How did Chinese etiquette change from sacrifice to present etiquette?

State and the Formation of State Etiquette

Sacrificing to the country is an important etiquette system of Ji Li, one of the five rites in ancient China. The main content is the sacrificial ceremony for gods, earth and ghosts. Ji Xun is a blessing, which means serving God for happiness. "Every way to treat people, don't rush to the ceremony. There are five rituals, none of which is more important than sacrifice. " [1] It can be seen that the ancients regarded sacrificial activities as the top priority in national ceremonies. The main contents of the auspicious ceremony are: "Sacrifice the gods with bamboo poles, the sun, the moon and the stars with solid firewood, and the middle school, commander-in-chief, wind teacher and rain teacher with bamboo poles." . Martyrdom, five sacrifices, five mountains stained with blood. Sacrifice mountains and rivers with □ Shen, and sacrifice everything around with □ Gu. Enjoy the first king in naked sacrifice, the first king in food, the first king in spring, the first king in summer, the first king in autumn and the first king in winter. [2] Based on this, the sacrificial ceremonies in ancient China generally followed the rites of Zhou, which were roughly divided into twelve categories, belonging to gods, earth and ghosts. There are three kinds of sacrificial ceremonies in Tianmen: the first one is called sacrifice, to worship the gods in heaven; The second kind is called real wood, which sacrifices the sun, the moon and the stars; The third kind is called "you", which is dedicated to Si Zhong, Si Ming, Shi Feng, Yu Shi and other stars. There are also three kinds of sacrifices at the entrance to the ground: the first is to sacrifice the country and the five mountains with blood; The second is to sacrifice everything with koo in all directions. The gate of hell is divided into six categories, with six kinds of ancestor worship ceremonies such as shrine, shrine, shrine, taste and style as the standard.

The national sacrificial ceremony belongs to the only gate on the earth and can be regarded as one of the sacrificial ceremonies. In ancient times, the worship of heaven was accompanied by the worship of land. The big landlord has grown up and raised everything, just like a loving mother, so there has been a saying since ancient times that "the father and the mother are the land", and the respect for the earth is second only to the sky. According to China's traditional thinking, heaven and earth are one yang and one yin, which are mutually causal. They intersect and form the whole world. They are the parents of human beings and the origin or creator of all things. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand the special attention paid to the gods and the earth in sacrificial activities. Sacrifice to the earth mainly refers to the emperor's sacrifice to Fangshan and the sacrifice to the earth. The land god only called the earth, and the sacrifice to the earth in ancient times was called "Yi". Fang Qiu's sacrifice to the earth is one of the major festivals in Zhou Li. While offering sacrifices to the earth, of course, there are also many land gods, large and small, related to the earth, accompanied by sacrifices, just like Qiu Huan's offering sacrifices to heaven is accompanied by many gods and stars. Among them, the state is one of the accompanying gods in the earlier ceremony of offering sacrifices to the earth, and occupies a particularly important position among the objects of offering sacrifices to the earth.

Worship of rural gods is the development of natural worship of land and grain in primitive society. People believe that the earth breeds all things and nurtures mankind. Therefore, rural gods are regarded as gods with infinite vitality. In the pre-Qin period, the status of the state was very high. "Li Zhou Guan Chun Xiao Zong Bo" said: "The God of the founding of the country has a country on the right and a ancestral temple on the left." Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, the ancestral temple is the first country, so the word "country" has also become synonymous with the country. It is recorded in many documents that there are 24 kinds of sacrifices in Shang Tang, including "millet sacrifice". The History of Shang and Shu Tai describes Zhou Wuwang's "ceremony of adapting to society" and offering sacrifices to "burial", that is, offering sacrifices to the god of the land-the god of the country. The Duke of Zhou was king of each other. After seven years of regency, he set up an altar in Xinyi to offer sacrifices to the country together. According to "Li Zhou Emperor Guan Da Situ": "Founding the country, building the land." For the first time, altars, walls and shrines were clearly built for this country. "Country soil and also, your north and south ridge, a Yin. Japanese armor is first used. " In the Zhou Dynasty, there was a relatively complete festival of offering sacrifices, including the specified place, date, priests, facilities and shrines. "Club, so the way of heaven and earth. The earth carries everything and the sky hangs like an elephant. Taking the wealth of the land and taking the law of heaven is to respect heaven and love the land, so it is good to teach the people. The owner of the family, and the owner of the country, shows this book ... so the newspaper is also the beginning. " The reverence and sacrifice to the millet god shows the gratitude of human beings to the land and the hundred valleys, and reflects the pragmatic content of the ancient sacrificial activities of relying on the sky to eat.

As for the difference between the community and Fang Qiu, we think that the community ceremony is actually a deformation of the ritual of sacrificing land, a supplement to the abstract "land" and a visual expression. The "earth" sacrificed by Fang Qiu is an abstract earth as opposed to "heaven". "Country" is the land that belongs to the country's hometown. The so-called "the original land god of the country's hometown." In addition, the meaning of "society" is not the earth in a broad sense, but the agricultural land where all kinds of things can be planted, which gives the special meaning of "God of Agriculture". It is precisely because of this special meaning of society that it is called "country" when it is combined with "millet" (synonymous with grain). Therefore, the essence of national ceremony lies in "teaching people how to repay the kindness of land and grain with gratitude".

Historical Changes of Sacrificial Etiquette System in Rural Areas

Before and after the Qin and Han Dynasties, great changes have taken place in the national ritual system. Xia she offered sacrifices to Gong Bieyuan Dragon, which started in Yin and Zhou Dynasties. Xia, Zi Zhu sacrificed, Yin changed to Hou Ji, and Zhou was in charge. Since the establishment of a big society and a big country in the Han Dynasty, an official society has also been established, and the system has gradually become complex. Let me make a statement here.

Before the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang prayed for the elm tree in Fengxian County near his hometown, which was named "Elm Society". After the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu established the Han State in the second year. Except for Qin, "the county is a commune". This kind of commune is the nature of the official society, so it also issued a document saying: "I respect the shrine." The gods sacrificed today and the gods of mountains and rivers are shrines, and each one is the same as the sacrificial temple at that time. "[3]" In the past four years, the world has been settled, and it was written to the imperial court to sue the royal society, often in time. In the spring, sheep were used as shrines ... Then when I was two years old, or in other words, Houji Temple was established in Zhou Xing, and I have been drinking blood all over the world so far. So Gaozu made an imperial edict: let the world set up a hall of spiritual stars, and when he was old, he often used cows as shrines. "

After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu was founded in Luoyang the following year, which was called "Taixu Country". On the right side of the ancestral hall, there is no house except a wall door. Every year in February, August and twelfth month, there are three shrines, all of which are dedicated by eunuchs. After Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period, only Taishe and Guanshe were often sacrificed every year, that is, "two societies and one country". The Taixu Society and the Imperial Society (that is, the ancient royal society) are also separate. "The former Han official club has no official millet, follwed official millet, and then returned to the province. Therefore, from the Han Dynasty to the Wei Dynasty, Taishe had a millet, and Guanhe had no millet, so it was often a millet for both clubs. Park Chu is still Wei, and there is no increase. " The toast of Taishe Society is usually: "Giving benefits is endless. It is to build a Artest society, bless all ethnic groups, travel all over the world and rely on Jiaxiang. " The news of the emperor's club is that "Kunde is generous, and Bangji is guaranteed." Is to establish an imperial club, authentic with God. Only Chen and Jingfu will make it. " During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Wei, Wu Dong, Western Jin, Eastern Jin, Liu Song and other dynasties all followed this system without making any changes. "Li", Zuo Zongmiao, Youguo. Successive generations have followed, so Luo Jing is on the right side of the temple and the left side of the river is natural. The east gate of Wushi Palace, where the suspected Wushe Society is also located, is the same as its temple. Song remains the same, nothing has changed. " [3]

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the emperors thought: "mortals are not born in the earth, nor eat in the valley. Tugu can't be sacrificed all over, so the country worships the Lord. " Emperors in this period generally set up three altars, Taixu, Dixu and Taiji, in the west of the ancestral temple, and the doors and walls around each altar were painted according to their colors (namely, Dong Qing, Nanchi, Bai Xi and Beihei). The color of the altar is yellow, symbolizing the earth and the valley. All counties, kingdoms and counties in China should also build ancestral temples and ancestral shrines for farmers, and also offer sacrifices to gods such as Ling Xing, Fengbo and Rain Master below the county level. Non-governmental organizations are established every twenty-five days. Wuyue's county will worship God wuyue again. Sacrifice time is mid-spring and mid-autumn, and it is twice a year. Sacrifice to Taishe and Dishe should be recommended and appreciated. At that time, it was stipulated that the system of "sacrifice" was led by Tai Shangcheng and saved by Tai Shanghuang, which was praised by Shu Tai. The food for sacrifice is "six meals": rice, rice, yellow beam of bamboo, white beam of bamboo, millet of Hu and glutinous rice of lotus. February 8 is a big festival every year, accompanied by 46 gods, such as the old man, the emperor, Taiyi, the sun, the moon, the five stars, Hook Chen, the North Pole, the Big Dipper, Santai, the Twenty-eighth Night, the adult star and the descendant star. All officials attending the ceremony should go to the officials of the imperial doctor to get a powder to remove the dirty gas and drink it before fasting to purify themselves. Later, two altars, Guanshe and Guanji, were added to make five altars together with the first three altars. When the emperor personally offered sacrifices to the country, the specifications were much higher. Sinong kept the sacrifices and cooked them, Sikong was responsible for the sacrifices, and Sinong was responsible for the final sacrifices. To the Sui Dynasty, the national altar stood side by side on the left side of the Gate of Light, and was sacrificed in mid-spring and the fifth day of the Mid-Autumn Festival every year with a ceremony of being too firm. La Worship will be held again on the tenth day of Meng Dong. States, counties and counties offer sacrifices in mid-spring and mid-autumn. People's social sacrifices are also held at the same time.

In the early Tang Dynasty, in the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period, there were sacrifices to big clubs and millet, with Goulong as the companion and Hou Ji as the companion. The altar of the country inherited the system of the Sui Dynasty, and it still stands on the right side of the Gate of Light. In society, millet is used too quickly, and black and water beans are used for sacrifice, two and three. Tomorrow's winter wax, the social palace sacrifices to the country, such as the Spring and Autumn Festival in February. In the first year of Qianlong (705), "Xiannong altar was changed to Yushe altar, which was located to the west of the big altar. The ceremony is the same as that of Taishe, but the altar is not square, which is different from Taishe. " After the uncle and Zhu discussed, the Jidi altar was located in the west of the Shedi altar. So in the Tang Dynasty, four altars, Taishe, Taiji, Dishe and Diji, were complete. According to Kai's records, "the emperor sacrificed too much Tai Chi in the mid-Spring and Autumn Period", including fasting, giving a banquet, driving away the palace, offering jade and silk, cooking and dancing, blessing, burning incense, returning to the palace and other ritual procedures and norms. At this time, the country sacrifice has fallen to the level of middle worship, which shows that the status of the country god has begun to decline. The altar in the Tang Dynasty was five feet wide, with five-colored soil as the altar. The master used stones, five feet high and two feet square. "Brush, live like a thing; Under the party, such as geography. Half-buried, rooted in the soil, end also. "

Although the country sacrifice in the Song Dynasty was once again valued, it was still not as respected as before in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. Although the ritual of the country was included in the grand sacrifice project, there were as many as 30 names of the grand sacrifice in the Song Dynasty, which shows that the importance attached to the ritual of the country was not much higher than that in the Tang Dynasty, and its sacrifice procedures were basically inherited from the Tang Dynasty.

The sacrifice of Taixu Taiji in Yuan Dynasty generally followed the Tang and Song Dynasties. The altar is located in the south of Jingshi and Yimen, covering an area of 40 mu, surrounded by walls. There are two altars in the south of the garden, Tai She Altar in the east and Tai Chi Altar in the west, which are 50 feet apart. Both altars are square mounds with a length, a height and a width of17m. The soil of the social altar is also particular: blue soil in the east, Songka in the south, white clay in the west and black soil in the north. The middle is filled with ordinary miscellaneous soil and covered with loess. Finally, wipe it with five-color mud, and the colors correspond to the direction. There is a road 1 foot wide in the center of the altar. The system of Jitan is the same as that of Shetan, except that the soil filled is not colored, but yellow soil. The two altars face north, and there is a "North Hill" in the north where the emperor salutes. This is a brick building with yellow mud on its surface. There is a pit (a pit for burying sacrifices) in the northwest. There are some attached houses around the wall. In the north, there are sacrificial halls, halls, official sacrificial curtains, courtyard official Zhai, ancestral inspection bureau, yiluan library, utensils library, overseer library, elegant music library, kitchen and other institutions. In the south, there are Taylor Music Department, Paradise Square, Curtain Hall, Curtains, Chef, Wine Store and Sacrificial Room. In addition, there are more than a dozen deacons' rooms, such as Zhailang Room and Deacon Room. The owner is made of white stone, with a length of 1.6 m and a width of 60 cm, which is half buried in the altar soil. The altar has no owner. The tablet body is chestnut, with wood as the main color, and the book body is written in black. In the south of Ertan, a pine tree was planted as a "social tree". Fupai * * *, a total of four, 80 cm long, 40 cm wide and 3 cm thick, are respectively used for Tai She, Tai Chi, Hou Tu and Hou Ji.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was divided into two places, Ji Xia Er Tan and Hongwu Ten Years (1377). The social altar was rebuilt on the right outside the meridian gate, and it was a ceremony to worship Tai She and Tai Ji. The stone burying master is in the center of the social altar, showing his tip slightly, painting with wooden gods, putting them on the altar during the sacrifice and storing them after the sacrifice. There are Taixu tablets in the east, Taiji tablets in the west, people in the north, Ren Zu tablets to enjoy, Goulong and Hou Ji as companions in the west. From beginning to end, they all salute at the same time. The national ceremony was then promoted to the upper sacrifice (that is, the big sacrifice). Ming Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, and in the 19th year of Yongle (142 1), "The location and furnishings of the Beijing Society Altar are as well known as the old Nanjing system". [4] From Yongle in the Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, the position of the social altar remained unchanged, just to the right of the end gate of the Forbidden City (now Zhongshan Park in Beijing). The social altar preserved to this day is a three-story square platform made of white marble. The platform is paved in five directions in five colors: green, red, white, black and yellow, with a square stone pillar standing in the middle, which is also called "Jiangshan Stone". Sacrifice is held every year on the fifth day of the Spring and Autumn Festival, and the emperor personally sacrifices the land god and the valley god. In case it rains, you should salute in the worship hall in the north. Local governments and prefectures still retain their own countries, with local officials as the main departments in February and August. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, five-color native tribute areas were also stipulated: Zhili and Henan provinces entered loess, Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi provinces entered red soil, Jiangxi, Huguang and Shaanxi provinces entered white soil, Shandong entered blue soil and Beiping entered black soil. There are more than 300 counties in China, and each county is responsible for collecting 100 kinds of soil with its azimuth color. The soil must be taken from the famous mountain Gao Shuang.

Although the design of the ceremony of the country is repeated with the worship of the valley and Fangshan Mountain, Li's social activities, such as the ceremony of drinking wine in the country, have caused many disputes among ceremony officials and scholars in history. In the end, from the pre-Qin period, the concept that the country is the country and the country is the world has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, especially because the king has the obligation and responsibility to die for the country. Therefore, rulers of past dynasties dare not slack off on this ceremony. There is an old saying that "the country is heavy, don't precede the ancestral temple country", build the country first and make sacrifices on time. Indeed, the country is regarded as a symbol of the country, with respect and respect, which has become the history of Chinese etiquette culture.

China is famous for its ancient civilization and etiquette. During the 5,000-year historical evolution, etiquette has strongly influenced and restricted China people's thoughts, speeches and behaviors. Paying attention to etiquette, observing etiquette laws, teaching by example, stressing etiquette and observing etiquette have become people's conscious consciousness, which has penetrated into their psychological and behavioral activities and become the cultural characteristics and basic representation of the Chinese nation. Confucius's "see no evil, don't listen if you are indecent, don't speak if you are indecent, don't move if you are indecent" and the famous thinker Yan Yuan's "Respect the country and strengthen the country; Respect for the family makes the family big, and respect for the body makes the family die ",which fully reflects that courtesy is accompanied by the history of China and the culture of China.

The appearance of ceremonies can be traced back to ancient times. First of all, it is the need of human beings to coordinate the contradiction between subjective and objective. The natural human relations order is the most primitive motive force of the ceremony. People depend on each other for survival and development, and gradually accumulate and agree on a series of "human relations order", which is the initial ceremony. Later, some "sages", such as Huangdi, Yao, Shun and Yu, made a ceremony to "stop desire and control chaos" and set an example for the people, thus making the ceremony play a role in "maintaining stability and controlling chaos". Secondly, the ceremony originated from primitive religious worship activities. The productivity level of ancient society was low, and people's ability to understand nature was low, so they could not explain and conquer natural phenomena and forces. As a result, people's concept of guarding people's souls extended to all things in nature that they came into contact with, resulting in the concept of "animism", and began to influence gods with the help of primitive religious rituals, such as offering sacrifices, worshipping and praying, hoping to influence and influence natural gods with piety, so as to make them more blessed and reduce disasters, and the primitive "rituals" came into being.

Combining the origin of culture and etiquette, etiquette can be summarized from the following aspects:

(a) the original intention of the ceremony is to respect God, and then it is extended to the attitude of showing respect, that is, the ceremony is first of all a heartfelt attitude of respecting others and paying tribute to yourself.

(2) Rites are a series of actions, which show the attitude of internal respect to the outside world. That is, through certain actions to express their inner respect and respect for others and themselves.

(3) Ceremony is a procedure or ceremony. Through various ceremonies, it shows the respect, love and attention of the saluter to others and himself.

(4) Gifts are still used to show celebration or respect.

First, the origin of etiquette and its humanistic significance

China, commonly known as the state of etiquette, has attached importance to the construction of etiquette culture since ancient times. The earliest origin of "ceremony" is related to offering sacrifices to gods. Book of rites? The book title "Shu" says: "Rites began in the Sui Dynasty, and names began in the Yellow Emperor". Xu Shen said in Shuo Wen Jie Zi: "Ceremony is expression, so it is a blessing of God." . At first, the ceremony was a sacrificial ceremony in primitive society, blessed by gods and worshipped by ancestors, with a strong sense of mystery and awe. The solemn sacrificial ceremony made clan and tribe members deeply feel that individual will must obey the will of all, that individuals are inseparable from clan and tribe, and that individuals must be absolutely loyal and obedient to clan and tribe, so as to realize universal coercion to all members with strong spiritual deterrence and control. At the same time, the sacrificial ceremony was integrated with the original social moral values and ethical relations, such as right and wrong, good and evil, respecting the elderly, etc., and it was integrated with ethics from the beginning, with the function of integrating and standardizing social life itself, which was continuously consolidated and strengthened in the later "Shinto" ritual and music system.

According to the Book of Changes, "Zhong Zheng is looking at the world. It's a blessing if you don't recommend it when you look at it, and it will be transformed when you look at it. Look at Heaven and Shinto, but not at four o'clock. The saints take Shinto as their teaching and the world as their service. " The "washing" here is a ceremony of toasting and pouring water on the ground, and the sacrificial ceremony is based on this. According to the author's understanding of melon viewing, the people saw the king holding a grand melon washing ceremony at the ancestral temple sacrifice, thus paying tribute to Shinto. Sacrifice in ancestral temple conforms to heaven and Shinto, just like the natural order such as the cycle of four seasons. The ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors by saints is a manifestation of heaven and Taoism, and its significance lies in realizing humanistic education, making the people of the world submit to it and maintaining orderly rule. This is a ritual ceremony that links etiquette norms with folk customs and personal beliefs. Xunzi believes that "Shinto teaching" involves offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods, but it is not centered on the belief in ghosts and gods. Sacrifice is to express yearning, loyalty and respect, so it is understood as "humanity", and humanity is the humanistic significance of offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods. Sima Qian said: "I have seen the gains and losses of three generations. Knowing courtesy is based on human feelings, and courtesy is based on human nature, which is still good." "Ritual is extremely humane", Shinto has never been divorced from human nature, but takes humanistic spirit as its essential connotation. Therefore, "the teaching of Shinto" not only has the connotation of heaven, but also has the realistic concern of humanity, which is the promotion and manifestation of humanistic spirit and the overall construction of the etiquette culture of the trinity of heaven and humanity. Ritual is a way to educate customs. In the history of China, the so-called cultural achievements of human beings were realized through the ritual system with sacrifice as the main body. This is the inherent vitality of "the teaching of Shinto", and it is also the fundamental reason why spiritual belief and etiquette culture have always had strong internalization and unity in the history of China. Spiritual belief is based on the system of rites and music that is completely ignorant of customs and people's feelings, and after the collapse of rites and music, spiritual belief will also sleepwalk away from the soul, which is the humanistic connotation behind the form. In fact, all kinds of religious beliefs in ancient China are based on profound etiquette culture, which is an organic part of the whole etiquette culture. Without the subject of etiquette culture, the essential meaning of religious belief will be nowhere to be found, and it will also be an empty superstition.

Second, the theme of China traditional etiquette culture

The spiritual core of ceremony is human relations and ethical values, and ceremony is the establishment of human order. Rites originated from life, first manifested as a ritual of life, and finally rose to the height of ethics. Ancient family rituals include many daily behaviors and habits of children, such as clothing, food, shelter, walking, standing and so on. Everyone has a set of etiquette norms, and you can't do it at will. "Zhou Li? According to historical records, at that time, Chinese studies taught the people "three virtues" and "three cardinal guides". Three virtues ",that is, three lines of supreme virtue, sensitive virtue and filial piety", that is, "one line of filial piety, to kiss parents; Second, to make friends, we should respect the sage; Go straight for three days and become a teacher. "In rural schools, there are seven kinds of ethics teaching: father and son, brother, couple, monarch and minister, young and old, friends and guests. Confucius said, "If you don't learn manners, you can't stand. "Guard and salute are the foundation of personal standing." "Rite" is mainly the morality of self-cultivation, emphasizing inner holiness, introspection and self-discipline. Confucius said: The kung fu of self-denial is see no evil. Don't listen to evil, don't say evil. Don't move until you are molested. Self-denial is a long-term and sincere gift. Seeing, listening, speaking and doing are concrete behaviors of human beings, which are ethically constrained and gradually internalized. Only by constantly strengthening moral cultivation can we be polite, courteous and gentle everywhere, and only then can we be a "gentleman". The essence of etiquette is to guide individuals to realize their moral ideal personality through constant cultivation, introspection and self-discipline.

Confucius is the founder of Chinese etiquette culture. He believes that the basis of "courtesy" is "parent-child love" and the core of "benevolence" is "love". The natural emotional foundation of "ceremony" is connected with the spiritual core of "benevolence", which links the externality of social norms with the immanence of moral subjects and makes it possible to transform the compulsion and moral consciousness of ritual system. "Rite" is the externalization of "benevolence", that is, the concretization and politicization of "benevolence". Etiquette requires abstinence, rationality and control of instinctive desires. Rite is a specific code of conduct, which is manifested as a set of institutional rituals with its unique cultural characteristics. The core of this cultural system is the spirit of "benevolence". Zuozhuan? "Twelve Years of Zhao Gong" quoted Zhong Ni as saying: "The ancients were also ambitious, self-restrained and polite, and benevolent. "Rites and benevolence are all about interpersonal relationships. Rites are used to establish order among people, while benevolence is to seek harmony among people. Only by starting from ourselves and establishing self-denial can we reach the realm of benevolence.

China's etiquette culture also emphasizes the complementarity of etiquette and music. The so-called rites and music not only refer to specific etiquette laws and regulations, but also refer to the performance of morality and hobbies and interests in this performance. Because there is no emotional participation, moral internalization is difficult to complete. In the pre-Qin period, school education offered the courses of "Six Arts" (Rites, Music, Shooting, Imperial Education, Calligraphy, and Mathematics), giving priority to Rites and Music, and implementing the so-called strategy of "nurturing the interior with joy and nurturing the exterior with rites". Webster's dictionary defines politeness as "morality expressed by behavior" As Yue Ji said: Rite is the order of heaven and earth, and joy is the sum of heaven and earth. Ceremony is the establishment of human order, and music symbolizes the harmony between people. Hanshu? Yi said: "Confucius said: Governing the people with peace is not good at courtesy; Changing customs and customs is fun, and the two go hand in hand. " Managing society by combining ceremony and music.

Third, the spiritual core of etiquette is social order.

(A) the ceremony is the operation of the "ceremony"

Sociologists believe that ritual behavior is a demonstration of social order, a means for the society to construct humanistic relations through self-reflection, and plays an indispensable role in consolidating the social structure. Alfred Radcliff-Brown, an anthropologist, observed primitive tribes and showed that religious ceremonies had the function of maintaining social unity and were passed down from generation to generation. If religion is defined as a system of belief and practice, then ritual is the most important level of religious activities, and religion needs the help of ritual to produce the control of supernatural forces. Ritual expresses the divine power beyond some people on whom people depend, which is usually "spiritual or moral power". China has paid attention to achieving good moral education through various ritual activities since ancient times. Any ceremony has the same social and psychological functions, which makes people feel detached, peaceful, comforting and friendly. "It provides a way for people to get rid of the difficult secular life and reach the spiritual self-realm (instant)." [1] (At the same time, ritual activities are also an important means to strengthen a group's social relations. "It consolidates the norms of the group, provides moral sanctions for individual behavior, and provides the foundation for the same purpose and values, which is exactly what the balance of the same body depends on." [1] The function of ceremony is to root the cultural value in real life, and make it accumulate into customs by creating systems and stipulating ceremonies.

(2) Ritual has magical power.

Ritual activities have a magical power. Some people have the ability to achieve predetermined goals through specific rituals, expressions and words. The ceremony looks very simple. Everyone can achieve great success as long as they do what they should do according to the established procedures, without arguing or painstaking management. The whole process is easy and effortless, but the effect is amazing. Confucius once talked about the existence of magic in The Analects of Confucius. He said: "People who govern by doing nothing, are they also tactful?" What is a husband? Gong Ji is in the south. "That is to say, everything that can be ruled by inaction is suitable, right? What efforts did he make? There is nothing but respectfully facing south! It's as simple as that, but the rules of the world, what is this not magic? Where does magic come from? From the ceremony, from everyone involved, play your role. Confucius and Xunzi seem to have realized the relationship between etiquette and social order. In their view, the whole social life is a huge and sacred etiquette.

(3) the gist of the ceremony

Ceremony is a well-designed humanistic activity. During the ceremony, everyone has a set of rules about what to do and say. All people must do certain things according to certain procedures, and the actions of all participants are closely coordinated. Sometimes it is unfolded in silent language, and sometimes it is a combination of silence and sound, conveying a certain spirit or meaning. Every detail and every action has symbolic meaning and value. In ancient China, all kinds of sacrificial activities were strictly regulated in terms of procedures, grades, movements, clothing and the choice of sacrificial products, otherwise they were considered taboo. The humanistic significance of the ceremony lies not in the result, but in the process.

There are two conditions for the magical influence of ritual activities: (1) participants must be proficient in ritual procedures so as not to be blunt; (2) Participants must have sincerity and respect. If you have skills and lack divinity, the whole thing will become superficial, mechanical and formal. Of the two, the latter is more important. Confucius said, "It's easier to be happy than easy!" It's better to do it skillfully and smoothly than to have true feelings. ) "Sacrifice is like being there, and sacrifice to God is like being there. I won't sacrifice if I don't sacrifice. " This shows that, on the one hand, Confucius does not believe in the existence of ghosts and gods, otherwise it is unnecessary to say "as in"; On the other hand, he also advised others to regard God as a god when offering sacrifices to him, so as to generate respect and increase the authority of the ceremony, and let everyone take it for granted. The ceremony is to strengthen the "true nature" of the saluter, so if there is no sincerity, it is better not to sacrifice. The so-called "truth" is what Mencius said: compassion is benevolence, shame is righteousness, right and wrong is wisdom, and respect is courtesy. These four psychological instincts must rely on salute, constant reflection and self-consciousness to "broaden and fill" the four ends and achieve self-discipline. "True feelings" is the essence of feelings. Ritual has the dual functions of stimulating and limiting emotions. Sacrifice to decorate its respect; Funeral to decorate its sadness; Military salute to decorate their anger; Li Bin is very interesting to decorate; Gifts to decorate its joy. Confucian ethics requires the harmonious adjustment of external discipline and internal temperament. Without true temperament, courtesy is of course a fake thing; But only people are temperamental, and without a proper form to express them, true feelings will be limited.

Ritual activities need to use various artistic means to have an effect on people's emotional world. Art relies on form, color, rhythm and prosody to directly resort to unconscious perception, resulting in non-specific psychological reaction, and moving people's whole heart through irrational perception. The first function of art is intuition and emotion, which is much shorter and more direct than rational perception. Therefore, Lozanov said, "Art is the most powerful hint". (1) (page 794) As Hegel said: "Religion often uses art to make us feel the truth of religion better, or uses images to explain the truth of religion for imagination." (2) (P.84) Various religious ceremonies use music, architecture or symbols to render a solemn atmosphere and empathize with people's emotions. Ritual activities also need the help of music, language or artistic intonation with music to mobilize people's unconscious system and stimulate people's acceptability. Lozanov said: "Unconscious psychological tendency can be understood from the perspective of suggestion as the degree of expectation for a certain kind of activity and the unconscious psychological preparation inside." ①P.796) Sacrificial activities pay great attention to the environment or scene layout, just like Buddhist temples combine architecture, sculpture, calligraphy and painting to create a specific psychological atmosphere and guide people to produce a specific unconscious psychological tendency. Besides, all the people do the same thing in the ceremony, and they coordinate and cooperate closely. This high degree of unity constitutes a strong group pressure, guides people's conformity psychology, and makes people produce irrational control, obedience or conformity behavior.