非命(下)

Master Mozi said: In all speech and discourse, one must establish standards before speaking. To speak without first establishing standards is like setting up a gnomon on a spinning potter's wheel -- even if one debates about morning and evening, one can never reach a fixed determination. Therefore speech has three methods. What are the three methods? There is the examination, the investigation, and the application. How does one examine? Examine the deeds of the former sage-kings. How does one investigate? Observe the evidence of the people's eyes and ears. How does one apply? Promulgate it as governance in the state, and observe the people to see the results. These are the three methods.

Therefore when the sage-kings of the three dynasties -- Yu, Tang, Wen, and Wu -- were governing the world, they said: 'We must promote filial sons and encourage them to serve their parents, and honor the worthy and good and teach them to do good.' They therefore issued governance and applied instruction, rewarding the good and punishing the cruel. They believed that in doing so, the disorder of the world could be brought to order, and the dangers of the state could be made secure. If one thinks otherwise, consider: what Jie threw into chaos, Tang brought to order; what Zhou threw into chaos, King Wu brought to order. In those times the age did not change and the people did not alter -- the ruler changed his governance and the people changed their customs. Under Jie and Zhou the world was in chaos; under Tang and Wu the world was well-ordered. The world's good order was the achievement of Tang and Wu; the world's chaos was the crime of Jie and Zhou. Viewed in this light, safety and danger, order and chaos lie in the ruler's governance. How can one say there is fate?

Those who now hold that fate exists should consider: the tyrannical kings of the three dynasties -- Jie, Zhou, You, and Li -- were honored as Sons of Heaven and possessed all under Heaven, yet they did not restrain the desires of their eyes and ears, but followed the perversity of their hearts. Outside, they drove about hunting; inside, they sank into wine and music. They disregarded the governance of their states and people, committed useless extravagances, and oppressed the people, until they lost their ancestral temples. They never said 'I was incapable and did not govern diligently,' but always said 'My fate has always decreed this loss.' The incapable people of the three dynasties were the same. Unable to serve their kin and lords well, deeply hating frugality and loving ease, greedy for food and lazy in work, with insufficient provisions, they fell into the worry of hunger and cold. They never said 'I am incapable and was not diligent in my work,' but instead said 'My fate has always decreed my poverty.'

In ancient times, tyrannical kings invented the doctrine of fate, and the destitute practiced it, both deceiving the simple-minded masses. The sage-kings were troubled by this long ago, and therefore wrote it on bamboo and silk, engraved it on metal and stone, carved it on plates and vessels, and transmitted it to later generations. What books contain this? Yu's 'Summary of Virtue' says: 'If you truly do not manifest virtue toward Heaven, the people will not be protected. Having already warded off the baleful stars, if Heaven sends punishment upon you, and you do not carefully attend to your virtue, how can the Mandate of Heaven protect you?' The 'Announcement of Zhonghui' says: 'I have heard that the men of Xia falsified the Mandate of Heaven below. The Lord on High was angered by this, and they lost their armies.' They took what did not exist and claimed it existed -- that is why it is called 'falsification.' If it existed and they said it existed, how would that be falsification?

Therefore Master Mozi said: Today the gentlemen of the world, if they truly wish to promote the world's benefits and eliminate the world's harms, must vigorously condemn the words of the fatalists. The doctrine of fate was invented by tyrannical kings and practiced by the destitute; it is not the teaching of the benevolent. Those who today practice benevolence and righteousness must carefully examine this and vigorously condemn it.