Menzii Analysis

The Relationship of Physical Needs to Cultivating Life: According to Mengzi

As a general rule, one might say that Mengzi believes in the potential for good of human nature; if given the right environment, one is able and will be motivated to improve oneself. In Mengzi 7A27, Mengzi brings up the situation where one’s environment is not ideal; as a result, a person is not inclined to cultivate himself (Mengzi, 153). Therefore, I believe what Mengzi means is that if our basic economic needs are not fulfilled, the pain of these economic hardships will spill over into our hearts and minds, thereby hindering successful cultivation in the Way. The first part of 7A27 posits that those who are starving will always think food and drink as good, no
In 7A7, Mengzi appears to assert that one must strive to be like others who are better than them– “If one is not ashamed of not being as good as others, how will one ever be as good as others?” (152). Yet in 7A27, it seems he has taken the opposite stance when he says, “then there will be no concern about not being as good as other people” (153). Can this be so? I believe it is not. In 7A27, Mengzi is specifically referring to economic hardship, where some people are poorer than others, whereas in 7A7, he is referring to the virtuosity of people in relation to others. Therefore, what I believe he is claiming is that an unrighteous person must have a sense of shame to become righteous, but a person need not be “as good as others” in a material sense in order to become righteous. And, true to form, he gives an example of who these righteous, poor people might be: In 1A7, he says “to lack a constant livelihood, yet to have a constant heart–only a scholar is capable of this” (122). This is a concrete example helping to distinguish between the two forms of emulating others that Mengzi later describes, which ensures he is not contradicting