Mencius 7B.7
Mencius (孟子), Book 7, Part II: Jin Xin II 盡心下
孟子曰：「吾今而後知殺人親之重也：殺人之父，人亦殺其父；殺人之兄，人亦殺其兄。然則非自殺之也，一閒耳。」
Mencius said, 'From this time forth I know the heavy consequences of killing a man's near relations. When a man kills another's father, that other will kill his father; when a man kills another's elder brother, that other will kill his elder brother. So he does not himself indeed do the act, but there is only an interval between him and it.'
James Legge (1861), The Works of Mencius, The Chinese Classics vol. 2 (1861; 2nd ed. 1895); romanization modernized on Wikisource — public domain.
Character glossary
- 孟mèngfirst in a series; great, eminent
- 子zison, child; seed, egg; fruit; small thin
- 曰yuēto speak; to say
- 吾wúI, my, our; to resist, to impede
- 今jīnmodern, current; today, now
- 而érand, and then, and yet; but
- 後hòuafter; behind, rear; descendants
- 知zhīto know, to perceive, to comprehend
- 殺shāto kill, to murder, to slaughter; to hur
- 人rénman, person; people
- 親qīnrelatives, parents; intimate; the hazeln
- 之zhīmarks preceding phrase as modifier of fo
- 重zhòngheavy, weighty; to double, to repeat
- 也yěalso, too
- 父fùfather, dad
- 亦yìalso, too; likewise
- 其qíhis, her, its, their; that
- 兄xiōngelder brother
- 然ráncertainly; naturally; suddenly
- 則zérule, law, regulation; grades
- 非fēinot, negative, non-; to oppose
- 自zìself; private, personal; from
- 一yīone; a, an; alone
- 閒xiánleisure, idle time; tranquil, peaceful,
- 耳ěrear; to hear, to hear of; handle
Passages with shared wording
- Zhuangzi On Declining Power
- Zhuangzi Lieh Tzŭ
- Zhuangzi Tsê Yang
- Mencius 3A.5
- Zhuangzi The Circling Sky
- Mencius 5B.1
Data: English Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0); Chinese Wikisource (Public domain texts; transcription CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.