January 4
Compassion is the seed of humaneness, shame the seed of what is right. Everyone carries these beginnings within, as the seed carries the tree — they need nourishing, not planting.
The Book of Mencius (freely rendered)
The Ox and the Sheep
Compassion is the seed of humaneness, shame the seed of what is right. Everyone carries these beginnings within, as the seed carries the tree — they need nourishing, not planting.
King Xuan of Qi saw an ox being led past and asked where the animal was being taken. Its blood was to consecrate a new bell. The ox was trembling. The king could not bear the sight and ordered it to be set free. Should the consecration of the bell be abandoned, then, the servants asked. No, he replied, they should take a sheep.
When Mencius later raised the matter with him, the king insisted it had not been a question of sparing the expense. Mencius asked what, in that case, made the sheep different from the ox. The king laughed and could not explain his decision. Mencius said: The ox he had seen. The sheep he had not.
