Mozi stops a war

Introduction

For six weeks we read doctrine. This week we read a story. 公输, Gongshu, is the most readable chapter in the book and the best material we have for meeting Mozi the man.

Gongshu Pan has built cloud ladders for Chu to attack Song. Mozi hears of it in Lu and walks ten days and nights to Ying. He sees Gongshu first and does not mention the ladders. Someone in the north has insulted me, he says; kill him for me and I will pay you ten pieces of gold. Gongshu is offended: "My principles forbid me to kill." Mozi rises and bows twice. What crime has Song committed? Chu has land to spare and too few people; killing the people it lacks to seize the land it has in surplus is not wise. Attacking a blameless Song is not humane. Knowing this and not objecting is not loyal. Objecting and failing is not strong. Saying your principles forbid killing one man while you prepare to kill a whole state is not knowing your categories. Gongshu yields and takes him to the king.

To the king Mozi uses a different picture. A man leaves his fine carriage to steal his neighbor's broken cart, leaves his brocade to steal coarse cloth, leaves his meat and grain to steal husks. What sort of man is that? The king says: one sick with a thieving compulsion. Chu, says Mozi, is five thousand li across; Song is five hundred. That is the fine carriage and the broken cart. The king yields too, but says Gongshu has already built the ladders; the attack must go on.

So Mozi unties his belt for a city wall and uses sticks for engines. Nine times Gongshu sets up an attack; nine times Mozi holds. Gongshu's methods run out; Mozi's defenses are not exhausted. Gongshu says: "I know how to deal with you, but I will not say." Mozi says: "I know how you would deal with me, and I will not say either." The king asks what they mean. Mozi says: he wants to kill me. But my student Qin Guli and three hundred others are already on the walls of Song with my defensive engines, waiting for Chu. Killing me will not break Song's defense. The king calls off the attack.

The ending is the most telling line in the chapter. On the way home Mozi passes through Song. It rains, and he asks to shelter in the city gate. The gatekeeper will not let him in. "So it is said: those who bring order quietly, no one knows their merit; those who fight in the open, everyone knows."

Two of the Community's names come from here: the 非攻 Corps and the 兼士 service year. They mean: oppose attack, but be ready to defend; do the work, and do not expect anyone to know.

The three tests

This is the three tests in practice. With Gongshu, Mozi uses "knowing categories" (refusing to kill one man while killing a state is the same kind of thing), the argument of week 4. With the king he uses the third test, the ledger: attacking Song does not pay. The last step, preparation, is the third test made real: not arguing that attack is unprofitable, but making it so.

Note the order: reason first; when reason fails, count the cost; when the count fails, show strength. All three were needed.

For families

• Tell this story to the children. Afterwards, have them retell the fine carriage and the broken cart.
• Play "nine attacks, nine defenses" with blocks or paper: one person tries to get in, the other tries to keep them out.
• Tell the ending with the gatekeeper and ask: if you do something good and no one knows, should you still do it?

For chapters

• Reading: read the whole chapter in parts, with a Mozi, a Gongshu, a king and a narrator. This is the best chapter of the year to read aloud.
• Debate: at which of the three steps, persuade, argue, prepare, does our chapter usually stop? Ask each person for the "third step" they prepared in the practice.
• Assignment reports: give the 非攻 Corps a few extra minutes this week. What is their "preparation"? The three-tests review can be short.