A Page Wiser

Mencius

Mencius in 30 Pages

One page at a time, from “do I love to argue?” to “fully use your heart and you know your nature”: how a heart that leans toward good grows into a flood-like spirit.

Start with page one

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A child crawls toward the wellalarm, and a heart that cannot bear it 仁

The four sprouts of the heart

  1. Compassion → humaneness (仁)You can't bear to see someone suffer.
  2. Shame → rightness (义)You feel ashamed of your own wrongs and dislike wrongs done.
  3. Deference → ritual propriety (礼)You're willing to step back and let others go first.
  4. Right and wrong → wisdom (智)You can tell right from wrong.

I · Why Mencius ArguedWisdom, kindness and courage in parables and sayings

01Do I Love to Argue?02Climbing a Tree to Catch Fish03Fifty Paces Laughing at a Hundred04He Saw the Ox, Not the Sheep05One Day of Sun, Ten of Cold06Look Back at Yourself07In Hard Times, Keep Yourself Good

II · Goodness Is No FantasyHuman nature leans toward good; sincerity sets it moving

08The Small Difference09What We Know Without Learning10A Child About to Fall into a Well11Four Sprouts12Like Water Flowing Down13The Trees of Ox Mountain14Rightness Pleases the Heart15Go and Find Your Lost Heart

III · Growing a Flood-like SpiritFrom self-cultivation to standing tall in the world

16Though Thousands Stand Against Me17My Flood-like Spirit18Pulling the Sprouts19When Heaven Has a Great Task20All Things Are Complete in Me21A Person of Great Stature22The Fish and the Bear's Paw23Three Joys

IV · Six Stages of CharacterGood, true, beautiful, great, sage, divine

24Four Kinds of Sage25Like a River Bursting Its Banks26Anyone Can Become a Sage27Good, Then True28Beautiful, Then Great29Sage, and Beyond Knowing30Know Your Heart, Know Heaven

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