| Mozi | |
| Translator: | Burton Watson A. C. Graham Ian Johnston |
| Author: | (trad.) Mo Di |
| Country: | China |
| Language: | Classical Chinese |
| Genre: | Philosophy |
| Release Date: | 5th–3rd centuries BC |
| English Release Date: | 1929 |
| Media Type: | manuscript |
| Congress: | B128 .M6 |
| Dewey: | 181.115 |
| Native Wikisource: | zh |
| Wikisource: | Translation:Mozi |
| Pic: | Mozi (Chinese characters).svg |
| Piccap: | "Mozi" in seal script (top) and regular (bottom) Chinese characters |
| Picupright: | 0.45 |
| C: | 墨子 |
| L: | "[The Writings of] Master Mo" |
| P: | Mòzǐ |
| W: | Mo4-tzŭ3 |
| Gr: | Mohtzy |
| J: | Mak6-zi2 |
| Wuu: | Meʔ tzy |
| Y: | Mahk-jí |
| Tl: | Ba̍k-tzú |
| Mc: | Mok-tsí |
| Oc-Bs: | *C.mˤək tsəʔ |
The Mozi, also called the Mojing or the Mohist canon, is an ancient Chinese text from the Warring States period (476–221 BC) that expounds the philosophy of Mohism. It propounds such Mohist ideals as impartiality, meritocratic governance, economic growth and aversion to ostentation, and is known for its plain and simple language.
The book's chapters can be divided into several categories: a core group of 31 chapters, which contains the basic philosophic ideas of the Mohist school; several chapters on logic, which are among the most important early Chinese texts on logic and are traditionally known as the "Dialectical Chapters"; five sections containing stories and information about Mozi and his followers; and eleven chapters on technology and defensive warfare, on which the Mohists were expert and which are valuable sources of information on ancient Chinese military technology. There are also two other minor sections: an initial group of seven chapters that are clearly of a much later date, and two anti-Confucian chapters, only one of which has survived.
The Mohist philosophical school died out in the 3rd century BC, and copies of the Mozi were not well preserved. The modern text has been described as "notoriously corrupt". Of the Mozi 71 original chapters, 18 have been lost and several others are badly fragmented.
See main article: Mozi. The Mozi, as well as the entire philosophical school of Mohism, is named for and traditionally ascribed to Mo Di, usually known as "Mozi" (Mandarin Chinese: Chinese: 墨子, "Master Mo"). Mozi is a figure from the 5th century BC about whom nothing is reliably known. Most sources describe him as being from the State of Lu—though one says that he was from the State of Song—and say that he traveled around the various Warring States trying to persuade their rulers to stop attacking each other. Mozi seems to have come from a humble family, and some elements of the book suggest that he may have been some type of artisan or craftsman, such as a carpenter. Some scholars have theorized that the name Mo (Chinese: 墨), which means "ink", may not truly be a surname, but could be indicative of Mozi having undergone the branding or tattooing that was used in ancient China as a form of criminal punishment.
The Mozi originally comprised 71 chapters. However, 18 of the original chapters have been lost, and several others are damaged and fragmented. The text can be divided into a total of six sections:[1]
The damaged nature of the later chapters of the Mozi have made its translations highly difficult, and often requires translators to repair and re-edit the text before translating. The first Mozi translation in a Western languagethe 1922 German translation of Alfred Forkewas done before these problems were well understood, and thus contains many errors in the "Dialectical" and "Military" chapters. Only in the late 20th century did accurate translations of the later Mozi chapters appear:
Many Mozi translations in Modern Chinese and Japanese exist.
. A. C. Graham . Mo tzu 墨子 . Michael . Loewe . Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide . limited . 336–41 . 1993 . Society for the Study of Early China; Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California Berkeley . Berkeley, CA . 978-1-55729-043-4 .
. David Shepherd Nivison . The Classical Philosophical Writings . Michael . Loewe . Michael Loewe . Edward . Shaughnessy . Edward Shaughnessy . The Cambridge History of Ancient China . limited . Cambridge, England . Cambridge University Press . 1999 . 745–812 . 978-0-521-47030-8 .