Mo Tzu
Mo Tzu
(Mo Ti, between 500 and 396 B.C.) Founder of Mohism (Mo chia), studied Confucianism, later repudiated it, especially its doctrines of Fate and elaborate rituals. As a high officer in the state of Sung (in present Honan, most probably his native state) he “skillfully carried out military defense and practiced economy.” He vigorously defended religious beliefs and practices, became the chief promoter, if not the only founder, of religion in ancient China. His pupils became an organized religious group, or possibly a society of people who had been punished with branding and had become slaves, which is what the word mo in one sense meant. Mo Tzu (Eng. tr. by Y. P. MeiThe Ethical and Political Works of Motse) contains his teachings recorded by his followers. — W.T.C.