The Heart That Knows Shame Is the Sprout of Righteousness

answered by Mencius, Gongsun Chou I

기원전 4세기(맹자 언행록)

The Heart That Knows Shame Is the Sprout of Righteousness asks: Before a wrong everyone would bury, do I fold away even the heart that feels shame? The film Poetry (dir. Lee Chang-dong) raises it; Mencius, Gongsun Chou I answers: "The heart that knows shame and revulsion at wrong is the sprout of righteousness."

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Poetry (2010)

dir. Lee Chang-dong · South Korea

Before a wrong everyone rushes to bury, there is one who alone bears the shame no one else will feel for them. Is a heart that takes even a sin not directly its own and seeks to atone a foolish burden, or the last sense that keeps a person human?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Before a wrong everyone would bury, do I fold away even the heart that feels shame?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

羞惡之心義之端也

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

The heart that knows shame and revulsion at wrong is the sprout of righteousness.

💡 TL;DR

Mencius called the heart that knows shame the sprout of righteousness.

📝The Classic Answers

Mencius called the heart that knows shame the sprout of righteousness. Shame is not weakness but a sign that the heart which knows what is wrong is still alive. Where everyone rushes to bury a wrong, one who alone feels that shame looks foolish, yet what they keep is the last root of righteousness. Before a wrong others pass by unmoved, I choose not to fold away the heart that still feels shame.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If a wrong others passed by left you uneasy today, don't suppress it — look at what the shame is about.

📖 Classic Source: Mencius, Gongsun Chou I. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.