Mozi

Japanese: 墨子 - ぼくし

A person who lived from the late 5th century BC to the early 4th century BC. An honorific title for Mo Di, an ancient Chinese thinker, one of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and the founder of the Mohist school. The book that collected the ideas of the Mohist school is also called "Mozi."

[Tomohisa Ikeda December 14, 2015]

Mozi as a person

It has been said for a long time that Mo was his surname. However, the correct name is Bokukei (a punishment in which the forehead is tattooed), and it was a nickname given to him by Confucian scholars and upper-class aristocrats at the time, who were deriding his academic style that valued hard labor, which was similar to that of a convict or slave engaged in menial labor. As a representative of the lower classes, he was rather proud of it and made it the name of his school. Zhai was his surname. He was a worker of the lowest class at the time, so his surname is not known. He was born in Song. His career is almost unknown. There are many stories about Mo Zhai, but most of them are fiction based on the ideological needs of later generations, so care must be taken. During the process of disintegration of feudal social systems, countries at that time were moving toward centralized autocracy domestically and war to become great powers externally. In opposition to this, Mo Di organized the professional clans that had been subordinate to the monarchs and aristocrats in the past into a guild-like group of workers, and as its supreme leader (called Jiushi), he instructed them in practical activities such as persuading the kings and aristocrats and helping the invaded countries with the defense of their cities, in order to realize universal mutual love and anti-war and peace. Note that "Mozi" does not contain any works written by Mo Di himself, and all of it was written by later disciples of Mo.

[Tomohisa Ikeda December 14, 2015]

Mozi as calligrapher

The 53 chapters of Mozi are a collection of theories and records accumulated over 300 years (late 5th century BC to 122 BC) of the social reform group, the Mohists. It was finally compiled by Liu Xiang at the end of the Western Han dynasty. There are 71 chapters in the Art and Literature Journal of the Book of Han, but 18 have been lost to date. The 53 chapters are divided into five categories. The first category consists of seven chapters: On One's Belongings, Cultivating Oneself, On One's Impartiality, On Law and Order, On the Seven Affair, On Complaints, and On the Three Eloquences. These are miscellaneous records written after the late Mohist period (300 BC - 206 BC) under the influence of other schools. The second category consists of 10 treatises, 23 pieces, including Shoken, Shodo, Jian Ai, Bi-Aggression, Tempered Use, Tempered Funerals, Heavenly Will, Bright Ghosts, Non-Happiness, and Non-Life. Originally, each treatise had three parts, an upper, middle, and lower, for a total of 30 pieces. They are the most important in understanding Mohist thought. They are the Mohist group's platform for social reform, and the reason they have upper, middle, and lower parts is because they were revised and rewritten from upper to middle to lower whenever their views changed. Of the documents from the early Mohist period (up to 381 BC), Jian Ai Shang is the oldest, followed by Bi-Aggression Shang. However, these were not written by Mo Di himself. Jian Ai Zhong, Bi-Aggression Zhong, and Tempered Use Shang were written in the middle period (381 BC-300 BC), and the other 18 pieces are from the later period. Of these, Shangxian 2, Tianzhi 2, and Fimei 2 are the newest, but they were written during the end of the Warring States period to the Qin dynasty, and there are no works from the late Han dynasty Mohists (206 BC to 122 BC). The third category consists of six works: Classic 1, Classic 2, Commentary on Classics 1, Commentary on Classics 2, Large and Small. They are also called Mokben. They are organons that provide the basis for Mohist ideas. Classic 1 is a collection of definitions of important concepts used in the Ten Treatises, Classic 2 is a collection of basic propositions, and Commentary on Classics 1 and 2 is an explanation of them. The contents are diverse, but there are many concepts and propositions from logic and natural science, which shows the characteristics of a group of Mohist artisans. Large is a collection of propositions especially related to the theory of universal love and a logical analysis of various shota, and Small is an explanation of the principles and methodology of logic and seven technical terms, as well as some theories of propositions and inferences. The upper part of the Classics was written in the early to middle period, the lower part in the middle to late period, and the upper and lower parts of the Classic Commentary were written slightly later than the upper and lower parts. The larger part was written later, and the smaller part was written even later. The fourth category consists of six pieces: Gongzhu, Guiyi, Gongmeng, Luwen, Gongshu, and Hiruge. The four following Gongzhu are a collection of tales from Mozi written in the late period, Gongshu is a tale of Mozi saving Song and written late in the period, and Hiruge is a document hurling harsh words at Confucians from the late to late period. The fifth category consists of 11 pieces: Bei Chengmen, Bei Gaolin, Bei Ti, Bei Sui, Bei Tsu, Bei Ketsu, Bei Gafu, Shrine to Welcoming the Enemy, Flags and Banners, Calling, and Miscellaneous Guards. These are books on military techniques that were gradually written by the Mohists, a group of city guardians, from the middle to late periods, and some of them were written by Qin Mo. Mozi was almost completely rejected from intellectual circles after Confucianism was made the state religion during the Han dynasty, with few readers and many errors in the text, but with the rise of the School of Masters in the Qing dynasty, interest in Mozi began to grow (the most famous works being Bi Yuan's Commentary on Mozi in 1783 and Sun Yirang's Interpretation of Mozi in 1894). Since the impact of Western influence in the late Qing dynasty, Mozi has been rediscovered as something uniquely Chinese that is comparable to Western science and logic, and research on it has progressed.

[Tomohisa Ikeda December 14, 2015]

Mohist Thought and its Development

The original versions of the theory of universal love and the theory of non-attacking were apparently already advocated by the founder Mo Di, and the theory of universal love is at the heart of Mohist thought. The oldest work, "The First Chapter of Universal Love" (written in the early Warring States period), advocates "mutual love" in order to control the current chaos in the world. This "mutual love" means that people "love others as if they were loving themselves" (=simple love for others), and universal mutual love means expanding that mutual love to the entire world. Therefore, originally universal love meant universalizing the mutual love of all individuals, all families, and all countries, in other words, universal mutual love. What is noteworthy here is that the equality of mutual love, which requires love not only from the weak but also from the strong, is rooted in a strong spirit of support for the weak, unlike the ethics promoted by Confucianism at the time, which discriminated between the nobles and the lowly and tended to impose responsibilities on the weak from the strong. Also, the theory of mutual love was not only an idea of realizing peace that would bring an end to the Warring States period, which was full of conflict, but also an idea of social change that advocated that all people should become political actors by becoming actors of love. It is well known that the Confucian scholar Meng Ke (Mencius) attacked this theory, fearing that it would lead to the destruction of the system from the basic unit of the family society, the family (Tengwen Gong chapter, part 2 of Mencius). The middle chapter of "mutual love" adds "mutual benefit" to the first chapter's "mutual love". It makes it more realistic by arguing that spiritual love should be backed by material benefits. However, in the middle chapter of "Jian Ai", the content of "Jian Ai" begins to change from universal mutual love of all people to the ruler's indiscriminate love for all people, and this change becomes decisive in the second chapter of "Jian Ai". The Mohists of the middle to late Warring States period, who wanted to realize the theory of "Jian Ai" as soon as possible, compromised with the social reality of strengthening the sovereign's power and made everything dependent on the ruler's initiative. As an extension of this change, the one ruler and all people system (centralized autocratic rule) was conceived through the "Shang Tong Lun" and "Shang Xian Lun". The oldest chapter of "Nei Kou Ron" is a branch of the first chapter of "Jian Ai" and rejects war as a great injustice. The activities of the castle guards must have already begun at this time. In the second chapter of "Nei Kou", the author goes on to approve just war, but this argument is based on the accumulated activities of the castle guards, and at the same time, it supports the unification of the world through the military expansion of the Qin dynasty. The first chapter of the Work on Usefulness appeals to rulers for concrete measures to protect the people, such as discouraging extravagance, while the second chapter of the Work on Usefulness advocates that rulers should guide the people to economize on consumption. The second chapter of the Work on Usefulness is a treatise urging frugality on funerals and shortening the period of mourning, a criticism of the Confucian advocacy of lavish burials and long mourning periods, which began with Meng Ke. The first chapter of the Work on Music and the Incompetence argues that music played by rulers is harmful because it is based on the exploitation of the people, and should therefore be stopped. It is a criticism of the Confucian (especially Xunzi) theory of ritual and music. These three treatises appear to have emerged as concrete examples of the theory of love and love, or as part of that field, and to that extent originate from the theory and practice of the early and middle periods.

However, the later Mohists made a major change in their traditional line by proposing the following five treatises. The second chapter of Minggui proves that ghosts and gods exist and have the ability to reward and punish humans, and uses this in politics to encourage the people to practice the theory of universal love. The first, middle and second chapters of Tenshi (as well as the Fagui chapter) mobilize Heaven, which is even more transcendental than ghosts and gods and has a greater ability to reward and punish, and clarify the legitimacy of the rule of the Son of Heaven, the three dukes and the feudal lords, while mainly calling on the Son of Heaven to practice the righteousness (= theory of universal love) that Heaven desires as the highest being. Originally, the Mohists were a group of rationalists who had the third type of logic and natural science as an organon that provided the basis for various ideas. The Mohists used the religion of ghosts and gods, which was believed in by the lower class members of their group and by the general public, because they wanted to quickly realize the theory of universal love and restore peace to the world. In this way, Mohism turned to irrationalism, and the content of its theory of universal love also changed to the point where it aimed for the autocratic rule of one emperor and all the people.

The first, middle and third volumes of the Non-Mei theory were written because the aforementioned Minggui theory and Tenshi theory could lose all of the Mohist ideological significance such as the theory of universal love and degenerate into a common belief in ghosts and heaven that seeks good fortune and avoids misfortune, and because these theories, which claim that ghosts and heaven control humans, could make people lethargic or be mistaken for such theories and be identified with them. While criticizing the theory of destiny (theory of fate, especially the Confucian idea of the mandate of heaven), he defends his own theory of Minggui theory and Tenshi theory as ideas that encourage people to make an effort. Furthermore, the first, middle and third volumes of the same theory are essays in which the Mohist people's movement denies the significance of the existence of individuals like the scholar-officials under the old feudal system and demands a centralized autocracy from below. It was a theory that resonated with the top-down views of Legalists (such as Han Fei) and became the theory for the formation of the Qin and Han empires, but it differs in that it is a theory of social organization with an ideological significance for realizing the theory of universal love. Shangtong means to be the same as Shang (= above), that is, a lower person submits to the righteousness (values) of a higher person. In the uncivilized and barbaric natural state when humankind was just born, each person had one right, and ten people had ten right, and the more people there were, the more diverse their values were, so the world could not help but be in turmoil due to the struggle of all against all. In order to overcome this, political powers such as the Son of Heaven arose, and governing mechanisms (administrative organizations such as the country, township, and village, and a bureaucratic system of the three Dukes, feudal lords, town chiefs, and village chiefs) were established to align people with the one righteousness of the Son of Heaven.

The first, second and third volumes of "Shou Xian" argue for strengthening the bureaucracy as part of the aforementioned governing structure. They argue that it is necessary to stop preserving the middle-class scholar-officials under the old feudal system through blood ties and hereditary succession, and instead to value wisdom, that is, to judge ability based on the same principle, and to employ those who are capable as bureaucrats, even if they are commoners. Thus, on the eve of the emergence of the unified Qin and Han empires, the Mohist theory of universal love gave way to the completely opposite theory of "Shou Xian."

[Tomohisa Ikeda December 14, 2015]

``Sumiko'' translated and annotated by Kiyoshi Yabuuchi (Heibonsha, Toyo Bunko) ▽ ``Study of Sumiko'' by Banka Otsuka (1943, Morikita Shoten) ▽ ``Study of Ancient Chinese Thought'' by Takashi Watanabe (1973, Sobunsha) ▽ ``Sumiko'' by Yuichi Asano (Kodansha Academic Bunko)'' ▽ ``Sun Zhuan Yongyan's ``Mozi Interchange'' (1894)' ' ▽ ``Reading Words'' by Jiang (1917)'' ▽ ``Hu Shi's ``Outline of the History of Chinese Philosophy Volume 1'' (1919)' ' ▽ ``Liang Qichao's ``Mozi Study Plan'' (1921)'' ▽ ``First Qin and Zhuzi Connecting Years'' by Qian Mu (1935) ▽ ``The Source of Mogaku'' by Fang Juchu (1937)''

[Reference items] | Moroshi Hyakuke | Bokuya

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

紀元前5世紀後半から前4世紀前半の人。中国古代の思想家、諸子百家(しょしひゃっか)の一人、墨家(ぼくか)の開祖墨翟(ぼくてき)の尊称。また墨家の主張を集めた書も『墨子』という。

［池田知久　2015年12月14日］

人としての墨子

墨は姓というのが古くからの説。しかし正しくは墨刑(ぼくけい)（額(ひたい)に入れ墨(ずみ)をする刑罰）のことで、彼の労役(ろうえき)を尚(とうと)ぶ学風があたかも賤役(せんえき)に従事する刑徒・奴隷のようなのを誹(そし)って当時の儒家や上層貴族がつけた綽名(あだな)。下層庶民を代表する彼はむしろこれを誇りとして自学派の称とした。翟は名。身分は当時最下層の工人(こうじん)で、それゆえ姓が伝わらない。宋国(そうこく)の生まれ。経歴はほとんど不明。墨翟の説話は数多いが、大部分が後代の思想上の必要に基づく仮託であるから注意を要する。封建的社会体制の解体過程にあって当時各国は国内的には中央集権的専制化、対外的には戦争による大国化を進めていた。これに反対して墨翟は古く君主・貴族に隷属していた職能氏族をギルド的工人集団にまとめあげ、その最高リーダー（鉅子(きょし)という）として兼愛（相互愛の普遍化）と非攻（反戦平和）の実現のため、王侯・貴族に対する説得や被侵略国を助ける城郭守禦(しゅぎょ)といった実践活動を指導した。なお『墨子』はそのなかに墨翟の自筆を含まず、すべてが後学の墨者たちによって書かれたものである。

［池田知久　2015年12月14日］

書としての墨子

『墨子』53篇(ぺん)は、社会変革集団・墨家の300年にわたる（前5世紀末～前122年）活動のなかで蓄積された理論と記録の全集である。最終的な成立は前漢(ぜんかん)末の劉向(りゅうきょう)の編纂(へんさん)にかかる。『漢書(かんじょ)』芸文志(げいもんし)には71篇とあるが今日までに18篇が失われた。53篇は五つに分類される。第1類は親士、修身、所染、法儀(ほうぎ)、七患、辞過、三弁の7篇。後期墨家（前300～前206年）以降の、他学派の影響を受けて書かれた雑録である。第2類は尚賢(しょうけん)、尚同(しょうどう)、兼愛、非攻、節用、節葬、天志、明鬼(めいき)、非楽(ひがく)、非命(ひめい)の10論23篇。もとは各論に上中下の3篇があり計30篇あった。墨家の思想を理解するうえでもっとも重要。墨家集団の社会変革のための綱領で、それぞれ上中下篇あるのは、見解を変えるたびに上→中→下と修正して書き直していったからである。初期墨家（～前381）の文献としては兼愛上がもっとも古く非攻上がこれに次ぐ。ただしこれらも墨翟の自筆ではない。中期（前381～前300年）には兼愛中、非攻中、節用上が書かれ、他の18篇は後期のもの。そのうち尚賢下、天志下、非命下はもっとも新しいが、それらも戦国最末期～秦(しん)代の作であって漢代の末期墨家（前206～前122年）のものはない。第3類は経(けい)上、経下、経説(けいせつ)上、経説下、大取、小取の6篇。墨弁(ぼくべん)ともいう。墨家の諸思想に根拠を提供するオルガノンである。経上は十論などで使用されている重要な概念の定義集、経下は基本命題集、経説上・下はそれらの解説で、内容は多岐にわたるが、論理学・自然学の概念や命題が多く、墨家の工人集団としての特徴を示す。大取はとくに兼愛論に関する命題集と諸他(しょた)の論理学的分析、小取は論理学の原理論・方法論と七つのテクニカル・タームの解説と若干の命題論・推理論からなる。経上は初期～中期の作、経下は中期～後期の作、経説上・下は経上・下にやや遅れる。大取は後期のもの、小取はさらに遅れて成立したようである。第4類は耕柱、貴義、公孟(こうもう)、魯問(ろもん)、公輸(こうしゅ)、非儒下の6篇。耕柱以下4篇は後期に成った墨子の説話集、公輸は墨子の救宋説話で末期の作、非儒下は儒家に悪罵(あくば)を投げ付けた文献で後期～末期のもの。第5類は備城門、備高臨、備梯(びてい)、備水、備突(びとつ)、備穴(びけつ)、備蛾傅(びがふ)、迎敵祠(げいてきし)、旗幟(きし)、号令、雑守の11篇。城郭守禦集団としての墨家が中期～後期に徐々に書き継いでいった兵技巧（軍事技術）書で、なかには秦墨(しんぼく)によって著されたものもある。『墨子』は漢代の儒教国教化ののちほとんど思想界から排除されて、読む人も少なく本文の脱誤も多く生じたが、清(しん)代の諸子学(しょしがく)の興隆とともに関心をもたれるようになり（1783年の畢沅(ひつげん)『墨子注』、1894年の孫詒譲(そんいじょう)『墨子間詁(かんこ)』がその代表作）、清末の西欧の衝撃以来、西欧の科学や論理学に見合う中国固有のものとして再認識され、研究が進められるに至った。

［池田知久　2015年12月14日］

墨家の思想とその展開

兼愛論と非攻論はその原型が開祖墨翟によってすでに唱えられていたらしく、墨家の諸思想の中心は兼愛論である。最古の兼愛上篇（戦国初期の作）は現在の天下の乱を治めるために「兼ね相い愛す」ることを唱えるわけであるが、この「相い愛す」とは「人を愛すること其(そ)の（＝自分の）身を愛するが若(ごと)し」（＝他者への単なる愛）を人々が相互に行うこと、また兼相愛とはその相愛を全天下的規模に拡大（兼）することである。したがって当初、兼愛とはすべての個人、すべての家、すべての国の相互愛を普遍化すること、すなわち普遍的相互愛を意味していた。ここで注目されるのは、弱者だけでなく強者にも愛を要求する相互愛の平等性が、儒家によって推し進められていた当時の倫理が貴賤親疎を差別し強者の側から弱者に責務を押し付けがちだったのと違って、激しい弱者支持の精神に根ざしていること、また兼愛論が、抗争に明け暮れる戦国時代の終息をもたらす平和実現の思想であるのみならず、すべての人々に愛の主体となることを通じて政治の主体ともなるべきことを勧める主張をもった社会変革の思想だったことである。儒家の孟軻(もうか)（孟子）が家という家族制社会の基礎単位から体制を破壊に導くと危惧(きぐ)して、これを攻撃したのは有名である（『孟子』滕文(とうぶん)公篇下）。兼愛中篇は上篇の「兼ね相い愛す」に「交(こも)ごも相い利す」を付加した。精神的な愛が物質的な利に裏打ちされるべきことを主張して現実味を増したのである。しかし兼愛中篇は兼愛論の内容を万人の普遍的相互愛から君主の万民に対する無差別愛へと変化させ始めており、兼愛下篇になるとこの変化は決定的となる。兼愛論を一刻も早く実現したいと考えた戦国中期～後期の墨家が君主権の強化という社会の現実に妥協し、すべてを君主の主導性に依存させるようになったからで、この変化の延長線上にやがて尚同論や尚賢論による一君万民体制（中央集権的専制支配）が構想される。非攻論のもっとも古い上篇は兼愛上篇から分出したもので、戦争を大きな不義として否定する。このときすでに城郭守禦の活動も始まっていたのであろう。非攻下篇では正義の戦争を是認するに至るが、城郭守禦の活動の蓄積に基づく主張であると同時に秦の軍事膨張路線による天下統一を支持したもの。節用上篇は為政者に向かってその奢侈(しゃし)を戒めるなどの民衆愛護の具体策を訴え、節用中篇は為政者が民衆の消費節約を指導すべきことを説く。節葬下篇は葬礼を倹約し服喪の期間を短くせよと述べた論文であるが、これは孟軻から始まる儒家の厚葬久喪(こうそうきゅうそう)の主張を批判したもの。非楽上篇は為政者の音楽は民衆に対する搾取のうえに成り立つ有害物だから中止せよという。儒家（とくに荀子(じゅんし)）の礼楽(れいがく)説に対する批判。これらの3論も兼愛論の具体化、その一分野として出現したようで、その限りでは初期・中期の理論と実践に由来する。

　ところが後期墨家は以下の5論を唱えることによって従来の路線を大きく変更するに至る。明鬼下篇は鬼神が存在しそれが人間に賞罰を与える能力をもっていることを証明しつつ、それを政治に利用して民衆が兼愛論を実行するのを促した論文。天志上中下篇（また法儀篇も）は鬼神よりもいっそう超越的で賞罰能力の大きい天を動員して、天子や三公・諸侯の支配権の正当性を解明しながら、おもに天子に対して最上位者たる天の欲する義（＝兼愛論）を実行せよと求める。もともと墨家は諸思想に根拠を提供するオルガノンとして、第3類の論理学・自然学をもつ合理主義者たちの集団であった。その墨家が集団メンバーの下層庶民や広く民衆の間に信仰されていた鬼神・天の宗教を利用したのは、兼愛論を早く実現して天下に平和を回復したいと願ったからであった。こうして墨家は非合理主義に転ずるとともに、その兼愛論の内容もいよいよ一君万民の専制支配を目ざすまでに変質していく。

　非命上中下篇は、前述の明鬼論・天志論が兼愛論などの墨家的思想性をまったく失ってひたすら福を求め禍を避けるありきたりの鬼神・天信仰に堕落しかねず、また鬼神・天が人間を支配することを主張するこれらが人々を無気力にする、またはそのような理論と誤解されて同一視されかねないために書かれた論文である。有命説（運命論。とくに儒家の天命思想）を批判しつつ、自らの明鬼論・天志論を人々に努力を促す思想として擁護する。尚同上中下篇は墨家の民衆運動が古い封建制下の士大夫(したいふ)的な個人の存在意義を否定して、下から中央集権的専制を要求した論文。法家（韓非(かんぴ)など）の上からのそれと呼応し秦・漢帝国形成の理論となったものであるが、兼愛論などを実現するためという思想性をもった社会組織論である点が異なる。尚同とは尚（＝上）に同ずる、すなわち下位者が上位者の義（価値観）に服従すること。人類が誕生したばかりの未開・野蛮の自然状態のなかでは、一人一義、十人十義、人が多ければ多いほど価値観が多様だったから天下は万人の万人に対する闘争によって乱れるほかなかった。これを克服するために天子を初めとする政治権力が発生し、人々を天子の一義に尚同させるための支配機構（国、郷、里などの行政組織と、三公、諸侯国君、郷長、里長などの官僚制）が整備されたのだとする。

　尚賢上中下篇は前記の支配機構の一環としての官僚制を充実させよという主張。古い封建制下の中間的な士大夫を血縁制・世襲制によって温存するのをやめて、賢を尚(たっと)べ、すなわち、尚同した一義を基準にして能力の有無を判定し、能力のある者であれば庶民であっても官僚として採用せよという。こうして秦・漢統一帝国の出現する前夜、墨家の兼愛論はまったく反対の関係にある尚賢論に、その席を譲ったのであった。

［池田知久　2015年12月14日］

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