The Mohist order in history

Introduction

This week we read no chapter of the Mozi. Instead we read what others recorded about the Mohists. The records are short and scattered through the Zhuangzi, the Lüshi Chunqiu, the Han Feizi and the Huainanzi, and together they are everything we know about the Mohist order.

Zhuangzi, "All Under Heaven" paints the Mohists as extreme ascetics: "coarse cloth for clothing, straw sandals on their feet, working day and night without rest, taking self-hardship as the highest." They "regarded the Juzi as a sage," and each was willing to die for him and hoped to succeed him. Zhuangzi rejected their way but left one verdict: "Mozi truly loved the world; failing to obtain what he sought, he would not let go even when withered to the bone."

Lüshi Chunqiu, "Superior Virtue" records the heaviest event. In 381 BCE, during civil strife in Chu, the Juzi (鉅子, head of the order) Meng Sheng was entrusted by the Lord of Yangcheng with holding his city, and failed. Meng Sheng chose to die. His disciple Xu Ruo argued that this would end the Mohists. Meng Sheng answered: if I do not die, from now on those seeking a strict teacher, a worthy friend or a good minister will not look among the Mohists. I will pass the office of Juzi to Tian Xiangzi of Song; "why fear the Mohists will die out?" He sent two men to deliver the office, then died with 183 followers. When the two had delivered it, Tian Xiangzi ordered them to stay; they returned to Chu and died anyway.

Lüshi Chunqiu, "Setting Aside the Private" records the Juzi Fu Tun in Qin. His son killed a man. King Hui said: you are old and have only this son; I have already pardoned him. Fu Tun replied: "The law of the Mohists says: who kills shall die, who wounds shall be punished." This exists to prevent killing and wounding. Though the king grants a pardon, "Fu Tun cannot fail to carry out the law of the Mohists." He had his son executed.

Han Feizi, "The Prominent Schools" says "the prominent schools of the age are the Confucians and the Mohists," and that after Mozi's death the Mohists split into three, the Xiangli, Xiangfu and Dengling lines, "opposed in what they accepted and rejected, each calling itself the true Mohism." The Huainanzi says Mozi's followers "could all be sent into fire and onto blades, dying without turning on their heels."

Add Sheng Chuo, recalled in Questions from Lu because "his salary outweighed doing right," and you have the whole face of the old order: extreme frugality, absolute fidelity to their word, law without favoritism, readiness to die for doing right; and for those same reasons, internal schism, the fear of outsiders, and eventual disappearance.

The three tests

Meng Sheng's choice is this week's 三表 problem. He himself used the third test: if I live, the Mohists' credit is finished; if I die, Mohist rightness continues. The price was 183 lives, and the Greater Selection says killing oneself to save the world is right while using others as chips is not. Were the 183 volunteers, or swept along by the Juzi's name? Fu Tun executing his son used the first test, the law of the Mohists, to override a king's pardon. 墨门 / The Mohist Community's position is written in the 墨者之法: we keep "law without favoritism" and "keep your word," and we refuse "self-hardship as the highest." Tonight's discussion must say where that line is drawn, and why.

For families

• Tell the story of Meng Sheng and Tian Xiangzi and ask why sending the office away mattered more to him than staying alive. Do the children agree?
• Fu Tun: does a rule still count when it falls on your own family? Ask for an example from home.
• "Self-hardship as the highest": a household can be frugal, but should it seek hardship? Talk through the difference.

For chapters

• 20 min reading · 20 min 墨辩 · 10 min 三表 review · 10 min 职 reports.
• 墨辩 motion: "The discipline of the old order is what killed Mohism." One side cites the schism in Han Feizi and "self-hardship" in Zhuangzi; the other cites Meng Sheng and Fu Tun.
• 三表 review: each Mohist brings one "keep" and one "refuse"; the chapter lead compiles them, checks them clause by clause against the 墨者之法, records any mismatch, and sends it to the council.