Mencius

209 Pages·2009·1.18 MB·English

by  Philip J Ivanhoe (ed.)

Mencius: paperback cover; 4/c process only, matte lam. All art is live and in position.
8/16”
bulk
“A tremendous accomplishment that crowns Irene Bloom’s exemplary career.
M
. . . Essential.”—CHOICE
Known throughout East Asia as Mengzi, or “Master Meng,” Mencius (391–308 B.C.E.) E
was a Chinese philosopher of the late Zhou dynasty and an instrumental figure in the
N
spread of the Confucian tradition. Active during the Warring States Period (403–221
B.C.E.), in which competing powers sought to control the declining Zhou empire,
Mencius, like Confucius, journeyed to one feudal court after another, searching for C
a proper lord who could put his teachings into practice. Only a leader who possessed
the moral qualities of a true king could unify China, Mencius believed, and in his de- I
fense of Zhou rule and Confucian philosophy, he developed an innovative and highly U
nuanced approach to understanding politics, self-cultivation, and human nature.
S
Mencius is a record of the philosopher’s conversations with warring lords, disciples,
and adversaries of the Way, as well as a collection of pronouncements on government,
human nature, and a variety of other philosophical and political subjects. Mencius
is largely concerned with the motivations of human actors and their capacity for
M
mutual respect. He builds on the Confucian idea of ren, or humaneness, and places
E
into atlioonng osfi dweh taht ei sc roigmhpt lfeomr ecnerttaariyn pinridnicviipdluea losf a ysi t,h oery rpiegrhftonremss d, iasdtivnacnt crionlge s ai nc ospmecpilfiexc coverimag NCIU
situations. Consequently, Mencius’s impact was felt not only in the thought of the in- :Ne S
tellectual and social elite but also in the value and belief systems of all Chinese people, atio
n
profoundly influencing the course of Confucian thought and East Asian culture in a
l P
the centuries that followed. ala
ce
M
u
“Bloom’s book is an exemplification of the best Sinological scholarship. Its se
u
m
interpretive brilliance will be a source of inspiration for years to come.” , T
a
—TU WEIMING, PEKING UNIVERSITY AND HARVARD UNIVERSITY ipe
i, T
a
iw
IRENE BLOOM (1939–2010) was professor emerita of Asian and Middle East- an
ern cultures at Columbia University and Barnard College. She edited and trans- , Re
p
u
lated Knowledge Painfully Acquired: The K’un-chih chi of Lo Ch’in-shun and coedited, b
with Joshua A. Fogel, Meeting of Minds: Intellectual and Religious Interaction in East lic of C
Asian Traditions of Thought. hin
a

PcoedirHteelIdigL imoInPo r aeJn .t dhI VaitnAs paN odHtoenzOetniEa lb sfopooerk ccisao, lniiznteecsml uinpd oitnrhager yRh ieesattdhoiirncysg .os Hff rEoeam hst a tsAh esw iaLrniut t-peWhnai,l noegds oiStpechhdyo, oaalnn oddf coverdesig COLUM MENCIUS EADNIDT EWDITH AN
Neo-Confucianism and Confucian Moral Self-Cultivation. :Milendn BIA TRANSLATED BY IRENE BLOOM IPNhTiRliOpD JU. CIvTaIOnNh BoYe
a
TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ASIAN CLASSICS N
a
n
O
Columbia University Press / New York k
L
www.cup.columbia.edu ee
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
mencius
Translations from the Asian Classics
translations from the asian classics
editorial board
Wm. Theodore de Bary, Chair
Paul Anderer
Irene Bloom
Donald Keene
George A. Saliba
Haruo Shirane
Wei Shang
M e n C I u S
Translated by Irene Bloom
edited and with an introduction
by philip j. ivanhoe
Columbia university Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2009 Columbia University Press
Paperback edition, 2011
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mencius.
[Mengzi. English.]
Mencius / translated by Irene Bloom ;
edited and with an introduction by Philip J. Ivanhoe.
p. cm. — (Translations from the Asian Classics)
Includes index.
isbn 978-0-231-12204-7 (cloth : alk. paper)—isbn 978-0-231-12205-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)—
isbn 978-0-231-52058-4 (ebook)
I. Bloom, Irene. II. Ivanhoe, P. J. III. Title. V. Series.
PL2478.P24 2009
181'.112—dc22 2009005319
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable
acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither
the editor nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or
changed since the manuscript was prepared.
contents
editor’s Preface vii
Introduction ix
book 1a 1
book 1b 13
book 2a 27
book 2b 38
book 3a 49
book 3b 61
book 4a 73
book 4b 86
book 5a 97
book 5b 110
book 6a 121
book 6b 132
book 7a 144
book 7b 156
Glossary of Persons and Places 169

editor’s preface
Jennifer Crewe, of Columbia university Press, asked me to edit Profes-
sor Irene T. Bloom’s manuscript translation of Mencius and to write an
introduction in order to finish the work that illness prevented Profes-
sor Bloom from completing. I have done my best to preserve not only
the meaning but also the spirit of Professor Bloom’s translation, mak-
ing only a few minor changes in passages where I am confident she
would have been persuaded to change her mind had we the chance to
discuss matters. I have added a few additional references and Chinese
characters in places where she indicated some significant interpretive
or textual issue had informed her translation. In editing the text, I had
the good fortune of being guided by a set of splendid comments by
Professor Burton Watson; his helpful suggestions aided me greatly and
enhanced the final product significantly.
I am honored to have had the chance to assist a colleague and friend
like Irene Bloom. Her work, on both Mencius and neo-Confucian
thinkers, her example, and her counsel have influenced me since I was
in graduate school. I feel most fortunate to have known such an in-
sightful, generous, patient, sensitive, and elegant scholar. I know I shall
not look upon her like again and hope that some of her likeness comes
through in this work.
Philip J. Ivanhoe
City University of Hong Kong

introduction
The Man and the Work
Mencius records the teachings of the Chinese philosopher whose sur-
name was Meng 孟 and personal name Ke 軻. Throughout east Asia,
he is better known as Mengzi 孟子, or “Master Meng” (391–308 b.c.e.);
“Mencius” is the Latinized version of this more widely used appellation.
Mencius lived during the later part of the Zhou dynasty (traditional
dates: 1122–249 b.c.e.), in a time known as the Warring States period
(403–221 b.c.e.). This was an age in which the older feudal order of
the Zhou dynasty had deteriorated. The Zhou king ruled in name only
and his former empire was divided into different states, each with its
own ruler, who continued to vie with the rulers of other states for su-
premacy. These state rulers often illegitimately claimed for themselves
the title of king (wang 王) in an attempt to arrogate to themselves what
rightfully belonged to the now enfeebled Zhou king. These features
of Mencius’s time often are reflected in the conversations he had with
rulers of various states, for example his conversations with King Hui of
Liang and King Xuan of Qi in the first part of book 1, about how they
might realize their grand ambition to unite and rule over all of China.
As readers will see from the translation, Mencius thought that only
someone who possessed the moral qualities of a true king, someone
worthy of the title, could successfully unify the empire, and in many of
his conversations he tries to steer the attention of various state rulers
from their desire for power to a concern with morality. Like Kong-
zi (Confucius) before him, Mencius defended the older Zhou form
of life, which of course entailed the preeminence of the Zhou king,
but he did so in a new, intellectually more diverse and sophisticated
context. He faced a wide range of formidable challengers to the Way