Supplementary Section: Collected Pre-Qin and Han Texts with Brief Commentary

Chapter 26: Selected Glosses from Zhao Qi's Commentary

Zhao Qi ($64--201 CE), a classical scholar of the late Eastern Han, authored the Commentary on the Mengzi (Mengzi Zhangju), the earliest extant commentary on the Mengzi and of irreplaceable value for understanding the original text.

Key points from Zhao Qi's commentary on the "Ox Mountain" chapter:

"Ox Mountain is a mountain of Qi, located south of Linzi." -- Establishing the geographical location.
"Mei (beautiful): luxuriantly beautiful." -- Defining "beautiful" as luxuriant and flourishing.
"Zhuozhuo: the appearance of being without vegetation." -- Defining "bare" as stripped of vegetation.
"Fang: to lose." -- Defining "let go" as to forfeit.
"Pingdan: the time of first light." -- Defining "pre-dawn" as the moment of daybreak.
"Gu: fetters." -- Defining "shackle" as a restraining instrument.
"Qing: actual, real." -- Defining "true state" as reality (not emotion).

Zhao Qi's commentary is characterized by its conciseness and clarity, eschewing excessive elaboration. Faithful to the original text, he uses the fewest words to explain the most critical concepts, laying the groundwork for all later in-depth readings.

Chapter 27: Dong Zhongshu's Theory of Human Nature and Its Connection to the "Ox Mountain" Chapter

Dong Zhongshu (179--104 BCE), a great Confucian of the Western Han, adopted a position on human nature that mediates between Mengzi and Master Xun.

Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu Fanlu), "Examining Names in Depth":

"Nature is the unadorned substance of heaven's endowment; goodness is the result of the king's transformative instruction. Without the substance, the king's instruction cannot transform; without the king's instruction, the unadorned substance cannot become good. ... Heaven gives birth to the people's nature, which has the quality of goodness but is not yet able to be good. Therefore it establishes the king to make them good -- this is Heaven's intent."

Dong Zhongshu held that human nature contains a "quality of goodness" (potential for goodness) but is "not yet able to be good" -- not yet fully realized as goodness. The king's transformative instruction is needed. His position more strongly emphasizes the role of "instruction," while Mengzi more strongly emphasizes the inherent goodness of "nature" itself.

The Spring and Autumn Annals of Mr. Lu, "On Original Nature": "The goodness of human nature is like water's tendency to flow downward. None are without a good heart-mind; none are without a good will. Evil arises afterward."

This clearly advocates innate goodness, using the same metaphor as Mengzi. "Evil arises afterward" is the most apt summary of the "Ox Mountain" chapter.

Chapter 29: Comprehensive Reflections -- The Significance and Limitations of Pre-Qin Theories of Human Nature

Significance: The greatest contribution is the establishment of human dignity and moral agency. Human beings possess dignity because they possess the good nature; human beings possess moral agency because the good nature is heaven-endowed, internal, and inalienable.

Limitations: (1) The explanation of "the origin of evil" is not fully thorough. (2) Insufficient attention to differences in the strength of goodness among different individuals. (3) The specific operational details of cultivation practice require further elaboration. Yet these limitations should not negate the value of pre-Qin theories. The task of later scholars is to deepen and refine, not to overturn and reject.

Chapter 30: Summary

This article, proceeding from the perspectives of pre-Qin and high antiquity, has conducted a comprehensive, penetrating, and meticulous reading and inquiry into Mengzi's "Ox Mountain" chapter.

The core conclusions:

One. The "Ox Mountain" chapter, through the metaphor of mountain timber, offers a complete and profound exposition of Mengzi's theory of innate goodness: human nature is originally good; the loss of goodness is the result of external harm; the recovery of goodness requires sustained nourishment.

Two. The chapter's argumentative structure is exceedingly precise: the beauty of the mountain's timber (nature is good) -> the felling by axes (harm of material desires) -> the growth of shoots (the sprouts of goodness are not extinguished) -> the grazing of cattle and sheep (secondary harm) -> the desolation of bareness (complete loss of conscience) -> the supposition that there was never good timber (cognitive error) -> nourishment brings growth (the imperative of cultivation) -> grasping preserves, releasing destroys (the mystery of the heart-mind).

Three. The chapter's intellectual foundation lies in the continuity between "the Way of Heaven" and "human nature." The Way of Heaven takes "ceaseless generation" as its virtue; human nature receives from the Way of Heaven its "generative virtue"; therefore human nature is originally good.

Four. The chapter's practical orientation lies in "grasping the heart-mind" and "nourishing the nature." "Grasp it and it is preserved; let it go and it perishes" is the fundamental principle; "if given its proper nourishment, there is nothing that will not grow" is the greatest encouragement.

Five. The questions embedded in this chapter -- why do people of good nature do evil$65 how are the sprouts of goodness lost$66 how can they be recovered$67 what is the relationship between individual cultivation and social environment$68 -- are not only central questions of pre-Qin thought but eternal questions that human beings of every era and every civilization must face.

Mengzi used a small mountain in the suburbs of the state of Qi as his metaphor to express the most profound truth about human nature. The trees of Ox Mountain are long gone, but Mengzi's words will forever resonate in every heart-mind that contemplates the question of human nature.

"If given its proper nourishment, there is nothing that will not grow; if deprived of its nourishment, there is nothing that will not wither away."

Such is the meaning of this.

Cited Texts (Pre-Qin and Han periods):

Book of Documents (Shangshu): "Canon of Yao," "Great Declaration," "Declaration of Tang," "Pan Geng," "Announcement of the Duke of Shao," "Against Luxurious Ease," "Counsels of the Great Yu," "Timber of the Catalpa," "Count of the West's Conquest of Li"
Book of Songs (Shijing): "Airs of Zhou's South: Peach Blossoms"; "Airs of Wei: Bends of the Qi"; "Lesser Odes: Abundant Growth," "Without Sheep," "Great Fields," "The Little Valley"; "Greater Odes: The Sacred Tower," "The Dry Foothills," "Admirable Delight," "Teeming Multitudes," "Lofty Mount Song"; "Airs of Qi: Cock-Crow"
Book of Changes (Yijing/Zhouyi): Qian (Heaven), Kun (Earth), Fu (Return), Tai (Peace), Pi (Standstill), Meng (Youthful Folly), Da Xu (Great Accumulation) hexagrams, and the Commentary on the Appended Statements, Appended Text, Commentary on the Judgment, Commentary on the Image
Analects (Lunyu): "Xue Er," "Wei Zheng," "Li Ren," "Gongye Chang," "Yong Ye," "Shu Er," "Ba Yi," "Zi Han," "Xiang Dang," "Yan Yuan," "Yang Huo," "Wei Zi," "Zizhang"
Mengzi: "King Hui of Liang, Part 1," "Gongsun Chou, Part 1," "Teng Wen Gong, Part 2," "Li Lou, Part 1," "Li Lou, Part 2," "Gaozi, Part 1," "Fully Realizing the Heart-Mind, Part 1," "Fully Realizing the Heart-Mind, Part 2"
Zuo Commentary (Zuozhuan): Duke Yin Year 1, Duke Xiang Year 14, Duke Xiang Year 25, Duke Zhao Year 1, Duke Zhao Year 25
Discourses of the States (Guoyu)
Record of Rites (Liji): "Summary of the Rules of Propriety," "Doctrine of the Mean," "Great Learning," "Pattern of the Household," "Record of Music"
Xunzi: "On the Evil of Human Nature," "On the Regulations of a King"
Laozi: Chapters 5, 18, 38, 42, 50, 76, 80
Zhuangzi: "Free and Easy Wandering," "Discussion on Making All Things Equal," "Horses' Hooves," "Webbed Toes," "Responding to Emperors and Kings"
Guanzi: "On the Cultivation of Authority," "Inner Training," "Techniques of the Heart-Mind, Part 1"
Strategies of the Warring States (Zhanguo Ce): Qi Strategies, Part 1
Spring and Autumn Annals of Mr. Lu (Lushi Chunqiu): "On Original Nature," "Beginning with Oneself," "On Valuing Life"
Zhao Qi, Commentary on the Mengzi (Mengzi Zhangju)
Dong Zhongshu, Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn (Chunqiu Fanlu): "Examining Names in Depth"
Rites of Zhou (Zhouli): "Offices of Earth: Tax Master"
Xu Shen, Explaining Graphs and Analyzing Characters (Shuowen Jiezi)

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