At seventy, as has been told above, Confucius allowed his mind to follow whatever it desired, yet everything he did was naturally right of itself. His actions no longer needed a conscious guide. He was acting without effort. This represents the last stage in the development of the sage.
Confucius' Position in Chinese History
Confucius is probably better known in the West than any other single Chinese. Yet in China itself, though always famous, his place in history has changed considerably from one period to another. Historically speaking he was primarily a teacher, that is, only one teacher among many. But after his death, he gradually came to be considered as the teacher, superior to all others. And in the second century B.C. he was elevated to an even higher plane. According to many Confucianists of that time, Confucius had actually been appointed by Heaven to begin a new dynasty that would follow that of Chou. Though in actual fact without a crown or a government, he had ideally speaking become a king who ruled the whole empire. How this apparent
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contradiction had happened, these Confucianists said, could be found out by studying the esoteric meaning supposedly contained in the Spring and Au-tumn Annals. This was supposed by them not to be a chronicle of Confu-cius' native state (as it actually was), but an important political work written by Confucius to express his ethical and political ideas. Then in the first century B.C., Confucius came to be regarded as even more than a king. Ac-cording to many people of that time, he was a living god among men-a di-vine being who knew that after his time there woud someday come the Han dynasty (106 B.C.-A.D. 2.2.O), and who therefore, in the Spring and A utumn Annals, set forth a political ideal which would be complete enough for the men of Han to realize. This apotheosis was the climax of Confucius' glory, and in the middle of the Han dynasty Confucianism could properly be called a religion.
The time of glorification, however, did not last very long. Already begin-ning in the first century A.D., Confucianists of a more rationalistic type be-gan to get the upper hand. Hence in later times Confucius was no longer re-garded as a divine being, though his position as that of the Teacher re-mained high. At the very end of the nineteenth century, to be sure, there was a brief revival of the theory that Confucius had been divinely appointed to be a king. Soon afterward, however, with the coming of the Chinese Repub-lic, his reputation fell until he came to be regarded as something less than the Teacher, and at present most Chinese would say that he was primarily a teacher, and certainly a great one, but far from being the only teacher.
Confucius, however, was already recognized in his own day as a man of very extensive learning. For example, one of his contemporaries said: "Great indeed is the Master K ung! His learning is so extensive that he cannot be called by a single name." (Analects, IX, 2..) From the quotations given earlier, we may see that he considered himself the inheritor and perpeluator of ancient civilization, and was considered by some of his contemporaries as such. By his work of originating through transmitting, he caused his school to reinterpret the civilization of the age before him. He upheld what he considered to be best in the old, and created a powerful tradition that was followed until very recent years, when, as in Confucius own time, China again came face to face with tremendous economic and social change. In addition, he was China s first teacher. Hence, though historically speaking he was only a teacher, it is perhaps not unreasonable that in later ages he was regarded as the teacher.
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CHAPTER 5
MO TZU, THE FIRST OPPONENT OF CONFUCIUS
IHE next major philosopher after Confucius was Mo Tzu. His family name was Mo and his personal name was Ti. As the Shih Chi or Historical Records does not say where he came from, and in fact tells us almost noth-ing about his life, there has been a difference of opinion regarding his native state. Some scholars hold that he was a native of Sung (in what is today eastern Honan and western Shantung), and others that he came from Lu, the same state as Confucius. His exact dates are also uncertain, hut probably he lived sometime within the years 479~38l B.C. The main source for the study of his thought is the book bearing his name, the Mo-tzu, which contains 53 chap-ters and is a collection of writings by his followers as well as by himself.
Mo Tzu was the founder of a school known after his name as the Mohist school. In ancient times his fame was as great as that of Confucius, and his teaching was no less influential. The contrast between the two men is inter-esting. Confucius felt a sympathetic understanding for the traditional institu-tions, rituals, music, and literature of the early Chou dynasty, and tried to rationalize and justify them in ethical terms; Mo Tzu, on the contrary, ques-tioned their validity and usefulness, and tried to replace them with something that was simpler but, in his view, more useful. In short, Confucius was the rationalizer and justifier of the ancient civilization, while Mo Tzu was its crit-ic. Confucius was a refined gentleman, while Mo Tzu was a militant preacher. A major aim of his preaching was to oppose both the traditional institutions and practices, and the theories of Confucius and the Confucian ists.
Social Background of the Mohist School
During the feudal age of the Chou dynasty, kings, princes, and feudal lords all had their military specialists. These were the hereditary warriors who constituted the backbone of the armies of that time. With the disintegra-tion of feudalism that took place in the latter part of the Chou dynasty, how-ever, these warrior specialists lost their positions and titles, scattered
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throughout the country, and made a living by offering their services to any-one who could afford to employ them. This class of people was known as the hsieh or yu hsieh, terms which can both be translated as knights—errant. Concerning such knights errant, the Shih Chi says: "Their words were always sincere and trustworthy, and their actions always quick and decisive. They were always true to what they promised, and without regard to their own per-sons, they would rush into dangers threatening others. (Ch. 12-4) Such was their professional ethics. A large part of Mo Tzu's teaching was an extension of this ethics.
In Chinese history both the ju or literati and the hsieh or knightserrant originated as specialists attached to the houses of the aristocrats, and were themselves members of the upper classes. In later times the ju continued to come mainly from the upper or middle classes, but the hsieh, on the con-trary, more frequently were recruited from the lower classes. In ancient times, such social amenities as rituals and music were all exclusively for the aristocrats; from the point of view of the common man, therefore, they were luxuries that had no practical utility. It was from this point of view that Mu Tzu and the Mohists criticised the traditional institutions and their rational-izers, Confucius and the Confucianists. This criticism, together with the elab-oration and rationalization of the professional ethics of their own social class, that of the hsieh, constituted the central core of the Mohist philosophy.
There is plenty of evidence for the inference that Mo Tzu and his followers came from the hsieh. From the Mo-tzu, as well as from other contemporary sources, we know that the Mohists constituted a strictly disciplined organiza-tion capable of military action. The leader of the Mohisl organization was called the Chil Tzu, "Great Master," and had the authority of life or death over the members of the group. We are also told that Mo Tzu was the first "Great Master" of his group, and that at least once he actually led his fol-lowers to prepare for the military defense of Sung, when that state was threatened with invasion from the neighboring state of Ch u.
The story of this episode is interesting. It is said in the Mo-tzu that a noted mechanical inventor, Kung-shu Pan, then employed by the state of Ch u, had completed the construction of a new weapon for attacking city walls. Ch'u was preparing to attack Sung with this new weapon. Hearing of this, Mo Tzu went to Ch'u to persuade its king to desist. There he and Kung-shu Pan made a demonstration before the king of their weapons of at-tack and defense. Mo Tzu first untied his belt and laid out a city with it, us-ing a small stick as a weapon. Kung-shu Pan thereupon set up nine different miniature machines of attack, but Mo Tzu nine times repulsed him. Finally, Kung—shu Pan had used up all his machines of attack, while Mo Tzu was far from being exhausted in the defense. Then Kung-shu Pan said: "l know how to defeat you, but 1 will not say it." To which Mo Tzu replied: "I know what it is, but I too will not say it.
On being asked by the king what was meant, Mo Tzu continued: "Kung-
O8l MO TZU, THE FIRST OPPONENT OF CONFUCIUS
shu Pan is thinking of murdering me. But my disciples Ch'in Ku-li and others, numbering three hundred men, are already armed with my imple-ments of defense, waiting on the city wall of Sung for the invaders from Ch' u. Though I be murdered, you cannot exterminate them. To which the King exclaimed: "Very well! Let us not attack Sung." (Ch. 50.)
If this story is true, it would give a good example for our present world in settling disputes between two countries. A war would not need to be fought in the field. All that would be necessary would be for the scientists and en-gineers of the two countries to demonstrate their laboratory weapons of at-tacking and defense, and the war would be decided without fighting!
Regardless of whether the story is true or not, it illustrates the nature of the Mohist organization, which is also confirmed from other sources. Thus in the Huai—nun—tzu, a work of the second century B.C., it is stated that the disci-ples of Mo Tzu were one hundred and eighty in number, all of whom he could order to enter fire or tread on sword blades, and whom even death would not cause to turn on their heels. (Ch. 2.0.) And in the Mo—tzu itself, no less than nine chapters deal with the tactics of fighting a defensive war and the tech-niques of building instruments for defending city walls. All of this shows that the Mohists, as originally constituted, were a group of warriors.
Mo Tzu and his followers, however, differed from the ordinary knights—er-rant in two respects. In the first place, the latter were men ready to engage in any fighting whatever, only provided that they were paid for their efforts or favored by the feudal lords. Mo Tzu and his followers, on the contrary, were strongly opposed to aggressive war; hence they agreed to fight only in wars that were strictly for self-defense. Secondly, the ordinary hsieh confined themselves wholly to their code of professional ethics. Mo Tzu, however, elaborated this professional ethics and gave it a rationalistic justification. Thus though Mo Tzu's background was that of a hsieh, he at the sametirne became the founder of a new philosophic school.
Mo Tzu's Criticism of Confucianism
According to Mo Tzu, "the principles of the Confucianists ruin the whole world in four ways": (1) The Confucianists do not believe in the existence of God or of spirits, "with the result that God and the spirits are displeased." (2.) The Confucianists insist on elaborate funerals and the practice of three years of mourning on the death of a parent, so that the wealth and energy of the people are thereby wasted. (3) The Confucianists lay stress on the prac-tice of music, leading to an identical result. (4) The Confucianists believe in a predetermined fate, causing the people to be lazy and to resign themselves to this fate. (The Mo-tzu, ch. 4§.) In another chapter entitled "Anti-Confu-cianism," the Mo-tzu also says: "Even those with long life cannot exhaust the learning required for their [Confucianist] studies. Even people with the vigor of youth cannot perform all the ceremonial duties. And even those who
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have amassed wealth cannot afford music. They [the Confucianists] enhance the beauty of wicked arts and lead their sovereign astray. Their doctrine cannot meet the needs of the age, nor can their learning educate the peo-ple." (Ch.39.)
These criticisms reveal the differing social backgrounds of the Confucian— ists and Mohists. Already before Confucius, persons who were better educat-ed and more sophisticated had been abandoning the belief in the existence of a personal God and of divine spirits. People of the lower classes, however, had, as always in such matters, lagged behind in this rise of skepticism, and Mo Tzu held the point of view of the lower classes. This is the significance of his first point of criticism against the Confucianists. The second and third points, too, were made from the same basis. The fourth point, however, was really irrelevant, because, though the Confucianists often spoke about Ming (Fate, Decree), what they meant by it was not the predetermined fate attacked by Mo Tzu. This has been pointed out in the last chapter, where we have seen that Ming, for the Confucianists, signified something that is be-yond human control. But there are other things that remain within man's power to control if he will exert himself. Only after man has done everything he can himself, therefore, should he accept with calm and resignation whaL comes thereafter as inevitable. Such is what the Confucianists meant when they spoke of "knowing Ming."
All—embracing Love
Mo Tzu makes no criticism of the Confucianists' central idea of yen (hu-man— heartedness) and yi (righteousness); in the Mo—tzu, indeed, he speaks often of these two qualities and of the man of jen and man of yi. What he means by these terms, however, differs somewhat from the concept of them held by the Confucianists. For Mo Tzu, jen and yi signify an all-embracing love, and the man of jen and man of yi are persons who practice this all-em-bracing love. This concept is a central one in Mo Tzu's philosophy, and rep-resents a logical extension of the professional ethics of the class of hsieh (knightserrant) from which Mo Tzu sprang. This ethics was, namely, that within their group the hsieh enjoy equally and suffer equally. (This was a common saying of the hsieh of later times.) Taking this group concept as a basis, Mo Tzu tried to broaden it by preaching the doctrine that everyone in the world should love everyone else equally and without discrimination.
