University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXXI.

The Forming of Characters (Shuai-hsing).

Speaking of human nature one must distinguish good and bad
characters. The good ones are so of themselves, the wicked can
be instructed and urged on to do good. A sovereign or a father
seeing that his subjects or sons have good characters, provides for
them, exhorts them, and keeps them out of the reach of evil. If
the latter come into contact with it, they assist and shield them,
and try to win them back to the cause of virtue. It is by the
transition of virtue into wickedness and of wickedness into virtue
that the characters are formed.

The duke of Shao admonished King Chêng saying:—"Now you
for the first time carry out Heaven's decree. Oh! you are like a
youth with whom all depends on his first years of life."[1]

By youth is meant the age up to fifteen. If a youth's thoughts
are directed towards virtue, he will be virtuous to the last, but if
his propensities tend to badness, he will end badly.

The Shiking says "What can that admirable man be compared
to?"[2] The Tso-chuan answers, "He is like boiled silk; dyed with
indigo, it becomes blue; coloured with vermilion, it turns crimson."
A youth of fifteen is like silk, his gradual changes into good or
bad resembling the dying of boiled silk with indigo and vermilion,
which gives it a blue or a red colour. When these colours have
once set, they cannot be altered again. It is for this reason
that Yang Tse[3] wept over the by-roads and Mê Tse[4] over boiled

silk. They were sorrowful, because men having gone astray from
the right path cannot be transformed any more. Human nature
turns from good into bad, and from bad into good only in this
manner. Creepers growing amidst hemp, stand upright without
support by themselves. White silk yarn placed amongst dark,
becomes black without boiling. Creepers are not straight by nature,
nor is the black colour an attribute of silk yarn. The hemp
affording support, and the dark silk lending the colour, creepers
and white silk become straight and black. Human nature bears a
resemblance to creepers and silk yarn. In a milieu favourable to
transformation or colouring, it turns good or bad.

Wang Liang and Tsao Fu were famous as charioteers:—out of
unruly and vicious animals they made good ones. Had they only
been able to drive good horses, but incapable of breaking bad ones,
they would have been nothing more than jockeys and ordinary
equerries. Their horsemanship would not have been remarkable
nor deserving of world-wide fame. Of Wang Liang the saying goes
that, when he stepped into a chariot, the steeds knew no exhaustion.

Under the rule of Yao and Shun people were neither seditious
nor ignorant. Tradition says that the people of Yao and Shun
might have been invested with fiefs house by house,[5] whereas those
of Chieh Kuei[6] were worthy of death door by door. The people
followed the way prescribed by the three dynasties. That the
people of the holy emperors were like this, those of the wicked
emperors otherwise, was merely the result of the influence of their
rulers, not of the people's original nature.

The covetous hearing of Po Yi's[7] fame became disinterested,
and the weak resolute. The news of Liu Hsia Hui's[8] reputation
made the niggardly generous and the mean liberal. If the spread
of fame alone could bring about such changes, what then must be
the effect of personal intercourse and tuition?

The seventy disciples of the school of Confucius were each of
them able to creditably fill the post of a minister of state. Conforming

to the holy doctrines, they became accomplished scholars,
and their knowledge and skill grew tenfold. This was the result
of teaching; thus latent faculties were gradually developed. Before
they joined Confucius' school, they sauntered about in the streets as
quite ordinary and in no wise exceptional people. The most ungovernable
of all was Tse Lu, who is generally reported to have
been a common and unsteady individual. Before he became Confucius'
pupil, he wore a feather hat and a pig skin belt. He was brutal
and unmannerly. Whenever he heard some reading, he tossed up
his feather hat, pulled his belt, and uttered such a yell, that he
deafened the ears of the worthies and sages. Such was his wickedness.
Confucius took him under his guidance. By degrees he polished
and instructed him. The more he advanced in knowledge,
the more he lost his fierceness, and his arrogance was broken. At
last he was able to govern a state, and ranked in the four classes.[9]
This is a shining example of how a man's character was changed
from bad into good.

Fertility and sterility are the original nature of the soil. If
it be rich and moist, the nature is good, and the crops will be
exuberant, whereas, if it be barren and stony, the nature is bad.
However, human efforts:—deep ploughing, thorough tilling, and a
copious use of manure may help the land, so that the harvest will
become like that of the rich and well watered fields. Such is the
case with the elevation of the land also. Fill up the low ground
with earth, dug out by means of hoes and spades, and the low
land will be on a level with the high one. If these works are still
continued, not only will the low land be on a level, but even higher
than the high land. The high ground will then become the low
one. Let us suppose that the human natures are partly good,
partly bad; as the land may be either high or low. By making
use of the good effects of education goodness can be spread and
generalized. Reformation being pushed on and instruction persevered
in, people will change and become still better. Goodness will
increase and reach a still higher standard than it had before, just
as low ground, filled up with hoes and spades, rises higher than
the originally elevated ground.

T`se[10] though not predestinated thereto, made a fortune. His
capital increased without a decree from Heaven which would have

him rich. The accumulation of wealth is due to the cleverness of
the rich men of the time in making a fortune. Through this ability
of theirs they are themselves the authors of their growing wealth
without a special decree from Heaven. Similarly, he who has a
wicked nature changes his will and his doings, if he happens to
be taught by a Sage, although he was not endowed with a good
character by Heaven.

One speaks of good swords for which a thousand chin[11] are
paid, such as the Yü-ch`ang[12] sword of T`ang-ch`i[13] and the T`ai-a
sword[14] of Lung-ch`üan.[15] Their blade is originally nothing more than
a common piece of iron from a mountain. By the forger's smelting
and hammering they become sharp-edged. But notwithstanding this
smelting and hammering the material of good swords is not different
from others. All depends on excellent workmanship and on the
blade-smith's ability in working the iron. Take a sword worth
only one chin from Tung-hsia, heat it again, and forge it, giving it
sufficient fire, and smoothing and sharpening its edge, and it will
be like a sword of a thousand chin. Iron and stones are made by
Heaven, still being worked, they undergo a modification of their
substance. Why then should man, whose nature is imbued with
the five virtues, despair of the badness of his character, before he
has been thoroughly worked upon by Worthies and Sages?

The skillful physicians that in olden days were held in high
esteem, knew the sources where virulent diseases sprang from, and
treated and cured them with acupuncture and medicines. Had they
merely known the names of the complaints, but done nothing besides,
looking quietly on, would there have been anything wonderful
in them? Men who are not good have a disease of their nature.
To expect them to change without proper treatment and instruction
would be hopeless indeed.

The laws of Heaven can be applied in a right and in a wrong
way. The right way is in harmony with Heaven, the wrong one
owes its results to human astuteness, but cannot in its effects be

distinguished from the right one. This will be shown by the
following. Among the "Tribute of Yü"[16] are mentioned jade and
white corals.[17] These were the produce of earth and genuine precious
stones and pearls. But the Taoists melt five kinds of stones, and
make five-coloured gems out of them. Their lustre, if compared with
real gems, does not differ. Pearls in fishes and shells are as genuine
as the jade-stones in the Tribute of Yü. Yet the Marquis of Sui[18]
made pearls from chemicals, which were as brilliant as genuine ones.[19]
This is the climax of Taoist learning and a triumph of their skill.

By means of a burning-glass one catches fire from heaven.
Of five stones liquefied on the Ping-wu[20] day of the 5th moon an
instrument is cast, which, when polished bright, held up against
the sun, brings down fire too, in precisely the same manner as,
when fire is caught in the proper way. Now, one goes even so
far as to furbish the crooked blades of swords, till they shine,
when, held up against the sun, they attract fire also. Crooked
blades are not burning-glasses; that they can catch fire is the effect
of rubbing. Now, provided the bad-natured men are of the same
kind as good-natured ones, then they can be influenced, and induced
to do good. Should they be of a different kind, they can also be
coerced in the same manner as the Taoists cast gems, Sui Hou made
pearls, and people furbish the crooked blades of swords. Enlightened
with learning and familiarized with virtue, they too begin
by and by to practise benevolence and equity.

When Huang Ti fought with Yen Ti[21] for the empire, he taught
bears, leopards, and tigers to combat for him in the wilds of Fan-chüan.
After three battles he gained his end, and Yen Ti was routed.

Yao yielded the empire to Shun. Kun,[22] one of his vassals,
desired to become one of the three chief ministers, but Yao did

not listen to this request. Thereupon Kun became more infuriated
than even ferocious animals are, and wished to rebel. The horns
of animals, all in a line, served him as a rampart, and their lifted
tails were his banners. They opposed and tackled their foe with
the utmost determination and energy.—If birds and beasts, which
are shaped otherwise than man, can nevertheless be caused to fight,
how much more so man's own kindred? Proceeding on this line
of argument we have no reason to doubt that (by music) the multitudinous
animals were made to dance, the fish in the ponds to
come out and listen, and the six kinds of horses[23] to look up from
their fodder.[24]

The equalization of what varies in different categories as well
as the differentiation of what is the same in similar classes, does
not depend on the thing itself, but is man's doing.

It is by instruction that living beings are transformed. Among
the Three Miao tribes[25] some were honest, some disreputable. Yao
and Shun made them all alike by conferring the boon of instruction
upon them.

Suppose the men of Ch`u and Yüeh[26] to settle down in Chuang
or Yü.[27] Having passed there months and years, they would become
pliant and yielding, and their customs changed. They say that the
people of Ch`i are soft and supple, those of Ch`in unsteady and
versatile, of Ch`u lively and passionate, of Yen[28] dull and simple.
Now let us suppose that people of the four States alternately went
to live in Chuang and Yü for a certain time, the prolonged stay in
a place remote from their country would undubitably bring about
a change of their character.

A bad natured man's heart is like wood or stone, but even
wood and stone can be used by men, why not what really is
neither wood nor stone? We may hope that it will still be able

to understand the precepts of superior men. Only in the case of
insanity, when a person sings and weeps in the streets, knowing
neither east nor west, taking no heed of scorching heat or humidity,
unaware of his own madness and unconscious of hunger and satiety,
nature is deranged and upset, and there is no help. As such a man
sees nothing before him, he is afraid of nothing.

Therefore the government does not abolish the officers of
public instruction or dispense with criminal judges, wishing thereby
to inculcate the observance of the moral laws. The schools guide
people at first, the laws control and restrain them later on.

Even the will of a Tan Chu might be curbed; the proof is
that the soldiers of a big army are kept in order by reproofs.
Men and officers are held in check to such an extent, that they
look at death as a return.

Ho Lu[29] put his soldiers to the test by the "Five Lakes."[30]
They all cut their arms with swords, that the blood trickled down
to the ground. Kou Chien[31] also gave his men a trial in the hall
of his inner palace. Those who jumped into the fire and perished,
were innumerable. Human nature is not particularly fond of swords
and fire, but the two rulers had such a power over their men,
that they did not care for their lives. It is the effect of military
discipline to make light of cuts and blood.

Mêng Pên[32] was bold, but on hearing the order for the army
he became afraid. In the same way the officers who were wont
to draw their swords to fight out, whose merits were first, went
through all the ceremonial, and prostrated themselves (before the
emperor), when Shu Sun T`ung[33] had fixed the rites. Imperious and
overbearing first, they became obedient and submissive. The power
of instruction and the influence of virtue transform the character.
One need not sorrow that a character is bad, but it is to be
regretted, if it does not submit to the teachings of the sages. Such
an individual owes his misfortune to himself.

Beans and wheat are different from rice and millet, yet their
consumption satisfies the appetite. Are the natures of low and

superior men then of a different kind? They resemble the Five
Grains,[34] all have their use. There is no fundamental difference
between them, only their manifestations are unlike. The fluid men
are endowed with, is either copious or deficient, and their character
correspondingly good or bad. The wicked have received but a
small dose of kindness, the irascible, plenty of temper. If kindness
be unsufficient, people do wrong, and there is not much hope for
an improvement. With plenty of temper, people become violent,
and have no sense of justice. Moreover, their feeling of sympathy
is defective, joy and anger do not happen at the proper time, and
they have baseless and irreasonable fears. Reckless men like that
commit outrages, therefore they are considered bad.

Man has in his body the Five Qualities[35] and the Five Organs.[36]
If he got too little of them, or if they are too small, his actions
do not attain to goodness.[37] Man himself is either accomplished
or deficient, but accomplishment and deficiency do not mean a difference
of organisation. Use leaven in big, or in small quantities,
and the result will be similar. In rich as well as in poor wine
there is the same leaven. Good men as well as bad ones are
permeated by the same original fluid. According to its greater or
smaller volumen the mind of the individual is bright or dull.

Hsi Mên Pao would tighten his leathern belt, whenever he
wanted to relax himself. Tung An Yü loosened his girdle strings,
when he was going to rouse himself.[38] Yet neither passion nor
indolence is the right medium. However, he who wears a belt or
a girdle on his body is properly dressed. When the question
arises, how deficiencies can be made good by means of belts and
strings, the names of Hsi Mên Pao and Tung An Yü must be mentioned
together.[39]

Houses of poor, wretched people are not in a proper state.
They have holes in the walls under the roof, to which others take
objection. When rich and well-to-do people build houses, they
have the walls made in a way, that they find there real shelter.
The whole house is in good repair, and nobody could say anything
against it.[40]

In Wei[41] the land was divided in lots of a hundred mow, in
Yeh[42] alone the lots measured two hundred mow. Hsi Mên Pao irrigated
his land with water from the Chang[43] and made it so fertile,
that it yielded one bushel[44] per mow. Man's natural parts are like
the fields of Yeh, tuition and education, like the water from the
Chang. One must be sorry for him that cannot be transformed,
but not for a man whose character it is difficult to govern.

In the streets of the city of Loyang[45] there was no water. It
was therefore pulled up from the Lo by watermen.[46] If it was
streaming quickly day and night, it was their doing. From this
point of view kindness and justice must increase manifold in him
who comes into close contact with an excellent man.[47] Mencius'
mother changed her domicile, for she had ascertained this truth.[48]

Water amongst men is dirty and muddy, in the open country
it is clear and limpid. It is all the same water, and it flows from
the confines of heaven; its dirtiness and limpidity are the effects
of its environments.

Chao T`o, king of the southern Yüeh, was originally an honourable
man of the Han State,[49] but he took to the habits of the
southern barbarians, disregarded the imperial commands, dressed
his hair in a tuft, and used to squat down. He was so fond of

this, as if it had been his nature. Lu Chia spoke to him of the
virtues of the Han, and impressed him with their holy power, so
that he suddenly rose up, and felt remorse. He received the commands
of his sovereign, and communicated them to the savages.
Against his hair-dress and to his squatting he felt something like
a natural repugnancy. First he acted in the aforesaid manner,
afterwards thus. It shows what force instruction also has, and
that nature is not the only factor.