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Mencius: King Hui
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Mencius declared that the appearance of a true king was never more overdue than in his time when the people suffered under such tyrannical governments. He did not just admire the ancients; he believed that twice as much could be done in his time with half the effort. For Mencius ethical good was at the center of the vital force in the human body called qi. The will directs this energy and when it nourishes it with integrity, the qi unites what is right and the way. He recommended a middle path between too much meddling and negligence. He told of a man who urged his rice plants to grow by pulling them out too soon.
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By the time of Mencius, the concept of Tian appears to have changed slightly, taking on aspects of "fate" and “nature” as well as "deity." For Confucius, Tian provided personal support and sanction for his sense of historical mission, while at the same time prompting Job-like anxiety during moments of ill fortune in which Tian seemed to have abandoned him. Mencius' faith in Tian as the ultimate source of legitimate moral and political authority is unshakeable. Like Confucius, he says that "Tian does not speak - it simply reveals through deeds and affairs" (5A5). He ascribes the virtues of ren (co-humanity), yi (rightness), li (ritual propriety), zhi (wisdom), and sheng (sagehood) to Tian (7B24) and explicitly compares the rule of the moral king to the rule of Tian (5A4).
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Mencius said, "He who uses force as a pretense of Humaneness is the de-facto strongman among the princes. But such a strongman must have a large state in order to be effective. The man who uses his virtue to practice Humaneness is the true king. To be a real king you don't need an especially large territory. T'ang did it with only seventy
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Mencius said, "All men have this heart that, when they see another man suffer, they suffer, too. The ancient kings had this heart: when they saw men suffer, they suffered, too. Therefore the former kings ran a government that, when it saw men suffer, it suffered, too. they could rule the empire as if it were something they turned in the palm of their hand.
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Characteristic of his moribund Confucianism, Mencius tries to discredit the Agriculturalistsby contriving exaggerated scenarios and discussions. As Waley puts it, "Mencius had a habit of parodying the views of those with whom he disagreed." Mencius says that the Agriculturalists want everyone from kings to potters, metal-workers, and weavers to give up what they do and to farm. If they did so, argues Mencius, how could each individual do the work proper to him? This argument takes a feudal order as its premise, an order that had disappeared by Mencius' day.
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Mencius replied, "If you occupy it Yen and its people are really happy, then do so. In ancient times King Wu had this experience. If you try to occupy it and its people are against you, then you shouldn't occupy it. In ancient times King Wen had this experience."
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