Against Music, Part One非樂上

Mozi said, "The business of a benevolent man is surely to strive to seek to raise up the benefit of all under heaven and remove the harm of all under heaven. He will take this as the model for all under heaven: what benefits men he does, and what does not benefit men he stops.

And when the benevolent man reckons for all under heaven, it is not for what his eyes find beautiful, what his ears find pleasant, what his mouth finds sweet, or what his body finds easeful; and the benevolent man will not cut away and seize by this the goods that are the people's clothing and food."

Therefore the reason Mozi holds music to be wrong is not that he finds the sound of great bells and sounding drums, of zithers and lutes, of mouth organs and reed pipes unpleasing, nor the colors of carving and engraving and flowered patterns not beautiful, nor the taste of fattened beasts fried and roasted not sweet, nor high terraces and thick pavilions and deep dwellings not restful.

Though the body knows their ease and the mouth knows their sweetness and the eye knows their beauty and the ear knows their pleasure, yet looking up and examining, they do not meet the deeds of the sage kings, and reckoning below, they do not meet the benefit of the ten thousand people.

Therefore Mozi said, "Making music is wrong."

Now when kings, dukes, and great men make musical instruments and take this as the business of the state, it is not by bailing out standing water and pulling down broken walls that they make them; they will surely levy heavily upon the ten thousand people to make the sound of great bells and sounding drums, of zithers and lutes, of mouth organs and reed pipes.

Then if the use of musical instruments were, by a likeness, as the sage kings' making of boats and carts, I would not dare to hold it wrong.

The sage kings of old also once levied heavily upon the ten thousand people to make boats and carts. When these were finished they said, "Where shall I use these?" and they said, "Boats are used on the water and carts on the land, so that the gentleman may rest his feet and the small man rest his shoulders and back." Therefore the ten thousand people brought out their goods and carried them and gave them, and did not dare to feel hurt and resentful. Why was this? Because in return it met the benefit of the people.

Then if musical instruments in return met the benefit of the people in this same way, I would not dare to hold them wrong.

The people have three worries: the hungry do not get food, the cold do not get clothing, and the weary do not get rest. These three are the great worries of the people.

Then if for their sake we strike great bells and beat sounding drums and pluck zithers and lutes and blow mouth organs and reed pipes and raise shields and axes, how can the goods that are the people's clothing and food be got? I hold that it is surely not so.

And setting this aside: now a great state attacks a small state and a great house attacks a small house, the strong press the weak, the many are violent to the few, the crafty deceive the foolish, the noble are arrogant to the humble, and robbery and disorder arise together and cannot be forbidden and stopped.

Then if for their sake we strike great bells and beat sounding drums and pluck zithers and lutes and blow mouth organs and reed pipes and raise shields and axes, how can the disorder of all under heaven be got hold of and governed? I hold that it is surely not so.

Therefore Mozi said, "Try for a moment levying heavily upon the ten thousand people to make the sound of great bells and sounding drums, of zithers and lutes, of mouth organs and reed pipes, and seeking by it to raise up the benefit of all under heaven and remove the harm of all under heaven: there is no help in it."

Therefore Mozi said, "Making music is wrong."

Now when kings, dukes, and great men sit upon high terraces and thick pavilions and look at them, the bells are like cauldrons set out in a row, and if they are not struck, what pleasure will be got from them? Their word, then, is that they will surely strike them.

But in striking them they will surely not set the old and the slow to it. The old and the slow are not keen in ear and eye, their arms and legs are not all strong, their notes are not in tune, and their brightness does not turn about. They will surely set men in their prime to it, and use the keenness of their ears and eyes, the strength of their arms and legs, the tune of their notes, and the turning about of their brightness.

If men are set to it, it gives up the time when men plow and sow and plant; if women are set to it, it gives up the work of women's spinning and weaving.

Now when kings, dukes, and great men make music, the time that is cut away and seized from the people's clothing and food in beating out music is as much as this.

Therefore Mozi said, "Making music is wrong."

Now that the sound of great bells and sounding drums, of zithers and lutes, of mouth organs and reed pipes is already made ready, if a great man plays alone in his loneliness and listens alone, what pleasure will be got from it? His word, then, is that he will surely share it with others.

If he listens to it with gentlemen, it gives up the gentlemen's hearing and governing; if he listens to it with the humble, it gives up the humble's following of their work.

Now when kings, dukes, and great men make music, the goods that are cut away and seized from the people's clothing and food in beating out music are as much as this.

Therefore Mozi said, "Making music is wrong."

Of old Duke Kang of Qi raised up the music of the Wan dance (萬舞), and those who did the Wan dance could not be clothed in short hair garments and could not be fed on husks and dregs. It was said, "If food and drink are not fine, the face and its color are not worth looking at; if clothes are not fine, the body and its bearing are not worth looking at." So what they ate was surely grain and meat, and what they wore was surely patterns and embroidery.

These are men who do not go to the work of following after the goods that are clothing and food, but whose charge is to be fed by others.

Therefore Mozi said, "Now when kings, dukes, and great men make music, the goods that are cut away and seized from the people's clothing and food in beating out music are as much as this." Therefore Mozi said, "Making music is wrong."

Now men are from the first different from the birds and beasts, the deer, the flying birds and the crawling things. The birds and beasts, the deer, the flying birds and the crawling things of today make their clothes and furs from their feathers and hair, make their trousers and shoes from their hoofs and claws, and make their food and drink from the water and the grass. So even when the males are not set to plow and sow and plant, and the females too are not set to spin and weave, the goods that are clothing and food are from the first already made ready.

Now men are different from these. Those who lean on their strength live, and those who do not lean on their strength do not live. If the gentleman does not strive to hear and govern, then punishment and government fall into disorder; if the humble do not strive to follow their work, then goods and means are not enough.

Now if the officers and gentlemen of all under heaven hold that my words are not so, then let us for a moment count up the divided tasks of all under heaven and look at the harm of music.

Kings, dukes, and great men go early to court and withdraw late, hearing cases and governing: this is their divided task. Officers and gentlemen use up the strength of their arms and legs and use all the wisdom of their thought, governing the offices within and gathering in without the benefit of the barriers and markets, the hills and forests, the marshes and the fish weirs, so as to fill the granaries and treasuries: this is their divided task. The farmer goes out early and comes in at dusk, plowing and sowing and planting and gathering much beans and millet: this is his divided task. The woman rises at dawn and sleeps at night, spinning and weaving and working up much hemp and silk and kudzu and weaving cloth: this is her divided task.

Now if kings, dukes, and great men love music and listen to it, they surely cannot go early to court and withdraw late, hearing cases and governing, and so the state falls into disorder and the altars of soil and grain are in danger. Now if officers and gentlemen love music and listen to it, they surely cannot use up the strength of their arms and legs and use all the wisdom of their thought, governing the offices within and gathering in without the benefit of the barriers and markets, the hills and forests, the marshes and the fish weirs, so as to fill the granaries and treasuries, and so the granaries and treasuries are not filled. Now if the farmer loves music and listens to it, he surely cannot go out early and come in at dusk, plowing and sowing and planting and gathering much beans and millet, and so beans and millet are not enough. Now if the woman loves music and listens to it, she surely cannot rise at dawn and sleep at night, spinning and weaving and working up much hemp and silk and kudzu and weaving cloth, and so cloth does not come forth.

It is said: what makes the great man give up hearing and governing, and makes the state give up following its work? It is said, music.

Therefore Mozi said, "Making music is wrong."

How do we know that it is so? It is said that in the books of the kings before us, in the Guan xing (官刑) of Tang, there is this. It says, "Constant dancing in the palace is called the wind of shamans. Its punishment is that the gentleman pays out two rolls of silk, and the small man, if he cannot, is likened to two bo huang jing (伯黃徑)."

And it says, "Ah, the dancing sways and sways and the coarse words are greatly displayed, and the Lord on High does not hold it right, and the nine regions perished by it. The Lord on High does not go along with it and sends down a hundred calamities, and that house will surely fall and be lost."

If we look into why the nine regions perished, it was only that they followed after the adorning of music.

The Wu guan (武觀) says, "Qi (啟) then overflowed and streamed into ease and pleasure, and ate and drank in the fields, with clang upon clang, and beat the stone chimes with force. He sank muddied in wine and ate to excess in the fields, and the Wan dance swayed and swayed and the sound was heard in Heaven, and Heaven therefore did not take it as a pattern."

So above, Heaven and the spirits do not take it as a pattern, and below, the ten thousand people get no benefit from it.

Therefore Mozi said, "Now if the officers and gentlemen of all under heaven truly wish to seek to raise up the benefit of all under heaven and remove the harm of all under heaven, they cannot but forbid and stop music as a thing."