INTRODUCTION


A hundred years after the time of Confucius the Chinese nation seemed to
have fallen back into their original condition of lawlessness and
oppression. The King's power and authority was laughed to scorn, the
people were pillaged by the feudal nobility, and famine reigned in many
districts. The foundations of truth and social order seemed to be
overthrown. There were teachers of immorality abroad, who published the
old Epicurean doctrine, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die."
This teaching was accompanied by a spirit of cold-blooded egotism which
extinguished every spark of Confucian altruism. Even the pretended
disciples of Confucius confused the precepts of the Master, and by
stripping them of their narrow significance rendered them nugatory. It
was at this point that Mang-tsze, "Mang the philosopher," arose. He was
sturdy in bodily frame, vigorous in mind, profound in political sagacity
and utterly fearless in denouncing the errors of his countrymen. He had
been brought up among the disciples of Confucius, in whose province he
was born B.C. 372, but he was much more active and aggressive, less a
Mystic than a fanatic, in comparison! with his Master. He resolved on
active measures in stemming the tendency of his day. He did indeed
surround himself with a school of disciples, but instead of making a
series of desultory travels, teaching in remote places and along the
high-road, he went to the heart of the evil. He presented himself like a
second John the Baptist at the courts of kings and princes, and there
boldly denounced vice and misrule. It was not difficult for a Chinese
scholar and teacher to find access to the highest of the land. The
Chinese believed in the divine right of learning, just as they believed