Customer Reviews

Mencius (Penguin Classics)

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Very few people in the West have heard of Mencius. However, in East Asia he is known as "the second sage" of Confucianism -- second only to Confucius himself. The eponymous _Mencius_ is a collection of his sayings and dialogues with disciples, rulers, and rival philosophers. It is unfortunate that this work is not more widely read outside of Asia. It is more accessible than the often cryptic _Analects_ of Confucius. Furthermore, Mencius is arguably a deeper philosophical thinker than Confucius. Buy this book and you'll get a fine translation of a classic of world literature and philosophy.

Mencius is most famous for his claim that human nature is good. He illustrates this by asking us to imagine a person who suddenly sees a child about to fall into a well. Anyone, Mencius claims, would have a feeling of alarm and compassion at this sight. This feeling is a manifestation of our innate tendency toward benevolence. Mencius is aware that, despite having this innate tendency toward virtue, most people fail to act in a benevolent manner. But he claims that this is due to bad environmental factors, as well as a failure to cultivate one's "sprouts" of virtue. (Lau translates "sprout" as "germ," a minor infelicity.)

Lau's _Mencius_ is probably the best complete translation of this work in English. It also includes extensive supporting material: an interpretive introduction, a glossary, and appendices on events in the life of Mencius, early traditions about Mencius, the text of the _Mencius_, ancient history as understood by Mencius, and Mencius's method of argumentation.

James Legge also did a complete translation, _The Works of Mencius_, which is a little dated (it was completed in the late 19th century), but it is still a good translation, and includes the Chinese text, along with extensive notes. I did a partial translation of the _Mencius_ for _Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy_.

For those who don't know, Mencius was a disciple of Confucius's philosophy - probably the most famous. He helped spread it by adding his own flavour to the theories. This book presents them. It is easier to read than the Analects, in my opinion, as it presents much longer and more coherent paragraphs many of which are like stories. As a result, less time is spent getting acquainted with the background.

One of the key features of Mencius that separates him from Confucius is the book of Mencius has a lot of philosophical argument and rhetoric that is quite sophisticated from a cursory reading (with Confucius, much of the sophistication is apparent only if you know the text EXTREMELY well). Mencius was a keen maker of illustrations in arguments. This is the book that contains the famous argument taht human nature is fundamentally good because a person seeing a child on the edge of a well about to fall in will initially be compelled to run and save the child.

Basically, there was a sort of split in the interpretation of Confucianism. Xunzi believed that humans are essentially evil (or at least selfish) and therefore it is necessary to have ren (benevolence), li (ritual/propriety) and fa (law) to enable them to develop themselves and overcome their base urges. Mencius went the other way, considering people essentially good (as can be seen in the well example). He would see evil as a result of corruption by society, and ren and li as tools to enable one to develop their true nature. From reading his work though, I think he was far from naive and he certainly did not have an idyllic view of humanity. Rather, Xunzi and Mencius seemed to be advocating the same kind of philosophy and there is not actually that much difference between them. But Mencius is the more optimistic and hence more pleasant to read, and it is perhaps because of the sense of optimism that he was adopted by the Chinese as the more authoritative Confuscian in ages to come.

The translation is great and makes the reading easier. There are useful appendices at the end which give the background in a logical way (eg a section on Mencius's view of history).

A great find!

Having read the Analects, I wanted to read further in Chinese philosophy. It was recommended that I pick up the Lau translation of Mencius, as it was widely considered the best.

Even as a reader approaching his thinking for the first time, I was able to get quite a bit from reading the seven books. They were thought-provoking and crisp. I was interested in the notions of morality and good as treated in his analogies. This point is the famous difference between Confucius and Mencius and alone makes this book valuable reading.

The Penguin edition may well be the best available translation and I am sure that the essays at the beginning and end are useful for more knowledgeable scholars. Unfortunately, as a reader largely unfamiliar with his life and work (beyond knowing his role as a student of Confucius) these essays assumed a level of knowledge beyond that which I actually possessed. It would have been helpful for me if the introduction had been more concerned with basic context setting.

The appendices bound with the book contain essays on dating events in the life of Mencius, early traditions about Mencius, textual notes, history as depicted in the text, and the use of analogy as argument.

I have read a great deal of Chinese history. I have also read many of the philosophy classics; Confucius Analects, the Tao Te Ching, the I Ching, and the Chuang Tsu. Chinese philosophy does not set forth ideas as directly as Western philosophy. You can read three sentences and search for the meaning for fifteen minutes. The writing conveys ideas in what is to me an abstruse fashion. I briefly studied the Chinese language and it conveys a lot of ideas in a short space.
After the thinking I do get an idea. It is amazing what is conveyed in a few words. There is no attempt to set forth an ordered set of ideas. What I understand are thoughts that form a point of view. That is what I mean by inscrutable.
Mencius is not nearly as minimalist as the Analects. He tells short tales with a moral. To that extent he is easier to understand. The same ideas appear with different emphasis in tales. The writing does not present a clear direct system of ideas, such as Aristotle. My interpretation may be much different than yours.
I enjoyed Mencius. I felt it was worth while and gave me insight into Chinese thought. It must be remembered that he is second only to Confucius in Confucian thought.
What worked for me was to read slowly and take notes. I had to invest a great deal of time in reading what is a short book. I still feel I need to read some type of treatise to get a better understanding of the philosophy of Mencius. Reading Mencius first gives the basis to build a greater understanding of Chinese philosophy and the Chinese point of view.

Regardless of my rating, if you wish to understand Chinese thought in that era you must read this book. Mencius is considered only second to Confucius himself.

In this book, translated by David Hinton, is a compilation of teachings of Chinese sage Mencius, who the book claims trained with the grandson of Confucius in the fourth century B.C.E. Here we have fourteen chapters that highlight Mencius's central belief in inherent goodness of human nature.

Mencius is easier to read then most other Chinese sages because of his use analogies and his optimistic point of view. And the translator's introduction provides us with historical background to place the writings into the correct perspective.

I found Mencius to be an excellent book, which clarified and drew out a lot of the Confucianist principles found in the analects, with much lengthier explanations offered. In particular Mencius's focus on the Heart and also changing your vices into virtues by sharing them with other people is fascinating because it illustrates a different perspective on how to approach the world, while simultaneously advocating a humanistic approach, sorely needed in our current time. It's wroth revisiting this great classic, both as a way to evaluate our practices, and also to remind us that ultimately we need to value an approach that is humanistic as opposed to materialistic.

First of all, this is an excellent edition of Mencius. The introduction is great, the translation is seamless, and the appendices are insightful as well. It might even be a good idea to read Appendix Four before reading the body of the work, as familiarity with the historical context is key for following the analogies in the book, many of which draw upon knowledge of historical figures who must have been as familiar to the ancient Chinese as such figures as Lincoln, Hitler, and Churchill are for us. Reading the text, I thought how wonderful it would be to see what analogies a modern day Mencius would use to argue his points.

The text itself is full of many gems. As others have noted, one of Mencius' critical additions to Confucianism is the idea that human nature is good, as argued using a number of powerful analogies such as the "child falling into a well" and the "downward flow of water" scenarios. Of course one can take issue with these analogies and come up with counterarguments, but remember that it is essentially impossible to "prove" which way human nature leans. Likewise, while the general idea of the Mandate of Heaven is present in the Analects, I believe it is Mencius who fully articulates it in a series of wonderful examples. Therefore Mencius does not just refine or restate Confucianism, he expands it as well.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Mencius greatly and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the Analects. However, I did not find quite the same level of enjoyment reading Mencius as I did Confucius. For me, the analogies grew a little dense at times, and there was not the simple yet elegant profundity that keeps pulling me back to read the Analects time and time again. For me, Mencius is a great supplemental reader to Confucianism ... but it does not come close to surpassing its primary text: the Analects. Then again, that was not Mencius' intent. He would likely be the first to admit that he was standing on the shoulders of the giant in his philosophical tradition: Confucius.

A very good read, nonetheless. I am always amazed to think of the mental masterminds who sprung up in China and Europe at the same general time in history. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, etc. Even if some of the works were written by disciples, the brilliance of the ideas shines through. Mencius is a worthy addition to this tradition of scholarly excellence. However, if you are to read one book and one book only on Confucianism, make it the Analects! But if Confucius is the paragon, Mencius should feel no shame in being #2.

I came across this by chance whilst in that wonderful bookship in Oxford - Blackwells - and was captivated by it. D.C.Lau's translation is immediately accessible to the modern reader - even those whom, like this reviewer, are without a grounding in Chinese philosophy or history - and the lucid Introduction gives an excellent summation of Mencius' influence, dialogues and expansion of Confucius.
The seven books (two parts to each) deal with Meng K'e's understanding of jen and yi, his theory on the natural goodness of human nature so opposed to that of Hsun Tzu's belief in the fundamental mendacity of human nature, his qualification of punitive war (I found the statement that 'punishment is for the criminal, war for the state' raised a good hour of discussion amongst friends), and his sage instruction as to the proper place and benevolence of rulers for the common good of the people. D.C.Lau's dissembling of Mencius' almost Socratic argument about the meaning of 'natural' in the context of 'white' was clearly explained and it is refreshing to see a modern counter of philosophy where the logic of semantics has resulted in the given conclusion. That said, it makes you itch to understand the original language, a fact Lau makes abundantly clear with his contextual translation of jen and yi.
The books themselves have a tendency to being analogies with each predominantly having an allegorical opening with a question usually posed either indirectly or directly to a man or a king who needs enlightenment. An enlightenment that can only be provided by Mencius.
We conclude with five appendicies placing Mencius within the historical context of the fourth century B.C. and a brief study of his skilful use of analogy though he is at pains to point out that Mencius is not one to debate in the abstract about benevolence nad yi.
Lau ends his Introduction by saying that "[Mencius] great achievement is that he not only successfully defended the teachings of Confucius against the corrosive influence of new ideas, butin the process, add to Confucianism a depth it did not possess before."
I think it fair to say that D.C. Lau has contributed to bringing the words of this great Chinese philosopher in a manner to the English world that is both clear, richly intelligent, and widely accessible. This certainly captured my attention and any reader, be they scholarly or just for interest would do well to be introduced to Mencius by D.C. Lau's translation.

Penguin has once again provided an affordable, very readable edition of a classic work. The book is nicely proportioned with a comfortable print.

The Chinese philosopher Mencius was one of the great thinkers in Confucian thought and develops many of the teachings of Confucius into a more mature form. If you're interested in Confucian thought, then you definitely need to read this volume.

In addition to the main text of Mencius, this volume contains five valuable essays in the appendix. The first one covers the dating of events in Mencius. This is valuable for those who are interested in the historical aspects of Mencius. The second essay covers traditions and legends related to Mencius. The third essay covers the validity of the text of Mencius. The fourth essay covers Mencius' view of the history prior to his time. The final essay covers the practice of using analogy as a form of argument in the time of Mencius. These essays all add to a deeper understanding of the text. I recommend this particular volume of Mencius.