Chapter 7 The Fighting Missionary - Mozi

Confucius is an elegant gentleman, and Mozi is a combatant missionary.The purpose of his preaching is to oppose the traditional system and routine, and the theories of Confucius and Confucianism. ——Feng Youlan Friends who have watched the TV series must still remember that the hero's kung fu master is highly skilled in martial arts, and he carries a "giant token" in his pocket, commanding the world, so majestic.The so-called "juzi" is actually the supreme leader of the ancient Mohism.The Mohist school is a group with strict organization and strict discipline. The members of the Mohist school are called "Mohist", and they must obey the leadership of Juzi and obey the command. Do not turn your heels back.

Mozi (approximately 480 BC-400 BC) was the founder of Mohism, that is, the first giant of Mohism.Mozi was a thinker and scholar at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States period. His real name was Zhai, and he was from Lu, some say Song.Mozi was born as a commoner and a small industrialist.He is proficient in handicrafts, which can be compared with the craftsman Lu Ban at that time.But he also called himself "the humble man of the north", and was called "the commoner man" and "the slut".Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty even said that the ancestors of Confucius and Mozi were vulgar people.Mozi once served as a senior official in the Song Dynasty, and he said that "there is no problem for the emperor above, and there is no difficulty for farming and farming below." He was a scholar who sympathized with "people who are farmers and workers".Mozi once studied as a teacher of Confucianism, learned the art of Confucius, praised Yao, Shun and Dayu, and studied Confucian classics such as "Poetry", "Spring and Autumn" and so on.But later, he gradually became bored with the cumbersome rituals and music of Confucianism, and finally abandoned Confucianism and formed his own Mohist school.Before the rise of Legalism, Mohism was the largest school in opposition to Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, and was listed as the "Xianxue". "Mozi" was written by Mo Di, his disciples, and later scholars. It is a collection of works of the Mohist school. There are 71 articles in the Han Dynasty, and 53 are extant.

Mozi, who can command thousands of disciples all over the world, is naturally outstanding in his thinking.There are 10 propositions in Mozi's thoughts: universal love, non-aggression, valuing the virtuous, advocating the same, frugal use, festival burial, non-joy, heavenly will, clear ghosts, and non-fate. as the basic point.In order to publicize his ideas, Mozi recruited many disciples, and there were hundreds of trusted disciples in general, forming a powerful Mohist school.Mozi traveled extensively, from Qi in the east, to Zheng and Wei in the west, and to Chu and Yue in the south.He also had a debate with Gongshu Pan and successfully stopped Chu's war of aggression against Song. This story of "Mozi cleverly argued to save Song" is recorded in "Mozi·Gongshu".

Gongshuban, also known as Lu Ban, was the most famous skilled craftsman at that time. He was invited by King Chu Hui to make a siege tool—a cloud ladder, and was going to attack Song, a small country in the north.Mozi advocated "non-attack" all his life. After learning about this, even though he was 90 years old at the time, he traveled to Chuduying for 10 days to persuade him.He went directly to persuade Gongshuban. First, he deliberately asked Gongshuban to kill someone for him on the condition that he would give a thousand gold.Mozi knew that the public loser had taken the bait, so he continued to question: Chu State has a large population and few people, but you want to use the scarce population to fight and capture the excess land, which is not a wise move; and Song State did not commit any crimes. Such a crusade cannot be regarded as benevolence and righteousness; you Gongshuban flaunts benevolence and righteousness, and you are not even willing to kill a single person, but you want to help the king of Chu kill innocent Song people, how can you justify it?Gongshuban was speechless, completely convinced.But if you want to save Song, the key is to convince King Chu Hui.Facing the old trick of Mozi, the king of Chu, he first asked the king of Chu, what kind of person is he if he does not want his own luxurious cars, fine clothes, and delicacies instead of stealing other people's broken cars, common clothes, and simple food?The king of Chu went in without knowing it, and replied casually: "That must be a kleptomaniac."Seeing that King Hui of Chu had fallen into a trap, Mozi pressed him and asked: Chu State is 5,000 miles away, while Song State is only 5,000 miles away. There are no crucian carps, which can be compared with delicacies and simple tea and light rice; Chu domestically produced nan and other precious woods, while Song State does not even have a decent tree, which can be compared with Chinese clothes and commoners. From this point of view, it is not a steal for the powerful Chu State to attack the weak Song State Madness?If Chu State must attack Song Dynasty, it can only lose morality and end in failure.The king of Chu knew that he was wrong, but relying on the ladder, he thought that he would be able to conquer the state of Song.In order to convince the King of Chu, Mozi surrounded the city with his clothes and belts, and used chopsticks to simulate siege equipment. He and Gongshu Ban had a unique sand table drill. As a result, the Gongshu Ban had no money and could not capture the city. He was completely defeated by Mozi.In this way, Mozi "stopped Chu from attacking Song" without spending a single soldier, which has been passed down as a good story.

But what is sad is that Mozi's thoughts could not be understood by people at that time.It is recorded in the book that when he returned victoriously from the state of Chu, "After the Song Dynasty, it rained, and he sheltered his lords, and those who guarded his lords were not allowed."Mo Zi, who risked his life and made great achievements, couldn't take shelter from the rain inside the gate of Song Guoli Lane!It's just so sad.Mozi advocates appointing people on their merits, officials cannot always be noble, and ordinary people cannot always be humble.He also opposed aggressive wars, campaigned for the invaded countries, and upheld justice.He also advocated "love each other and benefit each other". People, regardless of high or low, love and benefit each other, so that society will move towards great harmony, expressing the working people's desire for equality and opposition to war and oppression.However, these thoughts of Mozi were obviously utopian at that time, and his spirit of advocating equality could not be accepted by the rulers. This is probably the root cause of Mozi's inability to be understood by people.Therefore, Mohism, which was once comparable to Confucianism, disappeared in the early Han Dynasty.

The text of "Mozi" is simple and simple, with too much emphasis on the rigor of reasoning and the clarity of logic, valuing quality over writing and reasoning over matters, lacking descriptions of events and characters, and lacking literary talent. ", which is probably an important reason why "Mozi" was lost.