| | 曲禮上: |
將即席，容毋怍。兩手摳衣去齊尺。衣毋撥，足毋蹶。先生書策琴瑟在前，坐而遷之，戒勿越。虛坐盡後，食坐盡前。坐必安，執爾顏。長者不及，毋儳言。正爾容，聽必恭。毋剿說，毋雷同。必則古昔，稱先王。 |
| Qu Li I: |
When (a pupil) is about to go to his mat, he should not look discomposed. With his two hands he should hold up his lower garment, so that the bottom of it may be a cubit from the ground. His clothes should not hang loosely about him, nor should there be any hurried movements of his feet. If any writing or tablets of his master, or his lute or cithern be in the way, he should kneel down and remove them, taking care not to disarrange them. When sitting and doing nothing, he should keep quite at the back (of his mat); when eating, quite at the front of it. He should sit quietly and keep a watch on his countenance. If there be any subject on which the elder has not touched, let him not introduce it irregularly. Let him keep his deportment correct, and listen respectfully. Let him not appropriate (to himself) the words (of others), nor (repeat them) as (the echo does the) thunder. If he must (adduce proofs), let them be from antiquity, with an appeal to the ancient kings. |
| | 曲禮上: |
客若降等執食興辭，主人興辭於客，然後客坐。主人延客祭：祭食，祭所先進。殽之序，遍祭之。三飯，主人延客食胾，然後辯殽。主人未辯，客不虛口。 |
| Qu Li I: |
If a guest be of lower rank (than his entertainer), he should take up the rice, rise and decline (the honour he is receiving). The host then rises and refuses to allow the guest (to retire). After this the guest will resume his seat. When the host leads on the guests to present an offering (to the father of cookery), they will begin with the dishes which were first brought in. Going on from the meat cooked on the bones they will offer of all (the other dishes). After they have eaten three times, the host will lead on the guests to take of the sliced meat, from which they will go on to all the other dishes. A guest should not rinse his mouth with spirits till the host has gone over all the dishes. |
| | 曾子問: |
曾子問曰：「古者師行，必以遷廟主行乎？」 |
| Zengzi Wen: |
Zeng-zi asked, 'Anciently when an army went on an expedition, was it not first necessary to carry with it the spirit-tablets that had been removed from their shrines?' |
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孔子曰：「天子巡守，以遷廟主行，載于齊車，言必有尊也。今也取七廟之主以行，則失之矣。當七廟、五廟無虛主；虛主者，唯天子崩，諸侯薨與去其國，與祫祭於祖，為無主耳。吾聞諸老聃曰：天子崩，國君薨，則祝取群廟之主而藏諸祖廟，禮也。卒哭成事而後，主各反其廟。君去其國，大宰取群廟之主以從，禮也。祫祭於祖，則祝迎四廟之主。主，出廟入廟必蹕；老聃云。」 |
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Confucius said, 'When the son of Heaven went on his tours of Inspection, he took (one of) those tablets along with him, conveying it in the carriage of Reverence, thus intimating how it was felt necessary to have with him that object of honour. The practice now-a-days of taking the tablets of the seven temple-shrines along with them on an expedition is an error. No shrine in all the seven (of the king), or in the five of the prince of a state, ought to be (left) empty. A shrine can only be so left without its tablet, when the son of Heaven has died, or the prince of a state deceased, or left his state, or when all the tablets are brought together at the united sacrifice, in the shrine-temple of the highest ancestor. I heard the following statement from Lao Dan: "On the death of the son of Heaven, or of the prince of a state, it is the rule that the officer of prayer should take the tablets from all the other shrines and deposit them in that of the high ancestor, When the wailing was over, and the business (of placing the tablet of the deceased in its shrine) was completed, then every other tablet was restored to its shrine. When a ruler abandoned his state, it was the rule that the Grand minister should take the tablets from all the shrines and follow him. When there was the united sacrifice in the shrine of the high ancestor, the officer of prayer met (and received) the tablets from the four shrines. When they were taken from their shrines or carried back to them all were required to keep out of the way." So said Lao Dan.' |
| | 曾子問: |
曾子問曰：「三年之喪，吊乎？」 |
| Zengzi Wen: |
Zeng-zi asked, 'May one, wearing the three years' mourning for a parent, go to condole with others?' |
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孔子曰：「三年之喪，練，不群立，不旅行。君子禮以飾情，三年之喪而吊哭，不亦虛乎？」 |
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Confucius said, 'On the completion of the first of the three years, one should not be seen standing with others, or going along in a crowd. With a superior man the use of ceremonies is to give proper and elegant expression to the feelings. Would it not be an empty form to go and condole and wail with others, while wearing the three years' mourning?' |
| | 玉藻: |
君若賜之爵，則越席再拜稽首受，登席祭之，飲卒爵而俟君卒爵，然後授虛爵。君子之飲酒也，受一爵而色灑如也，二爵而言言斯，禮已三爵而油油以退，退則坐取屨，隱辟而後屨，坐左納右，坐右納左。 |
| Yu Zao: |
If the ruler gave a cup (of drink) to an officer, he crossed over from his mat, bowed twice, laid his head to the ground and received it. Resuming his place, he poured a portion of it as an offering, drank it off, and waited. When the ruler had finished his cup, he then returned his empty. The rule for a superior man in drinking (with the ruler) was this:--When he received the first cup, he wore a grave look; when he received the second, he looked pleased and respectful. With this the ceremony stopped. At the third cup, he looked self-possessed and prepared to withdraw. Having withdrawn, he knelt down and took his shoes, retired out of the ruler's (sight) and put them on. Kneeling on his left knee, he put on the right shoe; kneeling on the right knee, he put on the left one. |
| | 祭義: |
孝子將祭，慮事不可以不豫；比時具物，不可以不備；虛中以治之。宮室既修，墻屋既設，百物既備，夫婦齊戒沐浴，盛服奉承而進之，洞洞乎，屬屬乎，如弗勝，如將失之，其孝敬之心至也與！薦其薦俎，序其禮樂，備其百官，奉承而進之。於是諭其志意，以其恍惚以與神明交，庶或饗之。「庶或饗之」，孝子之志也。 |
| Ji Yi: |
When a filial son is about to sacrifice, he is anxious that all preparations should be made beforehand; and when the time arrives, that everything necessary should be found complete; and then, with a mind free from all pre-occupation, he should address himself to the performance of his sacrifice. The temple and its apartments having been repaired, the walls and roofs having been put in order, and all the assisting officers having been provided, husband and wife, after vigil and footing, bathe their heads and persons, and array themselves in full dress. In coming in with the things which they carry, how grave and still are they! how absorbed in what they do! as if they were not able to sustain their weight, as if they would let them fall - Is not theirs the highest filial reverence? He sets forth the stands with the victims on them; arranges all the ceremonies and music; provides the officers for, the various ministries. These aid in sustaining and bringing in the things, and thus he declares his mind and wish, and in his lost abstraction of mind seeks to have communion with the dead in their spiritual state, if peradventure they will enjoy his offerings, if peradventure they will do so. Such is the aim of the filial son (in his sacrifices)! |
