鐔津文集 4.11

4.11

Someone said: "I have heard that human nature has higher and lower grades, just like the hands and feet, which cannot be interchanged. Therefore Confucius said: 'Only the highest wisdom and the lowest stupidity do not change.' Master Han said: 'Those of the upper grade are simply good; those of the lower grade are simply evil.' Mencius said: 'Is the nature of a dog then like the nature of an ox, and the nature of an ox like the nature of a human?' Yet your account of nature seems to hold that there is no distinction between the worthy and the unworthy, nor between humans and beasts; it blends them into one without distinguishing their higher and lower grades, so that feet could be placed on the head, and the head placed on the feet—turned completely upside down! How does this show what does not change? How do you differ from the teachings of the sages and worthies?"

The elder said: "Although I talk on and on with you all day, you remain stubborn and unenlightened; is there nothing to be done? You take up my words without connecting them with your mind, and still reproach me with mere matters of fact! Though I might speak skillfully, how could I escape the condemnation of being verbose? When Zhongni said, 'Only the highest wisdom and the lowest stupidity do not change,' he meant that people have talent and lack of talent, and their allotments are fixed. Those who are talented and clear-sighted are the upper; those who are untalented and benighted are the lower. How could he have meant that their nature has higher and lower grades? Therefore, he first said: 'By nature they are near to one another; by habituation they grow far apart,' and then followed this with 'the highest wisdom and the lowest stupidity do not change.' If we were to hold that nature has higher and lower grades that cannot change, then the nature that desires food, drink, men, and women would belong only to the wise, and the foolish would not possess it. If all possess it, one cannot say that their nature is fixed in higher and lower grades. Master Han's words drew upon what Zhongni called 'do not change'; failing to examine its meaning deeply, he rashly fixed higher and lower grades by goodness and evil—how could that be correct? Good and evil pertain to the passions (qing), not to nature. Why is it that the passions have good and evil, whereas nature has neither good nor evil? Nature is tranquil; the passions are active. The forms of good and evil become visible in activity. When Mencius said that the nature of a dog is like the nature of an ox, and the nature of an ox is like the nature of a human, Master Meng was pointing to what nature desires; naturally these are not the same. What I speak of is nature; what those two masters spoke of is the passions. As for passions, who is not different? As for nature, who is not identical?"

Someone said: "If that is so, then dogs and oxen are like humans, and ordinary people are like the sages and worthies. How then are ordinary people and sages and worthies distinguished?"

[The elder] said: "You truly do not understand. Dogs and oxen are dogs and oxen; ordinary people are ordinary people; sages and worthies are sages and worthies. What makes dogs and oxen to be dogs and oxen is that they have nature but lack discernment. What makes ordinary people to be ordinary people is that they have spiritual awareness (ling) but lack clarity. What makes worthy people to be worthy people is that they are clear but not yet fully authentic (cheng). What makes sages to be sages is that they are both authentic and clear. Now authenticity is what is called great authenticity (some editions read 'da' [great], others read 'xing' [nature]); it is the Way of the Mean. In stillness, it shares its principle with Heaven and Earth; in movement, it accords in its operation with the four seasons. For this reason, when the sage applies it to ritual propriety, rulers and ministers take their proper stations, fathers and sons are affectionate, brothers are fraternal, men and women are distinguished; the elderly have someone to care for them, the young have someone to teach them, the able-bodied have someone to serve, the weak have someone to secure them; weddings and funerals obtain their proper fitness from beginning to end; and none of the myriad things of Heaven and Earth lacks its order. When he applies it to music, the court is dignified and harmonious, the world is free of sorrow, yin and yang are in harmony, the wind and rain are timely, and among all creatures possessing blood and breath, none fails to be revived and gladdened; songs are sung at the suburban altars and the ancestral temple, and the ghosts and spirits arrive. When he applies it to punishments, the armies, prisons, and litigations are well-ordered, the four Yi and eight Man barbarians stand in awe of his majesty, and the common people stay far from crime and turn toward goodness. When he applies it to governance, the worthy advance daily, the flatterers are cut off and banished, institutions are broadly established, and cultural glory and institutional splendor can be displayed to later generations. Loving them with benevolence, the four seas are peaceful; ordering them with righteousness, the myriad things are fitting; directing them with wisdom, affairs are accomplished; sustaining them with trustworthiness, the world responds with actuality. Such is the sage's enactment of the Mean."