Water in the Mencius: Correlative Reasoning, Conceptual Metaphor, and/or Sacred Performative Narrative?

Abstract

The way the water metaphor is mobilized in Mencius 6A.2 has been interpreted and assessed from a number of perspectives. While several commentators find the analogy developed by Mencius comparing water and human nature intrinsically weak, others see it as partially effective in its use of analogical reasoning or of conceptual metaphors, especially when related to a yin-yang-based cosmology. This contribution develops an alternative perspective: it locates this metaphor in the corpus of references to water found first in the Mencius and second in the works of Chinese antiquity until the early Han period. This survey allows us to highlight three important features: (a) a quasi-sacred status is attached to the aquatic element; (b) water’s characteristics are developed according to a narrative model, causing the reader to circulate from one level of reality to another, such that the communication between the heart–mind and Heaven opens up; and (c) finally, as they mobilize a sense of contemplation and wonder, water narratives are meant to be transformative of the disciple’s consciousness and behavior.