The Mohist School arrived in Luo State like an army, nearly three hundred people in all, and came charging straight into the Academy.
Luo Huaichen took Mo Di to see Luo Chang, while the remaining Mohists sat in on lectures at the Academy.
To the Academy's students, the Mohists' attire looked very strange. These were not clothes a scholar should wear.
Large numbers of Legalist School Scholars were taking office, but in fact, Confucian scholars were doing the same. Rulers merely refused to accept the Way of the King; Confucian scholars were also proficient in various skills. Master Duanmu, for instance, had been highly accomplished in diplomatic maneuvering and renowned for his incisive words.
The Mohists who had followed Mo Di sat upright in the Academy, ready to hear what the Confucian scholars had to say. Unaware that these Mohists had come specifically for them, the Confucians followed their usual procedures and began explaining their respective understandings of the classics.
The Mohists kept frowning until they could bear it no longer. Yang Sheng spoke out loudly, "Wars now rage constantly among the states under heaven, and the poor do not even have a patch of ground to stand on.
"Yet here you are, making so much of those utterly useless, elaborate formalities.
"When the ancient Sage King Yu the Great tamed the floods, he wore straw sandals and a straw rain cape, and ultimately became the common ruler of all under heaven.
"A person's death is like an oil lamp going out. What use is even the most elaborate funeral?
"Better to leave that wealth to the living.
"Do Confucian scholars believe that extravagant, wasteful people should instead rule all under heaven?
"Then you should seek out rulers like Jie and Zhou, rebuild the pools of wine and forests of