Scholars › Philosopher / Thinker
Tian Jiu
Mid-Warring States Mohist who used the parable of buying the casket and returning the pearl to explain Mozi's plain style to the king of Chu.
A thatched pavilion open on three sides stands among tall bamboo; one person sits with their back turned at the veranda rail beside a zither and a stack of bamboo slips, while a stone path runs to a calm pond reflecting clouds and distant hills.
Also known as Master Tian Qiu
Tian Jiu was a Mohist scholar of the mid-Warring States period. The Han shu bibliography lists a three-chapter Tian Qiuzi, now lost, usually taken to be his work. The Lüshi Chunqiu says he waited three years in Qin without an audience with King Hui, gaining one only through the king of Chu's recommendation. In the Han Feizi, when the king of Chu asks why Mozi's words are many but unadorned, Tian Jiu replies with the parables of the man who bought the casket but returned the pearl and of the Qin earl who married off his daughter: Mozi feared readers would admire the style and forget the substance.
Life and times
Dates Dates unknown; active in the mid-Warring States period (c. reign of King Huiwen of Qin, 337–311 BCE)