The Agora: Dedicated to Ancient Ideals
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Mohism was an early competitor to Confucius, but lasted for only a few hundred years before dying out and disappearing. This is not to say that Mohism is not significant to our lives today. Mo Tzu's teachings are often elucidated by the way they conflict with those of Confucius.
Whoever criticizes others must have something to replace them.
Criticism without suggestion is like trying to stop flood with flood and put
out fire with fire. It will surely be without worth.
Mo Tsu
Mo Tzu taught ten theses:
1. Elevating the Worthy--rulers should honor the worthy and employ the able
rather than advance relatives and favorites;
2. Conforming to Superiors--the people must be of one mind with their superiors
so that unity is maintained;
3. Universal Love--it is only by an ungraded love that allows no special treatment
for one's own kin that a secure society can be constructed;
4. Condemnation of aggression--warfare is always unprofitable, and if rulers
could be taught this simple truth, there would be peace;
5. Moderation in expenditures--the state should expend its resources only on
those things which bring benefit to the people;
6. Moderation in funerals--the sages had simple funerals and the doctrines
advocating elaborate funerals and extended periods of mourning are falsifications
of antiquity;
7. The Will of Heaven or Honoring Heaven--the clearest standard in the world,
which Mo Tsu would use as his square and compass;
8. Explaining the Spirits or Serving the Spirits--a defense of the traditional
belief in spirits and;
9. Condemnation of Music--a refutation of doctrines advocating elaborate
musical performances as instruments of state ceremony;
10. Condemnation of Fate--a refutation of the fatalistic doctrines.
The task of the human-hearted man is to procure benefits for
the world and to eliminate its calamities. Now among all the current calamities
of the world, which are the greatest? I say that attacks on small states by
large ones, disturbances of small houses by large ones, oppression of the weak
by the strong, misuse of the few by the many, deception of the simple by the
cunning, and disdain toward the humble by the honored: these are the misfortunes
of the world.
--Mo Tzu,
Mo Tsu's moral teachings emphasized self-reflection and authenticity rather than blind obedience to ritual. It is believed that Mo Tzu's teachings were for an underclass, perhaps we was a former slave or prisoner. It may have been this societal conflict that made later Confucianists so bitter regarding Mo Tsu and his teachings. Mo Tsu attempted to upend Confucianist teachings with his universal love for all of humankind.
Mozi said: The purpose of the magnanimous is to be found in procuring
benefits for the world and eliminating its calamities. But what are the benefits
of the world and what its calamities? Mozi said: Mutual attacks among states,
mutual usurpation among houses, mutual injuries among individuals; the lack
of grace and loyalty between ruler and ruled, the lack of affection and filial
piety between father and son, the lack of harmony between elder and younger
brothers - these are the major calamities in the world.
Mo Tsu
Following are some excerpts of the Mo Tsu.
Mo Tsu:
Befriending the Learned
Self Cultivation
The Seven Causes of Anxiety
Indulgence of Excess
Universal Love
Condemnation of Offensive War
Temperance and economy bring prosperity while indulgence and
excess lead to destruction.
--Mo Tzu
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