Observing Ritual遵禮篇

Confucius said, "There is ritual in the house, and so old and young keep their order. There is ritual in the women's quarters, and so the three branches of kin are at peace. There is ritual at court, and so office and rank keep their order. There is ritual in the hunt, and so the work of arms is practiced. There is ritual in the army, and so feats of war are achieved."

Yanzi said, "If those above have no ritual, they have no way to employ those below. If those below have no ritual, they have no way to serve those above."

Confucius said, "Humility without ritual is toil. Caution without ritual is timidity. Courage without ritual is disorder. Straightness without ritual is harshness."

When a gentleman has courage and no ritual, he makes disorder. When a small man has courage and no ritual, he becomes a thief.

Mencius said, "What makes the gentleman different from others is what he keeps in his heart. The gentleman keeps benevolence in his heart, and he keeps ritual in his heart. The benevolent man loves others, and the man of ritual respects others. One who loves others is always loved by others. One who respects others is always respected by others."

Youzi said, "In the use of ritual, harmony is precious."

If your words are not gentle, let your bearing at least be humble.

When humility is close to ritual, shame and disgrace are kept far off.

Master Cheng said, "Let nothing be without respect."

Zengzi said, "At court nothing comes before rank. In the village nothing comes before years. For helping the age and nourishing the people, nothing comes before virtue."

Mencius says, "To walk slowly behind an elder is called respectful. To walk quickly and pass ahead of an elder is called disrespectful."

Go out of your gate as though you were meeting an honored guest. Enter your room as though someone were in it.

The Shaoyi says, "Hold an empty vessel as you would hold a full one. Enter an empty room as you would a room with someone in it."

In his own village Confucius was humble and careful, like a man who could not speak.

If you want others to hold you in weight, there is no better way than to hold others in weight yourself.

Taigong said, "Do not sort guests into close and distant. Whoever comes should be cherished."

A father does not speak of his son's virtue. A son does not speak of his father's faults.

Luan Gongzi said, "The people live by three, and they should serve them as one. The father gives them birth. The teacher teaches them. The ruler feeds them. Without the father they are not born. Without food they do not grow. Without teaching they do not know. The gift of life is one and the same in all three."

The Liji says, "Men and women do not share a seat, and do not hand things to each other with their own hands. A wife and her husband's younger brother do not ask after each other directly. Father and son do not share a mat."

The Analects says, "Sacrifice as though they were present. Sacrifice to the spirits as though the spirits were present."

Confucius said, "To serve the dead as you serve the living, and to serve the departed as you serve those who remain, is the height of filial duty."

This is from the Xuankangfu jiaxun. "Children, when you see a woman in fine array, look on the older one as your aunt, on the younger one as your daughter, and on one near your own age as your sister. If you can hold your heart this way, you will almost never come to overstep ritual."

Master Zhu Ermei Shuqing said, "The ear does its work, and the eye and the nose do theirs, and there is nothing the tongue and the heart cannot do. Do what others are able to do, and do not do what others will not do. Meeting affairs and dealing with people day by day is like steering a boat downstream. You have only to hold the rudder firmly. Go when it is time to go, and do not tread a crooked path. Sit when it is time to sit, without leaning and without slanting. Stand when it is time to stand, upright and steady and never careless. Speak when it is time to speak, and do not flatter over right and wrong. Bow when it is time to bow, and kneel when it is time to kneel. If there is not a hair's breadth of forcing and pretending in it, how free you are! Sometimes your sinews and bones are worn out, your heart and will are in pain, and your body goes hungry. Take it all with an easy heart and accept it as it comes, and never blame Heaven or fault other people. He who can go up or go down, who can bend and can stretch, whose heart and nature are round and clear and caught by no outward form, is at last a man who bears Heaven and stands on the earth."

(Ten characters are missing here and are marked with △.)

Old and young, elder and child, are an order that Heaven has set. It must not be turned against reason, nor the way harmed by it.

Confucius said, "A person without trust — I do not know what he is good for. A large cart with no yoke bar, a small cart with no shaft pin — how are they to be made to go?"

Laozi said, "A person having trust is like a cart having wheels."

One word from a gentleman is one stroke of the whip to a swift horse. Once the word has gone out, four horses cannot overtake it.

Zilu never let a promise he had given wait overnight.

Lord Sima Wen said, "The way of sincerity is truly hard to enter. Begin by not speaking carelessly."

The Yizhi shu says, "When ruler and subject do not trust each other, the state is not at peace. When father and son do not trust each other, the house is not in harmony. When elder and younger brother do not trust each other, their feeling is not close. When friends do not trust each other, their friendship easily grows thin."