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Confucianism -> Liji -> Li Qi -> 3

君子鹿君子(The things used in performing) the rites should be suitable to the season, taken from the resources supplied by the ground, in accordance with (the requirements of) the spirits, and agreeable to the minds of men;-according to the characteristics of all things. Thus each season has its productions, each soil its appropriate produce, each sense its peculiar power, and each thing its advantageousness. Therefore what any season does not produce, what any soil does not nourish, will not be used by a superior man in performing his rites, nor be enjoyed by the spirits. If mountaineers were to (seek to) use fish and turtles in their rites, or the dwellers near lakes, deer and pigs, the superior man would say of them that they did not know (the nature of) those usages.
Therefore it is necessary to take the established revenues of a state as the great rule for its ceremonial (expenditure).
Important for the determination of this is the size of its territory. The amount of the offerings (also) should have regard to the character of the year as good or bad. In this way, though the harvest of a year may be very defective, the masses will not be afraid, and the ceremonies as appointed by the superiors will be economically regulated.


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