Page 85 - 《孟子》（二）中·英对照版
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doctrines to change the customs of the kingdom; —
how does he regard them as if they were wrong,
and not honour them? Notwithstanding his views,
Yi buried his parents in a sumptuous manner, and
so he served them in the way which his doctrines
discountenance.”
The disciple Xu informed Yi of these remarks.
Yi said, “Even according to the principles of
the learned, we find that the ancients acted towards
the people ‘as if they were watching over an infant.’
What does this expression mean? To me it sounds
that we are to love all without difference of degree;
but the manifestation of love must begin with our
parents.”
Xu reported this reply to Mencius, who said,
“Now, does Yi really think that a man’s affection for
the child of his brother is merely like his affection for
the infant of a neighbour? What is to be approved
in that expression is simply this: —that if an infant
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