Mencius said, “It is not surprising that the King is not wise. Even if there is a plant in the world that is the easiest to grow, if it is exposed to the sun for one day and then subjected to the cold for ten days, there is none that can survive. I rarely get to see His Majesty, and as soon as I withdraw, those who chill him arrive. Even if he has a sprout of goodness, what can I do about it!
Take the game of chess as an example; it is merely a minor art. Yet, if one does not concentrate wholeheartedly, one cannot master it. Yi Qiu was the best chess player in the entire state. Suppose Yi Qiu was teaching two people to play chess. One person concentrated wholeheartedly, listening only to Yi Qiu’s instructions. The other person, although listening, had his mind entirely on the thought that a swan was about to arrive, thinking about drawing his bow and shooting it. Although he studied alongside the other, he was not as good. Was this because his intelligence was inferior? The answer is: No, it was not.”
Note
This passage from the Gaozi I chapter of the Mencius profoundly elucidates the impact of the postnatal environment on moral cultivation and the decisive role of “wholehearted concentration” in personal growth, using vivid natural phenomena and fables. Drawing on historical context and traditional commentaries, we can understand its philosophy through the following dimensions:
- The Metaphor of “One Day of Sun, Ten Days of Cold”: The Fragility of Moral Cultivation and the Decisiveness of Environment
Mencius uses “one day of sun, ten days of cold” to metaphorically describe King Xuan of Qi’s state of moral cultivation. Mencius believed that the monarch inherently possessed a sprout of goodness, but this sprout was extremely fragile. When Mencius was present, the monarch could be inspired (one day of sun); but once Mencius withdrew, the surrounding sycophants, material desires, and the harsh political environment would immediately strangle this sprout of goodness (ten days of cold). This reveals a critical pain point in Confucian cultivation theory: without a continuously positive external environment, relying solely on occasional epiphanies is insufficient for achieving morality. - The Fable of “Yi Qiu Teaching Chess”: Concentration is the Prerequisite for All Achievements
Mencius cleverly uses chess, a “minor art,” to analogize the great Way of governing a state and cultivating oneself. Through the comparison of two students, he points out that the difference in learning outcomes does not stem from innate intelligence (“No, it was not”), but from postnatal focus. The student who concentrated wholeheartedly received the true teachings, while the distracted student (whose mind was on the swan) achieved nothing. This emphasizes the core position of subjective initiative in moral practice: if even a minor task like chess requires absolute focus, how much more so for great endeavors like promoting benevolent governance and cultivating one’s inner nature? - The Confucian Educational View: The Unity of Environmental Influence and Subjective Effort
This passage perfectly combines “external environment” and “inner concentration.” On one hand, Mencius laments, “as soon as I withdraw, those who chill him arrive,” expressing helplessness regarding the corrupt political environment and emphasizing the environmental influence of “being dyed by what is near.” On the other hand, he uses the story of “wholehearted concentration” to encourage people that, regardless of the external environment, individuals must maintain inner stability and focus. This established the Confucian practice of “maintaining reverence and exhaustively investigating principle” for later generations: one must be vigilant against external “chilling” while maintaining inner “wholehearted concentration.”
孟子曰：“无或乎王之不智也，虽有天下易生之物也，一日暴之，十日寒之。未有能生者也。吾见亦罕矣，吾退而寒之者至矣。吾如有萌焉何哉！今夫弈之为数，小数也；不专心致志，则不得也。弈秋，通国之善弈者也。使弈秋诲二人弈，其一人专心致志，惟弈秋之为听。一人虽听之，一心以为有鸿鹄将至，思援弓缴而射之，虽与之俱学，弗若之矣。为是其智弗若与？曰：非然也。”
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