Shame in Chinese classic philosophy: An investigation through the lens of Mencius

In the West, shame is believed to arise from feelings toward sex, which is the origin of knowledge of goodness and evil as well as the origin of the conscience. In the Bible, sexual shame is elevated as the beginning and the source of other types of shame, so at the same time it is the prototype and standard of other types of shame. However, the generality and power of sexual shame need not be universal. In Chinese traditional thinking it is clear that shame is closely bound up with taste (eating), which occupies the primal location and plays an important role in "taste." In ancient Chinese words and expressions, the meaning of "shame" is "dedication" and "delicious (food)" and the word "shame" is used as both verb and adjective. Shame firstly involves delicious food. Beginning with the Confucian Analects, "shame" in relation to the meaning of delicious food stirs feelings of morality. This reason for this association is that shame is related to the delicious food that comes from "sheep," as well as the values of goodness, beauty, and faith. Generally speaking, "shame" is related to all valuable things. The shape of "xiu" (means shame) in the Chinese ancient character shows an uncertain expression of conflict when people decide whether or not to capture the sheep. In this sense, the shame is derived from what one thinks and feels when a person faces beautiful and valuable things. Mencius regards the concept of shame as a category of morality, and the concept's role as an important source of human's nature and conscience is greatly consolidated. Furthermore, shame is the basic foundation that defines man as man. The Confucians decline the human's shield of morality in order to emphasize the effects of shame. Under this teaching, they merged substance () with function (): existing with shame. For the Taoist who stresses the discipline of the mind, shame is taken as a defense to retain the "nativeness" of the mind.