21. Therefore the superior man thinks it necessary to use the utmost care in his practice of ceremonies. They are the bond that holds the multitudes together; and if the bond be removed, those multitudes fall into confusion. Confucius said, "If I fight, I overcome; when I sacrifice, I receive blessing[1]." He said so, because he had the right way (of doing everything).
22. A superior man will say[2], "The object in sacrifices is not to pray; the time of them should not be hastened on; a great apparatus is not required at them; ornamental matters are not to be approved; the victims need not be fat and large; a profusion of the other offerings is not to be admired."
23. Confucius said, "How can it be said that 𝖅ang Wǎn-kung was acquainted with the rules of propriety? When Hsiâ Fû-khî went right in the teeth of sacrificial
order[3], he did not stop him, (nor could he
- ↑ It is understood that the "I" is not used by Confucius of himself, but as personating one who knew the true nature of ceremonial usages. See the language again in the next Book, Sect, i, 22; it is found also in the "Narratives of the School."
- ↑ Khǎn Hâo remarks that the compiler of the Book intends himself by "the superior man." Thus the compiler delivers his own judgment in an indirect way. Most of what he says will be admitted. It is to the general effect that simple offerings and sincere worship are acceptable, more acceptable than rich offerings and a formal service. But is he right in saying that in sacrificing we should not "pray?" So long as men feel their own weakness and needs, they will not fail to pray at their religious services. So it has been in China in all the past as much as elsewhere.
- ↑ Hsiâ Fû-khî was the keeper, or minister in charge, of the ancestral temple of Lû, and contemporary with 𝖅ang Wǎn-kung during the marquisates of Kwang, Wǎn, and Hsî. He introduced at least one great irregularity in the ancestral temple, placing the
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