1. The disciple Kung-too said, "All are equally men,but some are great men, and some are little men;--how is this?" Mencius replied, "Those who follow that part of themselves which is great are great men; those who follow that part which is little are little men."
2. Kung-too pursued, "All are equally men,
樲棘, go together, 樲 indicating the species. 棘 is generally used with the general meaning of thorns.But it here indicates a kind of small wild date tree.The date tree proper is 棗; this wild tree, 棘, the difft.forms indicating the high tree and the low bushy shrub respectively. See the 集证, in loc.
4. 失=遗. 狼疾,—"a wolf hurried," i.e., chased, and so unable to exercise the quick sight for which it is famous.
6. The meaning is that the parts considered small and ignoble may have their due share of attention, if the more important parts are first cared for, as they ought to be.
CHAPTER 15. HOW SOME ARE GREAT MEN,LORDS OF REASON, AND SOME ARE LITTLE MEN, SL**ES OF SENSE.
1. 钧=均, "all equally." 体,—"the members," but here, more evidently than in the last chapter, it is spoken of our whole constitution, mental as well as physical.
2. 耳目之官,—"the offices of the cars and eyes."
but some follow that part of themselves which is great, and some follow that part which is little;-- how is this?" Mencius answered, "The senses of hearing and seeing do not think, and are obscured by external things. When one thing comes into contact with another, as a matter of course it leads it away. To the mind belongs the office of thinking. By thinking, it gets the right view of things; by neglecting to think, it fails to do this. These--the senses and the mind-- are what Heaven has given to us. Let a man first stand fast in the supremacy of the nobler part of his constitution,and the inferior part will not be able to take it from him. It is simply this which makes the great man."