(August 1915)
Esteemed Zisheng:
I received your letter on the seventh. After I read it, I jumped with excitement!
Alas, except for Zisheng, who would be willing to speak to me of the Way? Except
for you, who would be able to speak to me of the Way? After reading your precious
statements, my heart feels lightened and refreshed. However, the knots which bind it
are still thick, while the many heavy thoughts are deeply accumulated. They multiply
and weigh down on me, and I am unable to free myself. Will you allow me to release
them by talking to you? Today, I see that of all the myriad species, man is endowed with
superior intelligence. The sounds we produce become speech. Having speech, we gather
many others of our kind to form society. Speech is possible because of intelligence, and
32 Xiao Zizhang (1896–1983), also known as Xiao Zhifan and Xiao San, was born in Xiangxiang,
Hunan. As the name Xiao San (Third Brother Xiao) suggests, he was a younger brother of Xiao Zisheng.
He likewise graduated from Hunan First Normal School, and went on to teach at the attached primary
school. In March 1917, he was a co-signatory with Mao of a letter to Miyazaki Tbten. For further
particulars, see the note to Mao’s letter of February 19, 1920.

society is possible because of speech. Is speech not most valuable? Having recited the
admonitions of Chengzi,33 read the writings of Zeng Gong,34 and tried to go back to
the teachings of the Duke of Zhou and Confucius, I know that sayings such as “it is the
mouth which gives rise to war”35 and “be slow in speech and earnest in conduct”36 have
been recorded on bamboo tablets and disseminated for a thousand years. And now,
when you implicitly call my attention to these principles which are in accordance with
the teachings of the sages, do I dare not acclaim your wisdom? Bearing this in mind, I
have thought things over. All the depths of wisdom found in heaven and on earth, and
all the profundity of meaning accumulated throughout the ages, whether changeable
and confusing, whether disorderly and obscure, are all without limit, whereas men’s
lives are limited. If one person who has obtained a pearl and another who owns half of
a jade disk do not engage in mutual questioning and interaction, how can they broaden
their knowledge and achieve erudition? Perhaps this is what is known as inviting offense with
speech. But even so, speech cannot be discarded simply because it can cause transgression, just as food cannot be discarded simply because it can cause one to choke. Furthermore, he who speaks does not necessarily transgress, and even if he does transgress, this
is but a small matter to a wise man. Jesus was dismembered37 for speaking out; Long
and Bi were executed for speaking out.38 From another perspective, one may also say
that some people suffered bad ends not because they had transgressed through speech.
Lu Yang and Yin Hao were famous among their peers, but as soon as they made a
mistake in the eyes of the world, their standing was diminished immediately.39 I am
frightened morning and night and ashamed to face up to [the ideal of] the superior
man [junzi]. Recently, I wrote a piece in my journal entitled “self-accusation.” Read it
and you will know the pain in my heart. The words are as follows:
A guest said to me: “Do you know the bottle gourd? When the sun shines and the
earth begins to warm, it sprouts and spreads. Intertwining with itself, it becomes a
33 Cheng Yi.
34 Zeng Guofan.
35 A quotation from the Book of Historical Documents, II, II, II, 17 (Legge, Vol. Ill, p. 63). Book II
is entitled “The Counsels of the Great Yu,” and the words cited by Mao are not attributed either to the
Duke of Zhou or to Confucius. Mao has left out two characters in the middle of the sentence; Legge’s
translation of the whole reads: “It is the mouth which sends forth what is good, and gives rise to war.”
36 See the Analects, IV, XXIV (Legge, Vol. I, p. 172), where this quotation is attributed to Confucius:
“The Master said, ‘The superior man wishes to be slow in his speech and earnest in his conduct.’ ”
37 No doubt this ancient Chinese punishment was the nearest equivalent to crucifixion Mao could
think of.
38 Long is Guan Longxian; Bi is Bi Gan. Both of them were disemboweled for remonstrating with
the tyrant Zhou Xiu for his excesses in the twelfth century B.c.
39 Duke Yang of Lu, a personage of the Warring States period, is mentioned in the Huainan zi,
an eclectic work compiled at the court of Liu An (d. 122 B.C.), king of Huainan. It is related of him
that he shook his spear at the declining sun and caused it to move back up in the sky in order to leave
him more time for a difficult battle. Yin Hao (d. 356), a high military commander, was cashiered for
incompetence.

web of vines, each unable to extend itself on its own. If it is not interfered with by men,
it will spread among the thorn bushes and reach out within the confines of the weeds.
The seasons progress in good order, and it throws out a bud furtively, here and there.
People will say, “This is only some type of weed,” but when autumn descends and the
leaves wither, a shepherd boy passes among the plants, cutting away the weeds and
separating the shrubs. That substantial object, some as big as a crockery jar, is the
vine’s gourd. On the other hand, observe the peony which grows within the garden.
Its green calyxes and vermillion blossoms lean this way and that, bursting with energy.
Majestic and brilliant, the blossoms compete with one another in beauty and opulence.
The unenlightened will say, “The fruit of this plant must be enormous.” Who would
think that when fall arrives and the cold weather returns, the flowers shrivel, and
there is no fruit to harvest? Observing these two plants, which should we emulate?” I
answered: “The peony flourishes first and later declines. The gourd declines first and
later flourishes. The one has no end product and the other has. One should emulate
the one with an end product, and is this not the gourd?” The guest said: “If that is
your answer, I see that you have but one crude skill, and yet you make a treasured gift
of it. You have not achieved any measure of virtue, and yet you wish to make a show
for the crowds, gathering your kind around you and putting on airs by rolling up your
sleeves and raising your eyebrows. You do not have the capacity for
tranquility; you are fickle and excitable. Like a woman preening herself, you know
no shame. Your outside looks strong, but your inside is truly empty. Your ambitions for
fame and fortune are not suppressed, and your sensual desires grow daily. You enjoy all
hearsay and rumor, perturbing the spirit and misusing time, and generally delight in
yourself. You always emulate what the peony does, without hope for any end product,
but deceive yourself by saying ‘I emulate the gourd.’ Is this not dishonesty?” Having
no answer, I shrank back, sweating profusely, morose and frustrated.
Zhangfu40 has gone home, and is expected to return in two weeks. It has been
arranged that he should lecture at the affiliated primary school. I have already sent
someone with a letter to take care of him. I enclosed your long letter and also a letter
from Kunfu.41 School vacation has been extended until the twentyfifth. I am going
home on the fifteenth to pay my respects to my parents and visit my brothers. You
are right in declining the position at the Pingjiang school. I mentioned it only because
I was uncertain whether everything had been settled with the Xiuye School.42 I will
40 Chen Zhangfu. See the note to Mao’s letter of June 25,1915.
41 Kunfu is Xiong Guangchu (1886-?), born in Xiangxiang, Hunan. He graduated from First Normal
School in the summer of 1913, and went on to work as the school’s librarian. In the summer of 1917
he successfully completed the Hunan Higher Teacher’s College special training course on literature and
history. He later joined the New People’s Study Society, went to France on the work-study program,
and died there.
42 The Xiuye xuexiao, literally the “Study School,” had been established in Changsha in 1903 as a
middle school, and expanded to include a primary school in 1904 and an accelerated teacher training
department in 1906. According to Xiao himself, he had in fact been offered an appointment there