On Rites and Music論禮樂第二十九
太宗初即位，謂侍臣曰：「準《禮》，名，終將諱之。前古帝王，亦不生諱其名，故周文王名昌，《周詩》云：『克昌厥後。』春秋時魯莊公名同，十六年《經》書：『齊侯、宋公同盟於幽。』惟近代諸帝，妄為節制，特令生避其諱，理非通允，宜有改張。」因詔曰：「依《禮》，二名義不偏諱，尼父達聖，非無前指。近世以來，曲為節制，兩字兼避，廢闕已多，率意而行，有違經語。今宜依據禮典，務從簡約，仰效先哲，垂法將來，其官號人名，及公私文籍，有『世』及『民』兩字不連讀，並不須避。」
When Taizong had just come to the throne, he said to the ministers in attendance:
"Measured by the Book of Rites, a name is to be avoided only after a man has ended his days. The emperors and kings of former antiquity also did not have their names avoided while they lived. So the name of King Wen of Zhou was Chang, and the Zhou Odes say, 'He made his posterity to flourish.' In the time of the Spring and Autumn the name of Duke Zhuang of Lu was Tong, and under the sixteenth year the Classic writes, 'The Marquis of Qi and the Duke of Song swore a covenant together at You.' Only the several emperors of recent ages have made rules at their own will, and given special orders that the characters of their names be avoided while they lived. In reason this is not fitting all round, and it ought to be changed and set out afresh."
Thereupon a decree said:
"According to the Rites, where a name is of two characters the meaning is that neither one alone is avoided. Confucius came through to sagehood, and it is not that there was no earlier pointing to this. Since recent ages men have bent the matter and made rules, avoiding both characters together, so that what has been dropped and left out is already much. They act as they please and go against the words of the Classics. Now it is fitting to follow the canons of rites, to strive after what is simple and sparing, to look up to the wise men of old and to hand down a rule for what is to come. In titles of office and in the names of men, and in documents public and private, where the two characters shi and min are not read one after the other, in no case need they be avoided."
貞觀二年，中書舍人高季輔上疏曰：「竊見密王元曉等俱是懿親，陛下友愛之懷，義高古昔，分以車服，委以藩維，須依禮儀，以副瞻望。比見帝子拜諸叔，諸叔亦即答拜，王爵既同，家人有禮，豈合如此顛倒昭穆？伏願一垂訓誡，永循彜則。」太宗乃詔元曉等，不得答吳王恪、魏王泰兄弟拜。
In the second year of Zhenguan Gao Jifu, the secretariat drafter, sent up a memorial:
"I have quietly observed that Yuanxiao, Prince of Mi, and the rest are all kin of the fairest sort. Your Majesty's heart of brotherly love stands higher in rightness than the men of old, and you have shared out carriages and robes to them and entrusted them with the guarding of the marches. They must follow the forms of ritual, so as to match what men look up to. Of late I have seen that when the emperor's sons bow to their several uncles, the uncles at once bow back. The rank of prince is indeed the same in both, and among the people of one house there is ritual; yet how can it be right so to turn the order of the generations upside down? I bow low and wish that you would once hand down an instruction and a warning, so that the constant rule may be followed forever."
Taizong then decreed to Yuanxiao and the rest that they were not to bow back to the brothers Ke, Prince of Wu, and Tai, Prince of Wei.
貞觀四年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「經聞京城士庶居父母喪者，乃有信巫書之言，辰日不哭，以此辭於吊問，拘忌輟哀，敗俗傷風，極乖人理。宜令州縣教導，齊之以禮典。」
In the fourth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"I have heard that among the gentry and the common people of the capital, those in mourning for a father or a mother believe the words of the shamans' books, and do not wail on a chen day, and by this excuse themselves from receiving condolence. They are bound by taboos and break off their grief. It ruins custom and wounds the manners of the age, and goes utterly against the reason of man. Let the prefectures and districts teach and lead them, and make them even by the canons of rites."
貞觀五年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「佛道設教，本行善事，豈遣僧尼道士等妄自尊崇，坐受父母之拜，損害風俗，悖亂禮經，宜即禁斷，仍令致拜於父母。」
In the fifth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"When Buddhism and the Way set forth their teachings, it was at root to do good deeds. How should it let monks and nuns and masters of the Way exalt and honor themselves at their own will, and sit and receive the bows of their fathers and mothers, so damaging and harming custom and throwing the canons of ritual into confusion? Let it be forbidden and cut off at once, and let them bow to their fathers and mothers."
貞觀六年，太宗謂尚書左僕射房玄齡曰：「比有山東崔、盧、李、鄭四姓，雖累葉陵遲，猶恃其舊地，好自矜大，稱為士大夫。每嫁女他族，必廣索聘財，以多為貴，論數定約，同於市賈，甚損風俗，有紊禮經。既輕重失宜，理須改革。」乃詔吏部尚書高士廉、御史大夫韋挺、中書侍郎岑文本、禮部侍郎令狐德棻等，刊正姓氏，普責天下譜牒，兼據憑史傳，剪其浮華，定其真偽，忠賢者褒進，悖逆者貶黜，撰為《氏族志》。士廉等及進定氏族等第，遂以崔幹為第一等。太宗謂曰：「我與山東崔、盧、李、鄭，舊既無嫌，為其世代衰微，全無官宦，猶自云士大夫，婚姻之際，則多索財物，或才識庸下，而偃仰自高，販鬻松槚，依托富貴，我不解人間何為重之？且士大夫有能立功，爵位崇重，善事君父，忠孝可稱，或道義清素，學藝通博，此亦足為門戶，可謂天下士大夫。今崔、盧之屬，惟矜遠葉衣冠，寧比當朝之貴？公卿已下，何暇多輸錢物，兼與他氣勢，向聲背實，以得為榮。我今定氏族者，誠欲崇樹今朝冠冕，何因崔幹猶為第一等，只看卿等不貴我官爵耶？不論數代已前，只取今日官品、人才作等級，宜一量定，用為永則。」遂以崔幹為第三等。至十二年，書成，凡百卷，頒天下。又詔曰：「氏族之美，實系於冠冕，婚姻之道，莫先於仁義。自有魏失御，齊氏雲亡，市朝既遷，風俗陵替，燕、趙古姓，多失衣冠之緒，齊、韓舊族，或乖禮義之風。名不著於州閭，身未免於貧賤，自號高門之胄，不敦匹嫡之儀，問名惟在於竊貲，結褵必歸於富室。乃有新官之輩，豐財之家，慕其祖宗，競結婚姻，多納貨賄，有如販鬻。或自貶家門，受辱於姻婭；或矜其舊望，行無禮於舅姑。積習成俗，迄今未已，既紊人倫，實虧名教。朕夙夜兢惕，憂勤政道，往代蠹害，咸已懲革，唯此弊風，未能盡變。自今以後，明加告示，使識嫁娶之序，務合禮典，稱朕意焉。」
In the sixth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to Fang Xuanling, the left vice director of the Department of State Affairs:
"Of late the four surnames of Shandong, Cui and Lu and Li and Zheng, though they have sunk and fallen away through many generations, still rely on their old ground and love to puff themselves up and call themselves gentlemen and officers. Whenever they marry a daughter to another clan they demand betrothal goods far and wide, holding much to be honorable, arguing over the count and fixing the bargain as the traders of the market do. It greatly damages custom and throws the canons of ritual into disorder. Since light and heavy have lost their proper measure, in reason it must be reformed."
Thereupon he decreed to Gao Shilian, the minister of personnel, Wei Ting, the censor-in-chief, Cen Wenben, the vice director of the secretariat, and Linghu Defen, the vice minister of rites, and the rest, that they should cut and correct the surnames. They gathered in the genealogies of all under heaven, and leaning also upon the histories and the records, they cut away what was floating and showy in them and settled what was true and what was false, raising and praising the loyal and worthy and lowering and casting out the perverse and rebellious, and made of it the Record of Clans.
When Shilian and the rest presented the settled grades of the clans, they had put Cui Gan in the first grade. Taizong said:
"Between me and the Cui and the Lu and the Li and the Zheng of Shandong there has long been nothing to hold against them. Generation after generation they have grown weak and slight, and they have no one at all in office, and yet they still call themselves gentlemen and officers, and when it comes to marriage they demand a great deal of goods. Some of them are mean and low in talent and understanding, and still they lie back and hold themselves high, and they sell off their pines and catalpas and lean upon the rich and the noble. I do not understand why the world holds them heavy.
"Again, among gentlemen and officers there are those who can set up merit, whose rank and place are lofty and weighty, who serve ruler and father well and whose loyalty and filial duty may be spoken of; and there are those whose way and rightness are clear and plain, whose learning and arts are broad and thorough. This too is enough to make a house, and such may be called the gentlemen and officers of all under heaven. Now the tribe of Cui and Lu boast only of the caps and robes of distant generations. How can that be set beside the nobility of the present court? Why should those from the high ministers downward find leisure to send them much money and goods, and give another man his airs besides, turning toward a sound and turning their backs on the substance, and counting it a glory to get it?
"In settling the clans now, what I truly wish is to raise up and establish the officeholders of the present court. For what cause is Cui Gan still in the first grade? Do I only see that you gentlemen do not hold my offices and ranks honorable? Do not discuss the generations that went before; take only the office grade and the talent of today and make the ranking by that. Weigh it and settle it once, and let it be a rule forever."
So they put Cui Gan in the third grade. By the twelfth year the book was finished, a hundred scrolls in all, and it was promulgated throughout all under heaven. Again a decree said:
"The beauty of a clan hangs truly upon office, and in the way of marriage nothing comes before benevolence and rightness. Since the Wei lost their hold and the house of Qi vanished like cloud, market and court have shifted and custom has fallen and decayed. The old surnames of Yan and Zhao have mostly lost the thread of office, and the old clans of Qi and Han have some of them gone against the manner of ritual and rightness. Their names are not known in district or village, and their persons are not free of poverty and low estate, and still they call themselves the seed of a high gate. They do not make weighty the rite of matching equals; the asking of a name lies only in stealing goods, and the tying of the marriage sash goes always to a wealthy house.
"Thereupon the newly appointed sort and the households rich in goods long after such ancestors and vie with each other to tie marriages, bringing in much wealth and bribes, so that it is like trading. Some of them lower their own gate and take insult from their in-laws; some boast of their old renown and behave without ritual toward the husband's father and mother. The habit has piled up into a custom and has not ceased to this day. It throws the bonds of men into disorder and truly makes a breach in name and teaching.
"From dawn to night I am on my guard and in fear, anxious and diligent in the way of government, and of the moths and harms of ages past I have already chastised and reformed them all. Only this ill custom I have not been able to change entirely. From this time onward let it be clearly made known, so that men may know the order of taking wife and giving daughter, and strive to meet the canons of ritual and match my mind in it."
禮部尚書王珪子敬直，尚太宗女南平公主。珪曰：「《禮》有婦見舅姑之儀，自近代風俗弊薄，公主出降，此禮皆廢。主上欽明，動循法制，吾受公主謁見，豈為身榮，所以成國家之美耳。」遂與其妻就位而坐，令公主親執巾，行盥饋之道，禮成而退。太宗聞而稱善。是後公主下降有舅姑者，皆遣備行此禮。
Jingzhi, the son of Wang Gui, the minister of rites, married Taizong's daughter, the Princess of Nanping. Wang Gui said:
"The Book of Rites has the rite of the wife appearing before her husband's father and mother. Since custom in recent ages has fallen and grown thin, when a princess marries out this rite is always done away with. His Majesty above is reverent and enlightened, and in his every movement follows the rules and the institutions. That I receive the princess and her greeting is no glory for my own person. It is only the means of bringing about a fair thing for the state."
So he went to his place with his wife and sat, and had the princess herself take up the cloth and carry through the way of offering the water for washing and the food, and when the rite was done they withdrew. Taizong heard of it and called it good. From that time on, princesses who married out and had a husband's father and mother were all sent to perform this rite in full.
貞觀十二年，太宗謂侍臣曰：「古者諸侯入朝，有湯沐之邑，芻禾百車，待以客禮。晝坐正殿，夜設庭燎，思與相見，問其勞苦。又漢家京成亦為諸郡立邸舍。頃聞考使至京者，皆賃房以坐，與商人雜居，才得容身而已。既待禮之不足，必是人多怨嘆，豈肯竭情於共理哉？」乃令就京城閑坊，為諸州考使各造邸第。及成，太宗親幸觀焉。
In the twelfth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"In antiquity, when the feudal lords came to court, there were towns for their bathing, and fodder and grain by the hundred cartloads, and they were treated with the ritual due to guests. By day the ruler sat in the main hall, by night torches were set in the courtyard, for he longed to see them and to ask after their toil and hardship. The house of Han also set up lodges in the capital for the several commanderies. Lately I hear that the envoys who come to the capital for the assessment of merit all hire rooms to sit in and live mixed among the traders, and barely get room for their bodies. Since they are treated with less ritual than is their due, there must surely be much resentment and sighing among them. How should they be willing to give their hearts wholly to the ordering of the realm with me?"
Thereupon he had lodges built in the quiet wards of the capital, one for the assessment envoys of each prefecture. When they were finished Taizong went himself and looked at them.
貞觀十三年，禮部尚書王珪奏言：「準令，三品以上，遇親王於路，不合下馬，今皆違法申敬，有乖朝典。」太宗曰：「卿輩欲自崇貴，卑我兒子耶？」魏徵對曰：「漢、魏已來，親王班皆次三公下。今三品並天子六尚書九卿，為王下馬，王所不宜當也。求諸故事，則無可憑，行之於今，又乖國憲，理誠不可。」帝曰：「國家立太子者，擬以為君。人之修短，不在老幼。設無太子，則母弟次立。以此而言，安得輕我子耶？」徵又曰：「殷人尚質，有兄終弟及之義。自周已降，立嫡必長，所以絕庶孽之窺窬，塞禍亂之源本。為國家者，所宜深慎。」太宗遂可王珪之奏。
In the thirteenth year of Zhenguan Wang Gui, the minister of rites, reported:
"Measured by the statutes, those of the third rank and above, meeting an imperial prince on the road, are not required to dismount; yet now they all break the law and pay their respects, which goes against the canons of the court."
Taizong said:
"Do you gentlemen wish to make yourselves lofty and honorable and to lower my sons?"
Wei Zheng answered:
"Since the Han and the Wei the rank of an imperial prince has always come below the three dukes. Now those of the third rank are the six ministers and the nine chamberlains of the Son of Heaven, and for them to dismount for a prince is not a thing a prince should properly bear. Seek it in former precedent and there is nothing to lean on; carry it out today and it goes against the law of the state. In reason it is truly not right."
The emperor said:
"When the state sets up an heir apparent, it is meaning to make him the ruler. Whether a man's span is long or short does not lie in his being old or young. Suppose there were no heir apparent; then a younger brother of the same mother stands next in line. Speaking from this, how can my sons be taken lightly?"
Wei Zheng said further:
"The men of Yin honored the plain substance, and had the principle that when an elder brother ended a younger brother succeeded. From the Zhou onward the legitimate son was set up, and always the eldest, and this was the means of cutting off the sidelong hopes of sons of concubines and of stopping up the source and root of disaster and disorder. Those who govern a state should be deeply careful of this."
Taizong thereupon held Wang Gui's report to be right.
貞觀十四年，太宗謂禮官曰：「同爨尚有緦麻之恩，而嫂叔無服，又舅之與姨，親疏相似，而服之有殊，未為得禮，宜集學者詳議。餘有親重而服輕者，亦附奏聞。」是月尚書八座與禮官定議曰：
In the fourteenth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the officers of rites:
"Even those who have eaten from one pot have the kindness of the sima mourning, the mourning of fine hemp, and yet between a brother's wife and her husband's brother there is no mourning at all. Again, a mother's brother and a mother's sister are alike in nearness and distance, and yet there is a difference in the mourning for them. This is not to have got the ritual right. Let the learned be gathered to discuss it in detail. If there are other cases where the kinship is weighty and the mourning light, report those as well."
That month the eight seats of the Department of State Affairs and the officers of rites settled their discussion and reported:
臣竊聞之，禮所以決嫌疑、定猶豫、別同異、明是非者也，非從天下，非從地出，人情而已矣。人道所先，在乎敦睦九族。九族敦睦，由乎親親，以近及遠。親屬有等差，故喪紀有隆殺，隨恩之薄厚，皆稱情以立文。原夫舅之與姨，雖為同氣，推之於母，輕重相懸。何則？舅為母之本宗，姨乃外戚他姓，求之母族，姨不與焉，考之經史，舅誠為重。故周王念齊，是稱舅甥之國；秦伯懷晉，實切《渭陽》之詩。今在舅服止一時之情，為姨居喪五月，徇名喪實，逐末棄本，此古人之情或有未達，所宜損益，實在茲乎。
We have quietly heard that ritual is the means of deciding what is doubtful, of settling what wavers, of parting the same from the different and making clear the right from the wrong. It does not come down from heaven, it does not come up out of the earth. It is the feeling of men, and nothing more.
What comes first in the way of man lies in making the nine degrees of kin close and harmonious. That the nine degrees are close and harmonious comes of treating kin as kin, reaching from the near to the far. Kinship has its grades and differences, and so the observances of mourning have their raising and their lowering. Following the thinness or thickness of the kindness, in every case the writing is set up to match the feeling.
Now a mother's brother and a mother's sister, though they are of the same breath, are far apart in light and heavy when traced back to the mother. Why is this? The mother's brother belongs to the mother's own line, while the mother's sister is an outside relative of another surname. Seek within the mother's clan and the mother's sister is not there; examine it in the Classics and the histories and the mother's brother is truly the weightier. So when the king of Zhou thought of Qi, he called them states of a mother's brother and a sister's son; and when the Earl of Qin longed for Jin, the ode Weiyang was truly urgent upon him.
Now the mourning for a mother's brother stops at the feeling of a single season, while for a mother's sister men keep mourning for five months. This is to follow the name and lose the substance, to chase the branch and throw away the root. Here is something the feeling of the men of old may not have reached, and what should be taken away and added lies truly in this.
《禮記》曰：「兄弟之子猶子也，蓋引而進之也。嫂叔之無服，蓋推而遠之也。」禮，繼父同居則為之期，未嘗同居則不為服。從母之夫，舅之妻，二人相為服。或曰「同爨緦麻」。然則繼父且非骨肉，服重由乎同爨，恩輕在乎異居。固知制服雖系於名文，蓋亦緣恩之厚薄者也。或有長年之嫂，遇孩童之叔，劬勞鞠養，情若所生，分饑共寒，契闊偕老，譬同居之繼父，方他人之同爨，情義之深淺，寧可同日而言哉？在其生也，乃愛同骨肉，於其死也，則推而遠之，求之本源，深所未喻。若推而遠之為是，則不可生而共居；生而共居為是，則不可死同行路。重其生而輕其死，厚其始而薄其終，稱情立文，其義安在？且事嫂見稱，載籍非一。鄭仲虞則恩禮甚篤，顏弘都則竭誠致感，馬援則見之必冠，孔伋則哭之為位，此蓋並躬踐教義，仁深孝友，察其所行之旨，豈非先覺者歟？但於時上無哲王，禮非下之所議，遂使深情郁於千載，至理藏於萬古，其來久矣，豈不惜哉！
The Book of Rites says, "A brother's son is like one's own son, and this is to draw him in and bring him near; that there is no mourning between a brother's wife and her husband's brother is to push him away and set him at a distance."
By the ritual, if a stepfather lives in the same house one wears the mourning of a year for him, and if he has never lived in the same house one wears no mourning. The husband of a mother's sister and the wife of a mother's brother wear mourning for each other. Some say, "For those who eat from one pot, the sima mourning." That being so, a stepfather is moreover not of one's own flesh and bone, and the mourning is weighty because of the one pot, and the kindness is light because of living apart. From this we truly know that, though the fixing of mourning hangs upon name and written rule, it follows also the thickness or thinness of the kindness.
There are cases where a brother's wife of many years meets a husband's brother who is still a child, and toils and rears him until the feeling is as for one she bore herself, sharing hunger and cold with him, parting and meeting and growing old together. Set this beside the stepfather who lives in the same house, or beside strangers who eat from one pot: how can the depth or shallowness of feeling and rightness be spoken of in the same day? While she lives she is loved as flesh and bone; when she dies she is pushed away and set at a distance. Seek the root and source of it, and it is something we deeply fail to understand.
If pushing away and setting at a distance is right, then they cannot live together while alive; if living together while alive is right, then they cannot be as men who pass on the road when dead. To make her life weighty and her death light, to make her beginning thick and her end thin: where then is the meaning of setting up the writing to match the feeling?
Moreover those praised for serving a brother's wife are more than one in the records. The kindness and ritual of Zheng Zhongyu were most generous. Yan Hongdu gave his whole sincerity and moved men to feeling. Ma Yuan always put on his cap when he saw her. Kong Ji set out a place to wail for her. All these trod the teaching and the rightness in their own persons, being deep in benevolence and utmost in filial duty and brotherly love. Look at the intent of what they did, and were they not men who woke to it first? Only, in their time there was no wise king above, and ritual was not a thing for those below to discuss. So deep feeling was shut up for a thousand years and the utmost principle was buried for ten thousand ages. It has been so a long while. Is it not a pity?
今陛下以為尊卑之敘，雖煥乎已備，喪紀之制，或情理未安，爰命秩宗，詳議損益。臣等奉遵明旨，觸類傍求，采摭群經，討論傳記，或抑或引，兼名兼實，損其有餘，益其不足，使無文之禮咸秩，敦睦之情畢舉，變薄俗於既往，垂篤義於將來，信六籍所不能談，超百王而獨得者也。
Now Your Majesty holds that, though the order of high and low is already brightly complete, the institutions of mourning are in some points not at ease in feeling and reason, and so you have commanded those who have charge of rites to discuss in detail what should be taken away and added. We have received and followed your enlightened purpose, reaching out by category and seeking on every side, culling from the many Classics and weighing the commentaries and the records. Holding back here and drawing in there, taking in both the name and the substance, we have taken away where there was too much and added where there was too little, so that the rites that had no written rule are all set in order and the feeling of close harmony is wholly brought forth. It changes the thin customs of the past and hands down generous rightness to the time to come. Truly it is what the six Classics could not speak of, something gained alone above a hundred kings.
謹按曾祖父母，舊服齊衰三月，請加為齊衰五月；嫡子婦，舊服大功，請加為期；眾子婦，舊服小功，今請與兄弟子婦同為大功九月；嫂叔，舊無服，今請服小功五月。其弟妻及夫兄亦小功五月。舅，舊服緦麻，請加與從母同服小功五月。
We have examined the matter with care. For a great-grandfather and great-grandmother the old mourning was zicui of three months; we ask that it be raised to zicui of five months. For the wife of the eldest son the old mourning was dagong; we ask that it be raised to a year. For the wives of the other sons the old mourning was xiaogong; we now ask that it be dagong of nine months, the same as for the wife of a brother's son. Between a brother's wife and her husband's brother there was formerly no mourning; we now ask for xiaogong of five months. For a younger brother's wife and a husband's elder brother likewise xiaogong of five months. For a mother's brother the old mourning was sima; we ask that it be raised to xiaogong of five months, the same as for a mother's sister.
詔從其議。此並魏徵之詞也。
A decree followed their discussion. All this is the wording of Wei Zheng.
貞觀十七年十二月癸丑，太宗謂侍臣曰：「今日是朕生日。俗間以生日可為喜樂，在朕情，翻成感思。君臨天下，富有四海，而追求侍養，永不可得。仲由懷負米之恨，良有以也。況《詩》云：『哀哀父母，生我劬勞。』奈何以劬勞之辰，遂為宴樂之事！甚是乖於禮度。」因而泣下久之。
On the guichou day of the twelfth month of the seventeenth year of Zhenguan Taizong said to the ministers in attendance:
"Today is my birthday. Among the common sort a birthday is held to be a thing for joy and pleasure, but in my feeling it turns into longing instead. I face all under heaven as its ruler and hold the four seas in abundance, and yet, seek as I may to wait upon my parents and nourish them, I can never have it. That Zhong You carried the grief of bearing rice had good cause indeed. And the Odes say, 'Alas for my father and mother, who bore me with toil.' How should I take the day of their toil and make of it an affair of feasting and pleasure? It goes utterly against the measure of ritual."
And with that his tears fell for a long while.
太常少卿祖孝孫奏所定新樂。太宗曰：「禮樂之作，是聖人緣物設教，以為撙節，治政善惡，豈此之由？」御史大夫杜淹對曰：「前代興亡，實由於樂。陳將亡也為《玉樹後庭花》，齊將亡也而為《伴侶曲》，行路聞之，莫不悲泣，所謂亡國之音。以是觀之，實由於樂。」太宗曰：「不然，夫音聲豈能感人？歡者聞之則悅，哀者聽之則悲。悲悅在於人心，非由樂也。將亡之政，其人心苦，然苦心相感，故聞之則悲耳。何樂聲哀怨，能使悅者悲乎？今《玉樹》、《伴侶》之曲，其聲具存，朕能為公奏之，知公必不悲耳。」尚書右丞魏徵進曰：「古人稱：禮云，禮云，玉帛云乎哉！樂云，樂云，鐘鼓云乎哉！樂在人和，不由音調。」太宗然之。
Zu Xiaosun, the vice minister of sacrifices, reported on the new music he had settled. Taizong said:
"The making of ritual and music was the sage's setting up of teaching after the pattern of things, so as to make a measure for men. How should the good or the bad of governing come from this?"
Du Yan, the censor-in-chief, answered:
"The rise and fall of former ages came truly from music. When Chen was about to perish it made the Yushu houting hua, and when Qi was about to perish it made the Banlü qu, and those who heard them on the road all wept for sorrow. These are what are called the sounds of a perishing state. Looking at it in this way, it comes truly from music."
Taizong said:
"Not so. How can sound and tone move a man? He who is glad hears it and is pleased; he who is sad listens to it and grieves. The sorrow and the pleasure lie in the heart of the man; they do not come from the music. Under a government about to perish the hearts of men are bitter, and because bitter hearts answer one another, they hear it and grieve, that is all. How can the sound of music be sad and full of resentment and make a glad man grieve? The tunes of the Yushu and the Banlü survive in full today, and I could have them played for you, and I know that you would surely not grieve."
Wei Zheng, the right assistant director of the Department of State Affairs, came forward and said:
"The men of old said, 'Ritual, they say, ritual. Is it jade and silk that is meant? Music, they say, music. Is it bells and drums that is meant?' Music lies in the harmony of men, not in the pitch of the tones."
Taizong held it to be so.
貞觀七年，太常卿蕭瑀奏言：「今《破陳樂舞》，天下之所共傳，然美盛德之形容，尚有所未盡。前後之所破劉武周、薛舉、竇建德、王世充等，臣願圖其形狀，以寫戰勝攻取之容。」太宗曰：「朕當四方未定，因為天下救焚拯溺，故不獲已，乃行戰伐之事，所以人間遂有此舞，國家因茲亦制其曲。然雅樂之容，止得陳其梗概，若委曲寫之，則其狀易識。朕以見在將相，多有曾經受彼驅使者，既經為一日君臣，今若重見其被擒獲之勢，必當有所不忍，我為此等，所以不為也。」蕭瑀謝曰：「此事非臣思慮所及。」
In the seventh year of Zhenguan Xiao Yu, the minister of sacrifices, reported:
"The Pozhen music and dance is now handed on by all under heaven, and yet in giving beautiful shape to your abounding virtue there is still something it has not exhausted. Liu Wuzhou and Xue Ju and Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong and the rest, whom you broke one after another, I would wish to draw in their very figures, so as to set forth the look of winning the battle and taking what you attacked."
Taizong said:
"I met a time when the four quarters were not yet settled, and for the sake of all under heaven I had to save men from the burning and pull them out of the drowning. So I could not help myself, and carried through the business of war and attack. That is how this dance came to be among the people, and the state on that account made the tune for it as well. But the look of the elegant music can only set out the broad outline. If it were drawn out in all its turns, the figures in it would be easy to know. As I see it, among the generals and ministers now living there are many who were once driven and used by those men. Having once been ruler and subject even for a day, if they were now to see again the posture of their being taken captive, there would surely be something they could not bear. It is for the sake of these men that I do not do it."
Xiao Yu gave thanks and said:
"This is a thing my thought and reckoning could not reach."