Chapter Three: The Obscuration of Master Mo — Obscured by Utility and Not Knowing Cultural Refinement

Section 1: The Rise of the Thought of "Utility" and the Core Concern of the Mohists

"Master Mo was obscured by utility and did not know cultural refinement" (Mo Zi bi yu yong er bu zhi wen).

This is Master Xun's fundamental critique of Master Mo and the Mohist school. To understand this critique, one must first grasp the Mohist concept of "utility."

Master Mo's teachings arose in the late Spring and Autumn to early Warring States period. Tradition holds that Master Mo "studied the arts of the Confucians and received the methods of the Master," but later founded his own school. One core reason for his parting with the Confucians was his supreme emphasis on "utility."

In Master Mo's view, all thought and social institutions should be tested by their "practical use." What is useful is good; what is useless should be discarded. This pragmatist mode of thinking pervades the entirety of Master Mo's teaching.

Master Mo proposed his famous "Three Standards" (san biao) as criteria for judging whether statements are correct:

"There are those with a basis, those with a source, and those with application. On what basis$31 One bases them on the deeds of the sage kings of antiquity. From what source$32 One examines the evidence of the ears and eyes of the common people. To what application$33 One puts them into practice as laws and policies and observes whether they benefit the state, the common people, and the populace. These are called the Three Standards of speech."

The third standard — "putting them into practice as laws and policies and observing whether they benefit the state, the common people, and the populace" — is the most critical. Whether a statement is correct is ultimately tested by whether, when applied to political practice, it benefits the state and the people. This is the standard of "utility."

From a positive perspective, this standard displays a clear spirit of realism. It refuses empty theorizing, demands that thought serve practical life, and attends to concrete social effects — a valuable pragmatic attitude in the age of the Hundred Schools' contention.

However, when Master Mo elevated "utility" to the sole, supreme standard, problems arose. He used "utility" as the measure of all things, arriving at a series of conclusions that the Confucians regarded as extreme.

The most typical is "Condemning Music" (fei yue). Master Mo held that music serves no practical purpose — it cannot feed or clothe people, nor provide shelter, but instead wastes human and material resources — and therefore should be abolished.

Similarly, "Frugal Funerals" (jie zang). Master Mo held that the elaborate funerals and prolonged mourning advocated by the Confucians wasted wealth and damaged health, yielding no benefit to the deceased, and therefore funeral rites should be simplified.

Again, "Moderation in Expenditure" (jie yong). Master Mo opposed all unnecessary consumption and decoration, advocating the simplest possible life.

Section 2: What Is Meant by "Not Knowing Cultural Refinement" — The Multiple Senses of "Wen"

Master Xun criticizes Master Mo for "not knowing cultural refinement" (bu zhi wen). The word "wen" in the pre-Qin context carries an extraordinarily rich range of meanings, including at least the following layers:

First, "wen" as decoration and pattern. The oracle bone form of "wen" resembles a person with a tattoo on the chest. By extension, anything with pattern, design, or decoration can be called "wen." The Master said: "When substance prevails over refinement, the result is coarseness; when refinement prevails over substance, the result is pedantry. Only when substance and refinement are properly blended does one become an exemplary person" (Analects, Yong Ye).

Second, "wen" as culture and moral transformation. The Tuan Commentary on the Bi hexagram says: "Observe heavenly pattern to discern the changes of the seasons; observe human pattern to transform and perfect the world."

Third, "wen" as literary grace. Zichan said: "Words without literary grace will not travel far" (Zuo Commentary, Duke Xiang, Year 25).

Fourth, "wen" as ritual forms and institutional codes. The Master said: "The Zhou dynasty looked back upon the two preceding dynasties — how splendid its culture!" (Analects, Ba Yi).

Master Mo did not understand the value of external adornment, the deeper significance of ritual and musical cultivation, or the fact that human beings are not merely functional creatures but cultural ones. As the Master observed: "One is roused by the Odes, established by ritual, and perfected by music" (Analects, Tai Bo). Without music, the path of character formation remains incomplete.

Section 3: "Define the Dao in Terms of Utility, and All You Get Is Profit"

"Define the Dao in terms of utility, and all you get is profit" (You yong wei zhi dao, jin li yi).

If the Dao is understood solely as "utility," it becomes merely an instrument for utilitarian calculation, stripped of its higher dimensions of culture, cultivation, aesthetics, and meaning. A thought system that knows only profit cannot address the full range of human life.

The Liji (Yue Ji) says: "Music is the harmony of heaven and earth; ritual is the order of heaven and earth." Ritual and music are not man-made ornaments but the embodiment in human society of heaven and earth's harmony and order. To abolish them is to sever the connection between human society and the cosmic order.

Master Xun's Yue Lun (Discourse on Music) argues: "Music is joy; it is something human nature cannot be without." Music is not optional but necessary — people need "wen" as water needs a riverbed. Master Mo saw only that riverbeds take up land without seeing the indispensable function of channeling the flow — this is "obscured by utility and not knowing cultural refinement."

Sections 4-5: Archaic Cultural Roots and the Confucian Middle Way

In archaic Chinese tradition, "wen" was never optional but was the core element of civilization itself — from Fuxi's trigrams and Cang Jie's writing to Emperor Shun's "cultural virtue" and the Duke of Zhou's ritual and music.

The Confucian position is not to neglect "utility" but to insist on the unity of "utility" and "cultural refinement." The Master's dictum "when substance and refinement are properly blended, then one becomes an exemplary person" is the finest expression of this unity.