Siyi — What Sacrifice Means祀義篇
世信祭祀，以為祭祀者必有福，不祭祀者必有禍。是以病作卜祟，祟得修祀，祀畢意解，意解病已；執意以為祭祀之助，勉奉不絕。謂死人有知，鬼神飲食，猶相賓客，賓客悅喜，報主人恩矣。其修祭祀，是也；信其（事）〔享〕之，非也。實者，祭祀之意，主人自盡恩勤而已，鬼神未必欲享之也。何以明之？今所祭者報功，則緣生人為恩義耳，何歆享之有？今所祭死人，死人無知，不能飲食。何以審其不能歆享飲食也？夫天者體也，與地同。天有列宿，地有宅舍。宅舍附地之體，列宿著天之形。形體具則有口，乃能食。使天地有口能食，祭食宜食盡；如無口，則無體，無體則氣也，若雲霧耳，亦無能食。
The world believes in sacrifice and holds that one who sacrifices surely has blessing and one who does not sacrifice surely has calamity. So when sickness comes they divine for the curse, and when the curse is found they keep up the sacrifice; when the sacrifice is over the mind is loosed, and when the mind is loosed the sickness ends. They fix on this thought and take it for the help of the sacrifice, and they serve it with effort and never break off. They say that the dead have knowledge and that ghosts and spirits drink and eat, as living men receive one another as guests, and that when the guest is pleased and glad he repays the kindness of the host. Their keeping up of the sacrifice is right; their believing that the dead partake of it is wrong. In truth the meaning of sacrifice is only that the host exhausts his own kindness and care, and ghosts and spirits do not necessarily wish to partake of it. How is this made clear? If what is sacrificed to now is a repayment of merit, then the kindness and right of it follow from the living, and where is any partaking? The dead men sacrificed to now have no knowledge and cannot drink or eat. How is it looked into that they cannot partake of the drink and food? Now Heaven is a body, the same as earth. Heaven has its ranged constellations, and earth has its houses. The houses cling to the body of earth, and the constellations are fixed on the form of Heaven. Where the body is complete there is a mouth, and then there can be eating. If Heaven and earth had mouths and could eat, the food of the sacrifice ought to be eaten up. If they have no mouths they have no bodies, and having no bodies they are breath, like cloud and mist, and again they cannot eat.
如天地之精神，若人之有精神矣。以人之精神，何宜飲食？中人之體七八尺，身大四五圍，食斗食，斗羹，乃能飽足，多者三四斗。天地之廣大，以萬里數。圜丘之上，一繭栗牛，粢飴大羹不過數斛。以此食天地，天地安能飽？天地用心，猶人用意也。人食不飽足，則怨主人，不報以德矣。必謂天地審能飽食，則夫古之效者負天地。山，猶人之有骨節也；水，猶人之有血脈也。故人食腸滿，則骨節與血脈因以盛矣。今祭天地，則山川隨天地而飽。今別祭山川，以為異神，是人食已，更食骨節與血脈也。
The spirit of Heaven and earth is like a man having a spirit. With a man's spirit, how should there be drinking and eating? A middling man's body is seven or eight feet, and his girth four or five arm spans; he must eat a peck of food and a peck of broth to be full, and the great eaters three or four pecks. The breadth of Heaven and earth is reckoned in ten thousand li. On the Round Mound there is one ox the size of a cocoon or a chestnut, and the millet, the syrup and the great broth do not pass a few bushels. Feed Heaven and earth with this, and how can Heaven and earth be full? Heaven and earth use their minds as men use their thoughts. When a man eats and is not full he resents the host and does not repay him with kindness. If it is insisted that Heaven and earth can truly eat their fill, then the men of old who followed this practice have failed Heaven and earth. Mountains are like a man having bones and joints; waters are like a man having blood and veins. So when a man eats and his belly is full, his bones and joints and his blood and veins flourish by it. Now when Heaven and earth are sacrificed to, the mountains and rivers are filled along with Heaven and earth. To sacrifice to mountains and rivers apart, holding them to be other spirits, is to feed the bones and joints and the blood and veins again after the man has finished eating.
社稷報生谷物之功。萬民生於天地，猶毫毛生於體也。祭天地，則社稷設其中矣；人君重之，故復別祭。必以為有神，是人之膚肉當復食也。五祀初本在地。門戶用木與土，土木生於地，井灶（室）中溜皆屬於地。祭地，五祀設其中矣；人君重之，故復別祭。必以為有神，是〔人〕食己，當復食形體也。
The altars of the land and the grain repay the merit of giving birth to grain and things. The myriad people are born of Heaven and earth as fine hairs grow from the body. When Heaven and earth are sacrificed to, the altars of the land and the grain are set within that. The ruler holds them weighty, and so he sacrifices apart again. If it is insisted that they have spirits, this is feeding a man's skin and flesh over again. The five sacrifices were at the first in the earth. Gate and door use wood and earth, and earth and wood are born of the ground, and the well, the hearth and the rain drip in the middle of the room all belong to the ground. When the earth is sacrificed to, the five sacrifices are set within that. The ruler holds them weighty, and so he sacrifices apart again. If it is insisted that they have spirits, this is feeding a man himself and then feeding his body over again.
風伯、雨師、雷公，是群神也。風猶人之有吹煦也，雨猶人之有精液也，雷猶人之有腹鳴也，三者附於天地，祭天地，三者在矣；人君重之，故別祭。必以為有神，則人吹煦、精液、腹鳴當復食也。日月猶人之有目，星辰猶人之有髪，三光附天，祭天，三光在矣；人君重之，故復別祭。必以為有神，則人之食已，復食目與髪也。
The Earl of Wind, the Master of Rain and the Duke of Thunder are the host of spirits. Wind is like a man having his blowing and breathing, rain is like a man having his fluids, thunder is like a man having the rumbling of his belly. The three cling to Heaven and earth, and when Heaven and earth are sacrificed to the three are there. The ruler holds them weighty, and so he sacrifices apart. If it is insisted that they have spirits, this is feeding a man's blowing and breathing, his fluids and the rumbling of his belly over again. Sun and moon are like a man having eyes, and the stars are like a man having hair. The three lights cling to Heaven, and when Heaven is sacrificed to the three lights are there. The ruler holds them weighty, and so he sacrifices apart again. If it is insisted that they have spirits, this is feeding the eyes and the hair again after the man has finished eating.
宗廟，己之先也。生存之時，謹敬供養，死不敢不信，故修祭祀，緣先事死，示不忘先。五帝、三王，郊宗黃帝、帝嚳之屬，報功堅力，不敢忘德，未必有鬼神審能歆享之也。
The ancestral temple holds one's own forebears. While they lived, men served them with care and reverence, and when they die men dare not fail to be true to them; so they keep up the sacrifice, and through their forebears they serve the dead, showing that they do not forget them. That the Five Emperors and the Three Kings sacrificed at the suburban altar and honored in the temple the Yellow Emperor, Emperor Ku and their like was repaying merit and making their strength firm and not daring to forget their virtue. It was not that ghosts and spirits could truly look on and partake of it.
夫不能歆享，則不能神；不能神，則不能為福，亦不能為禍。禍福之起，由於喜怒，喜怒之發，由於腹腸。有腹腸者輒能飲食，不能飲食則無腹腸，無腹腸則無用喜怒，無用喜怒則無用為禍福矣。
Now if they cannot partake they cannot be divine, and if they cannot be divine they cannot make blessing, and they cannot make calamity either. The rise of calamity and blessing comes from gladness and anger, and the issuing of gladness and anger comes from the belly and the bowels. What has belly and bowels can at once drink and eat. What cannot drink and eat has no belly and bowels; and having no belly and bowels, gladness and anger are of no use; and gladness and anger being of no use, the making of calamity and blessing is of no use.
或曰：「歆氣，不能食也。」
Some say, "They partake of the breath and cannot eat."
夫歆之與飲食，一實也。用口食之，用口歆之。無腹腸則無口，無口無用食，則亦無用歆矣。何以驗其不能歆也？以人祭祀有過，不能即時犯也。夫歆不用口則用鼻矣。口鼻能歆之，則目能見之，目能見之，則手能擊之。今手不能擊，則知口鼻不能歆之也。
Now partaking and drinking and eating are one thing in truth. With the mouth one eats it, and with the mouth one partakes of it. Having no belly and bowels one has no mouth, and having no mouth, so that eating is of no use, partaking is of no use either. How is it proved that they cannot partake? It is proved by this, that when men have a fault in their sacrifice the spirits cannot fall upon them at once. Now if partaking does not use the mouth, it uses the nose. If mouth and nose can partake, then the eyes can see; and if the eyes can see, then the hand can strike. Now the hand cannot strike, and so we know that mouth and nose cannot partake.
或難曰：「宋公鮑之身有疾。祝曰夜姑掌，將事於歷者，歷鬼杖楫而與之言曰：『何而粢盛之不膏也？何而犧之不肥碩也？何而桂璧之不中度量也？而罪歟？其鮑之罪歟？』夜姑順色而對曰：『鮑身尚幼，在襁褓，不預知焉。審是掌之〔罪也〕。』歷鬼舉楫而掊之，斃於壇下。」此非能言用手之驗乎？
Someone objects, "Bao, Duke of Song, had a sickness in his body. The invocator Yegu had charge of it and was about to perform the service for the vengeful ghost, and the vengeful ghost propped himself on an oar and spoke with him and said, 'Why is your grain offering not rich? Why is your victim not fat and large? Why do your jade tokens not meet the measure? Is it your crime, or is it the crime of Bao?' Yegu made his face mild and answered, 'Bao is still young in body and lies in swaddling clothes, and he does not know of it beforehand. Looked into truly, this is the crime of the one in charge.' The vengeful ghost raised his oar and struck him, and he died below the altar." Is this not proof that a ghost can speak and use its hand?
曰：夫夜姑之死，未必歷鬼擊之也，時命當死也。妖象歷鬼，象鬼之形，則象鬼之言，象鬼之言，則象鬼而擊矣。何以明之？夫鬼者神也，身則先知。先知則宜自見粢盛之不膏，圭璧之失度，犧牲之㮡小，則因以責讓夜姑以楫擊之而已，無為先問。先問，不知之效也；不知，不神之驗也。不知不神，則不能見體出言以楫擊人也。夜姑，義臣也，引罪自予己，故鬼擊之。如無義而歸之鮑身，則厲鬼將復以楫掊鮑之神矣。且祭祀不備，神怒見體以殺掌。祀如禮備神喜，肯見體以食賜主祭乎？人有喜怒，鬼亦有喜怒。人不為怒者身存，不為喜者身亡。厲鬼之怒，見體而罰。宋國之祀，必時中禮，夫神何不見體以賞之乎？夫怒喜不與人同，則其賞罰不與人等。賞罰不與人等，則其掊夜姑不可信也。
The answer. Now the death of Yegu was not necessarily the vengeful ghost striking him; his time and his destiny were due to end. A portent copied the vengeful ghost, and copying the ghost's form it copied the ghost's words, and copying the ghost's words it copied the ghost and struck. How is this made clear? Now a ghost is divine, and its body therefore knows beforehand. Knowing beforehand, it should have seen for itself that the grain offering was not rich, that the jade tokens had lost the measure and that the victim was small, and on that ground it should have blamed Yegu and struck him with the oar, with no need to ask first. Asking first is the outcome of not knowing, and not knowing is proof of not being divine. Not knowing and not divine, it could not show a body and put out words and strike a man with an oar. Yegu was a righteous servant who drew the crime onto himself, and that is why the ghost struck him. Had he been without right and laid it on the person of Bao, the vengeful ghost would have gone on to strike the spirit of Bao with the oar. Again, because the sacrifice was not complete the spirit was angry and showed its body and killed the man in charge. If a sacrifice were complete as the rite requires and the spirit were glad, would it be willing to show its body and grant food to the master of the sacrifice? Men have gladness and anger, and ghosts have gladness and anger too. The man who is not the object of anger keeps his body, and the man who is not the object of gladness loses his body. The anger of the vengeful ghost showed a body and punished. The sacrifices of the state of Song must at times have met the rite, so why did the spirit never show a body and reward them? Now if their anger and gladness are not the same as men's, then their reward and punishment are not the same as men's. And if their reward and punishment are not the same as men's, then the striking of Yegu cannot be believed.
且夫歆者內氣也，言者出氣也。能歆則能言，猶能吸則能呼矣。如鬼神能歆，則宜言於祭祀之上。今不能言，知不能歆，一也。凡能歆者，口鼻通也。使鼻鼽不通，口鉗不開，則不能歆矣。人之死也，口鼻腐朽，安能復歆？二也。《禮》曰：「人死也斯惡之矣。」
And partaking is taking breath in, while speaking is putting breath out. What can partake can speak, as what can breathe in can breathe out. If ghosts and spirits could partake, they ought to speak above the sacrifice. Now they cannot speak, and by this we know they cannot partake. That is the first point. All that can partake have mouth and nose open. If the nose were stopped and would not pass and the mouth clamped and would not open, there could be no partaking. When a man dies his mouth and nose rot away, so how can he partake again? That is the second. The Book of Rites says, "When a man dies, he is then held in loathing."
與人異類，故惡之也。為尸不動，朽敗滅亡，其身不與人同，則知不與生人通矣。身不同，知不通，其飲食不與人鈞矣。胡、越異類，飲食殊味。死之與生，非直胡之與越也。由此言之，死人不歆，三也。當人之臥也，置食物其旁，不能知也。覺乃知之，知乃能食之。夫死，長臥不覺者也，安能知食？不能歆之，四也。
He is of another kind from men, and therefore he is loathed. He becomes a corpse and does not move, and rots and perishes; and since his body is not the same as a man's, we know that his knowing does not pass through to the living. If the body is not the same and the knowing does not pass through, then his drinking and eating are not level with a man's. Hu and Yue are of different kinds, and their drink and food differ in taste. Death set against life is not merely Hu set against Yue. Speaking from this, that the dead do not partake is the third. When a man is lying asleep, food set at his side cannot be known to him. Only when he wakes does he know it, and only when he knows it can he eat it. Now death is a long lying down without waking, so how can food be known? That they cannot partake is the fourth.
或難曰：「祭則鬼享之，何謂也？」曰：言其修具謹潔，粢牲肥香，人臨見之，意飲食之。推己意以況鬼神，鬼神有知，必享此祭，故曰鬼享之（祀）。
Someone objects, "When men sacrifice, the ghosts partake of it. What does that mean?" The answer. It speaks of the preparing being careful and clean and the grain and the victim fat and fragrant, so that men come and look on them and drink and eat them in their minds. They push out their own thought and set ghosts and spirits beside it, and say that if ghosts and spirits have knowledge they will surely partake of this sacrifice; and so it is said that the ghosts partake of it.
難曰：「《易》曰：『東鄰殺牛，不如西鄰之祭。』夫言東鄰不若西鄰，言東鄰牲大福少、西鄰祭少福多也。今言鬼不享，何以知其福有多少也？」
An objection. "The Yi says, 'The killing of an ox by the eastern neighbor is not equal to the sacrifice of the western neighbor.' Now to say that the eastern neighbor is not equal to the western is to say that the eastern neighbor's victim is great but his blessing small, and the western neighbor's sacrifice small but his blessing great. If it is now said that the ghosts do not partake, how is it known that there is more and less in the blessing?"
曰：此亦謂修具謹潔與不謹潔也。
The answer. This too speaks of the preparing being careful and clean, or not careful and clean.
紂殺牛祭，不致其禮。文王祭，竭盡其敬。夫禮不至則人非之，禮敬盡則人是之。是之則舉事多助，非之則言行見畔。見畔若祭，（不）見〔不〕享之禍；多助若祭，見歆之福：非鬼為祭祀之故有喜怒也。何以明之？苟鬼神，不當須人而食。須人而食，是不能神也。信鬼神，歆祭祀，祭祀為禍福，謂鬼神居處何如狀哉？自有儲邪，將以人食為飢飽也？如自有儲，儲必與人異，不當食人之物。如無儲，則人朝夕祭乃可耳。壹祭壹否，則神壹飢壹飽。壹飢壹飽，則神壹怒壹喜矣。且病人見鬼，及臥夢與死人相見，如人之形，故其祭祀如人之食。緣有飲食則宜有衣服，故復以繒制衣，以象生儀。其祭如生人之食，人欲食之，冀鬼饗之。其制衣也，廣樅不過一尺若五六寸。以所見長大之神貫一尺之衣，其肯喜而加福於人乎？以所見之鬼為審死人乎？則其制衣，宜若生人之服。
King Zhou killed an ox and sacrificed, and did not carry his rite through. King Wen sacrificed and exhausted his reverence. Now when the rite is not carried through men call it wrong, and when rite and reverence are exhausted men call it right. When they call it right, he has much help in taking up affairs; when they call it wrong, his words and deeds meet with betrayal. Meeting betrayal looks like the calamity of a sacrifice not partaken of, and having much help looks like the blessing of a sacrifice partaken of. It is not that ghosts have gladness and anger on account of the sacrifice. How is this made clear? If they are truly ghosts, they ought not to wait on men to eat. To wait on men to eat is to be unable to be divine. If men believe in ghosts and spirits, and that these partake of the sacrifice, and that the sacrifice makes calamity and blessing, then what shape do they say the dwelling of ghosts and spirits has? Have they stores of their own, or do they take their hunger and their fullness from the food of men? If they have stores of their own, the stores must differ from men's, and they ought not to eat the things of men. If they have no stores, then men must sacrifice morning and evening for it to serve at all. Sacrifice once and once not, and the spirit is once hungry and once full. Once hungry and once full, the spirit is once angry and once glad. Again, the ghosts that sick men see, and the dead they meet lying in dreams, are like the form of men, and so the sacrifice is like the food of men. Since there is drinking and eating there ought to be clothing too, and so clothes are cut from silk besides, to copy the ways of the living. The sacrifice is like the food of living men, and men wish the ghost to eat it and hope that the ghost will partake. But in the cutting of the clothes the breadth and the length do not pass one foot, or five or six inches. Put a coat of one foot on the long and great spirits that men have seen, and will they be glad and add blessing to men? If the ghosts that are seen are held, when looked into, to be dead men, then the clothes cut for them ought to be like the clothes of the living.
如以所制之衣審鬼衣之乎？則所見之鬼宜如偶人之狀。夫如是也，世所見鬼非死人之神，或所衣之神非所見之鬼也。鬼神未定，厚禮事之，安得福佑而堅信之乎？
If, when looked into, the clothes that are cut are what the ghosts wear, then the ghosts that are seen ought to be like the shape of a wooden figure. And if it is so, then either the ghosts the world sees are not the spirits of the dead, or the spirits that are clothed are not the ghosts that are seen. While ghosts and spirits are not settled, men serve them with heavy rites. How can they win blessing and help from that and believe in it firmly?