Four expectant fathers were in a Minneapolis hospital waiting room while their wives were in labor. The nurse arrived and proudly announced to the first man, "Congratulations, sir. You're the father of twins!" "What a coincidence! I work for the ... Read more of How many babies? at Free Jokes.ca

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Samurai

Zen In The Dark Age
The latter half of the Ashikaga period was the age of arms an...

Idealism Is A Potent Medicine For Self-created Mental Disease
In so far as Buddhist idealism refers to the world of sense, ...

The Law Of Balance
Nature governs the world with her law of balance. She puts t...

The Parable Of The Robber Kih
Chwang Tsz (So-shi) remarks in a humorous way to the followi...

Zazen And The Forgetting Of Self
Zazen is a most effectual means of destroying selfishness, th...

The Creative Force Of Nature And Humanity
The innate tendency of self-preservation, which manifests its...

The Spiritual Attainment Of The Sixth Patriarch
Some time before his death (in 675 A.D.) the Fifth Patriarch ...

The Third Step In The Mental Training
To be the lord of mind is more essential to Enlightenment, wh...

Zen And Nirvana
The beatitude of Zen is Nirvana, not in the Hinayanistic sens...

Sutras Used By Zen Masters
Ten Dai failed to explain away the discrepancies and contradi...

The Characteristics Of Do-gen The Founder Of The Japanese So To Sect
In the meantime seekers after a new truth gradually began to ...

Let Go Of Your Idle Thoughts
[FN#263] A famous Zenist, Mu-go-koku-shi, is said to ha...

Universal Life Is Universal Spirit
These considerations naturally lead us to see that Universal ...

The Second And The Third Patriarchs
After the death of the First Patriarch, in A.D. 528, Hwui Ko ...

Each Smile A Hymn Each Kindly Word A Prayer
The glorious sun of Buddha-nature shines in the zenith of Enl...

Pessimistic View Of The Ancient Hindus
In addition to this, the new theory of matter has entirely ov...

The Progress And Hope Of Life
How many myriads of years have passed since the germs of life...

Zen After The Downfall Of The Ho-jo Regency
Towards the end of the Ho-Jo period,[FN#90] and after the dow...

The Sermon Of The Inanimate
The Scripture of Zen is written with facts simple and familia...

The Development Of The Southern And Of The Northern School Of Zen
After the death of the Fifth Patriarch the venerable Shang Si...

Man Is Good-natured According To Mencius

Oriental scholars, especially the Chinese men of letters, seem to

have taken so keen an interest in the study of human nature that they

proposed all the possible opinions respecting the subject in

question-namely, (1) man is good-natured; (2) man is bad-natured; (3)

man is good-natured and bad-natured as well; (4) man is neither

good-natured nor bad-natured. The first of these opinions was

proposed by a most reputed Confucianist scholar, Mencius, and his

followers, and is still adhered to by the majority of the Japanese

and the Chinese Confucianists. Mencius thought it as natural for man

to do good as it is for the grass to be green. 'Suppose a person has

happened,' he would say, 'to find a child on the point of tumbling

down into a deep well. He would rescue it even at the risk of his

life, no matter how morally degenerated he might be. He would have

no time to consider that his act might bring him some reward from its

parents, or a good reputation among his friends and fellow-citizens.

He would do it barely out of his inborn good-nature.' After

enumerating some instances similar to this one, Mencius concludes

that goodness is the fundamental nature of man, even if he is often

carried away by his brutal disposition.

[FN#161] Mencius (372-282 B.C.) is regarded as the beat expounder of

the doctrine of Confucius. There exists a well-known work of his,

entitled after his own name. See 'A History of Chinese Philosophy,'

by R. Endo, and also 'A History of Chinese Philosophy' (pp. 38-50),

by G. Nakauchi.

Next: Man Is Bad-natured According To Siun Tsz
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