Jin Xin II · Passage 05 / 38 · 孟子 7B.5

Mencius 7B.5: rules can be taught, skill cannot

Mencius says craftsmen can hand over standards, but not mastery itself. Learning begins with measure, yet skill must grow inside the learner.

孟子曰：「梓匠輪輿，能與人規矩，不能使人巧。」

mèng zǐ yuē：「zǐ jiàng lún yú， néng yǔ rén guī jǔ， bù néng shǐ rén qiǎo。」

Mencius said, 'A carpenter or a carriage-maker may give a man the circle and square, but cannot make him skilful in the use of them.'

Priority note

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Central question

Why does Mencius say craftsmen can give rules to others but cannot make them skillful?

Direct answer

Because standards, methods, and tools are teachable, but genuine skill and judgment must be formed by the learner's own repeated practice.

First principle

Education is easily mistaken for information transfer. The harder work is turning an outer rule into an inner power.

Why it matters

This passage serves searches around learning, standards, skill, and the difference between teaching and mastery.

What this passage is doing

This is passage 5 of 38 in Jin Xin II. The cleanest entry point is "A carpenter or a carriage-maker may give a…". 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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