It comprises a purportedly autobiographical preface by Master Mou, a late 2nd-century Confucian scholar-official who converted to Buddhism, and an imaginary dialogue of questions and answers about Buddhist practices.
Mouzi compounds the uncommon Chinese surname Mou 牟 "seek; obtain" with the suffix -zi 子 "Master" (compare Laozi).
Lihuolun combines li 理 "manage; put in order; acknowledge"; huo 惑 "confusion; delusion; doubt; suspicion"; and lun 論 "discourse; opinion; dissertation; essay."
After the death of Emperor Ling of Han in 189 CE, scholars, especially specialists of immortality fled the chaotic Yellow Turban Rebellion and moved to the extreme south of the empire, where Mouzi argued with them.
Buddhist tonsure required monks to shave their heads – but Confucian filial piety prohibited Chinese adults from cutting their hair (because it was ultimately a gift from one's parents).
"[11] To Mouzi, Daoism included the philosophical Daodejing and Zhuangzi but excluded Xuanxue "Neo-Daoism" and xian "transcendent; immortal" practices.
In the Postscript ("The Thirty-seven Factors"), the interlocutory critic decides to take Buddhist lay vows because Mouzi's answers had resolved all doubts.
According to the Dutch sinologist Erik Zürcher, "The early history of the text (if it had one) is wholly obscure; the treatise is neither mentioned nor quoted anywhere before the second half of the fifth century.
It was first recorded in the (c. 465) Falun 法論 "Dharma Discourse", Lu Cheng 陸澄's collection of Buddhist literature compiled for the devout Emperor Ming of Liu Song.
Although the Falun is lost, its table of contents is included in Sengyou's (515) Chu sanzang jiji 出三藏記集 "Collection of Records on the Translated Tripitaka".
Sengyou also edited the (517) Hongmingji 弘明集 "Collection Aggrandizing and Clarifying [Buddhism]",[16] which is the earliest source for the transmitted Mouzi text.
[17] Many considered the text authentic and accepted that Mouzi composed it sometime between the final years of the Later Han dynasty (25–220 CE) and the middle of the Three Kingdoms period (220–280).
Maspero dated the Mouzi from around 250 because its story of the Buddha's life (Article 1) was probably copied from that of Zhi Qian's (c. 229) Taizi ruiying benqi jing 太子瑞應本起經 translation.
[19] The Japanese scholar Fukui Kōjun 福井康順 (1898–1991) reexamined these various theories and concluded that the Mouzi lihuolun text was written around the middle of the 3rd century.
The Japanese Buddhologist Tokiwa Daijō 常盤大定 (1929–1945) argued that the text was concocted by the monk Huitong 慧通 (c. 426-c. 478), who is mentioned in Gu Huan 顧歡's Yixia lun 夷夏論 Daoist criticism of Buddhism.
Tokiwa believed that Huitong or another later author created "Mozi" as an imaginary figure with a historical background linking him with some events and personalities known from other sources.
[21] Chan and Lo noted the treatise's ultimate reason for adhering to Buddhism "lies in a deliberate calculation of moral reward, rather than a genuine faith in Buddhist dharma per se.
"[22] Western language translations of the Mouzi lihuolun include French by Paul Pelliot[18] and English by John P. Keenan,[4] who employed reader-response criticism.