The meaning of Confucius' ritualsWhat Confucius' rituals actually mean

Confucius' Rite of Passage has the main meaning of "behavioral norms". The role of this "rite" includes:

One, the political role, with the so-called "rite system", "rite of passage", the establishment of a variety of rules and regulations, to regulate people's behavior, in order to achieve the goal of the "rite of passage", the "rite of passage". The first is the political role, using the so-called "ritual system", "ritual rule", the establishment of a variety of rules and regulations to regulate people's behavior, in order to achieve the role of the state.

Two, the role of society, with the so-called "rites of passage", through the holiday customs, celebrations, weddings, funerals, sacrifices and other social etiquette, etiquette, to regulate people's behavior, in order to achieve the role of changing customs.

Three, the role of the human heart consciously, the so-called "people but not benevolent, how to rituals", which is the biggest contribution of Confucius, Confucius gave the rigidity of the "rites" and "benevolent" soul, hoping that through education, people will have a better understanding of the concept of "rites" and "benevolence", and will be able to understand the meaning of "rites" and "benevolence". This is the greatest contribution of Confucius, who gave the rigid "ritual" and "benevolence" a soul, and expected that through education, people would be able to look at their own lives from the external behavioral norms, so as to awaken their own souls and become a gentleman with the will to offer and cultivate moral character.

The rites of passage require each member of society to abide by certain social relationships, and they also place certain moral responsibilities on each member of society. If people abide by these relationships and fulfill their moral responsibilities, the society will be stable; on the contrary, the order will be disrupted and the society will be unstable. The rituals of daily life are quite detailed and complicated, but it is the rituals that, while regulating what people say and do, form the broad basis of a stable social order.

Confucius's experience

Confucius's ancestor was a nobleman from Liyi, the state of Song (present-day Xiayi, Henan Province), and his ancestor was Shang Tang, the founding monarch of the Shang Dynasty. In order to appease the nobles and descendants of the Shang Dynasty after the rebellion of the Three Supervisors at the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the Duke of Zhou, by order of King Cheng of Zhou, sealed Weiziqi, the brother of King Zhou of Shang, to establish the state of Song in Shangqiu, where he was worshipped by Yin and Shang. After the death of Weiziqi, his brother Weizhong assumed the throne, and Weizhong was the fifteenth ancestor of Confucius.

The sixth ancestor of Confucius was Kung Fu Jia (孔父嘉). Kong Fu Jia was a great physician of the state of Song, and was once the Grand Secretary of State, with his fiefdom located in Liyi, the state of Song, before he was killed by the Imperial Commissioner Hua Du during the civil unrest in the court. The son of Kong Fujia was Mu Jinfu, the son of Mu Jinfu was Kong Fangshu, and the grandson of Kong Fangshu, Shulianghe, was the father of Kong Zi. Shulianghe fled from the war in the State of Song and settled in Zuoyi of the State of Lu (present-day Qufu in Shandong Province), where he held the post of Daifu of Zuoyi.

Shilianghe's wife, Shi, had nine daughters but no sons, and his concubine gave birth to his eldest son, Mengpi. Shulianghe was dissatisfied with Mengpi's foot disease, so he asked Yan's daughter to be his concubine.

Yan had three daughters, but only her youngest daughter, Yan Zhengzhai, was willing to marry Shulianghe. Yan Zhengzai was less than twenty years old at the time, while Shulianghe was already sixty-six years old, a huge age difference, so the two people for the marriage is not in accordance with the rites of passage, the couple lived in Nishan and got pregnant, so it is called "wild".