This chapter introduces Heaven’s will as the universal moral yardstick. Heaven favors righteousness and universal love, punishes partiality and wars. Sage kings complied with it while tyrants defied it, bringing corresponding blessings and disasters.
This chapter defends universal love against doubters. It uses rulers’ power to shape conduct as evidence, cites Yu, King Wen and King Wu to prove equal mutual love is workable, the sole cure for wars and all social harms.
Mozi argues that objective, universal standards are necessary for any successful endeavor, from artisanal craftsmanship to statecraft. He rejects subjective or flawed human standards (parents, teachers, rulers) in favor of the absolute, impartial standard of Heaven.
Mencius puts forward graded love: cherish creatures without full benevolence, treat people kindly yet less intimately than family. True virtue starts with loving relatives, expands to caring for people, and finally extends affection to all natural things.
Mencius criticizes Yang’s egoism and Mo’s indiscriminate universal love as two extremes. Though Zi Mo’s moderation is better, rigid adherence without flexible judgment still distorts the all-round Dao by fixating on one single standpoint.
Mohism was one of the major philosophical schools of the pre-Qin period in ancient China. It was founded by Mozi (personal name Di, also romanized as Mo Di).
Mo Di (c. 468–376 BCE), commonly known as Mozi (“Master Mo”), was a seminal thinker, political theorist, and founder of the Mohist school during the transitional period between the Spring and Autumn and Warring States eras of ancient China. Born into a family of humble artisan or small-scale craftsman origins, Mozi possessed exceptional skill…