(49) Four systems of mourning clothes

The general principle of formulating rituals is to take the law from heaven and earth, imitate the four times, conform to yin and yang, and understand human feelings. Those who slander the rites have no idea how the rites are formulated. There are auspicious rites and fierce rites, and the practices of the two are very different, and they should not be confused, that is, they are taken from yin and yang. There are four principles of mourning dress, and to adopt one of them according to the time is to take the law from the four seasons. Among the four principles, they are either emotional, intellectual, principled, or flexible, which is based on human feelings. It is an emotional thing, an expression of benevolence; What is intellectual, is the expression of righteousness; Something that belongs to the principle is the expression of propriety; It is the expression of wisdom that belongs to flexibility. With benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, the morality of being a human being is complete.

If the feelings are deep, the mourning clothes will be heavy, so the father must be beheaded and mourned for three years when he dies, which is based on the principle of feelings. mourning for people who are related by blood, feelings are more important than reason; For those who are not related by blood, reason is more important than emotion. Serve the king with the attitude of serving his father, and level the respect for both. The retainers respect the doctor, and the subjects respect the Son of Heaven and the princes, which is the most important thing in righteousness. Therefore, when the Son of Heaven, the princes, and the princes died, as his subjects or retainers, they also had to be beheaded and mourned for three years. This is based on the principle of reason.

For the funeral of parents, you can drink porridge after three days, wash your hair after three months, and change to wear a crown after the anniversary, although you are extremely sad and your body is very weak, but it will not endanger your life, which reflects the principle of not hurting the living because of the dead. The longest mourning period is not more than three years, and the mourning clothes are no longer repaired, and the grave is no longer filled with soil, and you can play the Suqin when you arrive in Daxiang. All this is to show people that there is a limit to grief, and this is based on a principled spirit. Serving a mother with the attitude of serving a father is the same level of affection for both. However, because there are no two days in the sky, no two kings on the earth, no two kings in the country, and no two masters in the family, only one person can be the supreme leader, so when the father is alive and the mother dies, then he can only surrender to Qi and decline, and the mourning period is one year, to reflect the truth that there are no two masters of the family.

Why do mourners carry crutches? For the mourner is a man of knighthood. When the Son of Heaven died, he was given a mourning rod to the prince on the third day, a funeral rod to the doctor on the fifth day, and a funeral rod to a scholar on the seventh day. Some people don't have titles, why do they carry mourning rods? It is said that because he is the son-in-law, he serves as the mourner, and he has to preside over the funeral. Some people are not sisters-in-law, why do they also carry mourning sticks? It is said that although they were not sisters-in-law, they grieved too much for the loss of their parents, and thus became ill, and needed to be supported with a rod. Girls and boys don't have to carry a cane, because they are still young, they don't grieve deeply, and they don't get sick.

All kinds of people needed for the funeral are all available, and all kinds of items are also available, and the mourner can do it without speaking, so that the mourner can grieve so much that others can support him to stand up. Secondly, everything must wait for the mourner to speak, so that the mourner's grief should be reduced, and the grief should be reduced to the point that he stands up with a mourning stick. Again, everything can only be handled by the mourner, so the mourner's grief will be lighter, as long as the unkempt face is enough to be interesting. In mourning, bald women do not need to wear their hair in a bun, hunchbacked people do not need to be clothed, lame people do not need to jump up when they cry, and the old and sick do not need to stop drinking and eating meat. The above eight things are all formulated according to the principle of flexibility.

A loved one has just passed away, and he cried for the first three days, did not eat or drink, and still cried for the first three months, and was full of grief within the anniversary, and worried for three years. This is as time goes by, and so does the grief of bereavement. The saints made rituals according to the gradual decline of this sorrow, which is why the mourning period must be set at three years, and no filial child can exceed it, and no filial child can fail to reach it. This is a compromise in funeral rites, and it has been practiced by successive kings. "Shangshu" said: Yin Gaozong lived in the house to mourn, and did not talk about state affairs for three years. This is complimenting him.

All kings do not act according to this rule, why should they praise Yin Gaozong alone? The answer is: Yin Gaozong is Wu Ding, Wu Ding is the virtuous king of the Yin Dynasty, after ascending the throne, he devoted himself to living in the house and mourning. During his accession to the throne, the Yin Dynasty turned from decay to revival, and the rites were abandoned and valued, so he was praised. Because he praised him, he specially recorded this incident in the "Book of Shang" and praised it. Three years of mourning, Yin Gaozong lived in the house to mourn, three years without talking about state affairs, the princes did not need to speak, this is what he said. However, the "Book of Filial Piety" says that the filial son does not pay attention to rhetoric during the period of mourning, which seems to be a bit contradictory to what the "Book of Filial Piety" says.

According to the rules of etiquette, when a mourner interacts with others, if it is a mourning of decay, he will only make a "only" voice and not answer the questions of others; If it is the mourning of Qi decay, then you can answer other people's questions, but you can't take the initiative to ask people; If it is a great funeral, then you can take the initiative to ask people, but you can't make comments; If it is the mourning of Shaoma and Xiaogong, then you can make a statement, but you can't talk about it and laugh yet. For the mourning of parents, they should wear filial piety clothes, wear filial piety hats, hat bands made of hemp rope, wear straw sandals on their feet, start to drink some gruel after three days, start to wash their hair after three months, start to change into a crown after the first anniversary of thirteen months, and return to normal life after the auspicious sacrifice in the third year.

After these three stages are completed, if the filial son is a benevolent person, he can see his love from it, and if he is a wise man, he can see his reason, and if he is strong, he can see his will. Use etiquette to govern funerals, use righteousness to correct funerals, whether it is a real filial son, whether it is a real brother and love brother, whether it is a real virgin, can be seen clearly.

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At this point, our "Three Rites" has finally been written, and I believe everyone must have a lot of understanding of the rites. "Three Rites" is the theoretical form of the ancient Han people's ritual and music culture, which has made the most authoritative record and explanation of etiquette and etiquette, and has the most far-reaching influence on the ritual system of all dynasties.

The "Three Rites" records and preserves many rituals of the Zhou Dynasty, among which the "Zhou Rites" focuses on the political system, the "Rites" focuses on the norms of behavior, and the "Book of Rites" focuses on the explanation and discussion of specific etiquette. The sum of the various rituals involved in the "Three Rites" is the entire content of the rituals. "Three Rites" is one of the three Confucian classics of China's ancient political system, and is the blueprint and encyclopedia of China's ancient etiquette system.

Let's take a look at some of the other sentences.