Jin Xin II · Passage 26 / 38 · 孟子 7B.26
Mencius 7B.26: those fleeing Mo turn to Yang
Mencius observes that correction often moves through overcorrection, and that when people finally return.
孟子曰：「逃墨必歸於楊，逃楊必歸於儒。歸，斯受之而已矣。今之與楊、墨辯者，如追放豚，既入其苙，又從而招之。」
Mencius said, 'Those who are fleeing from the errors of Mo naturally turn to Yang, and those who are fleeing from the errors of Yang naturally turn to orthodoxy. When they so turn, they should at once and simply be received. Those who nowadays dispute with the followers of Yang and Mo do so as if they were pursuing a stray pig, the leg of which, after they have got it to enter the pen, they proceed to tie.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius say that those fleeing Mo first turn to Yang, and those fleeing Yang then return to the Ru?
Direct answer
Because when people leave one extreme, they do not always land at the mean immediately; they often swing to the other side first. Mencius cares about this: once they have finally returned, they should be received rather than chased like runaway pigs.
First principle
The path of correction is often not straight. Real teaching must be able to absorb the oscillation involved in genuine return.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around correction, overcorrection, and Mencius on receiving returners. It is important for thinking about education, persuasion, and ideological change.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 26 of 38 in Jin Xin II. The cleanest entry point is "Those who are fleeing from the errors of…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about knowing words, knowing destiny, and the completion of cultivation and can be read alongside Flood-like qi, Human nature.
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Jin Xin II treats knowing words, knowing destiny, and the judgments proper to mature cultivation together.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not read it as indifference to error. Mencius is not suspending distinctions, but shifting emphasis from punishment to reception once a person has actually turned back.