Geng Zhu

Introduction

Geng Zhu collects short exchanges between Mozi, his students and his critics. The opening story is the shortest and the best known. Mozi scolds his student Geng Zhu, who feels hard done by. Mozi asks: "If I were driving up Mount Taihang, would I whip the horse or the sheep?" "The horse." "Why?" "Because the horse can answer to it." Mozi says: I think you can too. That is how 墨门 / The Mohist Community treats criticism. Being corrected is evidence that you are counted on.

The second exchange to read slowly is with Wumazi, who admits he cannot practice impartial care. He cares for people of Zou more than people of Yue, for people of Lu more than Zou, for his own village more than Lu, for himself more than his parents, because only his own pain is felt directly. Mozi's reply is cool. Will you hide this principle or state it? If you state it, those who agree will harm you by your own logic, and those who disagree will harm you for saying something so ugly. A principle that cannot survive being said in public has something wrong with it.

The closing passage fits the Community's daily life best. Asked what matters most in doing right, Mozi answers: it is like building a wall. Those who can ram earth ram earth, those who can fill fill, those who can measure measure, and then the wall stands. Doing right is the same: those who can argue argue, those who can teach teach, those who can do the work do the work. That is where the idea of 职, the assignment, comes from. No kind of contribution outranks another.

The three tests

The reply to Wumazi uses the third test, use, but in an unusual way. Mozi does not add up total social benefit. He pushes Wumazi's principle back onto Wumazi and asks what it does to the person who holds it. The Lesser Selection later calls this move "extension" (推). Is it enough? It shows that a self-interest principle contradicts itself once made public. It does not show that impartial care is right. What actually supports impartial care is the benefit to ordinary people argued in the three Impartial Care chapters. This week's discussion is about telling "I refuted you" apart from "I proved my case."

For families

• Tell the horse-and-sheep story, then ask: the last time a parent corrected you, did it feel like being counted on?
• Build a "wall" together from blocks or boxes, each person owning one step, and talk about why the wall fails if anyone is missing.
• For older children, put Wumazi's question: "What is wrong with caring only about yourself?" and let them try to answer with Mozi's counter-question.

For chapters

• 20 min reading · 20 min 墨辩 · 10 min 三表 review · 10 min 职 reports.
• 墨辩 motion: "Wumazi's honesty deserves more respect than empty talk about impartial care." Both sides must quote the text.
• Extend 职 reports into a "wall-building" round: each Mohist names the one thing they can best contribute in the second half of the year; the chapter lead records it, and any unassigned 职 is settled within two weeks.