 'Shun being sovereign, and Gao Yao chief minister of justice, if Gu Sou had murdered a man, what would have been done in the case?' Mencius said, 'Gao Yao would simply have apprehended him.' 'But would not Shun have forbidden such a thing?' 'Indeed, how could Shun have forbidden it? Gao Yao had received the law from a proper source.' 'In that case what would Shun have done?' 'Shun would have regarded abandoning the kingdom as throwing away a worn-out sandal. He would privately have taken his father on his back, and retired into concealment, living some where along the sea-coast. There he would have been all his life, cheerful and happy, forgetting the kingdom.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius refuse to let Shun simply cancel the law in the case of Gu Sou's killing?
Direct answer
Because if Shun blocks the law, public justice is undone; but if he lets justice proceed with no filial pain, he also ceases to be Shun. Mencius is presenting a true moral conflict in which both claims remain real and the cost must be borne rather than dissolved.
First principle
Mature moral judgment does not always flatten conflict. Some fundamental obligations genuinely collide, and integrity lies in bearing the cost without abolishing either side.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around Shun, filiality and law, and tragic conflict in Mencius. It shows that his ethics is capable of real tension rather than naive harmony.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 35 of 46 in Jin Xin I. The cleanest entry point is "Shun being sovereign, and Gao Yao chief minister…". 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 read it as a loophole for favoritism. Mencius explicitly refuses to let Shun cancel the law; the point is that legal order continuing does not erase filial grief.