Kabanata Kabanata 3 · _Abuse of Proprieties in Ceremonial and Music_

Alluding to the head of the Ki family,[4] and the eight lines of

posturers[5] before their ancestral hall, Confucius remarked, "If the

Ki can allow himself to go to this extent, to what extent will he not

allow himself to go?"

The Three Families[6] were in the habit, during the Removal of the

sacred vessels after sacrifice, of using the hymn commencing

"Harmoniously the Princes

Draw near with reverent tread,

Assisting in his worship

Heaven's Son, the great and dread."

"How," exclaimed the Master, "can such words be appropriated in the

ancestral hall of the Three Families?"

"Where a man," said he again, "has not the proper feelings due from one

man to another, how will he stand as regards the Rules of Propriety? And

in such a case, what shall we say of his sense of harmony?"

On a question being put to him by Lin Fang, a disciple, as to what was

the radical idea upon which the Rules of Propriety were based, the

Master exclaimed, "Ah! that is a large question. As to some rules,

where there is likelihood of extravagance, they would rather demand

economy; in those which relate to mourning, and where there is

likelihood of being easily satisfied, what is wanted is real sorrow."

Speaking of the disorder of the times he remarked that while the

barbarians on the North and East had their Chieftains, we here in this

great country had nothing to compare with them in that respect:--we

had lost these distinctions!

Alluding to the matter of the Chief of the Ki family worshipping on

T[']ai-shan,[7] the Master said to Yen Yu, "Cannot you save him from

this?" He replied, "It is beyond my power." "Alas, alas!" exclaimed

the Master, "are we to say that the spirits of T[']ai-shan have not as

much discernment as Lin Fang?"

Of "the superior man," the Master observed, "In him there is no

contentiousness. Say even that he does certainly contend with others,

as in archery competitions; yet mark, in that case, how courteously he

will bow and go up for the forfeit-cup, and come down again and give

it to his competitor. In his very contest he is still the superior man."

Tsz-hia once inquired what inference might be drawn from the lines--

"Dimples playing in witching smile,

Beautiful eyes, so dark, so bright!

Oh, and her face may be thought the while

Colored by art, red rose on white!"

"Coloring," replied the Master, "requires a pure and clear

background." "Then," said the other, "rules of ceremony require to

have a background!" "Ah!" exclaimed the Master, "you are the man to

catch the drift of my thought. Such as you may well introduce a

discussion on the Odes."

Said the Master, "As regards the ceremonial adopted and enforced by

the Hia dynasty, I am able to describe it, although their own

descendants in the State of Ki can adduce no adequate testimony in

favor of its use there. So, too, I am able to describe the ceremonial

of the Yin dynasty, although no more can the Sung people show

sufficient reason for its continuance amongst themselves. And why

cannot they do so? Because they have not documents enough, nor men

learned enough. If only they had such, I could refer them to them in

support of their usages.

"When I am present at the great quinquennial sacrifice to the _manes_

of the royal ancestors," the Master said, "from the pouring-out of the

oblation onwards, I have no heart to look on."

Some one asked what was the purport of this great sacrifice, and the

Master replied, "I cannot tell. The position in the empire of him who

could tell you is as evident as when you look at this"--pointing to

the palm of his hand.

When he offered sacrifices to his ancestors, he used to act as if they

were present before him. In offering to other spirits it was the same.

He would say, "If I do not myself take part in my offerings, it is all

the same as if I did not offer them."

Wang-sun Kia asked him once, "What says the proverb, 'Better to court

favor in the kitchen than in the drawing-room'?" The Master replied,

"Nay, better say, He who has sinned against Heaven has none other to

whom prayer may be addressed."

Of the Chow dynasty the Master remarked, "It looks back upon two other

dynasties; and what a rich possession it has in its records of those

times! I follow Chow!"

On his first entry into the grand temple, he inquired about every

matter connected with its usages. Some one thereupon remarked, "Who

says that the son of the man of Tsou[8] understands about ceremonial?

On entering the grand temple he inquired about everything." This

remark coming to the Master's ears, he said, "What I did is part of

the ceremonial!"

"In archery," he said, "the great point to be observed is not simply

the perforation of the leather; for men have not all the same

strength. That was the fashion in the olden days."

Once, seeing that his disciple Tsz-kung was desirous that the

ceremonial observance of offering a sheep at the new moon might be

dispensed with, the Master said, "Ah! you grudge the loss of the

sheep; I grudge the loss of the ceremony."

"To serve one's ruler nowadays," he remarked, "fully complying with

the Rules of Propriety, is regarded by others as toadyism!"

When Duke Ting questioned him as to how a prince should deal with his

ministers, and how they in turn should serve their prince, Confucius

said in reply, "In dealing with his ministers a prince should observe

the proprieties; in serving his prince a minister should observe the

duty of loyalty."

Referring to the First of the Odes, he remarked that it was mirthful

without being lewd, and sad also without being painful.

Duke Ngai asked the disciple Tsai Wo respecting the places for

sacrificing to the Earth. The latter replied, "The Family of the Great

Yu, of the Hia dynasty, chose a place of pine trees; the Yin founders

chose cypresses; and the Chow founders chestnut trees, solemn and

majestic, to inspire, 'tis said, the people with feelings of awe."

The Master on hearing of this exclaimed, "Never an allusion to things

that have been enacted in the past! Never a remonstrance against what

is now going on! He has gone away without a word of censure."

The Master once said of Kwan Chung,[9] "A small-minded man indeed!"

"Was he miserly?" some one asked.

"Miserly, indeed!" said he; "not that: he married three times, and he

was not a man who restricted his official business to too few

hands--how could he be miserly?"

"He knew the Rules of Propriety, I suppose?"

"Judge:--Seeing that the feudal lords planted a screen at their gates,

he too would have one at his! Seeing that when any two of the feudal

lords met in friendly conclave they had an earthenware stand on which

to place their inverted cups after drinking, he must have the same! If

he knew the Rules of Propriety, who is there that does not know them?"

In a discourse to the Chief Preceptor of Music at the court of Lu, the

Master said, "Music is an intelligible thing. When you begin a

performance, let all the various instruments produce as it were one

sound (inharmonious); then, as you go on, bring out the harmony fully,

distinctly, and with uninterrupted flow, unto the end."

The warden of the border-town of I requested an interview with

Confucius, and said, "When great men have come here, I have never yet

failed to obtain a sight of them." The followers introduced him; and,

on leaving, he said to them, "Sirs, why grieve at his loss of office?

The empire has for long been without good government; and Heaven is

about to use your master as its edict-announcer."

Comparing the music of the emperor Shun with the music of King Wu,

the Master said, "That of Shun is beautiful throughout, and also good

throughout. That of Wu is all of it beautiful, but scarcely all of it

good."

"High station," said the Master, "occupied by men who have no large

and generous heart; ceremonial performed with no reverence; duties of

mourning engaging the attention, where there is absence of

sorrow;--how should I look on, where this is the state of things?"

[Footnote 4: The Chief of the Ki clan was virtually the Duke of Lu,

under whom Confucius for a time held office.]

[Footnote 5: These posturers were mutes who took part in the ritual of

the ancestral temple, waving plumes, flags, etc. Each line or rank of

these contained eight men. Only in the sovereign's household should

there have been eight lines of them; a ducal family like the Ki should

have had but six lines; a great official had four, and one of lower

grade two. These were the gradations marking the status of families,

and Confucius's sense of propriety was offended at the Ki's usurping

in this way the appearance of royalty.]

[Footnote 6: Three great families related to each other, in whose

hands the government of the State of Lu then was, and of which the Ki

was the chief.]

[Footnote 7: One of the five sacred mountains, worshipped upon only by

the sovereign.]

[Footnote 8: Tsou was Confucius's birthplace; his father was governor

of the town.]

[Footnote 9: A renowned statesman who flourished about two hundred

years before Confucius's time. A philosophical work on law and

government, said to have been written by him, is still extant. He was

regarded as a sage by the people, but he lacked, in Confucius's eyes,

the one thing needful--propriety.]

BOOK 4.