Rites - Confucian Pages

Analects 3.8

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Original Text:

子夏问曰巧笑倩兮美目盼兮素以为绚兮’何谓也子曰绘事后素曰礼后乎子曰起予者商也始可与言诗已矣

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Zixia asked, “[An ode says,]
‘Her artful smile, with its alluring dimples,
Her beautiful eyes, so clear,
The unadorned upon which to paint.’
What does this mean?”
The Master said, “The application of colors comes only after a suitable unadorned background is present.”
Zixia said, “So it is the rites that come after?”
The Master said, “It is you, Zixia, who has awakened me to the meaning of these lines! It is only with someone like you that I can begin to discuss the Odes.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

Zixia asked, saying,
Her artful smile engaging,
lovely eyes in clear outline,
colors on a white ground,
What do these lines mean?
The Master said, The painting comes after the white background.
Zixia said, So ritual comes afterward?
The Master said, Shang (Zixia) si the one who reads my meaning. At last I have someone to discuss the Odes with.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 3.7

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Original Text:

子曰君子无所争必也射乎揖让而升下而饮其争也君子

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The Master said, “Surely archery can serve as an illustration of the fact that the gentleman does not compete! Before mounting the stairs to the archery hall, gentlemen bow and defer to one another, and after descending from the hall they mutually offer up toasts. This is how a gentleman ‘competes.'”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

The Master said, The gentleman never strives with others. To be sure, there are the archery matches. But even they have their bows and deferences as the contestants go up and come down, and the wine drinking at the end. Such is the “striving” of the gentleman.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 3.4

Leave a Comment / Analects, Analects - Book Three

Original Text:

林放问礼之本子曰大哉问礼与其奢也宁俭丧与其易也宁戚

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Lin Fang asked about the roots of ritual.
The Master exclaimed, “What a noble question! When it comes to ritual, it is better to be pare than extravagant. When it comes to mourning, it is better to be excessively sorrowful than fastidious.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

Lin Fang asked what is basic in ritual. The Master said, A big question indeed! In rites in general, rather than extravagance, better frugality. In funeral rites, rather than thoroughness, better real grief.”
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 3.2

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Original Text:

三家者以雍彻子曰相维辟公天子穆穆奚取于三家之堂

Translation:

Other Translations:

[When making offerings to their ancestors], the Three Families had the yong ode performed during the clearing away of the sacrificial vessels. The Master quoted a line from the ode,
“Assisting were the Feudal Lords,
The Son of Heaven, solemn and stately,”
adding, “What relevance could this possibly have to the ancestral hall of the Three Families?”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

The three Ji families used the Yong ode when sacrifices were being carried away. The Master said,
Assisting are the great lords,
the Son of Heaven in majesty,
How can this be used in the halls of the three Ji families?
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 3.1

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Original Text:

孔子谓季氏八佾舞于庭是可忍也孰不可忍也

Translation:

Other Translations:

Confucius said of the Ji Family, “They have eight rows of dancers performing in their courtyard. If they can condone this, what are they not capable of?”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

Confucius observed of the JI family, They have eight rows of dancers in their courtyard. If this can be excused, what cannot be excused?
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 2.24

Leave a Comment / Analects, Analects - Book Two

Original Text:

子曰非其鬼而祭之谄也见义不为无勇也

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The Master said, “To sacrifice to spirits that are not one’s own is to be presumptuous. To see what is right, but to fail to do it, is to be lacking in courage.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

The Master said, To sacrifice to those who are not one’s ancestors is flattery. To see what is right and not do it is cowardly.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 2.5

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Original Text:

孟懿子问孝子曰无违樊迟御子告之曰孟孙问孝于我我对曰无违樊迟曰何谓也子曰生事之以礼死葬之以礼祭之以礼

Translation:

Other Translations:

Meng Yizi asked about filial piety. The Master replied, “Do not disobey.”
Later, Fan Chi was driving the Master’s chariot. The Master said to him, “Just now Meng Yizi asked me about filial piety, and I answered, ‘Do not disobey.'”
Fan Chi said, “What did you mean by that?”
The Master replied, “When your parents are alive, serve them in accordance with the rites; when they pass away, bury them in accordance with the rites and sacrifice to them in accordance with the rites.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

Meng Yi Zi asked about filial devotion. The Master replied, Never break the rules.
When Fan Chi was driving the carriage, the Master reported this to him, saying, Meng Sun (Meng Yi Zi) asked me about filial devotion. I told him, Never break the rules.
Fan Chi said, What did you mean by that?
The Master said, While they are alive, serve them according to ritual. When they die, bury them according to ritual, and sacrifice to them in accord with ritual.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 2.3

Leave a Comment / Analects, Analects - Book Two

Original Text:

子曰道之以政齐之以刑民免而无耻道之以德齐之以礼有耻且格

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The Master said, “If you try to guide the common people with coercive regulations and keep them in line with punishments, the common people will become evasive and will have no sense of shame. If, however, you guide them with Virtue, and keep them in line by means of ritual, the people will have a sense of shame and will rectify themselves.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

The Master said, Guide them with government orders, regulate them with penalties, and the people will seek to evade the law and be without shame. Guide them with virtue, regulate them with ritual, and they will have a sense of shame and become upright.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.

Analects 1.12

Leave a Comment / Analects, Analects - Book One

Original Text:

有子曰礼之用和为贵先王之道斯为美小大由之有所不行知和而和不以礼节之亦不可行也

Translation:

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Master You said, “When it comes to the practice of ritual, it is harmonious ease that is to be valued. It is precisely such harmony that makes the Way of the Former Kings so beautiful. If you merely stick rigidly to ritual in all matters, great and small, there will remain that which you cannot accomplish. Yet if you know enough to value harmonious ease but try to attain it without being regulated by the rites, this will not work either.”
Confucius, & Slingerland, E. (2003). Analects: With selections from traditional commentaries. Hackett Publishing.

Master You said, What ritual values most is harmony. The Way of the former kings was truly admirable in this respect. But if in matters great and small one proceeds in this manner, the results may not always be satisfactory. You may understand the ideal of harmony and work for it, but if you do not employ ritual to regulate the proceedings, things will not go well.
Confucius, & Watson, B. (2007). The Analects of Confucius. Columbia University Press.