Following the standard

Introduction

天志下, The Will of Heaven III, sums up the three and is the most operational. The first two established that there is a standard above the ruler. This one answers: what does the standard actually require?

Mozi repeats the earlier inference: the gentlemen of the world know to avoid small wrongs but not great ones. "Why is the world in disorder? Because the gentlemen of the world are clear about small things and unclear about great ones." Clear about the small, unclear about the great, is another way of stating week 4's "knowing right from wrong."

Then the heart of the chapter: "What is it to follow Heaven's will? To care impartially for all the people of the world." How do we know? Because "Heaven possesses all and feeds all impartially." Then the list. Those who follow Heaven's will, "in a large state do not attack small states, in a great house do not disrupt small houses; the strong do not rob the weak, the many do not oppress the few, the cunning do not scheme against the simple, the noble do not scorn the humble." That is 兼. Those who oppose it do the reverse. That is 别.

Notice that the list is nearly identical to week 2's in 兼爱中, but this time it stands under 天志. The meaning: impartial care is not an emotional preference but the concrete requirement of the objective standard. The standard is not abstract "fairness"; it is a set of behaviors that can be checked one by one.

The second half takes up "righteous war," echoing week 6. Rulers today attack other states, kill and seize land, and "call aggression righteous," which is like "a man entering another's garden and taking his peaches, plums, melons and ginger." The peach again. And he adds: when these rulers attack small states they "write it on bamboo and silk and carve it in metal and stone" to pass their glory to descendants; yet if a thief carved his neighbor's stolen goods in metal and stone, everyone would see the absurdity. Same act: great ones recorded as merit, small ones as crime.

The chapter ends with the conclusion of all three: "So set this up as the law, establish this as the standard, and use it to measure the humaneness or inhumanity of the kings, dukes, ministers and officers of the world, as clearly as telling black from white."

With all three read, 天志 can be summed up in three sentences. There is a standard above any person (I). It is above any person because it treats everyone alike (II). Its concrete demands are the seven forms of not bullying (III). None of the three needs "Heaven" to stand.

The three tests

This chapter rests most on the third test, application: follow the standard and there is impartiality and order; oppose it and there is partiality and disorder. The list itself is the third test made operational: each item can be observed done or not done.

The second test finally appears: the seven behaviors are visible to everyone's ears and eyes. That fills the gap in the first two chapters. Heaven's will cannot be seen, but the conduct of following it can.

For families

• Put the list in a child's words: big ones don't pick on small ones, strong don't pick on weak, many don't pick on few, clever don't trick the simple, rich don't look down on poor, young don't take from old. Put it on the wall.
• Each evening ask: did you see anyone break one of these today? What did you do?
• Tell the "carved in metal and stone" story: why is a great wrong recorded as merit?

For chapters

• Reading: the passage "what is it to follow Heaven's will," and the passage "write it on bamboo and silk."
• Debate: focus on the seven-item scoring. Each person reports the item they most often failed in the practice; see the chapter's distribution.
• Three-tests review: file a three-sentence summary of the three 天志 chapters (see the end of the introduction). This is the second summary week of the half-year.