"Mencius: King Hui of Liang" embodies Mencius' thought of "benevolent government".
"Mencius: King Hui of Liang, Part 1" comes from "Mencius: King Hui of Liang", written by Mencius.
Title of work
King Hui of Liang
Author
Mencius
Era of Creation
< p>Warring States PeriodSource of the work
"Mencius King Hui of Liang"
Literary Genre
Classical Chinese
Quick
Navigation
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Introduction
"King Hui of Liang" It is the title of the first chapter of "Mencius". "Mencius", like "The Analects of Confucius", originally had no chapter title. Later generations generally use the first two or three characters in the first chapter of each chapter as the title. There are seven chapters in "Mencius". When Zhao Qi wrote annotations for "Mencius" at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he divided each chapter into upper and lower chapters, and later generations followed suit.
Note: King Hui of Liang is King Hui of Wei.
Chapter 1
Original text
Mencius met King Hui of Liang. The king said: "The old man has come thousands of miles away, and he will benefit my country."
Mencius said to him: "Why should the king say benefit? It is just benevolence and righteousness. The king said, 'How can it benefit me? "The country", the officials said, "How can it benefit my family?" The scholars and common people said, "How can it benefit my body?" The country is in danger when the superiors and subordinates are conquering each other. If a country of ten thousand chariots kills its king, the family of a thousand chariots will be destroyed. Those who kill their king will surely have a family of hundreds of thousands. If a thousand is taken away from a hundred, it will not be enough. If you want to benefit first for the sake of later righteousness, you will not be satisfied if you don't take away your relatives. He is the one who succeeds to the throne without righteousness. The king also calls it benevolence and righteousness, why should he call it benefit?"
Notes
① King Hui of Liang: Wei Feng, King Hui of Wei during the Warring States Period, 369 BC. —Reigned in 319 BC. The original capital of Wei was Anyi (now northwest of Xia County, Shanxi). Due to the pressure of the Qin State, King Wei Hui moved the capital to Daliang (now Kaifeng, Henan) in 361 BC, so Wei was also called Liang, and King Wei Hui was also called Liang. King Hui. "Hui" is his posthumous title after his death.
②Benevolence and righteousness: "Benevolence" is a Confucian moral concept with a wide range of meanings. It is a summary of various good qualities. The core refers to the mutual love between people. "Righteousness", in Confucianism, means that thoughts and actions conform to certain standards.
③Dafu: The name of the official rank in the pre-Qin era. There were three levels under the king: minister, doctor, and scholar. Home: The fiefdom of a doctor. A fief is a land (including the laborers on the land) granted by the princes to their ministers and officials as Shilu. It is also called cai (cài).
④Zheng: Zhao Qi's note says: "Zheng means to take."
⑤Murder: In ancient times, killing the superior with inferiority was called genicide.
⑥Cheng: sound shèng, quantifier, a car and four horses are one car. At that time, the main form of warfare was chariot warfare. A chariot was pulled by four horses, with three armed soldiers on board, followed by several infantrymen. In ancient times, the number of military chariots was often used to measure the size of vassal states or fiefdoms of ministers and officials.
⑦餍(yàn): satisfied.
Translation
Mencius met with King Hui of Liang. King Hui of Liang said: "Old sir, you have come all the way. You must have some great ideas that are beneficial to my country."
Mencius replied: "Your Majesty, why bother talking about benefits? As long as Just talk about benevolence and righteousness. The king said, "How can I benefit my country?" The doctor said, "How can I benefit my family?" Ordinary people and common people said, "How can I benefit myself?" Competing for mutual interests will put the country in danger. In a country with 10,000 military chariots, the person who kills the king must be a doctor with 1,000 military chariots; in a country with 1,000 military chariots, the person who kills him must The king must be a man who owns a hundred chariots. In a country with ten thousand chariots, these magistrates own a thousand chariots, and in a country with a thousand chariots, they own a hundred chariots. Their possession is not insignificant. Many. If you put morality first and interests first, you will not be satisfied if you don't win the position of king. There is no person who has ever been "benevolent" but abandoned his parents, and there has never been anyone who has been righteous but ignored the king. Just talk about benevolence and righteousness, why must we talk about benefit?