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now and then. Levity is not my object: I only want to put things in a<br />
plain and easy manner.<br />
Well, then, the quality which we call benevolence is, in fact, a perfection;<br />
and it is this perfection which Môshi spoke <strong>of</strong> as the heart <strong>of</strong> man.<br />
With this perfect heart, men, by serving their parents, attain to filial<br />
piety; by serving their masters they attain to fidelity; and if they treat<br />
their wives, their brethren, and their friends in the same spirit, then the<br />
principles <strong>of</strong> the five relations <strong>of</strong> life will harmonize without difficulty.<br />
As for putting perfection into practice, parents have the special duties <strong>of</strong><br />
parents; children have the special duties <strong>of</strong> children; husbands have the<br />
special duties <strong>of</strong> husbands; wives have the special duties <strong>of</strong> wives. <strong>It</strong> is<br />
when all these special duties are performed without a fault that true benevolence<br />
is reached; and that again is the true heart <strong>of</strong> man.<br />
For example, take this fan: any one who sees it knows it to be a fan;<br />
and, knowing it to be a fan, no one would think <strong>of</strong> using it to blow his<br />
nose in. The special use <strong>of</strong> a fan is for visits <strong>of</strong> ceremony; or else it is<br />
opened in order to raise a cooling breeze: it serves no other purpose. In<br />
the same way, this reading-desk will not do as a substitute for a shelf;<br />
again, it will not do instead <strong>of</strong> a pillow: so you see that a reading-desk<br />
also has its special functions, for which you must use it. So, if you look at<br />
your parents in the light <strong>of</strong> your parents, and treat them with filial piety,<br />
that is the special duty <strong>of</strong> children; that is true benevolence; that is the<br />
heart <strong>of</strong> man. Now although you may think that, when I speak in this<br />
way, I am speaking <strong>of</strong> others, and not <strong>of</strong> yourselves, believe me that the<br />
heart <strong>of</strong> every one <strong>of</strong> you is by nature pure benevolence. I am just taking<br />
down your hearts as a shopman does goods from his shelves, and pointing<br />
out the good and bad qualities <strong>of</strong> each; but if you will not lay what I<br />
say to your own accounts, but persist in thinking that it is all anybody's<br />
business but yours, all my labour will be lost.<br />
Listen! <strong>You</strong> who answer your parents rudely, and cause them to weep;<br />
you who bring grief and trouble on your masters; you who cause your<br />
husbands to fly into passions; you who cause your wives to mourn; you<br />
who hate your younger brothers, and treat your elder brothers with contempt;<br />
you who sow sorrow broadcast over the world;—what are you<br />
doing but blowing your noses in fans, and using reading-desks as pillows?<br />
I don't mean to say that there are any such persons here; still there<br />
are plenty <strong>of</strong> them to be found—say in the back streets in India, for instance.<br />
Be so good as to mind what I have said.<br />
Consider, carefully, if a man is born with a naturally bad disposition,<br />
what a dreadful thing that is! Happily, you and I were born with perfect<br />
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