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Chen Dai said to his teacher Mencius: “You refuse to visit feudal lords – it seems overly modest, even petty. If you’d just go see one once, at best you could implement the Kingly Way; at least, you might help him achieve hegemony. And as the old saying goes: ‘Bend one chi (about a…
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After Mencius left Qi state, his disciple Chong Yu asked him on the road: “Master, you seem troubled. Yet not long ago I heard you say yourself: ‘The noble person does not blame Heaven or resent others.’ Why do you now appear so disheartened?”
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Kong Rong (153–208 CE), the twentieth-generation descendant of Confucius, was born into a family steeped in scholarly and political prestige. His seventh-generation ancestor, Kong Ba, had served as tutor to Emperor Yuan of Han, and his father, Kong Zhou, held the post of Commandant of Taishan. Orphaned at thirteen, Kong Rong displayed exceptional moral…
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6.11 The Master said, “Incomparable indeed was Hui! A handful of rice to eat, a gourdful of water to drink, living in a mean street – others would have found it unendurably depressing, but to Hui’s cheerfulness it made no difference at all. Incomparable indeed was Hui!”
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3.14 The Master said, “Zhou could survey the two preceding dynasties. How great a wealth of culture! And we follow upon Zhou.”