this shows the predominance of courtesy. When he lays his forehead to the ground, and then bows (to his visitor), this shows the extreme degree of his sorrow. In the three years' mourning, I follow the extreme (demonstration)[1]."
6. When Confucius had succeeded in burying (his mother) in the same grave (with his father) at Fang, he said, "I have heard that the ancients made graves (only), and raised no mound over them. But I am a man, who will be (travelling) east, west, south, and north. I cannot do without something by which I can remember (the place)." On this, he (resolved to) raise a mound (over the grave) four feet high. He then first returned, leaving the disciples behind. A great rain came on; and when they rejoined him, he asked them what had made them so late. "The earth slipped," they said, "from the grave at Fang." They told him this thrice without his giving them any answer. He then wept freely, and said, "I have heard that the ancients did not need to repair their graves."
7. Confucius was wailing for Зze-lû in his courtyard. When any came to condole with him, he bowed to them. When the wailing was over, he made the messenger come in, and asked him all about (Зze-lû's
death). "They have made him into pickle," said the
- ↑ In the former case the mourner first thought of his visitor; in the latter, of his dead and his own loss. The bow was made with the hands clasped, and held very low, the head being bowed down to them. They were then opened, and placed forward on the ground, on each side of the body, while the head was stretched forward between them, and the forehead made to touch the ground. In the second case the process was reversed.
