This means one’s innate quality can be cultivated and shown through one’s appearance. It originated in the Chinese classic Mencius. Mencius (372?-289BC), an ancient Chinese thinker, believed that a person’s physical appearance embodies his innate quality. However, the physical appearance of many people fails to give expression to their innate quality. Only a sage can see and make use of such quality and demonstrate it through physical appearance, enabling the physical appearance to perform its due function.

Mencius said: “A person’s physical features and appearance can tell a lot about one’s innate quality. Only a sage can demonstrate such quality through his physique and appearance. ” Mencius

When I talk about expression of innate quality through appearance and manner, I mean that people’s physical appearance reveals their innate quality. An ear is a part of one’s physical appearance; it can only function when it can hear as well as it should. The same applies to eyes: they can only function when they can see as far and clearly as they should. Categorized Conversations of Master Zhu Xi