Jin Xin II · Passage 06 / 38 · 孟子 7B.6
Mencius 7B.6: Shun was steady in poverty and kingship
Mencius says Shun lived in poverty as if it would last forever, and wore kingship as if it naturally fit him. His center was not ruled by condition.
孟子曰：「舜之飯糗茹草也，若將終身焉。及其為天子也，被袗衣，鼓琴，二女果，若固有之。」
Mencius said, 'Shun's manner of eating his parched grain and herbs was as if he were to be doing so all his life. When he became sovereign, and had the embroidered robes to wear, the lute to play, and the two daughters of Yao to wait on him, he was as if those things belonged to him as a matter of course.'
Priority note
A human-edited reading layer
Central question
Why does Mencius say Shun lived in poverty as if for life and in kingship as if it were natural?
Direct answer
Because Shun was not defined by outward condition. Poverty did not embitter him, and kingship did not intoxicate him. His inner order stayed settled through change.
First principle
Maturity is not only enduring lack or enjoying abundance. It is remaining unshaken in either condition.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around Shun, poverty, kingship, steadiness, and how Mencius understands inner stability.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 6 of 38 in Jin Xin II. The cleanest entry point is "Shun's manner of eating his parched grain and…". 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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Related principles
Citation note
Do not read it as effortless temperament alone. Mencius is pointing to a person whose center is already ordered enough not to be scattered by fortune.