孟Mèng子Zǐ · Mencius

The Mengzi records the sayings and debates of Mencius (Meng Ke, c. 372–289 BCE), who lived about a century after Confucius and is the second figure of Confucianism — the one who turned the Master's aphorisms into arguments. Where the Analects is fragmentary, the Mengzi is dialectical: Mencius travels from court to court sparring with kings, defending the radical claim that human nature is good (the famous child-in-the-well passage) and that a ruler who loses the mandate of the people may rightly be removed. The prose is more expansive and rhetorical than the Lunyu, and several of its episodes became set pieces of Chinese education (the fish-and-bear's-palm passage on righteousness, Mencius's mother moving three times). English seeding is James Legge (public domain). Note: Legge renders 利 as 'profit' throughout, which actively distorts the opening exchange with King Hui of Liang — D.C. Lau's 'benefit' is widely considered more faithful. See content/SOURCES.md for the named limitation.