$Unique_ID{how00596}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Civilizations Past And Present
Document: Mencius On Human Nature}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Wallbank;Taylor;Bailkey;Jewsbury;Lewis;Hackett}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{water
nature

}
$Date{1992}
$Log{}
Title:       Civilizations Past And Present
Book:        Chapter 4:  The Asian Way Of Life
Author:      Wallbank;Taylor;Bailkey;Jewsbury;Lewis;Hackett
Date:        1992

Document: Mencius On Human Nature

     Kao Tzu said: "The nature of man may be likened to a swift current of
     water: you lead it eastward and it will flow to the east; you lead it
     westward and it will flow to the west. Human nature is neither disposed
     to good nor to evil, just as water is neither disposed to east nor west."
     Mencius replied: "It is true that water is neither disposed to east nor
     west, but is it neither disposed to flowing upward nor downward? The
     tendency of human nature to do good is like that of water to flow
     downward. There is no man who does not tend to do good; there is no
     water that does not flow downward. Now you may strike water and make it
     splash over your forehead, or you may even force it up the hills. But is
     this in the nature of water? It is of course due to the force of
     circumstances. Similarly, man may be brought to do evil, and that is
     because the same is done to his nature."

Source: Theodore de Bary, ed., Sources of Chinese Tradition (New York:
Columbia University Press, 1960), pp. 102-3.