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perfect apprehension of the Tao of Confucius, became at the age of about '45 Minister under Prince Hsiian^ of the Ch4 State. But the latter would not carry out his principles, and Mencius threw up his post. Thence he wandered away to several States, advising their rulers to the best of his ability but making no very prolonged stay. He then visited Prince ^ Hui of the Liang State, and abode there until the monarch's death in B.C. 319. After that event he returned to the State of Ch4 and resumed his old position. In B.C. 311 he once more felt himself constrained to resign o£Sce and retired finally into private life, occupying himself during the remainder of his days in teaching and in preparing the philosophical record which now passes under his name. He lived at a time when the feudal princes were squabbling over the rival systems of Federation and Imperialism, and he vainly tried to put into practice at an epoch of blood and iron the gentle virtues of the Golden Age. His criterion was that of Confucius; but his teachings were on a lower plane, dealing rather with man's well-being from the point of view of political economy. He was therefore justly named by Chao Ch4 the ^ ^ Second Holy One or Prophet, a title under which he is still known. He was an uncompromising defender of the doctrines of Confucius, and he is considered to have effectually ^^snuffed out" the heterodox schools of Yang Chu and Mo Ti. As in the case of Confucius, his personal name ^ E^o is taboo. In A.D. 1083 he was posthumously ennobled as Duke of Tsou, and in 1088 his tablet was placed in the Confucian Temple (see Yen Hui),

Meng Kuang ^^t ^^ Meng Shih ^ ^. The wife of Liang 1523

Hung iq.v.).

Meng Min ^ ^ (T. ^ ^ ). 2nd cent. A.D. A native of Chil- 1534 lu in Chihli, who when he had let fall a valuable vase, walked on without paying any attention to it. On being asked by Kuo T'ai (one account says by ;^ ^ Lin Tsung) what he meant by