"Master Yang" seems to allude to Yang Zhu, a thinker/philosopher flourished in the fourth century B.C., who is quoted to have said, "I would not try to benefit the world if I have to pluck out one hair for that." This quotation is found in the Mencius (VII.1.26) where Mencius criticizes both Yang Zhu and Mozi for being two extremes. While Yang Zhu seems to have stood for selfishness, Mozi inculcated the concept of jian'ai, which is variously translate from "universal love" to "concerns for all." For Mencius, Yang's selfishness is not even recognizing lord, and Mozi's "concerns for all" is to have no father since there would be no distinction between father and everyone else. To have neither father nor lord is to be bestial. However, Yang Zhu's philosophy may be more complex than simple egoism/ego-centrism.

The "Kings and Hegemons" chapter of the Xunzi, another Confucian text, has this to say about Yang Zhu, and this may be related the allusion in the preface to the poem here:

As Yang Zhu once lamented at the forked road: "isn't this where you take a half step wrong and wake up a thousand li astray?"

This is why Yang Zhu wailed bitterly. This similarly is the forked road of honor and disgrace, safety and danger, survival and destruction for the self. It constitutes the forked road where a decision could be made that might prove even more grievous. Alas, is it not pitiable indeed that the rulers of men have never awakened to this fact in the last thousand years?"

(XI.7d)