Social Background of the Mohist School
墨家学派的社会背景
During the feudal age of the Chou dynasty, kings, princes, and feudal lords all had their military specialists.
在周朝封建时代，天子，诸侯及封建领主都有自己的军事专家。
These were the hereditary warriors who constituted the backbone of the armies of that time.
在当时，这些军事专家是世袭的武士，他们是军队的骨干。
With the disintegration of feudalism that took place in the latter part of the Chou dynasty, however, these warrior specialists lost their positions and titles, scattered throughout the country, and made a living by offering their services to anyone who could afford to employ them.
但周朝后期封建制度解体，这些武士专家失去了爵位，流散到各地，为了生计，谁雇用他们他们就为谁服务。
This class of people was known as the hsieh or yu hsieh, terms which can both be translated as knights-errant.
这些人被称为“游侠”。
Concerning such knights errant, the Shih Chi says: "Their words were always sincere and trustworthy, and their actions always quick and decisive. They were always true to what they promised, and without regard to their own persons, they would rush into dangers threatening others. "(Ch. 124) Such was their professional ethics. A large part of Mo Tzu's teaching was an extension of this ethics.
关于游侠，《史记》记载：“其言必信，其行必果。已诺必成，不爱其躯，赴士之厄困。”这是他们的职业道德。大部分的墨家学说就是其职业道德的扩展。
In Chinese history both the ju or literati and the hsieh or knights-errant originated as specialists attached to the houses of the aristocrats, and were themselves members of the upper classes.
在中国历史上，儒和侠都源自依附于贵族的专家，他们本身都属于上层阶级。
In later times the ju continued to come mainly from the upper or middle classes, but the hsieh, on the contrary, more frequently were recruited from the lower classes.
之后，儒家大部分仍然来自中上阶层，但侠则更多的出身于社会底层。
In ancient times, such social amenities as rituals and music were all exclusively for the aristocrats; from the point of view of the common man, therefore, they were luxuries that had no practical utility.
在古代，社会活动比如礼仪、音乐等由贵族独享，对普通人来说这是奢侈的，没有实用价值。
It was from this point of view that Mu Tzu and the Mohists criticised the traditional institutions and their rationalizers, Confucius and the Confucianists.
墨子和墨家正是从这点来批判传统制度及其辩护者孔子及儒家。
This criticism, together with the elaboration and rationalization of the professional ethics of their own social class, that of the hsieh, constituted the central core of the Mohist philosophy.
这种批判和对本阶级（游侠）的职业道德的阐述和合理化解释构成了墨家哲学的核心。
There is plenty of evidence for the inference that Mo Tzu and his followers came from the hsieh.
可以从很多证据推断出墨子及其门徒出身于侠。
From the Mo-tzu, as well as from other contemporary sources, we know that the Mohists constituted a strictly disciplined organization capable of military action.
从《墨子》及同时代的其他资料看出，墨家组织纪律严明，能够进行军事活动。
The leader of the Mohist organization was called the Chil Tzu, "Great Master," and had the authority of life or death over the members of the group.
墨家组织的首领成为“钜子”，对组织内成员具有生杀大权。
We are also told that Mo Tzu was the first "Great Master" of his group, and that at least once he actually led his followers to prepare for the military defense of Sung, when that state was threatened with invasion from the neighboring state of Chu.
墨子是墨家学派的第一位“钜子”，他领导门进行军事行动至少一次，即当宋国面临来自邻国楚国的侵入威胁时，墨子领导门徒为宋国准备防御工事。
The story of this episode is interesting.
这个故事挺有意思的。
It is said in the Mo-tzu that a noted mechanical inventor, Kung-shu Pan, then employed by the state of Chu, had completed the construction of a new weapon for attacking city walls. Ch'u was preparing to attack Sung with this new weapon.
《墨子》记载，一位著名的机械发明家公输班，受雇于楚国，造成了一种新型的攻城机械。楚国计划用这种新的机械攻打宋国。
Hearing of this, Mo Tzu went to Ch'u to persuade its king to desist.
听到这些后，墨子去楚国劝说楚王停止攻城计划。
There he and Kung-shu Pan made a demonstration before the king of their weapons of attack and defense.
在楚国，墨子和公输班在楚王面前就他们的进攻和防御的武器进行了演习。
Mo Tzu first untied his belt and laid out a city with it, using a small stick as a weapon.
墨子首先解下腰带，并用腰带围成一座城，然后用一根小木棍做武器。
Kung-shu Pan thereupon set up nine different miniature machines of attack, but Mo Tzu nine times repulsed him.
公输班随即用九种不同的小型机械发起进攻，但墨子九次均阻止了公输班的进攻。
Finally, Kung-shu Pan had used up all his machines of attack, while Mo Tzu was far from being exhausted in the defense.
最终，公输班用完了他所有的进攻武器，但墨子的防御手段还远远没用完。
Then Kung-shu Pan said: "l know how to defeat you, but I will not say it."
公输班说：“我知道怎么打败你，但我不会说的。”
To which Mo Tzu replied: "I know what it is, but I too will not say it."
对此，墨子回答：“我知道是什么办法，但我也不会说的。”
On being asked by the king what was meant, Mo Tzu continued: "Kung-shu Pan is thinking of murdering me. But my disciples Ch'in Ku-li and others, numbering three hundred men, are already armed with my implements of defense, waiting on the city wall of Sung for the invaders from Ch' u. Though I be murdered, you cannot exterminate them."
当国王问是什么方法时，墨子说：“公输班想谋杀我。但是我的弟子禽滑厘等三百人早已手持我的防御机械，在宋国的城墙上等着楚国的进攻。即使我被谋杀了，你们也不能消灭他们。”
To which the King exclaimed: "Very well! Let us not attack Sung." (Ch. 50.)
听了这番话，楚王嚷起来：“好好好！那我们就不攻打宋国吧。”
If this story is true, it would give a good example for our present world in settling disputes between two countries.
如果这个故事是真的，将为当今世界解决两国争端树立了很好的榜样。
A war would not need to be fought in the field.
战争没必要在战场上进行。
All that would be necessary would be for the scientists and engineers of the two countries to demonstrate their laboratory weapons of attacking and defense, and the war would be decided without fighting！
只要两国的科学家和工程师把实验室中的武器拿出来较量一番，不用发动战争即可定胜负。
Regardless of whether the story is true or not, it illustrates the nature of the Mohist organization, which is also confirmed from other sources.
不管这件事是不是真的，都说明了墨家组织的本质，其他资料也有介绍墨家这一本质。
Thus in the Huai-nun-tzu, a work of the second century B.C., it is stated that the disciples of Mo Tzu were one hundred and eighty in number, all of whom he could order to enter fire or tread on sword blades, and whom even death would not cause to turn on their heels. (Ch. 20.)
《淮南子·秦祖训》记载：“墨子服役者百八十人。皆可使赴火蹈刃，死不旋踵。”
And in the Mo-tzu itself, no less than nine chapters deal with the tactics of fighting a defensive war and the techniques of building instruments for defending city walls.
《墨子》不少于九篇文章都在讲防御战术和守城器械。
All of this shows that the Mohists, as originally constituted, were a group of warriors.
所有这些都表明当初组成墨家的是一群武士。
Mo Tzu and his followers, however, differed from the ordinary knights-errant in two respects.
但是，墨子及其门徒与普通游侠有两点不同。
In the first place, the latter were men ready to engage in any fighting whatever, only provided that they were paid for their efforts or favored by the feudal lords.
第一，普通的游侠只要得到报酬或者受到封建领主的恩惠，不论什么仗都打。
Mo Tzu and his followers, on the contrary, were strongly opposed to aggressive war; hence they agreed to fight only in wars that were strictly for self-defense.
墨子及其门徒则不然，他们极力反对侵略战争，因此他们只参加自卫战。
Secondly, the ordinary hsieh confined themselves wholly to their code of professional ethics.
第二，普通游侠仅限于信守职业道德的条规。
Mo Tzu, however, elaborated this professional ethics and gave it a rationalistic justification.
而墨子则详细阐述其职业道德并论证其合理性。
Thus though Mo Tzu's background was that of a hsieh, he at the same time became the founder of a new philosophic school.
因此，虽然墨子源于游侠，但同时也是新的哲学学派的创始人。
