非十二子

In today's world there are those who adorn deviant doctrines and embellish treacherous words, throwing the world into confusion and chaos, making the world so muddled that it cannot distinguish right from wrong or order from disorder.

Those who give free rein to natural impulses, indulge desire at will, and behave like beasts — their doctrines cannot unite civilization or achieve governance; yet their positions have grounds and their arguments form logical patterns, sufficient to deceive and confuse the ignorant masses. These are Tuo Xiao and Wei Mou. Those who repress natural impulses, practice extreme asceticism, and consider differentiating themselves from others as loftiness — their doctrines cannot unite the masses or clarify the great social divisions; yet their positions have grounds and their arguments form logical patterns, sufficient to deceive the ignorant. These are Chen Zhong and Shi Qiu. Those who do not understand the proper balance for unifying the world and establishing states, who elevate utility, magnify frugality, and disdain social hierarchy, who cannot even accommodate the distinctions between ruler and minister — yet their positions have grounds and their arguments form logical patterns, sufficient to deceive the ignorant. These are Mozi and Song Xing. Those who esteem law yet have no real law, who neglect self-cultivation and love innovation, who above take their cues from authority and below follow popular custom, who talk all day producing polished texts but upon examination have nothing coherent at their core, and whose doctrines cannot govern a state or establish social divisions — yet their positions have grounds and their arguments form logical patterns, sufficient to deceive the ignorant. These are Shen Dao and Tian Pian. Those who do not model the former kings, do not affirm ritual propriety, but love to construct bizarre theories and play with curious phrases, who are extremely acute but not beneficial, eloquent but useless, busy but accomplishing little, whose doctrines cannot serve as principles of governance — yet their positions have grounds and their arguments form logical patterns, sufficient to deceive the ignorant. These are Hui Shi and Deng Xi.

Those who roughly model the former kings but do not grasp their underlying unity, who are nonetheless talented, ambitious, and broadly learned — who fabricate theories based on ancient precedent and call them the 'Five Phases,' which are exceedingly deviant and lack proper categorization, obscure and lacking in explanation, constricted and lacking in resolution. They polish their rhetoric and reverently proclaim: 'These are truly the words of our former masters.' Zisi initiated this and Mencius echoed it. The muddled, befuddled pedants of popular convention noisily accepted and transmitted it without knowing what was wrong, taking it to be Confucius's and Zigong's great legacy to later generations. This is the fault of Zisi and Mencius.