What was the thinking of the Mozi family like?

The greatest thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period was Confucius, and the greatest thinker in the Warring States Period was Mozi.

Mo Zi, surnamed Mo Zhai, was a native of the State of Lu. According to legend, Mo Zhai was educated in Confucianism in his early years, and later founded the Moist school of thought because of his opposition to the cumbersome rituals and political ideas of Confucianism. Although Mo Zhai came from a lower class of nobles, he was an ideological representative of the interests of small producers. He said, "The people have three rests", i.e., "the hungry are not fed, the cold are not clothed, and the laborers are not rested", and Mo Zhai believed that political activities were necessary in order to make beneficial contributions to the laborers. The school of Mohism he founded was a well-organized ascetic group with religious overtones. Its members, called "Mozi," were mostly from the lower social classes who were engaged in productive labor. They lived an extremely hard and simple life, but also took an active part in political activities and the defense of the country. Mozi also recommended that the disciples of his Mozi Lectures go out to become officials and join the army, and if any of them turned their backs on the ideas of the Mozi family after becoming officials, they had to be recalled. Mozi's disciples also advocated martial arts, and the Huainanzi says, "All the hundred and eighty people in Mozi's service could be made to go to the fire and die without returning their heels." After Mozi's death, the leader of the group was called "Juzi", who was appointed by the previous generation of Juzi. The book "Mozi" was written by Mo Zhai's disciples on the basis of his words. Fifty-three articles exist, which are basically reliable materials for the study of Mozi's thought.

Mozi and Confucius were of the same nationality, and the birth of Mozi slightly coincided with the death of Confucius. In the Warring States period and the early Han Dynasty, Confucius and Mozi were the two masters who were known together, and both were honored by the society for their exalted virtues and wisdom and the wide range of followers. Both Confucianism and Mohism were prominent schools of thought at the time. However, in terms of thinking and behavior, Confucianism and Mohism were opposites. Confucius was a supporter of traditional systems, while Mozi was a seeker of a new social order; Confucius ate well and lived in luxury, while Mozi was an austerian who practiced hard work; Confucius despised labor and regarded the laborer as a villain, while Mozi worked as a craftsman and called himself a slut; Confucius was a musician of great attainments, while Mozi regarded music as a luxury that should be banned; Confucius was far from ghosts and gods, while Mozi believed that ghosts and gods controlled personnel; Confucianism was idealistic, while Mozi believed that ghosts and gods controlled personnel; and Confucianism was an idealist, while Mozi believed in a new social order. Confucianism is idealism, which defines the ideal social order as "ruler, minister, father, son", and the ideal goal of life as "stopping at the highest good", whereas Mozi is implementationism, which advocates saving money and abolishing music, and practicing hard work and practicing righteousness. He practiced hard all his life and endeavored to be righteous. A friend once advised him, "Nowadays, people all over the world are unwilling to do righteous deeds, why do you have to try your best to do so? I advise you not to do it." Mozi said, "For example, if a man has ten sons, nine of them are lazy and lazy, and only one of them tries his best to cultivate the field, and since there are so many people to eat and so few people to cultivate the field, it is all the more necessary for the son who cultivates the field to try his best to cultivate the field. Nowadays all the people in the world refuse to do righteous deeds; you should have persuaded me to do more, how can you persuade me to give up?" What a character! What a spirit of practicality!

Mozi is a thinker who focuses on practical work and action, and the implementation of "choosing and engaging in business" is the fundamental concept of Mozi's thought. As the founder of the Mozi school, Mozi established many tenets for the Mozi family based on this concept.

First, the will of heaven. The so-called "heavenly will" is the will of heaven. Mozi thought is based on the "will of heaven". Mozi said: "I have the will of heaven, like a wheelman has rules, the craftsman has rules. The wheel maker executes its rules to measure the squareness of the world, saying: the one who is in is also, the one who is not in is not also." That is to say, the thoughts, words and deeds, politics and punishments of all people in the world, whether they are good or bad, must be based on Mozi's "heaven's will" for right and wrong. What is this "will of heaven"? In Mozi's words. "Heaven wants people to love each other and benefit each other, but does not want people to hate each other and steal from each other." In fact, this "heavenly will" is the Mozi's guidelines for measuring people's daily actions and words, and it is the supreme judge to which no one can make an exception, and people must unconditionally obey its judgment. Because the "will of heaven" can love people and hate people, can reward good and punish violence, "those who obey the will of heaven, love each other, and exchange benefits, will be rewarded; those who oppose the will of heaven, don't hate each other, and exchange thieves, will be punished." Mozi's "heavenly will" is different from Confucianism's idea of heavenly destiny. Confucianism advocates "fearing the will of heaven" and emphasizes that "life and death have their own destiny, and wealth and riches lie in heaven", which is a theory of the will of heaven under the premise of recognizing the will of heaven, and is intended to affirm the value of traditions and safeguard the interests of those who are vested in them. Mozi, on the other hand, argued that wealth and poverty, nobility and inferiority, and longevity and heaven are not determined by fate, but depend on whether a person is able to comply with heaven's will, thus affirming the role of man's subjective efforts.

Second, love and non-attack. The will of heaven is for man to "love both sides". Mozi saw the tragedy of the war of nations at that time, his heart could not bear it, he, as a zealous savior of the world, thought that in order to eliminate the war fundamentally, it was necessary to make everyone "look at people's countries as if they were their own; look at people's homes as if they were their own; look at people's bodies as if they were their own." This is Mozi's "love and non-attack". This is Mozi's theory of "love for all". He said: "The vassals love each other, then not wild war ...... people and people love each other, then not each other thieves. If kings and ministers love each other, they will be generous and loyal; if fathers and sons love each other, they will be filial; if brothers love each other, they will be in harmony; if all people in the world love each other, they will be strong but not weak, the many will not rob the few, the rich will not insult the poor, the noble will not be proud of the lowly, and the swindler will not bully the stupid." Mozi's theory of "love for all" was a completely naive fantasy in a class society. Mozi, who always advocated practical work, would not indulge in fantasies, and thus put forward the idea of "non-attack". According to Mozi, non-love is the root of all evils in the world, and the greatest evil in the world is war of aggression. Mozi said, "Profit is righteousness". Righteousness is the beautiful name of profit, and profit is the practicality of righteousness. War of aggression is therefore "unrighteous" because "it is useless to count on its own victory. What one gains is not as much as what one loses." This means that not only does one's country have to consume a lot of resources and die a lot of soldiers in waging war, but both the other side and one's own side have incalculable losses, so war is the greatest "disadvantage". Because it is unfavorable, it is not righteous. Mozi said "benefit" is not selfish "benefit", but the greatest happiness of the majority. This is the true meaning of "love for all" and also the original meaning of "non-attack".

Thirdly, the funeral and burial are short and the "non-music" is used sparingly. Mozi hated Confucianism, although he did not believe in ghosts and gods. But it makes a lot of red tape on the dead. He for the ghosts and gods, only focus on spiritual beliefs, do not pay attention to the form of etiquette. He believed that Confucianism's thick burials and long funerals would inevitably lead to poverty, depopulation and political chaos in the country. Mozi was an extreme pragmatist, believing that "whatever is sufficient for the people should be stopped". For all daily life and consumption, it was necessary to "eliminate useless expenses". Thus, the theory of "non-music" was put forward. Mozi's so-called "music" is a broad definition of "music", including all arts, music, architecture, cooking, etc. He thought that these are all luxury goods, which are not only a waste of money, but also can not solve the problem of people's poverty, which is not good for the country, and therefore they should be abolished.

Fourth, "Shang Xian" and "Shang Tong". In Mozi's time, the aristocracy had not yet disappeared, and it was difficult for those from the lower strata of society to enter the political arena. The power of the state was in the hands of the aristocrats, and even Confucianism advocated "nobility" and "proximity" in politics. Mozi advocated the "promotion of virtue", saying, "The government is not always noble, the people are not always lowly; if one has the ability, one will be promoted; if one has no ability, one will be dismissed." Therefore, he believed that politics should be "honoring the virtuous and appointing the capable. Do not party father and brother, do not favor the rich and powerful, do not treat color. Virtuous up, rich and noble, as the head of the government; not good suppressed and abolished, poor and lowly, as a servant." "Shangxian" is not the final goal of Mozi. The purpose of "Shangxian" is to "Shangtong" (尚同). According to Mozi, "the reason why the world is in chaos is because there is no government". If there is no uniform standard of right and wrong in the society, and people take their own right and wrong as right and wrong, the chaos of "mutual wrong" and "mutual evil" is bound to occur. Therefore, Mozi advocated "the same", "together with the righteousness of the world", "together with the righteousness of the country", that is, the whole society should obey the supreme one thought and one will, "what is on the top is, and what is not on the top is not on the top. "What is right at the top is right at the top, and what is wrong at the top is wrong at the top." Then what is the standard for "the same"? Mo Zi said, "To be the same as the sky", that is to say, "the will of the sky" as the general standard of "the same".

Mozi's thought starts with "the will of heaven" and ends with "the same". "This reflects the desire of the people of that time for a unified and stable political situation. However, Mozi fantasized about eliminating "differences" with "sameness" and eliminating "differences" with "sameness", which would ultimately lead to extreme authoritarianism. The first is that the "same" is not the same as the "different".