Li Lou II · Passage 25 / 33 · 孟子 4B.25
Mencius 4B.25: Xi Shi covered in filth
Mencius contrasts Xi Shi and a bad man to show that fitness depends not only on abstract identity but on whether a person has entered the right condition for.
孟子曰：「西子蒙不潔，則人皆掩鼻而過之。雖有惡人，齋戒沐浴，則可以祀上帝。」
Mencius said, 'If the lady Xi had been covered with a filthy head-dress, all people would have stopped their noses in passing her. Though a man may be wicked, yet if he adjust his thoughts, fast, and bathe, he may sacrifice to God.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius set Xi Shi covered in filth beside a bad man who has fasted and bathed?
Direct answer
Because he wants to show that what is repellant or fit is not always fixed by a static label. Even Xi Shi, if covered in filth, will make others turn away; even a bad man, if he truly fasts and bathes, can be brought into a state fit for sacrifice. The decisive issue is whether the state has been rightly prepared.
First principle
Judgment must not stop at abstract identity. It must ask whether the present state has been brought into fitness for the demand at hand.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around purification, fitness, and Mencius on human transformability. It offers a subtle account of state, preparation, and moral possibility.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 25 of 33 in Li Lou II. The cleanest entry point is "If the lady Xi had been covered with…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about seeing people clearly, ritual restraint, and governing relationships and can be read alongside Human nature.
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Related principles
Citation note
Do not reduce it to surface cleanliness. Mencius is using outer purity to make a deeper point: human beings are not permanently locked by labels if they can truly be brought into the fitting state.