Zheng Xuan and the "Three Rites": Interpretation of Chinese Classics

Zheng Xuan and the "Three Rites"

First, what are the rites

Since ancient times, China has been known as the "State of Manners", and the core of the Chinese culture is the "culture of rites and music".

Since ancient times, China has been known as the "State of Manners", the core of Chinese culture is the "culture of etiquette", the Chinese people pay attention to the "knowledge of the book and etiquette", to treat people to be "polite and courteous" "etiquette", treat opponents to be "polite first, then military". "First, after the military", but also to the elders on New Year's Day to ask for peace and "gift". In short, "etiquette" is the core of Chinese history and culture.

"Rites" originally referred to a ritual of sacrificing to ghosts and gods. Later on, the meaning of its derivation, as a general term for all the rituals of society. Generally speaking, it is customary for families to worship "Heaven, Earth, Jun, Kiss, and Teacher": "Heaven and Earth" represent the origin of life; "Kiss" is the origin of the ancestral family; "Jun and Shi are the origin of government and education. Human feelings cannot be without their origin, which Xunzi called the three bases of "rites". People have desires, also have the need to satisfy their own desires, if the desire does not have "boundaries" and "boundaries", you are bound to fight, causing social strife, so the ancient king and teacher set out "rituals" to "regulate". Therefore, the ancient rulers and teachers set out "rites" to "regulate" and "restrain" their subordinates, so there are "ranks of nobility and inferiority" and "order of seniority and childhood", and even the "order of seniority and childhood". "and even "rites" to "correct the ruler and ministers," "correct the father and son," "correct the brothers "and husband and wife" and "set up systems". Confucianism takes "rites" as the root of governance.

"Three Rites" refers to the three Confucian classics: the Zhou Rites, the Rites of Passage, and the Records of Rites. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the "Five Classics Doctor", of which the "Rites" refers to the "Rites of Passage". During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan, a famous master of Confucianism, annotated the Zhou Li, Yi Li and Li Ji, and wrote a book entitled "Catalog of the Three Rites", thus giving rise to the name "Three Rites". In the Tang Dynasty, the Three Rites were included in the Nine Classics, which became the official Confucian classics.

Second, "Zhouli"

"Zhouli" was originally known as "Zhou Guan", in the Han Dynasty belongs to the ancient scriptures. During the Wang Mang period, Liu Xin was the national teacher, renamed the Zhou Guan as the Zhou Li, and established a doctor to teach it in the Imperial College. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan, a master of scripture, composed a commentary for the Zhou Rites, which jumped to the top of the Three Rites and became one of the Confucian classics. The book of "Zhouli" has more than 45,000 words, originally six articles, namely, "Heavenly Officials", "Earthly Officials", "Spring Officials", "Summer Officials", "Autumn Officials", and "Winter Officials", and during the Western Han Dynasty, due to the anonymity of the sixth article, "Winter Officials", it was later supplemented with "Kao Gong Ji" to replace it. The author of the Zhouli constructed a huge official system in the book, and the six articles represent the six official systems, which are the pivot of the whole official system, with the four seasons of heaven and earth, and detailed descriptions of their official names, as well as their respective duties. In addition to the six officials, there are more than 360 official positions listed in the book. These 360-odd official positions included the subordinate officials of the six officials, as well as local officials and officials in charge of affairs. The six officials and the 360-odd subordinate officials and local officials constitute a whole set of state power patterns from the central government to the local grassroots organizations and the various administrative institutions which are both interconnected and constrained by each other in a well-organized and orderly manner.

The Zhou Rites stipulate that the heavenly official, Tsukazai, is the head of the six officials, and is honored as the head of the hundred officials. "He is in charge of the six canons for the establishment of the state, in order to help the king to rule the state". As the king's deputy, he was in charge of the affairs of the court and the palace, and was responsible for commanding the hundred officials. The chief magistrate of the land was the instructor, whose main duty was to take charge of the canon of education, so that "he set up the chief magistrate of the land, who commanded his subordinates to take charge of the state's education, so as to assist the king in disturbing the state" (Zhou Li, "The Rites of the Zhou", p. 3). The chief of the local officials was the Grand Secretary of the Di Guan (大司徒). The chief of the land officials was the Grand Secretary, whose overall duty was to "take charge of the land map and the number of people in the state, in order to help the king to disturb the state", which was equivalent to the Ministry of Households in the later times, in charge of the national land and household accounts, and responsible for the distribution of land, taxes and civil affairs. Chunjuan Zongbo was a ceremonial official, whose main duty was to hold the ceremonial code, which was called "Chunjuan Zongbo was set up to command his subordinates to hold the state ceremonies, so as to support the king and the state" ("Zhou Li"). (Zhou Ri? Chunguan Zongbo). The head of the Spring Officials was the Grand Zongbo, whose duty was to "take charge of the rituals of the gods, human ghosts, and the earth of the state", which was equivalent to the Ministry of Rites in the later times, and was in charge of the affairs of sacrifices, court assemblies, rituals and music, astronomical calendars, and ceremonial rites of horses and chariots, etc. The Summer Official, Sima, was the government official. The summer official Sima was a government official, and his main duty was to take charge of the political code. The so-called "was established Xiaguan Sima, so that the command of his subordinates and in charge of the state government, in order to support the king to level the state" ("Zhou Li"). The Xiaguan Sima was established.) The head of the summer officials was the Grand Secretary, responsible for military affairs, "commanding his subordinates to take charge of the state administration, in order to help the king to level the state", with specific duties including conquest, combat, hunting, training, military revenue collection, etc., which was equivalent to the Minister of Military Affairs in the later times. Autumn official Sikou was a criminal official, whose main duty was to take charge of the criminal code. The so-called "was established in the autumn official Sikou, so that the command of its subordinates and in charge of the state ban, in order to assist the king to punish the state, the subordinates of the criminal official" ("Zhouli"). The chief of the Autumn Officials was the Grand Sikou (大司寇). The head of the Autumn Officials was the Dazikou, who "took charge of the state's prohibitions to punish the state by the king", and was in charge of the criminal law, litigation, public security, legal affairs and other specific affairs, equivalent to the later Ministry of Criminal Affairs of the Shangshu. The winter official, Sikong, was equivalent to the Ministry of Public Works in later times. Due to the "Zhouli? Winter official" original text has long been lost, so the specific duties of the winter official is not very clear. According to legend, Liu De, the king of Hetian in the Western Han Dynasty, because of the lack of Winter Officials in the six officials of the Zhou Rituals, he filled in the article with the Book of Examination and Works. The content of "Kao Gong Ji" is a description of all the work and civil engineering construction, so the winter official replaced by "Kao Gong Ji" is equivalent to the Ministry of Public Works in later times, the main official for the Dazhong, in charge of all the work, construction, and so on.

The Zhou Rites had a significant impact on the history of ancient Chinese society. First of all, the Zhou Li was an important ideological resource for social change in later times. Starting from the Han Dynasty, a number of politicians and thinkers used the Zhou Li as the theoretical basis for implementing social and political reform programs, or as an important reference for formulating legal systems. The earliest reform of the political system based on the Rites of Zhou was the Wang Mang reorganization at the end of the Western Han Dynasty. As Wang Mang avoided the major social contradictions at that time and adhered to the stereotypical provisions of the Zhou Rites, he made a serious dogmatic mistake, which eventually led to the failure of the reorganization. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Western Wei Dynasty, under the rule of Yu Wentai, also used the Zhou Rites as a model for the implementation of *** institutional reforms, and drew on the provisions of the field system therein to implement the system of granting fields. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi's "change of law" was also modeled on the Zhou Rites, and he made the "New Meaning of the Zhou Officials", which elaborated on his basic political concepts. Secondly, the Rites of Zhou had a profound influence on the formation of later dynasties. Most of the ritual systems of successive dynasties were closely related to the Zhou Rites. For example, Emperor Wen of Sui created the "three provinces and six ministries" system, in which the "six ministries" set up, is modeled after the "Zhou Rites" "six officials" model. The Tang Dynasty inherited the Sui system, the six ministries named officials, households, rituals, military, criminal, labor, as the main body of the dynasty's central official system, has been followed by later generations until the end of the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the Rites of Zhou had a significant impact on the layout of the capital cities of later dynasties. The Tang Dynasty in accordance with the "Rites of Zhou" built "left ancestor right community, face to face after the city" of the pattern of the capital city. The Yuan Dynasty took the Zhou Rites as a model to build the capital of Beijing, and the Ming and Qing Dynasties followed the same practice, and modeled the system of the Zhou Rites by adding the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Moon, and the Temple of the First Peasant, which ultimately laid down the urban layout of Beijing for the generations to come. The rich concepts of governance and management skills contained in the Rites of Zhou have also been an important reference for later generations of politicians in exploring the best ways to "make the world a better place to live in".

Third, the Rites of Passage

The Rites of Passage was written during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The author has not been identified, Confucius made changes to it, and passed it on to his disciples. During the Han Dynasty, the Rites of Passage was known as the Rites of Passage or the Rites of Passage, and the name Rites of Passage probably came into being only after the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the "Doctor of the Five Classics", who taught the Rites of the Shishi. During the Han Dynasty, seventeen articles of the Rites of Honors were compiled, and scholars at the time arranged them in a different order. Today, the seventeen articles of the Rites of Passage are based on the version annotated by Zheng Xuan. The book of "Rites of Passage" is very complicated, which records the detailed ceremonies of various ritual activities from ancient times to the Zhou Dynasty, and tells about various social rules, including the regulations of various activities in the family, the court, the court, the norms in daily life such as architecture, dress, food, worship, communication, travel, etc., and the ceremonial norms in religion, sacrifice, politics, diplomacy, etc., which are roughly as follows:

"Crowning Rites of the Shishi The Rites of Meeting Shih: A description of the rituals and ceremonies for the first interactions between the nobles. It includes the introduction, gifts, response, and re-metings at the first meeting. The Rites of Drinking and Drinking in the Townships: a record of the banquets and drinks held regularly by the administrative organizations at the township level in ancient times, focusing on respecting the elders and honoring the elderly. Township Archery Ceremony": a record of the rituals and ceremonies of archery competitions organized by the townships in ancient times. Yan Rites: Yan Rites, or Banquet Rites, describes the rituals and ceremonies of banquets organized by lords and vassals, describing in detail the drinking utensils used in the banquets, the seats for the ruler and the ministers, and the rituals of entering the banquet hall, pouring the wine, and toasting between the guests and the hosts. The Great Archery Ceremony: It describes the specific rituals of the archery competition for the nobles presided over by the sovereigns of the vassal states. The Rites of Hire": an account of the rituals and ceremonies of the state ruler sending his ministers to other vassal states for a courtesy visit. The Rites of the Duke's Food for the Dafu (《公公食大夫礼》): an account of the rituals of the state ruler in entertaining the dafu (dafu) who came to the state for a small engagement with ceremonial food. The Rites of Hajj: a description of the rituals of the vassal states to see the Son of Heaven in the fall. Mourning Clothes": a description of the differences in mourning clothes and the period of service for the relatives of the deceased. The Funeral Rites of the Shih and the Meixi Rites: Originally a single text, but divided into two because of the complexity of the compendium, the Meixi Rites are usually regarded as the second part of the Shih Funeral Rites, which describes the funeral and burial rites of the Shih class. Shiyu Rites: A description of the requiem rites performed by a scholar returning to his home after burying his parents. The Rites of Feeding Special Animals: a description of the rituals of the scholar who sacrificed to his ancestors in the family temple. The Rites of Feeding and Eating in Shaojiao and Yousi Che: a description of the rituals of the ministers and daughters of the government who sacrificed to their ancestors in their family temples. The two were originally one article, but were also divided into two because of the complexity of the compendium.

These titles, involving all aspects of the life of the ancient aristocracy, roughly contains the ancient crown rites, weddings, funeral rites, sacrificial rites, shooting rites, township rites, rites of passage, hiring rites and other eight major categories. Among them, "Crowning to make one's adulthood clear, marriage to unite men and women, funerals to show benevolence to fathers and sons, sacrifices to protect ghosts and gods, country drinking to unite the townships and villages, yanjie to make the guests and masters, hiring and eating to harmonize the relationship between states and nations, and hajj to distinguish between the upper and lower classes", which included almost all the fields of interpersonal interactions of the ancient aristocratic societies, and therefore was regarded as the "scripture of the rites" (Qing Shao Shao, "The Book of Rites"). (Shao Yichen, "The General Theory of Rites", Qing Dynasty). Ancient China embodied the moral principles of interpersonal communication through the regulation of specific ritual activities, established the different social grades of the Son of Heaven, the vassals, the ministers, and the scholars, and maintained the dominant position of the aristocracy and the social order.

As an ancient scripture, the Yili book, although the text is dry and difficult to understand, but for future generations to understand the history of ancient society, but has a very high academic value. The content of the book, from the crown marriage, to the funeral, involving all aspects of ancient social life, retained a lot of ancient customs, systems and ritual traditions handed down from ancient times, as if an ancient social life of the "encyclopedia", is the descendants understand the ancient social life of the important historical materials. The ancient etiquette system described in the Rites of Passage is not only of ancient origin, but also involves specific political connotations, among which the arrangements of the contents and ceremonial procedures of the ancient palace, car and flag, clothing, food and drink, and funeral ceremonies are particularly detailed, and they have become important references for the development of the relevant etiquette system by the later dynasties. Therefore, after the Song Dynasty, although the book of "Rites of Passage" has been neglected for a long time in the academic world, it has always been regarded as the "Canon of the Sage" at the level of the national etiquette system. From the Kaiyuan Rites of the Tang Dynasty, to the New Rites of the Zhenghe Five Rites of the Song Dynasty, to the Daiming Rites of the Ming Dynasty, and even to the Qing Canon, the institutional arrangements for the coronation rites of the members of the imperial family, the wedding rites, the funeral rites, the sacrificial rites, as well as the rites of engagement and the rites of the audience, are all modeled on this book, with appropriate additions and subtractions. For modern people, although the contents of the Rites of Passage are no longer popular, the book's description of the ancient political system provides an important reference for us to understand the basic appearance of ancient social life. For example, the detailed description of the ancient mourning system in the book centrally reflects the systemic connotation and substance of the patriarchal relationship in the Western Zhou Dynasty; for example, the description of the countryside archery rites and the countryside drinking rites in the book preserves the interpersonal relationship among the ancient villages and communities; and the description of the procedures of the various ceremonies and the description of the titles, uses and combinations of the famous objects used in the book are particularly detailed, which provides a valuable source of information for the study of the ancient people's ethical concepts, lifestyles and social customs. The book also contains a wealth of ancient vocabulary, which provides valuable first-hand documentation for the study of ancient languages and classical literature.

Fourth, the Book of Rites

The present version of the Book of Rites, also known as Xiaodai Ji or Xiaodai Rites, is one of the classics of Confucianism. The term "Rites" in the Book of Rites refers to the Rites of Passage (i.e., the Rites of Passage or the Rites of the Scholars); the term "Records" refers to the explanations, interpretations, or additions to the texts. In fact, the Book of Rites is a compilation of Confucian treatises on various rites and ritual literature from the pre-Qin to the two Han dynasties. Its content is complex and rich, synthesizing various aspects of traditional Confucian rites, not only explaining the significance of various ritual systems contained in the Rites of Passage, but also describing in dribs and drabs the rites handed down during the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, which also records the questions and answers and explanations about rites of Confucius and his disciples, making it an important source for the study of ancient Chinese rites, as well as the study of the Confucian and early Confucian thinking on rites. It extensively expounds the spirit of Confucianism on rites and the significance of constructing rites, and centrally reflects the Confucian ideas and propositions on the rule of rites.

The forty-nine articles of the Book of Rites*** can be roughly divided into four categories:

The first category is the general treatise of Confucian bachelors. Including "Rites of Passage", "The Interpretation of the Scriptures", "Records of Music", "Records of Learning", "The University", "The Meanwhile", "The Journey of the Confucians", 7 articles, all of which are thematic literature discussing the essence of Confucianism, and involving major propositions of Confucianism such as its political ideals, philosophy of life, and ideals of education.

The second category is specialized literature explaining the Rites of Passage. ***21 articles, focusing on the ritual significance of each chapter of the Rites and its spirit, can be used as a basic reference material for reading the Rites of Passage. Among them, "Crown", "Fainting", "Drinking in the Countryside", "Shooting", "Yan", "Hire", "Four Systems of Mourning", 7 articles, is a special interpretation of the "Rites of Passage", "Zeng Zi asked", "Little Record of Mourning", "Great Record of Mourning", "Mourning", "Ask the Funeral", "Between", "Clothing asked", "Asked for Three Years", "Miscellaneous Records" up and down, "Effective Special Cattle", "Sacrificial", "Rituals", "Sacrificial Laws", "Sacrificial Unity", 14 articles, is to explain the "Rites of Passage" of a particular topic of the The 14 articles are the literature explaining a certain topic in the Rites of Passage.

The third category is the literature of ancient times. ***13 articles, of which: the "King System" is the design of the national political system; "Moon Order" is the granting of the time to award the government; "King Wen Shi Zi" records the prince's behavioral norms; the "Qu Li" up and down, "Nei Zi", "Shao Yi" and other chapters, recounting the rituals and codes of daily life; "Ritual Instruments", "Yusao", "Mingtang position" and other chapters, recounting a variety of ritual equipment and Mingtang orientation, and so on.

The fourth category is the record of Confucius' words and deeds and Confucius' disciples speech miscellaneous documents. These include the "Confucius Idle Habitat", "Zhongni Yanju", "Tan Bow" up and down, "Fangji", "Velvet", "Table Records" and so on.

"Three Rites", if the "Zhou Rites" of ancient China's political system has had a profound impact on the tradition, and the "Rites of Passage" of ancient interpersonal etiquette and the formation of folklore has played an important role, then the "Rites of Passage" of the traditional Chinese society, the impact of the ideological and cultural fields. Deep in thought and rich in connotation, the book centers on the tradition of ritual and music, and covers various fields of ancient politics, ethics, philosophy, aesthetics, education, religion, and culture, making it an important ideological document for us to understand the Confucian tradition of ritualism. Of all the Confucian texts that have had a significant impact on traditional Chinese culture, the book is second only to the Analects, roughly equal to the Mencius, and far superior to the Xunzi. The ideological concepts in the book not only played an important role in the establishment of the ruling orthodox ideology of the ancient dynasties, but also served as an important theoretical source for the Song and Ming philosophies, and played a key role in the formation of Neo-Confucianism in later generations. Therefore, in order to study the characteristics of traditional Chinese thought and culture, the Book of Rites is a classic work that deserves great attention.

Fourth, Zheng Xuan and the "Three Rites"

Zheng Xuan, word Kangcheng, Beihai Gao Mi (present-day Gaomi County, Shandong Province) people. He was a master of Confucianism at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He studied the Confucian classics and spent his life organizing the ancient cultural heritage, which led to a "Small Unification Era" of Confucianism. Zheng Xuan first studied under the fifth Yuanxian of Jingzhao to learn the modern scriptures, and then studied under Zhang Gongzu of Dongxian to learn the ancient scriptures. Later, he studied under Ma Rong, who was a famous master of Confucianism at that time. Zheng Xuan's writings were rich, "Where Xuan's annotations of the Zhouyi, Shangshu, Mao Poetry, Yili, Ritual, Analects ......, where more than a million words". Zheng Xuan all over the note group of scriptures, and especially important rituals, "Kang Cheng note scriptures, 'three rituals' first, read fourteen years to be accomplished, the most in-depth effort." Zheng Xuan's "Note on the Three Rites" was the source for later scholars of ritual, so Kong Yingda said, "Ritual is the study of Zheng."

At the end of East Han Dynasty, before Zheng Xuan's "Three Rites", there was no name of "Three Rites". Since Zheng Xuan note "Zhouli", "Yili", "Rites of Passage", began to "pass for the "Three Rites" Yan". On the basis of the research results of Zheng Xing, Zheng Zhong, Jia Kui and others before him, Zheng Xuan "encompassed the great canons and gathered many schools of thought", and made a commentary on the Zhou Rites, which was the first time that the study of the Zhou Rites was seriously organized and summarized. In response to the social unrest at the end of the Han Dynasty, the collapse of feudal rites and laws, and the chaotic situation of peasant uprisings, Zheng Xuan believed that "governance is in the people, and governance is also in the rites", and that "the rites of passage are the foundation of the state", so in the exposition of the Rites of the Zhou, he emphasized the following Therefore, in the interpretation of the Zhou Rites, he emphasized the idea of "defining names, ordering the system of respect and subordination, and honoring the section of respect" in order to achieve the purpose of maintaining the feudal hierarchy. Since the introduction of Zheng Xuan's "Zhou Ritual Commentary", all other books have been abolished. Zheng Xuan compared the similarities and differences between the ancient and modern texts, synthesized the strengths of the ancient and modern texts, collated and revised the Rites of Passage, and made notes for it. Since then, Zheng Xuan's study has flourished, and the Rites of Passage that we see today is Zheng Xuan's text, while the Dai and Xiaodai texts and the Qingpu text have been lost. Zheng Xuan's commentary on the Rites of Passage is simple and clear, unlike the elaborate and complicated scriptures of the Han Dynasty, and thus surpasses all other schools and has been passed on to future generations. Zheng Xuan is from the East County Zhang Gongzu received the "Book of Rites", Zheng note out and make the "Book of Rites" out of the "Rites of Passage" and alone, and with the "Zhou Rites", "Rites of Passage" enjoy the same status, tripod for three, so that the study of rituals began a new era.