Jin Xin I · 孟子 7A.38
Passage 38
孟子曰：「形色，天性也。惟聖人然後可以踐形。」
Mencius said, 'The bodily organs with their functions belong to our Heaven-conferred nature. But a man must be a sage before he can satisfy the design of his bodily organization.'
First-principles reading
Begin with the words and context, expose the premise beneath the argument, then test the conditions and limits of the principle.