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Scope: Ai Gong Wen Request type: Paragraph
Condition 1: Contains text "孔子曰丘也小人不足以知禮" Matched:1.
Total 1 paragraphs. Page 1 of 1.

哀公問 - Ai Gong Wen

English translation: James Legge [?]
Books referencing 《哀公問》 Library Resources
[Also known as: "Questions of Duke Ai"]

1 哀公問:
哀公問於孔子曰:「大禮何如?君子之言禮,何其尊也?」孔子曰:「丘也小人,不足以知禮。」君曰:「否!吾子言之也。」孔子曰:「丘聞之:民之所由生,禮為大。非禮無以節事天地之神也,非禮無以辨君臣上下長幼之位也,非禮無以別男女父子兄弟之親、昏姻疏數之交也;君子以此之為尊敬然。然後以其所能教百姓,不廢其會節。有成事,然後治其雕鏤文章黼黻以嗣。其順之,然後言其喪算,備其鼎俎,設其豕臘,修其宗廟,歲時以敬祭祀,以序宗族。即安其居,節醜其衣服,卑其宮室,車不雕几,器不刻鏤,食不貳味,以與民同利。昔之君子之行禮者如此。」
Ai Gong Wen:
Duke Ai asked Confucius, saying, 'What do you say about the great rites? How is it that superior men, in speaking about them, ascribe so much honour to them?' Confucius said, 'I, Qiu, am a small man, and unequal to a knowledge of the rites.' 'By no means,' said the ruler. 'Tell me what you think, my Master.' Then Confucius replied, 'According to what I have heard, of all things by which the people live the rites are the greatest. Without them they would have no means of regulating the services paid to the spirits of heaven and earth; without them they would have no means of distinguishing the positions proper to father and son, to high and low, to old and young; without them they would have no means of maintaining the separate character of the intimate relations between male and female, father and son, elder brother and younger, and conducting the intercourse between the contracting families in a marriage, and the frequency or infrequency (of the reciprocities between friends). These are the grounds on which superior men have honoured and reverenced (the rites) as they did. Thereafter, (having this view of the rites), they taught them to the people, on the ground of their ability (to practise them), not disregarding their general principles or the limitations (that circumstances impose in particular cases). When their object had been accomplished (so far), they proceeded to give rules for the engraving (of the ceremonial vessels), and the embroidering in various colours (of the robes), in order to secure the transmission (of the rites). Having obtained the concurrence (of the people in these things), they proceeded to tell them the different periods of mourning; to provide the full amount of tripods and stands; to lay down the (offerings of) pork and dried meats; to maintain in good order their ancestral temples; and then at the different seasons of the year reverently to present their sacrifices; and to arrange thereat, in order, the different branches and members of their kindred. Meanwhile (they themselves) were content to live economically, to have nothing fine about their dress; to have their houses low and poor; to eschew much carving about their carriages; to use their vessels without carving or graving; and to have the plainest diet, in order to share all their advantages in common with the people. In this manner did the superior men of antiquity practise the rites.'

Total 1 paragraphs. Page 1 of 1.