Today’s Between
Master and Disciples –
“From Mohism’s Book
of Mozi: Book 12 –
Esteem
for Righteousness” –
will be presented
in Chinese
with subtitles in Arabic,
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Mozi or Mo Tzu was
a Chinese philosopher
who lived
around 460 BCE to 391.
He was a pacifist
who traveled from
one region to another
to try to convince rulers
from their plans
of conquest.
Mo Tzu’s teachings
encompass self-reflection
to attain
true self knowledge,
universal love and
enlightened self-interest
in social relations.
He advocated
self-restraint in which
a person would indulge
in neither material nor
spiritual extravagance.
His philosophy
encompassed the concept
that one must do actions
which brought
the most benefit for
the general welfare of all.
We now present
an excerpt
of Mo Tzu’s teachings,
“Esteem
for Righteousness,”
from the book Mozi.
Thank you
for your happy company
for today’s episode of
Between Master
and Disciples
here on
Supreme Master Television.
Up next is Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home right
after Noteworthy News.
May Heaven’s blessing
be bountiful
in your daily life.
Thank you
for your happy company
for today’s episode of
Between Master
and Disciples
here on
Supreme Master Television.
Up next is Planet Earth:
Our Loving Home right
after Noteworthy News.
May Heaven’s blessing
be bountiful
in your daily life.
Esteem
for Righteousness
Mozi said:
Of the multitude of things
none is more valuable
than righteousness.
Suppose we say to a person:
We shall give you
a hat and shoes
on condition
you let us cut off
your hands and feet.
Would he agree to this?
Of course,
he will not agree. Why?
Just because hats and
shoes are not so valuable
as hands and feet.
Again if we say, we shall
give you the whole world
on condition
you let us kill you.
Would he agree to this?
Of course
he will not agree. Why?
Just because the world
is not so valuable
as one's person.
Yet people have struggled
against one another
for a single principle.
This shows righteousness
is even more valuable
than one's person.
Hence we say,
of the multitude of things
none is more valuable
than righteousness.
On his way from Lu to Qi,
Mozi met an old friend
who said to him:
"Nowadays none
in the world practices
any righteousness.
You are merely inflicting
pain on yourself by trying
to practice righteousness.
You had better give it up."
Mozi replied: “Suppose
a man has ten sons.
Only one attends
to the farm while
the other nine stay at home.
Then the farmer
must work all the more
vigorously. Why?
Because many eat
while few work.
Now, none in the world
practices righteousness.
Then you should all
the more encourage me.
Why do you stop me?”
Mozi travelled south to Chu
to see Lord Hui of Chu.
Lord Hui refused to see him
with the excuse
of his being old, and
let Mu He receive him.
Mozi talked to Mu He
and Mu He
was greatly pleased.
He said to Mozi:
"Your ideas
may be quite good.
But our Lord is a great lord
of the empire.
Can't he refuse
to employ them because
they come only
from a humble man?"
Mozi replied: “So long
as they are applicable
they are like
good medicines, which
are only the roots of herbs.
Yet even the emperor
takes them
to cure his sickness.
Does he refuse to take them
because they are only
the roots of a herb?
Now, the farmer pays
his tax to the superior.
With this, the superior
prepares cakes
to make an offering to God,
ghosts and spirits.
Do these refuse
to accept them because
they come from the humble?
So, even a humble man
can yet be compared
to the farmer,
or, at least to medicine.
Is he even of less value
than the roots of a herb?
Moreover, has not my Lord
heard the story of Tang?
Anciently, Tang was
going to see Yi Yin and
let a son of the house
of Peng be the driver.
On the way,
the son of Peng inquired
where the lord was going.
Tang told him that he
was going to see Yi Yin.
The son of Peng said:
‘Yi Yin is but a
humble man of the world.
If you want to see him
just send for him and
he will feel quite flattered.’
Tang said: ‘This is not
what you can understand.
Here is some medicine.
When taken,
it will sharpen the ears
and brighten the eyes.
Then I shall be pleased
and endeavor to take it.
Now, Yi Yin to me
is like a good physician
and an effective medicine.
Yet you don't think
I should see him.
It means you do not want
to see me become good.’
Thereupon he dismissed
the son of Peng
and did not let him
drive any more.
If Lord Hui could be
like Tang, he would then
be able to accept the ideas
from a humble man.”
Mozi said:
“Any word, any action,
that is beneficial to Heaven,
the spirits, and the people
is to be carried out.
Any word, any action,
that is harmful to Heaven,
the spirits, and the people
is to be abandoned.
Any word, any action,
that is in harmony
with the sage-kings
of the Three Dynasties,
Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang,
Wen, and Wu,
is to be carried out.
Any word, any action,
that is in agreement
with the wicked kings
of the Three Dynasties,
Jie, Zhou, You, and Li,
is to be abandoned.”
Mozi said: “Any principle
that can modify conduct,
expound much;
any principle that
cannot modify conduct,
do not expound much.
To expound much what
cannot modify conduct
is just to wear out
one's mouth.”
Mozi said:
“The six peculiarities
must be removed.
When silent one
should be deliberating;
when talking one
should instruct;
when acting one
should achieve something.
When one employs
these three alternatively
he will be a sage.
Pleasure, anger, joy,
sorrow, love and hate
are to be removed
and magnanimity
and righteousness
are to replace them.
When hands, feet, mouth,
nose, ears and eyes
are employed
for righteousness, then
one will surely be a sage.”
Mozi said
to a few of his disciples:
“Though one cannot
achieve righteousness
one must not
abandon the way,
just as the carpenter
must not blame the line
though he cannot saw
the lumber straight.”
Mozi said:
“As the gentlemen
in the world
cannot be butchers
of dogs and pigs,
they would refuse
when asked to be such.
Yet, though
they are not capable of
being ministers in a state,
they would accept it
when asked to be such.
Isn't this perverse?”
Mozi said: “The blind say
that which is bright
is white, that which is dark
is black.
Even the keen-sighted
cannot alter this.
But if we should mix up
the black and white
objects and
let the blind select them,
they could not do it.
Hence the reason
that I say
the blind do not know
white from black
does not lie in the matter
of definition but in
the process of selection.
Now, the way
the gentlemen of the world
define magnanimity
even Yu and Tang
cannot alter.
But when we mix up
magnanimous conduct with
unmagnanimous conduct
and let the gentlemen
of the world choose them,
they do not know
which is which.
So, the reason that I say
the gentlemen of the world
do not know magnanimity
does not lie in the matter
of definition either;
it also lies in
the process of selection.”
Mozi said:
“The gentlemen of today
handle their persons
with even less care
than the merchant would
handle a bale of cloth.
When the merchant
handles a bale of cloth
he dare not sell it
without discretion;
he will surely select
a good one.
But the gentlemen of today
handle their person
quite differently.
Whatever they happen to
desire they will carry out.
In the more severe cases,
they fall into punishment;
even in less severe cases,
they are visited
with condemnation.
So then, the gentlemen
are even less careful
in handling their persons
than the merchant is in
handling a bale of cloth.”
Mozi said: “The gentlemen
of our time desire
to achieve righteousness.
Yet when we endeavor
to help them
in the cultivation
of their personality
they become resentful.
This is like desiring
the completion of a wall
and becoming resentful
when helped in the building.
Isn't this perverse?”
Mozi said:
“The sage-kings of old
wanted to have
their teaching passed
to future generations.
Therefore they recorded it
on bamboos
and engraved it
in metal and stone
to bequeath to posterity
so that their descendants
could follow it.
Now the ways
of the early kings are known
but not carried out.
This is to break the tradition
of the early kings.”
Mozi brought
numerous books
in his wagon drawers
on his southern journey
as an envoy to Wei.
Xian Dangzi saw them
and was surprised.
He inquired:
"Sir, you have instructed
Gong Shang Guo
just to consider the right
and wrong of any case,
and do no more.
Now you, sir, bring
very many books along.
What can be the use
for them?"
Mozi said: “Anciently,
Duke Dan of Zhou
read one hundred pages
every morning and
received seventy scholars
every evening.
Therefore his achievements
as minister to the emperor
have lasted till this day.
I have no superior
above me to serve,
nor any farm below
to attend to.
How dare
I neglect these books?
I have heard,
though the different ways
lead to the same end
they are not presented
without deviations.
And the common people
do not know how to place
proper importance
in what they hear.
Hence the large number
of books.
When one has reviewed
the ideas and has thought
deeply on them
then he understands
the essentials which
lead to the same end.
Therefore he does not need
to be instructed by books.
Why should you feel
so much surprised?”
Mozi had introduced
somebody to office in Wei.
The man went and returned.
Mozi asked him
why he returned.
He answered:
"In counsel my opinions
were not considered.
Being promised
a thousand pen
was given only five hundred.
Therefore I left."
Mozi inquired: “Suppose
you were given more
than a thousand pen,
would you still leave?”
It was answered, no.
Mozi said: “Then
it is not because of
lack of consideration.
It is because of the
smallness of the salary.”
Mozi said: “The gentlemen
of the world
have even less regard
for the righteous man
than for the grain carrier.
If a carrier was resting
by the road side and
was unable to rise up,
the gentlemen
would surely help him
to rise upon seeing him,
whether he be
old or young,
honorable or humble.
Why? Because it is right.
But when the gentleman
who practices righteousness
urges them with the way
of the early kings,
they are not only
unwilling to carry it out
but will even
trample it down.
So, then, the gentlemen
of the world
have even less regard
for the righteous man
than for the grain carrier.”
Mozi said: “The merchants
go everywhere
to do business
and their gain is doubled
and multiplied.
They persist
notwithstanding
the difficulties
at the passes and bridges,
and the dangers of the
highwaymen and robbers.
Now the gentlemen
can sit down and
teach righteousness.
There are no difficulties
at the passes and bridges
or dangers from
highwaymen and robbers.
Their gain should be
not only doubled
and multiplied
but become incalculable.
Yet, they will not do it.
Then the gentlemen
are not as discerning
as the merchants
in their calculation
of benefits.”
Mozi was going north to Qi
and met a fortuneteller
on the way.
The fortuneteller told him:
"God kills the black dragon
in the north today.
Now,
your complexion is dark.
You must not go north."
Mozi did not listen to him
and went north.
At the Ze River
he could proceed no further
and returned.
The fortuneteller said:
"I have told you that
you must not go north."
Mozi said:
“People in the south,
of course, cannot go
north of the Ze River,
but neither can those
in the north come south.
Moreover, there are
the dark-complexioned,
but there are also
the fair-complexioned.
Why is it
that neither can proceed?
Besides,
God kills the blue dragon
on the days of Jia
and of Yi in the East,
the red dragon
on the days of Bing
and of Ding in the South,
the white dragon
on the days of Geng
and of Xin in the West,
and the black dragon
on the days of Ren
and of Gui in the North.
According to you then all
the travelers in the world
will be prohibited,
then all their plans
will be curbed and
the world made empty.
Your idea
is not to be adopted.”
Mozi said:
“My principle is sufficient.
To abandon my principle
and exercise thought is like
abandoning the crop and
trying to pick up grains.
To refute my principle
with one's own principle
is like throwing an egg
against a boulder.
The eggs in the world
would be exhausted
without doing any harm
to the boulder.”