Mencius facts for kids
Mencius (pronounced Men-shus) was an important Chinese thinker and teacher. His real name was Meng Ke (Chinese: 孟軻), but people called him Meng Zi (Chinese: 孟子), which means "Master Meng." He lived a long time ago, from about 371 BC to 289 BC. Mencius greatly admired Confucius, another famous Chinese teacher. Mencius wrote a book, also called Mencius, to explain Confucius's ideas more deeply.
In his book, Mencius taught that all people are born with four special "gifts" or good qualities. These gifts help us be good and fair. The first gift is being able to feel what others feel and wanting to help them. The second is knowing when you haven't done your part to help society. The third is seeing problems before they get big and solving them peacefully. The fourth is wanting to help people who are being treated unfairly.
Mencius also believed that leaders should serve their people. He said that if a ruler didn't take care of the people, the people had the right to remove that ruler.
Contents
Ancient China: Mencius's World
Mencius lived during the Zhōu dynasty in ancient China. People at that time believed that after death, people continued to exist in some way. This belief was very old. They often said that the dead went to Tiān (天).
What is Tiān?
Tiān has several meanings, like "sky," "day," "Heaven," and "God." The old Chinese symbol for Tiān looks like a person with a very big head. This might mean "head man" or "leader." Some think Tiān was originally the name of a powerful ancestor. Later, people might have forgotten this and started to see Tiān as a god. Then, Tiān also became the name of the place where this god lived, which was high above, so it meant "Heaven" or "sky."
Ancient Heroes and Floods
China has many old myths, even older than the Zhōu dynasty. There were several culture heroes, wise ancient emperors. These included Huáng Dì (the Yellow Emperor), Yáo, Shùn, and Yǚ. They lived before the first known dynasty, the Xià.
The story of Yǚ becoming emperor was very important to followers of Confucius. The myth says that the world was flooded. Yǚ's father, Gǔn, tried to stop the water by building dams. But this didn't work because the water just built up and then burst out. So Yǚ took over. He cleaned out the rivers and made them deeper. This allowed the extra water to flow easily to the sea.
Mencius didn't tell the part about Gǔn. But he did share how Yǚ deepened the rivers to drain the land. From Yǚ's story, Mencius and the Chinese people learned a big lesson: it's better to let forces flow out in a safe way. Trying to block them up will cause bigger problems later.
Heaven's Will and Good Rulers
The founders of the Zhōu dynasty believed that King Wen, a wise leader, could still act in the world even after he died. He and his ancestors were important in old writings. These writings said that Tiān chooses who will be the human "steward" or helper on Earth. This person would carry out Tiān's will. But Tiān would only let someone be king if they truly cared for the well-being of all people.
Mencius shared the story of Yǚ in his book:
At the time of [the sage emperor] Yao, the rivers stopped flowing normally and flooded the Central Kingdom. Then snakes and dragons lived there, and people had no fixed homes. Those in lower places made nests in trees, and those in higher places made underground shelters.
The Book of Records says: "The flood alarms me." Yü was hired to manage the flood. Yü dug up the earth and sent the water to the sea. He drove away the snakes and dragons and sent them to the marshes. When water traveled through the land, it formed the Yangze River, the Huai River, the Yellow River, and the Han River. Since the [marshes] were far away, the harm caused by birds and beasts to humans was stopped. After that, humans could live on the plains. However, after [people's memories of] both Yao and Shun faded, the way of the sages became much weaker.
Mencius also said:
If these wise ones could act as Yü did in managing the flood waters, then what would there be to dislike about them? Yü managed the flood waters by doing his work without a lot of fuss. If these wise ones could also act without making any fuss, then their wisdom would be great.
For Mencius, Yü's way of doing things was the best. Yü was one of Mencius's great heroes.
Mencius: A Philosopher or Teacher?
In modern times, we often separate philosophy from science. But long ago, what we now call science was sometimes called "natural philosophy." Mencius was like a natural philosopher. He studied humans in a similar way that a scientist might study animals.
Mencius asked: What do people do that helps families and communities work well? What do they do that harms them? And why do they do these things? He was a "master," meaning a teacher, and a follower of Confucius. His work helped people understand human behavior and how to live a good life.
Mencius's Main Ideas About People
Mencius said that we don't need to be taught to love the taste of good food; it's natural. Similarly, he believed we have other natural good feelings. These are like gifts we are born with. We can't truly get rid of them, but we can let them get covered up so they don't work right. It's like how you can't remove your nose, but you can block it and stop smelling. So, it's important not to do anything that stops these four gifts from working well. When people are cared for and protected from bad influences, they will naturally be good.
Mencius believed that the good qualities or "powers" humans have come directly from Heaven. These same qualities are also in Heaven. When people do bad things, it's because other parts of them have taken control away from these good qualities.
The Four Virtues or Powers
The Chinese word for these "gifts" or "powers" is 德 (dé). It means "virtue," but also "the power to do something." Humans have four main virtues or powers:
- 仁 (rén) means the ability to feel what others are experiencing as if it were happening to you. If you see someone about to get hurt, you would feel bad and want to stop it. This can be translated as "kindness," "empathy," or "human-heartedness."
- 義 (yì) means feeling bad about yourself when you know you haven't done your part or your duty. If you agreed to wash dishes on a trip but never did, you would feel ashamed. This is like a "sense of duty" or "sense of right and wrong." It's about how you feel about your own actions.
- 禮 (lǐ) means understanding your place in society and how to act so people get along well. For example, you might walk right into your own house without knocking. But if you go to someone else's house, you knock and wait. This shows you have peaceful intentions. Different cultures have different ways of doing this. The important thing is that everyone agrees on the same plan. This is often called a "sense of propriety," meaning knowing what is proper or fitting in social situations to avoid unnecessary conflicts.
- 智 (zhì) means the ability to see what is right and wrong when something happens between people. If you see a strong adult taking food from a starving child, you would immediately know it's wrong. This is like "wisdom," especially the wisdom to understand the truth of a situation and tell what is fair and unfair.
Humans have these four good powers, but they also have other feelings like fear, anger, or wanting wealth. People can easily learn to ignore their good qualities to satisfy these other desires.
The Role of Will (Zhì)
So, what decides who will be good and who will be bad? Mencius observed that humans have another important mental function. He called it 志 (Zhì), which we can call the will. This is the part of us that decides what to do when our good feelings (the "four virtues") clash with everyday desires like hunger or anger.
For Mencius, if a person is doing well, their will can balance all these feelings. It can keep the good virtues from being overwhelmed by ordinary desires. If a person's will is not in control, they might harm themselves or others. So, it's important to learn how to keep your will strong and not let it be controlled by other forces or people.
Mencius believed that each person can choose to bring all their feelings and thoughts together so they don't fight each other. Or, they can give up and just act on whatever feeling they have at the moment. For Mencius, the best path is to plan and act to become a well-balanced person, useful to society.
Becoming a Morally Noble Person
Someone who lives a very good and balanced life is called a 君子 (jūn zǐ), or "morally noble man."
Mencius said: "That by which humans differ from the birds and the beasts is extremely small. Ordinary people get rid of it, but the morally noble man keeps it safe. [The sage emperor] Shun clearly saw the many creatures, and he made a close examination of human social relationships. His actions came out of his kindness and his sense of duty. He did not act out [a fake] kindness and sense of duty."
So, a jūn zǐ is someone who has held onto the good gifts Heaven gave them. These gifts make humans act with kindness, be led by duty, want good relations with others, and help those treated unfairly. To be a true jūn zǐ, a person must have these real feelings and act on them, not just pretend.
Mencius believed anyone could choose to become a morally noble person. It just takes making that decision and then doing it. He talked about Yan Yuan, a favorite student of Confucius:
Yan Yuan said: "What kind of a man was Shun? What kind of a man am I? All it takes to be like him is to do it."
Of course, Mencius knew that "just doing it" is much harder than talking about it. You have to keep watching yourself all the time.
One of Mencius's goals was to develop an "unmovable mind." This means a mind that can't be easily pushed around by outside things. An "unmovable mind" is protected from doing wrong things because of anger or fear. Anything that can pull or push us and make us lose control could cause harm. But Mencius said that if your will and your four virtues are well put together, these outside forces can't take over.
Helping Good Qualities Grow
Every culture has ways to help children stay out of trouble. One way is to explain the likely results of their actions. "If you pull the dog's ears, he will bite you."
Chinese culture has another method: encouraging a child to use their own good qualities. If a child does something hurtful, instead of saying they are bad, parents might say: "We saw you take the eggs from the sparrow's nest. We know you are a good person. Did you think about how the mother sparrow will feel when she comes back and finds her children gone? Would you like to put the eggs back while they are still warm?"
The goal is not to make the child feel horrible or fear punishment. It's to help the child listen to the quiet voice of their "conscience." Then, the child will naturally feel what the mother sparrow would feel. The child will then do something to prevent that bad feeling. The next time, the child might think about the mother sparrow before taking any eggs.
It takes a long time to get good at listening to these four gifts from Heaven. It also takes practice to understand the possible results of your actions. So, becoming a truly good person is a lifelong journey that is never really finished. In traditional Chinese society, young people were encouraged to read stories of good deeds and books by thinkers like Confucius and Mencius. This helped them learn to see all the results of actions and keep anger, fear, and other emotions from overpowering their four good virtues.
Other Books to Read
- Three Ways of Thought in Ancient China, by Arthur Waley
Images for kids
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Mencius, from Myths and Legends of China, 1922 by E. T. C. Werner
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Painting of Mengzi by Kanō Sansetsu. Japan, Edo period, 1632.
See also
In Spanish: Mencio para niños
