Jin Xin II · Passage 33 / 38 · 孟子 7B.33
Mencius 7B.33: why describe Yao and Shun as
Mencius distinguishes different paths to mature virtue: some seem naturally in accord, others arrive by repeated return.
孟子曰：「堯、舜，性者也；湯、武，反之也。動容周旋中禮者，盛德之至也。哭死而哀，非為生者也。經德不回，非以干祿也。言語必信，非以正行也。君子行法，以俟命而已矣。」
Mencius said, 'Yao and Shun were what they were by nature; Tang and Wu were so by returning to natural virtue. When all the movements, in the countenance and every turn of the body, are exactly what is proper, that shows the extreme degree of the complete virtue. Weeping for the dead should be from real sorrow, and not because of the living. The regular path of virtue is to be pursued without any bend, and from no view to emolument. The words should all be necessarily sincere, not with any desire to do what is right. The superior man performs the law of right, and thereby waits simply for what has been appointed.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius describe Yao and Shun as being so by nature, and Tang and Wu as becoming so by returning to it?
Direct answer
Because he wants to show that virtue can be completed by different routes. Yao and Shun seem to move effortlessly with what is proper, while Tang and Wu are described as repeatedly returning themselves to it. In both cases, however, virtue is no outside performance; it has become structure.
First principle
The route to maturity may differ, but maturity itself always requires that virtue be inwardly stabilized rather than temporarily imposed from outside.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around Yao and Shun, Tang and Wu, and different paths to virtue in Mencius. It is an important summary of how human goodness relates to cultivation.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 33 of 38 in Jin Xin II. The cleanest entry point is "Yao and Shun were what they were by…". 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 hard determinism. Mencius is not saying that unless one is naturally like Yao and Shun there is no path; he explicitly provides the path of return through effort.