well just to allude to the opinion of his followers regarding human nature. The orthodox sentiment on this subject is, that human nature is originally virtuous and that each individual is born into the world with a good disposition; by intercourse with others, and through the force of example, men become vicious; but the sages, by their instructions, awaken and renovate mankind; when they revert to their original purity. This doctrine has, however, met with its opponents; among the rest, one Kaou-tsze contended, that human nature was neither inclined to evil nor good, but might be turned either one way or the other. A conversation between him and a disciple of Confucius is recorded in the four Books, of which the following is the substance.
Kaou-tsze said, "Human nature is like the wood of the willow tree, and righteousness is like a bowl; the getting men to be good, is like working up the wood into bowls." Mang-tsze replied, "Can you turn wood at once into bowls? must you not cut and hack it, in order to form a bowl? and if it be necessary to cut and hack wood to make a bowl, do you mean to say, that we must cut and hack men, in order to render them good? This system of yours is calculated to make men abhor goodness, as contrary to their nature." Kaoutsze, not baffled by this reply, renewed his statement under another form, saying, "Human nature is like water gushing forth; if you turn it to the east, it will flow to the east; and if to the west, it will flow to the west; human nature has no preference for good or evil, just as water has no preference between cast and west." Măng-tsze replied, "Water has indeed no preference between east and west; but do you mean to say, that it has no choice between up and down? Human nature is good, just as water has a tendency to flow downwards, men are universally inclined to virtue, just as water invariably flows downwards." Feeling, however, that he had made rather a startling declaration, he qualified it by saying, "Water, by beating may be made to splash over your head, and by forcing may be made to pass over a mountain; but who would ever say that this is the natural tendency of water? It is because violence is applied
