Cultivating Oneself修身

Mozi (The Book of Master Mo) 墨子 · Mo Di and his disciples · About the 4th century BC · 4 passages · 496 Chinese characters · reading time 2.0 min

Mozi (The Book of Master Mo) The writings of the school that in the Warring States period stood beside the Confucians as one of the "two great companies." It is not the work of one man but what Mo Di and his disciples added generation after generation, and so many chapters set down the same argument in three versions — upper, middle and lower. These are taken as the traces of the branches of the school, each copying it out in its own way. Ten doctrines are the backbone — exalting the worthy, conforming upward with what is right, loving all alike, condemning aggression, thrift in use, thrift in burial, following the will of Heaven, making ghosts clear, condemning music, and condemning fate. "If a man looked on the house of another as on his own house, who would steal?" is in the chapters on loving all alike. The ladder of "Condemning Aggression" — that a man who steals peaches and plums from another's orchard is punished, while a man who attacks another's state is praised — and the three gauges of "Condemning Fate," that to speak without a measure is "like setting the marks of sunrise and sunset upon a turning potter's wheel," stand there too. The last chapter, "Gongshu," is a story. When Chu made cloud ladders to attack Song, Mozi walked ten days and ten nights, met Gongshu Ban, and beat him nine times over with a belt and pieces of wood; and on the way home he met rain and was not let in to shelter inside the gate of that very Song village.

君子戰雖有陳，而勇爲本焉；喪雖有禮，而哀爲本焉；士雖有學，而行爲本焉。是故置本不安者，無務豐末。近者不親，無務來遠。親戚不附，無務外交。事無終始，無務多業。舉物而闇，無務博聞。是故先王之治天下也，必察邇來遠。君子察邇，脩身也。脩身，見毀而反之身者也，此以怨省而行脩矣。

For the gentleman, war has its battle array (陳), but daring is the root of it. Mourning has its rites, but grief is the root of it. An officer has his learning, but conduct is the root of it.

Therefore, if the root you have set is not secure, do not strive to make the branches rich. If those near you are not close to you, do not strive to draw the distant in. If your kin do not cleave to you, do not strive for friendships outside. If your affairs have no end and no beginning, do not strive to take up many trades. If you raise one thing and are in the dark about it, do not strive to hear widely.

Therefore, when the kings of old ruled the world, they always looked closely at what was near and drew the distant in. The gentleman's looking closely at what is near is the cultivating of himself. To cultivate himself is to turn back upon his own person when he meets with slander. In this way resentment grows less and conduct is cultivated.

譖慝之言，無入之耳；批扞之聲，無出之口；殺傷人之孩，無存之心，雖有詆訐之民，無所依矣。故君子力事日彊，願欲日逾，設壯日盛。

Let no slanderous or crooked word enter your ear. Let no sound of striking and warding off leave your mouth. Let no seed of killing and wounding men stay in your heart. Then, though there be people who slander and expose, they will have nothing to lean on. So the gentleman grows stronger day by day in the work he puts his force to, his wishes reach further day by day, and the vigor he sets forth grows fuller day by day.

君子之道也，貧則見廉，富則見義，生則見愛，死則見哀。四行者，不可虛假反之身者也。藏於心者無以竭愛，動於身者無以竭恭，出於口者無以竭馴。暢之四支，接之肌膚，華髮隳顛，而猶弗舍者，其唯聖人乎！

The way of the gentleman is this. In poverty his integrity shows. In wealth his sense of right shows. In life his love shows. In death the grief for him shows. These four kinds of conduct cannot be feigned and turned back upon one's own person.

What is hidden in the heart can never exhaust his love. What moves in his body can never exhaust his respect. What comes out of his mouth can never exhaust his gentleness. To spread this through his four limbs and lay it upon his skin, and still not to let it go when his hair has turned white and the crown of his head is bare, is something only the sage can do.

志不彊者智不達，言不信者行不果。據財不能以分人者，不足與友。守道不篤，徧物不博，辯是非不察者，不足與游。本不固者，末必幾。雄而不脩者，其後必惰。源濁者流不清，行不信者名必秏。名不徒生，而譽不自長，功成名遂，名譽不可虛假反之身者也。務言而緩行，雖辯必不聽；多力而伐功，雖勞必不圖。慧者心辯而不繁說，多力而不伐功，此以名譽揚天下。言無務爲多而務爲智，無務爲文而務爲察。故彼智與察在身，而情反其路者也。善無主於心者不留，行莫辯於身者不立。名不可簡而成也，譽不可巧而立也。君子以身戴行者也。思利尋焉，忘名忽焉，可以爲士於天下者，未嘗有也。

A man whose will is not strong will not reach far in wisdom. A man whose word is not trusted will not be firm in deed. A man who holds wealth and cannot share it with others is not worth having as a friend. A man who is not deep in keeping the way, not broad in knowing things, and not clear in telling right from wrong is not worth roaming with.

When the root is not firm, the branches are sure to be in peril. A man who is bold but does not cultivate himself is sure to grow slack afterward. When the source is muddy, the stream does not run clear. When conduct is not trustworthy, the name is sure to wear away.

A name does not arise of itself, and praise does not grow by itself. When the work is done, the name follows. Name and praise cannot be feigned and turned back upon one's own person.

A man who strives to talk and is slow to act will not be listened to, however well he speaks. A man who spends much force and boasts of his own merit will not be reckoned with, however hard he toils. The wise man judges in his heart and does not multiply words; he spends much force and does not boast of his merit. In this way his name and his praise are spread through the world.

In speech, do not strive to say much; strive to be wise. Do not strive to be ornate; strive to be discerning. Yet there are men in whom wisdom and discernment are present while their feelings run against that road.

Goodness that is not master in the heart does not stay. Conduct that is not made clear in one's own person does not stand. A name cannot be made lightly, and praise cannot be set up by cleverness. The gentleman is one who carries his conduct on his own body. A man who thinks of gain and chases it, who forgets his name and makes light of it, and who can still be an officer in the world has never yet existed.

‹ On Dyeing Contents Befriending Worthy Officers ›Listen to this piece