CHAPTER 2. MAN＇S NATURE IS NOT INDIFFERENT TO GOOD AND EVIL. ITS PROPER TENDENCY IS TO GOOD.
That man is indifferent to good and evil, or that the tendencies to these are both blended in his nature,was the doctrine of Yang Heung (扬雄), a philosopher about the beginning of our era. We have the following sentence from him: "In the nature of man good and evil are mixed. The cultivation of the good in it makes a good man; the cultivation of the evil makes a bad man. The passion nature in its movements may be called the horse of good or evil". 人无有不善 is the sum of the chapter on Mencius＇s part. His opponent＇s views were wrong, but neither did he have the whole truth. 1. 湍水 is explained in the Dict. "waterflowing rapidly," and "water rippling over the sand."ChaouK＇e, followed by Choo He, explains it as in the translation, which is certainly better adapted to the passage. 2. 信,—as an adverb, "truly." 人性之善,