Mozi's Materials and Thoughts

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Analysis:

Mozi's life

Mozi (about 480- 400 BC) was a thinker, scholar and founder of Mohism in the late Spring and Autumn Period and the early Warring States Period. His real name is Zhai, a native of Lu, and some people say that he is a native of Song.

Mozi was born a commoner and was a coolie. He was proficient in handcraft, which was comparable to that of Luban, a skilled craftsman at that time. He called himself "my man" and was called "the man in clothes" and "* * *". Wang Chong of the Han Dynasty even said that the ancestors of Confucius and Mozi were common people. Mozi used to be a doctor in the Song Dynasty, boasting that "there is nothing better than a monarch in the world, and there is no difficulty in farming in the world". He is a scholar who sympathizes with the "workers and peasants". Mozi once studied Confucianism, learned the skills of Confucius, praised Yao and Shun Dayu, and learned Confucian classics such as poetry, calligraphy and the Spring and Autumn Period. But later, I grew tired of the complicated rites and music of Confucianism, and finally gave up Confucianism and formed my own Mohist school.

Before the rise of the Legalist school representing the interests of the emerging landlord class, Mohism was the most university school opposed to Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, juxtaposed with "outstanding learning".

Mohism is also a group with strong organizational discipline. The supreme leader is called "Giant" and all Mohist members are called "Mohist". They must obey the leadership and command of giants, and they can "go through fire and water, and do whatever it takes", which means they will never look back until they die.

There are ten propositions in Mozi's thought: universal love, non-aggression, Shang Xian, Shang Tong, frugality, frugality, unhappiness, ambition and ignorance, among which universal love is the core, frugality and Shang Xian are the basic points.

In order to publicize his ideas, Mozi accepted disciples widely, with hundreds of disciples in general, forming a huge Mohist school. Mozi traveled widely, starting from Qi in the east, reaching Zheng and Wei in the west and Chu and Yue in the south. He also argued with the public transport class and successfully stopped Chu's war of aggression against Song.

Mozi is knowledgeable and good at craftsmanship and production. He once made a wooden kite. It is said that he flew in the sky for three days and nights without falling. He is also good at guarding the city, and his disciples summed up his experience in guarding the city into 21 articles.

Mozi also made some achievements in the theory of Ming debate, which became one of the sources of Ming debate in the Warring States period. Mozi's deeds are reflected in Xunzi, Everything is done wrong, Zhuangzi, Lu Chunqiu, Huainanzi and other books, and his thoughts are mainly preserved in the book Mozi written by Mohist disciples.

The compilation of Mozi's Mohist works was compiled by Liu Xiang in the Western Han Dynasty and gradually lost after the Six Dynasties. At present, 53 books of Taoist Collection were originally written by Mo Zhai, but there are also works by Mozi disciples and later Mohists, which are the main historical materials for studying Mohists now. The book Mozi can be divided into five groups according to its content: Mozi's early seven works, from pro-Confucianism to three debates, the first three are mixed with Confucianism, which should be the traces of Mozi's early "learning from Confucianism and being taught by Confucius"; The last four chapters are mainly about Shang Xian, Shang Tong, Tian Zhi, frugality, non-happiness and other theories. Twenty-four articles from Shang Dynasty to Fei Ruxia are a group, which systematically reflect Mozi's ten propositions: universal love, non-aggression, being present, Shang Tong, frugality, frugality, non-happiness, ambition, ghost and non-fate. Five Chapters from Geng Xu to Gong Bo is a record of Mozi's words and deeds, similar in style to the Analects of Confucius, compiled by Mozi's disciples, and is the first-hand information to study Mozi's deeds. The following to the last twenty articles (including nine lost articles) are devoted to guarding the city and the city defense system, which is similar to that of Qin Dynasty. It was written by Mohist in the Warring States Period and is an important material for studying Mohist military books.

Mozi has a wide range of contents, including politics, military affairs, philosophy, ethics, logic, science and technology, etc. It is an important historical material for studying Mozi and his later studies. In the Western Jin Dynasty, both Lu Sheng and Le Yi commented on Mozi, but it has been lost. Nowadays, Sun Yirang's Mozi Idleness and The Scholars Integration are very popular.

Mozi thinks:

Military thought occupies an important position in the whole ideological system of Mohism. Mozi's military thought is a self-defense theory in a weak position, which has two main contents: one is to attack right and wrong and oppose the unjust war of attacking, cutting and plundering; The second is to save and defend and support the just war of defending and punishing.

(1) No attack: an unjust war against attack, cutting and plunder.

Mozi believed that all wars at that time were predatory and unjust wars. In the chapter of non-attack, he complained many times about the meaning of non-attack and thought that war was a fierce thing. He said that most ancient nations perished in this attack, and only a few countries survived. It's like a doctor cured tens of thousands of people, and only a few people were cured. This doctor doesn't deserve to be called a good doctor, a relative, a friend, and war is not a good therapy. Countless rulers died in wars in history. This is tantamount to sounding the alarm for those who attempt to expand their territory and annex the world by attacking the war. Therefore, Mozi advocates serving the world with benevolence and righteousness and eliminating disasters with universal love. In Mozi's eyes, universal love can stop the attack and go to chaos. Universal love is the ethical basis of attacking right and wrong, and not attacking is the inevitable result of universal love.

Mozi advocated no attack, especially against the predatory war of "the great attacked the small, the strong bullied the weak, many thieves were few, the deceivers bullied the fools, the noble were arrogant and the rich were arrogant and poor". Taking universal love as the criterion, Mozi strictly divided war into "punishment" (punishment without righteousness) and "attack without innocence", that is, justice and injustice. The war of "loving all the people in the world", such as attacking Sanmiao, Shang Tang and Zhou, is in line with the interests of heaven, ghosts and people in China, and it is a just war with the help of ghosts and gods. On the contrary, it is a war of "attacking the big with the big, bullying the weak with the strong, being outnumbered" and "hating the world". It's not fair.

Mozi also resolutely and mercilessly exposed the heavy and endless disasters brought by the war at that time. (1) Delaying farming time and destroying production. Agriculture is the source of food and clothing for ordinary people. 2 robbing money, getting something for nothing. Stealing peaches and plums, robbing people, robbing dogs, robbing chickens, dolphins, cattle, horses, killing people and stealing goods are all "unjust". Attacking small countries, "cutting their crops and trees" are also unjust acts of "getting something for nothing". (3) Killing innocent people and plundering people as slaves. Mozi pointed out that the monarch of a big country ordered the army to attack a small country. "Those who stand in the people's position will be killed." If you fail, you will go home. Husbands think servants are arrogant, and women think chiefs. "

(b) Salvation and defence: supporting a just war of defence and punishment.

Mozi's "only non-attack, is the law of preparing for defense." Starting from "not attacking", Mozi discussed how to actively defend as a weak country. Mozi knew that a great monarch would not give up the war just because he was reasonable, so he advocated "foresight" and actively defended against the war of aggression in which the big attacked the small. These discourses on defensive operations are concentrated in the following eleven chapters of "Preparing the City Gate", forming a defensive theoretical system with the city defense as the core. In a word, it includes three aspects.

First, advocate active preparation and strive to make good preparations. "Get ready, the weight of the country. Eating is the treasure of the country; Soldiers, the claws of the country; City, so self-defense. " "So warehouse unprepared millet, can't stay fierce hunger; The library is unprepared, although it is righteous, it cannot be meaningless; The city wall is incomplete and cannot be controlled; There will be no worries and you will not die. " Only by making full preparations in material and spiritual aspects such as logistics, city defense, armament, diplomacy and internal affairs before the war can we create favorable conditions, take the initiative to defend the city and win the defensive war.

The second is the active defense guiding ideology of "the defenders of the city should put the enemy first". Mozi believes that in defending the city, we should attack while defending the middle and actively wipe out the enemy. It is the best policy to "wait for the rescue". The concrete measures to "hit the enemy hard" are: using the terrain, relying on the city, and arranging troops correctly; Taking the capital as the center, we will form a multi-level defense in depth for border towns, counties and cities and the capital, blocking them layer by layer and consuming the enemy; Combination of tenacious persistence and timely attack.

Thirdly, in the specific tactics of defensive operations, a set of tactical principles of defensive operations is put forward. In "Preparing the City Gate" and other articles, Mozi effectively defended twelve siege methods one by one by asking about birds. For example, the high-close method, the water attack method and the point attack method were all quite advanced siege techniques at that time. Mozi took ingenious measures to explain in detail the making method and using skills of guarding city equipment.

Mozi's defense theory occupies an important position in the history of China's military science. Later generations described the principles and tactics of defense, and many ancestors wrote Mozi, so all solid defenses are generally called "persistence." If Fan Li put forward a simple theory of active defense from the strategic point of view, Mozi discussed defense from the operational point of view, and formed a relatively complete theoretical system of defensive operations, which just formed a complementary relationship with Sun Tzu's theory of offensive operations and made positive contributions to the development of traditional military science.