Teng Wen Gong I · Passage 01 / 05 · 孟子 3A.1
Mencius 3A.1: why keep returning to the line
By repeating Yan Yuan's line about Shun, Mencius rejects the mythologizing of sages: if Shun was human, then the decisive question is not why we cannot.
滕文公為世子，將之楚，過宋而見孟子。孟子道性善，言必稱堯、舜。世子自楚反，復見孟子。孟子曰：「世子疑吾言乎？夫道一而已矣。成覸謂齊景公曰：『彼丈夫也，我丈夫也，吾何畏彼哉？』顏淵曰：『舜何人也？予何人也？有為者亦若是。』公明儀曰：『文王我師也，周公豈欺我哉？』今滕絕長補短，將五十里也，猶可以為善國。《書》曰：『若藥不瞑眩，厥疾不瘳。』」
When the prince, afterwards duke Wen of Teng, had to go to Chu, he went by way of Song, and visited Mencius. Mencius discoursed to him how the nature of man is good, and when speaking, always made laudatory reference to Yao and Shun. When the prince was returning from Chu, he again visited Mencius. Mencius said to him, 'Prince, do you doubt my words? The path is one, and only one. Cheng Gan said to duke Jing of Qi, "They were men. I am a man. Why should I stand in awe of them?" Yan Yuan said, "What kind of man was Shun? What kind of man am I? He who exerts himself will also become such as he was." Gong Ming Yi said, "King Wen is my teacher. How should the duke of Zhou deceive me by those words?" Now, Teng, taking its length with its breadth, will amount, I suppose, to fifty li. It is small, but still sufficient to make a good State. It is said in the Book of History, "If medicine do not raise a commotion in the patient, his disease will not be cured by it."'
Priority note
A human-edited reading layer
Central question
Why does Mencius keep returning to the line 'What kind of man was Shun, and what kind of man am I?'
Direct answer
Because he wants to destroy the excuse that sages belong to another species. If Shun was a man, then the real issue is not metaphysical distance but whether we will exert ourselves in the same direction.
First principle
One of the deepest barriers to growth is treating exemplars as unrelated beings so that we can avoid responsibility for changing ourselves.
Why it matters
This passage directly serves searches around Shun, sagehood, and whether ordinary people can become morally great, making it a strong bridge from human goodness to practice.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 1 of 5 in Teng Wen Gong I. The cleanest entry point is "Prince, do you doubt my words". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about livelihood, education, and institutional beginnings and can be read alongside Human nature, Humane government / kingly way.
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Human nature is good: the starting point of moral growth
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Teng Wen Gong I ties livelihood, teaching, and institutional design to whether people can truly be settled.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not flatten it into motivational fluff. Mencius is not cheering abstract self-belief; he is relocating responsibility from mythic distance back onto present effort.