Editing Happiness (section)

====Confucianism====
The Chinese Confucian thinker [[Mencius]], who had sought to give advice to ruthless political leaders during China's Warring States period, was convinced that the mind played a mediating role between the "lesser self" (the physiological self) and the "greater self" (the moral self), and that getting the priorities right between these two would lead to sage-hood.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Richey |first=Jeffrey |title=Mencius (c. 372–289 B.C.E.) |url=https://iep.utm.edu/mencius/ |website=iep.utm.edu |access-date=23 March 2022 |archive-date=18 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418070444/https://iep.utm.edu/mencius/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He argued that if one did not feel satisfaction or pleasure in nourishing one's "vital force" with "righteous deeds", then that force would shrivel up (Mencius, 6A:15 2A:2). More specifically, he mentions the experience of intoxicating joy if one celebrates the practice of the great virtues, especially through music.<ref>{{cite book | last = Chan | first = Wing-tsit | title = A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy | url = https://archive.org/details/sourcebookinchin00chan | url-access = registration | location = Princeton, NJ | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1963 | isbn = 978-0691019642}}{{page needed|date=August 2016}}</ref>