words, nor put the person aside for the same reason. The superior
person is dignified but does not wrangle, sociable but not partisan.
From these sayings, Confucius emphasizes being objective and fair
rather than selfish and showing favoritism.
Being perseverant, ambitious,and optimistic.Mencius emphasizes
the importance of perseverance and optimism in the face of hardships
and adversity. ‘‘When Heaven is about to confer a great office on any
person, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and his sinews and
bones with toil. It exposes his body to hunger, and subjects him to
extreme poverty. It confounds his undertakings. By all these methods
it stimulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies him with
extraordinary competencies’’ (Legge, 1970 : 447). What is more,
leaders must have a heroic sprit, that is, they obtain the desire for office
and practice principles for the good of the people. When that desire
is unfulfilled they persist alone. And they are not to be corrupted by
riches and honors, not to waver under poverty and humility, and not
to yield under power and force.
Self-examination and correcting mistakes. Self-improvement cannot
be made without self-examination and self-criticism. Confucius taught
his disciples to self-examine in three aspects, as narrated by Confucius’
disciple, Philosopher Zeng, in the ConfucianAnalects, ‘‘I daily examine
myself on three points: whether, transacting business for others, I may
have been not faithful; whether, in intercourse with friends, I may have
been not sincere; whether I may have not mastered and practiced
the instructions of my teacher’’ (Legge, 1971 : 139). Daily examina-
tion of one’s actions and behavior against moral standards and sage
instructions reveals one’s faults and mistakes. Confucius advised
leaders to have a sense of shame and to be courageous to acknowledge
and correct their mistakes. Knowing a fault but not correcting it is
itself a fault and knowing and correcting a fault is a sign of a superior
person. Zigong, one of Confucius’ disciples, said, ‘‘The faults of the
superior man are like the eclipses of the sun and moon. He has faults,
and all men see them; he changes again, and all men look up to him’’
(Legge, 1971 : 346).
Leading others(an ren)as the sage-leader(wai wang)
The supreme goals and tasks of benevolent leadership: population,
welfare, and education.According to Confucianism, there are three
Confucian and Mencian philosophy 41