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Confucianism -> Liji -> Jiao Te Sheng -> 24.2

On the day of the sacrifice,
the king in his skin cap waits for the news that all is ready,
showing the people how they ought to venerate their superiors.
Those who were engaged in mourning rites did not wail
nor venture to put on their mourning dress.
(The people) watered and swept the road, and turned it up afresh with the spade;
at (the top of) the fields in the neighbourhood they kept torches burning
- thus without special orders complying with (the wish of) the king.
On that day,
the king assumed the robe with the ascending dragons on it as an emblem of the heavens.
He wore the cap
with the pendants of jade-pearls, to the number of twelve,
which is the number of heaven.
He rode in the plain carriage,
because of its simplicity.
From the flag hung twelve pendants,
and on it was the emblazonry of dragons, and the figures of the sun and moon,
in imitation of the heavens.
聖人Heaven hangs out its brilliant figures, and the sages imitated them.
This border sacrifice is the illustration of the way of Heaven.
If there appeared anything infelicitous about the victim intended for God,
it was used for that intended for Ji.
That intended for God required to be kept in its clean stall for three months.
That intended for Ji simply required to be perfect in its parts.
This was the way in which they made a distinction between the spirits of Heaven and the manes of a man.
All things originate from Heaven;
man originates from his (great) ancestor.
This is the reason why Ji was associated with God (at this sacrifice).
In the sacrifices at the border
there was an expression of gratitude to the source (of their prosperity and a going back in their thoughts to the beginning of (all being).


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