LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Mencius: Goods
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Mencius explained how morality had degenerated from the three ancient emperors to the five protectors of the feudal lords to the current feudal lords and their counselors, each of which offended against those who came before. The emperor used to inspect the domain, and the feudal lords reported on their duties; those who needed it were given aid. In the feudal system lords were rewarded with land. If the land was neglected, the good and wise overlooked, and grasping men put in power, then the lord was reprimanded. Thus the emperor punished but did not attack, while the feudal lords attack but do not punish. The protectors then intimidated the feudal lords to attack other feudal lords.
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Further, Mencius argues that the Agriculturalists would make all goods have the same value -- that silk should cost what hemp costs, that quality shoes should cost what peasant clogs cost. Perhaps the utopianism of some Agriculturalists did lead Mencius to exaggerate the egalitarian economic ideas of the school. From a practical point of view, a farmer would see silk as less valuable than hemp.
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Mencius said: “In good years, young men are mostly fine. In bad years they’re mostly cruel and violent. It isn’t that Heaven endows them with such different capacities, only that their hearts are mired in such different situations. Think about barely: if you plant the seeds carefully at the same time and in the same place, they’ll sprout and grow ripe by summer solstice. If they don’t grow the same – it’s because of the inequities in richness of soil, amounts of rainfall, or the care given by farmers. And so, all members belonging to a given species of things are the same.
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When one is in training, it is good to keep Mencius' saying, "Seek the lost mind," in mind. The ultimate... is within Shao K'ang-chieh's, "It is essential to lose the mind."
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