As a result, the Tao which is within the sage and which manifests itself externally in the king fell into obscurity and was dulled, was constrained and became lost. The people of the whole world just followed their own desires and were their own judges. Sadly, the hundred schools persist, fated to never be able to unite again, or agree. The scholars of these later generations did not see the purity of Heaven and Earth united, and the great wisdom of the ancient ones of the Tao was scattered and torn by the world.
To show no model of extravagance to later generations, to leave all forms of life unaffected, to avoid embroidering ritual, to rule oneself by strict regulation in one’s behaviour so as to be ready to deal with crises, thus helping other generations: this was what the ancients took to be the Tao.
Mo Ti and Chin Hua Li heard of their opinions and were pleased. But they pursued them to great excess and and were too particular in applying the opinions to themselves. Mo Tzu wrote a treatise called ‘Against Music’, and united this with ‘Moderation in Economies’. He did not believe in singing during life, nor in mourning at death. He taught universal love and universal consideration. He forbade warfare and would allow no space in his Tao for anger. He thought study good and did not disagree with others. But he did not agree with the primal kings but rather attacked the rituals and music of the ancient times.
The Yellow Emperor had Hsien Chih music, Yao had Ta Chung, Shun had Ta Shao, Yu had Ta Hsia, Tang had Ta Huo, King Wen had the music of the Pi Yung Hall and King Wu and Duke Chou created Wu music.
In ancient times the rituals for mourning outlined exactly what was due to the noble and the ordinary, the highest and the lowest. The coffin of the Son of Heaven had seven layers, those of the nobles five layers, those of the prime ministers had three layers, those of officers two layers. Now Mo Tzu only said there should be no singing during life, and at death no mourning. For everyone he would just have a plain wooden coffin, three inches thick and with no outer case. If he teaches people this, he can have no real affection for people. If he did this for his own funeral, then he does not have much affection for himself.
Yet this has not led to the ignoring of Mo Tzu’s Tao. Far from it, even though people continue to sing when he says no singing, people continue to feel like crying when he says no crying, people still want to be happy after he has said no happiness. Is what he advocates really human? A life that is laborious and a death which is insignificant: this Tao is one of great thoughtlessness. Making people sad and depressed by practices which are hard to follow cannot be seen as the Tao of the sage. It is universally against human nature, and the whole world rejects it. Even if Mo Tzu himself could stand it, how can the rest of the world be expected to live this way? With the whole world so opposed, this Tao has wandered far from the ways of the real king.
Mo Tzu thought a great deal of his Tao, saying, ‘In the past, when Yu held back the waters and controlled the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, he sent them to flow through the lands of the four barbarian tribes and the nine provinces. They were united with the three hundred rivers, the three thousand streams and the smaller streams too many to number. Yu himself carried the sandbags and dug with the spade, until he had united all the rivers of the whole world, and there was no hair left on his legs from his knee to his ankle. He washed his hair in the pouring rain and combed it with the harsh winds, while creating the ten thousand states. Yu was a great sage, but he wore out his body for the sake of the whole world.’ The result is that in later years Mohists wear skins and coarse cloth, wooden shoes or hemp sandals, never stop night or day, and view such fervent activity as their highest achievement. They say, ‘Anyone who cannot do this is not acting in the spirit of Yu and is not worthy of being called a Mohist.’
The followers of Hsiang Li Chin and the disciples of Wu Hou and the Mohists of the south such as Ku Huo, Chi Chih, Teng Ling Tzu and so forth, all recite the texts of Mo, but they argue and do not agree on these texts, calling each other heretical Mohists. In their debates they argue about hard and white, about sameness and difference, and they dispute the use of terms such as odd and even. They consider the main teacher of their group as a sage, each hoping that their particular one will be seen as the teacher by later generations. These same arguments continue up to the present time.
Mo Ti and Chin Ku Li had perfectly good ideas but were wrong in what they proceeded to do. They have made later generations of Mohists feel that they have to labour on until there is not a hair left on their calves, their driving ambition being to outdo each other. This is the height of their folly and the low point of their unity. Indeed, it is true that Mo Tzu was one of the good of this world and you will not find his equal. He was weary and worn, but do not
