Meng Yuan was prone to loving fame. Yangming used the metaphor of a large tree occupying a zhang of ground: fell it completely, leave no root, then you can plant good grain.
"Fell this tree completely, leave not the smallest root, then you can plant good grain."
Meng Yuan loved fame. The Master warned him: "This is the great root of disease in your life. It is like a large tree planted in a square zhang of ground — the nourishment of rain and dew, the strength of the soil, all feed only this great root. Even if you wish to plant good grain around it, above the the leaves above, the roots tangled below — how can anything grow? You must fell this tree, leaving not the smallest root, then you can plant good grain. Otherwise, no matter how you cultivate and fertilize, you only nourish this root."
Meng Yuan loved fame. The Master warned him: "This is the great root of disease in your life. It is like a large tree planted in a square zhang of ground — the nourishment of rain and dew, the strength of the soil, all feed only this great root. Even if you wish to plant good grain around it, above the the leaves above, the roots tangled below — how can anything grow? You must fell this tree, leaving not the smallest root, then you can plant good grain. Otherwise, no matter how you cultivate and fertilize, you only nourish this root."
When you identify a deep-seated habit (procrastination, people-pleasing, perfectionism), don't just manage symptoms — uproot it completely. Yangming's tree metaphor reminds us: half-measures for deep problems only feed the root.
"This is the great root of disease in your life."
Yangming diagnoses Meng Yuan's fundamental problem: love of fame (好名). This is not a minor flaw but the "great root" that occupies the entire field of the mind. Like a massive tree, it crowds out everything else — no matter how hard you try to cultivate virtue, all your effort ends up feeding this one root.
"You must fell this tree, leaving not the smallest root."
The remedy is radical: not trimming branches but uprooting the entire tree. Half-measures won't work. If even a tiny root of fame-loving remains, it will grow back and dominate the mind again. This is Yangming's version of "radical honesty" — you must face your deepest flaw completely.