Questions from Lu

Introduction

Questions from Lu collects Mozi's answers to rulers, students and passers-by, and it is the manual for how the ten doctrines are meant to be used. The key passage: "On entering any state, choose the task that fits and work at it." Where a state is in disorder, teach honoring the worthy and unity of standards. Where it is poor, teach frugality. Where it is sunk in music and drink, teach against music and against fate. Where it is lawless, teach the objective standard and accountability. Where it is bent on conquest, teach impartial care and non-aggression. The ten doctrines are not ten commandments but ten remedies, prescribed for the ailment at hand.

Another passage is the origin of 墨门 / The Mohist Community's discipline. The student Sheng Chuo takes office in Qi and follows his superior in three raids on Lu. Mozi recalls him: I sent him to curb arrogance; now his salary is fat and he betrays what I taught him. "His salary outweighed doing right" (禄胜义也). The clauses on assignments and discipline in the 墨者之法 trace back here.

Then Gongshu's wooden bird. Gongshu Ban carved a magpie that flew for three days and thought himself supremely skilled. Mozi answered that it was worth less than the axle pin a carpenter whittles in a moment, since that small piece of wood carries fifty dan. "What benefits people is called skill; what does not is called clumsiness." The line is the motto of our 科技堂, and also a sharp question: must usefulness be the only measure of technology?

Shorter exchanges fill out the chapter, including Peng Qingshengzi, who says the future cannot be known; Mozi asks whether, with a parent dying a hundred li away, he would set out if arriving in a day would save them.

The three tests

"Choose the task that fits" is a working manual for the third test, use: look at what ails the place, then decide which doctrine applies. The bird and the axle pin are also the test of use, pushed to its limit: skill is judged only by benefit. This week's difficulty lies there. Does that line condemn curiosity, play and pure inquiry as "clumsiness"? The geometry and optics in the Canons had no direct benefit in their day. Note that Mozi's tests are for claims and policies, not necessarily for every piece of handiwork. Draw that boundary in your discussion.

For families

• Read "choose the task that fits" together and let the children prescribe for the household: which remedy do we most need right now, frugality, impartial care, or not blaming fate?
• 科技堂: whittle an "axle pin" from wood or stiff card and test how much weight it can hold in place, then fold a paper bird. Ask which is more skillful.
• Tell Sheng Chuo's story and ask: if a very good job required you to do something wrong, what would you do?

For chapters

• 20 min reading · 20 min 墨辩 · 10 min 三表 review · 10 min 职 reports.
• 墨辩 motion: "What benefits people is skill; what does not is clumsiness." Should the 科技堂 run projects that have no use?
• 三表 review: work through the Peng Qingshengzi exchange and show how Mozi uses one concrete situation to make the other person revise their own conclusion.