A passage from Wang Yangming's 15th c. Chuan Xi Lu (傳習錄), or "Records of the Transmission of Learning" (Bk. 3.207) helps us discern the capital concern for natural right in classical China. Wang's insistance on the inherence of moral knowledge in the human being as such finds its formal justification in the common man's (common) sense of right and wrong. Our "sense" is a sign that right is irreducible to "positive right" or "law" (even though it may need a "legal reminder" to become manifest). It follows that statesmen should not try to conceal from their political subjects the original inherence of right in human nature.
先生曰：「人胸中各有個聖人，只自信不及，都自埋倒了。」因顧于中曰：「爾胸中原是聖人。」于中起不敢當。先生曰：「此是爾自家有的，如何要推？」于中又曰：「不敢。」先生曰：「眾人皆有之，況在于中，卻何故謙起來？謙亦不得。」于中乃笑受。又論：「良知在人，隨你如何，不能泯滅。雖盜賊亦自知不當為盜，喚他作賊，他還忸怩。」于中曰：「只是物欲遮蔽。良心在內，自不會失，如雲自蔽日，日何嘗失了？」先生曰：「于中如此聰明，他人見不及此。」
TRANSLATION:
The master [Wang Yangming] said, « In every man’s bosom inheres a sage. It is owing to our insufficient trust, that it remains buried in all of us ». So he turned to Yuzhong to say : « A sage has always been in your bosom. » Yuzhong rose, not daring to face it. The Master said: « Since it is inherent in your own people, how could you avoid it? » Yuzhong further said: « I dare not [face it]». The Master said: « It inheres in all commoners, besides being seated in Yuzhong, so to what avail does modesty arise? Even modesty does not gain [you wisdom] [i.e. modesty is not the way of the sage. Yuzhong assumed that it is our duty to conceal « the sage »]. Then Yuzhong conceded with a smile. Again he explained: « Innate moral knowledge is seated in man: whatever path you take, it cannot be extinguished. Even a robber knows that he shouldn’t steal. Call him out for robbery and he will turn around in shame. » Yuzhong said: « It’s just that cupidity [desire for things] has obscured it. An innate moral sense seated within cannot be lost in itself. As when the sun is concealed by clouds: is the sun ever lost? » The Master said: « Yuzhong is so perceptive that others fall short of seeing this».
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NOTES
Why would Yuzhong wish to leave wisdom concealed? Because he assumes that it would somehow offend ordinary people? Because he fears that ordinary people will (impiously) recognise it in themselves? Wang shows that you cannot hide it altogether. Even the commoner, nay even a robber, has a sense of it. What does Yuzhong « realize »? In what respect is he « so perceptive »? He sees that the sage-king’s wisdom is latent in man as man (is it what makes us human?). Earlier he had feared to face or expose wisdom’s inherence in man, shying away from it. Now he concedes that it is hidden even in commoners. Why do « others » fall short of seeing what Yuzhong sees? Do they fear public recognition of the inherence of wisdom in human nature? Yuzhong is a statesman. Does the Master's « others » refer to other statesmen? Do they assume (out of fear) that moral wisdom should remain concealed (viz. in laws)? But how can it be held concealed altogether if even a common robber has some sense of it? Yuzhong concedes that morality has its roots in human nature. That is more than his « other » colleagues are willing to concede.
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