THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST 22

THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST 22

BK. xxxi. PAN SANG. 367 rites were not the presiding mourner on the occa- sion 1 , then that presiding mourner, instead of him, bowed to the visitors and escorted them. 7. When one hurried to the rites, even where they were less than those for a mother or father, which required the wearing of sackcloth, with even edge or frayed, he entered the gate at the left side of it, and stood in the middle of the court-yard with his face to the north, wailing and giving full vent to his sorrow. He put on the cincture for the head and the sackcloth girdle in the corridor on the east, and repaired to his place, where he bared his arms. Then he wailed along with the presiding mourner, and went through the leaping. For the wailing on the second day and the third, they wore the cincture and bared the arms. If there were visitors, the presiding mourner bowed to them on their arrival, and escorted them. The husbands and wives (of the family) waited for him at the wailing-places for every morning and evening, without making any change. 8. When one hurries to the mourning rites for a mother, he wails with his face to the west, giving full vent to his sorrow. He then ties up his hair, bares his arms, descends from the hall, and goes to his station on the east, where, with his face to the west, he wails and goes through the leaping. After that, he covers his arms and puts on the cincture and sash in the corridor on the east. He bows to the visitors, and escorts them (to the gate) in the same way as if he had hurried to the rites for his x This seems to imply that, in the preceding paragraphs, he had been the principal mourner. 368 THE Li K$. bk. xxxi. father. At the wailing on the day after, he does not tie up his hair. 9. When a wife 1 hurried to the mourning rites, she went up to the hall by the (side) steps on the east, and knelt on the east of the coffin with her face to the west. There she wailed, giving full vent to her grief. Having put on the lower cincture on the east 2 , she went to the station (for wailing), and there leaped alternately with the presiding mourner. 10. When one, hurrying to the mourning rites, did not arrive while the coffin with the body was still in the house, he first went to the grave ; and there kneeling with his face to the north, he wailed, giving full vent to his sorrow. The principal mourners have been waiting for him (at the grave), and have taken their stations, — the men on the left of it, and the wives on the right. Having gone through the leap- ing, and given full expression to his sorrow, he tied up his hair, and went to the station of the principal mourners on the east. In his headband of sack- cloth, and sash with the ends tucked up, he wailed and went through the leaping. He then bowed to the visitors, and returned to his station, going (again) through the leaping, after which the director an- nounced that the business was over 3 . 11. He then put on the cap, and returned to the 1 An aunt, sister, or daughter of the family, who was married, and hurried to the family home from her husband's. 2 I suppose this was in the corridor on the east. The rule was for the women to dress in an apartment ; but a distinction was made between those residing in the house, and those who returned to it for the occasion. 3 It is understood that this mourner was the eldest and rightful son of the deceased. BK. XXXI. PAN SANG. 369 house. There he entered at the left side of the door, and, with his face to the north, wailed and gave full vent to his sorrow. He then tied up his hair, bared his arms, and went through the leaping. Going to his station on the east, he bowed to the visitors, and went through the leaping. When the visitors went out, the presiding mourner bowed to them, and escorted them. When other visitors after- wards arrived, he bowed to them, went through the leaping, and escorted them in the same way. All the principal mourners and their cousins went out at the gate, wailed there and stopped, when the directors instructed them to go to the shed. At the wailing next day, he bound up his hair and went through the leaping. At the third wailing, he did the same. On the third day he completed his mourning dress (as was required). After the fifth wailing, the director announced that the business was over. 12. Wherein the usages at the rites for a mother differed from those at the rites for a father, was that there was but one tying up of the hair. After that the cincture was worn to the end of the business. In other respects the usages were the same as at the rites for a father. 13. At the rites for other relations, after those for the mother or father, the mourner who did not arrive while the coffin was in the house, first went to the grave, and there wailed with his face to the west, giving full vent to his sorrow. He then put on the cincture and hempen sash, and went to his station on the east, where he wailed with the presiding mourner, and went through the leaping. After this he covered his arms ; and if there were visitors, the presiding mourner bowed to them and escorted them away. [28] b b -*70 THE Li kL BK. XXXI. 3 If any other visitors afterwards came, he bowed to them, as in the former case, and the director an- nounced that the business was over. Immediately after he put on the cap, and returned to the house. Entering at the left side of the door, he wailed with his face to the north, giving full vent to his sorrow. He then put on the cincture, bared his arms, and went through the leaping. Going then to the station on the east, he bowed to the visitors, and went through the leaping again. When the visitors went out, the presiding mourner bowed to them and escorted them. At the wailing next day, he wore the cincture, bared his arms, and went through the leaping. At the third wailing he did the same. On the third day, he put on his mourning-garb ; and at the fifth wailing, the director announced that the business was over. 14. When one heard of the mourning rites, and it was impossible (in his circumstances) to hurry to be present at them, he wailed and gave full vent to his grief. He then asked the particulars, and (on hear- ing them) wailed again, and gave full vent to his grief. He then made a place (for his mourning) where he was, tied up his hair, bared his arms, and went through the leaping. Having covered his arms, and put on the higher cincture and his sash with the ends tucked up, he went (back) to his place. After bowing to (any visitors that arrived), he returned to the place, and went through the leaping. When the visitors went out, he, as the presiding mourner, bowed to them, and escorted them outside the gate, returning then to his station. If any other visitors came afterwards, he bowed to them and went through the leaping, then escorting them as before. bk. xxxi. PAN SANG. 371 At the wailing next day, he tied up his hair, bared his arms, and went through the leaping. At the third wailing he did the same. On the third day, he put on his mourning-garb, wailed, bowed to his visitors, and escorted them as before. 15. If one returned home after the mourning rites had been completed, he went to the grave, and there wailed and went through the leaping. On the east of it, he tied up his hair, bared his arms, put on the cincture for the head, bowed to the visitors, and went (again) through the leaping. Having escorted the visitors, he returned to his place, and again wailed, giving full vent to his grief. With this he put off his mourning. In the house he did not wail. The principal mourner, in his treatment of him, made no change in his dress ; and though he wailed with him (at the grave), he did not leap. 16. Wherein at other observances than those for the death of a mother or father, the usages (of such a mourner) differed from the above, were in the cincture for the head and the hempen sash. 17. In all cases where one made a place for his mourning (away from home), if it were not on occa- sion of the death of a parent, but for some relative of the classes not so nearly related, he went to the station, and wailed, giving full vent to his sorrow. Having put on the cincture for the head and the girdle on the east, he came back to the station, bared his arms, and went through the leaping. He then covered his arms, bowed to the visitors, went back to the station, wailed, and went through the leaping. (After this), he escorted the guests away, and came back to the station, when the director told him to go to the shed. When the fifth wailing b b 2 372 THE LI kL BK. XXXI. was ended, on the third day, the presiding mourner came forth and escorted the visitors away. All the principal mourners and their cousins went out at the gate, wailed, and stopped there. The director an- nounced to them that the business was ended. He put on his full mourning-garb, and bowed to the visitors \ 1 8. If the home were far distant from the place which an absent mourner has selected (for his wail- ing), they completed all their arrangements about dress before they went to it. 1 9. One hurrying to mourning rites, if they were for a parent, wailed when he looked towards the district (where they had lived) ; if they were for a relation for whom nine months' mourning was due, he wailed when he could see the gate of his house ; if for one to whom five months' mourning was due, he wailed when he got to the door ; if for one to whom but three months' mourning was due, he wailed when he took his station. 20. For one of his father's relations (for whom he did not need to go into mourning) a man wailed in the ancestral temple ; for one of his mother or wife's relatives, in the back chamber of the temple ; for his teacher, outside the gate of the temple ; for a friend, outside the door of the back-chamber ; for an acquaintance, in the open country, having pitched a tent for the occasion. Some say the wailing for a mother's relation was in the temple. 1 The .Oien-lung editors think that this last sentence is an erroneous addition to the paragraph. But with other parts of it there are great difficulties, insoluble difficulties, as some of the commentators allow, BK. xxxi. PAN SANG. 373 21. In all cases where a station was selected, away from the house of mourning, for paying funeral rites, no offerings were put down (for the departed). 22. For the son of Heaven they wailed nine days ; for a feudal prince, seven ; for a high minister and Great officer, five ; for another officer, three. 23. A Great officer, in wailing for the ruler of his state, did not presume to bow to the visitors. 24. Ministers in other states, when they selected a station (for their wailing), did not presume to bow to the visitors. 25. Officers, of the same surname with a feudal prince, (but who were serving in other states), also made a place at which to wail for him (on his death). 26. In all cases where one made a place (at a distance) at which to wail, he bared his arms (only) once. 27. In condoling with (the relations of) an ac- quaintance (after he has been buried), one first wailed in his house, and afterwards went to the grave, in both cases accompanying the wailing with the leaping. He alternated his leaping with that of the presiding mourner, keeping his face towards the north. 28. At all mourning rites (in a household), if the father were alive, he acted as presiding mourner ; if he were dead, and brothers lived together in the house, each presided at the mourning for one of his own family-circle. If two brothers were equally related to the deceased for whom rites were neces- sary, the eldest presided at those rites ; if they were not equally related, the one most nearly so presided. 374 THE Li jrf. BK. XXXI. 29. When one heard of the death of a brother or cousin at a distance, but the news did not arrive till the time which his own mourning for him would have taken had expired 1 , he (notwithstanding) put on the mourning cincture, bared his arms, and went through the leaping. He bowed to his visitors, however, with the left hand uppermost 2 . 30. The only case in which a place was chosen in which to wail for one for whom mourning was not worn, was the death of a sister-in-law, the wife of an elder brother. For a female member of the family who had married, and for whom therefore mourning was not worn, the hempen sash was assumed. 31. When one had hurried to the mourning rites, and a Great officer came (to condole with him), he bared his arms, and bowed to him. When he had gone through the leaping, he covered his arms. In the case of a similar visit from an ordinary officer, he covered his arms, and then bowed to him. 1 The deceased would have been only in the degree of relation- ship, to which five months' mourning was assigned. 2 The left hand uppermost made the bow one more appropriate to a festive occasion. BOOK XXXII. WAN SANG OR QUESTIONS ABOUT MOURNING RITES 1 . i. Immediately after his father's death, (the son put off his cap, and) kept his hair, with the pin in it, in the bag (of silk) ; went barefoot, with the skirt of his dress tucked up under his girdle ; and wailed with his hands across his breast. In the bitterness of his grief, and the distress and pain of his thoughts, his kidneys were injured, his liver dried up, and his lungs scorched, while water or other liquid did not enter his mouth, and for three days fire was not kindled (to cook anything for him). On this account the neighbours prepared for him gruel and rice-water, which were his (only) meat and drink. The internal grief and sorrow produced a change in his outward appearance ; and with the severe pain in his heart, his mouth could not relish any savoury food, nor his body find ease in anything pleasant. 2. On the third day there was the (slighter) dressing (of the corpse). While the body was on the couch it was called the corpse ; when it was put into the coffin, it was called ￡iu. At the moving of the corpse, and lifting up of the coffin, (the son) wailed and leaped, times without number. Such was the bitterness of his heart, and the pain of his thoughts, so did his grief and sorrow fill his mind and 1 See the introductory notice, vol.xxvii, pp. 47, 48. 4 * 376 THE LI Kl. BK. XXXII. agitate his spirit, that he bared his arms and leaped, seeking by the movement of his limbs to obtain some comfort to his heart and relief to his spirit. The women could not bare their arms, and there- fore they (merely) pushed out the breast, and smote upon their hearts, moving" their feet with a sliding, hopping motion, and with a constant, heavy sound, like the crumbling away of a wall. The expression of grief, sorrow, and deep-seated pain was extreme ; hence it is said, ' With beating of the breast and movement of the feet, did they sorrowfully accom- pany the body ; so they escorted it away, and so did they come back to meet its essential part.' When (the mourners) went, accompanying the coffin (to the grave), they looked forward, with an expression of eagerness, as if they were following some one, and unable to get up to him. When returning to wail, they looked disconcerted, as if they were seeking some one whom they could not find. Hence, when escorting (the coffin), they appeared full of affectionate desire ; when returning, they appeared full of perplexity. They had sought the (deceased), and could not find him ; they entered the gate, and did not see him ; they went up to the hall, and still did not see him ; they entered his chamber, and still did not see him ; he was gone ; he was dead ; they should see him again nevermore. Therefore they wailed, wept, beat their breasts, and leaped, giving full vent to their sorrow, before they ceased. Their minds were disappointed, pained, fluttered, and indignant. They could do nothing more with their wills ; they could do nothing but continue sad. 3. In presenting the sacrifice (of repose) in the BK. XXXII. WAN SANG. 377 ancestral temple 1 , (the son) offered it (to his parent) in his disembodied state, hoping that his shade would peradventure return (and enjoy it). When he came back to the house from completing the grave, he did not venture to occupy his chamber, but dwelt in the mourning shed, lamenting that his parent was now outside. He slept on the rushes, with a clod for his pillow, lamenting that his parent was in the ground. Therefore he wailed and wept, without regard to time ; he endured the toil and grief for three years. His heart of loving thoughts showed the mind of the filial son, and was the real expression of his human feelings. 4. Some one may ask, ' Why does the dressing not commence till three days after death ? ' and the answer is : — When his parent is dead, the filial son is sad and sorrowful, and his mind is full of trouble. He crawls about and bewails his loss, as if the dead might come back to life ; — how can he hurriedly take (the corpse) and proceed to dress it ? There- fore, when it is said that the dressing does not begin till after three days, the meaning is, that (the son) is waiting that time to see if (his father) will come to life. When after three days there is no such return, the father is not alive, and the heart of the filial son is still more downcast. (During this space, moreover), the means of the family can be calculated, and the clothes that are necessary can be provided and made accordingly ; the relations and connexions who live at a distance can also arrive. Therefore the sages decided in the case 1 ' Not the structure so called,' says Khung Ying-ta, ' but the apartment where the coffin had been ;' — now serving for the occasion as a temple. 378 THE Li ￡T. BK. XXXII. that three days should be allowed, and the rule was made accordingly. 5. Some one may ask, ' How is it that one with the cap on does not bare his arms, and show the naked body ? ' and the answer is : — The cap is the most honourable article of dress, and cannot be worn where the body is bared, and the flesh ex- posed. Therefore the cincture for the head is worn instead of the cap, (when the arms are bared). 6. And so, when a bald man does not wear the cincture, and a hunchback does not bare his arms, and a lame man does not leap, it is not that they do not feel sad, but they have an infirmity which prevents them from fully discharging the usages. Hence it is said that in the rites of mourning it is the sorrow that is the principal thing. When a daughter wails, weeps, and is sad, beats her breast, and wounds her heart; and when a son wails, weeps, is sad, and bows down till his forehead touches the ground, without regard to elegance of demeanour, this may be accepted as the highest expression of sorrow. 7. Some one may ask, 'What is the idea in the cincture ? ' and the reply is : — The cincture is what is worn while uncapped. The Rule says, ' Boys do not wear (even) the three months' mourn- ing; it is only when the family has devolved on one that he does so.' The cincture, we may sup- pose, was what was worn in the three months' mourning (by a boy). If he had come to be the representative of the family, he wore the cincture, and carried the staff. 8. Some one may ask, ' What is meant by (using) the staff?' and the answer is : — The staff of bamboo BK. xxxn. WAN SANG. 379 and that ofelaeococcus wood have the same mean- ing. Hence, for a father they used the black staff of bamboo ; and for a mother, the square-cut staff, an elaeococcus branch \ 9. Some one may say, ' What is meant by (using) the staff ? ' and the answer is : — 'When a filial son mourns for a parent, he wails and weeps without regard to the number of times ; his endurances are hard for three years ; his body becomes ill and his limbs emaciated ; and so he uses a staff to support his infirmity. 10. Thus, while his father is alive he does not dare to use a staff, because his honoured father is still living. Walking in the hall, he does not use the staff; — refraining from doing so in the place where his honoured father is. Nor does he walk hastily in the hall, — to show that he is not hurried. Such is the mind of the filial son, the real expres- sion of human feeling, the proper method of pro- priety and righteousness. It does not come down from heaven, it does not come forth from the earth ; it is simply the expression of the human feelings. 1 On Book XIII, i, 3 the .A^ien-lung editors say, that the staff of old men was carried with the root up, and the other end down ; but the opposite was the case with the mourner's staff. In break- ing off a branch from the elaeococcus, the part which has been torn from the stem is cut square and smooth with a knife. The round stem of the bamboo cane is said by Kh&xi Hao to symbolise heaven, and so is carried for a father ; and the square cut end of the dryandria branch, to symbolise earth, and so is used for a mother. But this fanciful explanation seems to be contrary to what is said in the conclusion of the next paragraph. BOOK XXXIII. FU WAN OR SUBJECTS FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT THE MOURNING DRESS 1 . i. The Directory for Mourning says, 'There are cases in which parties wear deep mourning, while those, in consequence of their connexion with whom they assume it, wear only light.' Such is the mourn- ing for her husband's mother by the wife of the son of a ruler (by a concubine) 2 . 2. ' There are cases in which parties wear light mourning, while those, in consequence of their con- nexion with whom they assume it, wear deep mourn- ing.' Such is the mourning of a husband for the father or mother of his wife 3 . 3. ' There are cases in which parties wear mourn- ing, while those, in consequence of their connexion with whom they have a relation with the deceased, wear none.' Such is the case of the wife of a ruler's 1 See the introductory notice, vol. xxvii, page 48. 2 Such a son of a ruler could wear for his mother only the nine months' mourning, as she was but a concubine with an inferior position in the family ; but his wife wore mourning for her for a whole year. She was her husband's mother, and the general rule for mourning in such a relation was observed by the wife, without regard to the deceased being only a concubine, and whether the ruler were alive or dead. 3 The wife, of course, observed the three years' mourning for her father or mother ; the husband only the three months. BK. XXXIII. f{j wan. 381 son with the cousins of her husband on the female side x . 4. ' There are cases in which parties wear no mourning, while those, in consequence of their con- nexion with whom they have a relation with the deceased, do wear mourning.' Such is the case of a rulers son with regard to the father and mother of his wife. 5. The Directory of Mourning says, 'When his mother has been divorced, the son wears mourning for the relatives of the wife whom his father has taken in his mother's place.' When his mother has died 2 (without being divorced), a son wears mourn- ing for her relatives. Wearing mourning for his own mother's relatives, he does not do so for those of the step-mother, whom his father may have taken in her place. 6. After the sacrifice at the end of the first year, during the three years' rites, and after the interment has taken place, during those of one year (occurring at the same time), the mourner puts on the old sash of dolychos cloth, and the headband of the one year's mourning, wearing (at the same time) the sackcloth of the mourning for nine months. 7. The same thing is done (after the interment) during the nine months' mourning. 8. No change is made (after the interment) during the five months' mourning. 1 There is no satisfactory account of this case. 2 AVzan Hao supposed that this mother ' dying ' is the wife whom his father has taken in the place of the son's divorced mother. The is7nen-lung editors rightly point out his error ; but it shows how these notices are perplexing, not only to foreigners, but also to native scholars. 382 THE Li A'f. BK. XXXIII. 9. Where they wore the sash with the roots of hemp wrought into the cloth l , they changed it for the dolychos cloth of the three years' mourning 2 . 10. After the sacrifice at the end of a year, if there occurred an occasion for using the hempen sash with the roots cut off, (the mourner) put on the proper band along with the higher cincture. When the cincture was no longer worn, he put off the band. When it was proper to use the band, the rule was to wear it ; and when the occasion for it was over, it was put off 3 . 11. In the mourning for five months they did not change the cap worn for the sacrifice at the end of a year. If there were occasion to wear the cincture, then they employed the band proper for the mourn- ing of three months or five months ; still keeping on the first dolychos sash. The linen of the three months' mourning did not make it necessary to change the dolychos cloth of the five months ; nor the linen of the five months to change the dolychos cloth of the nine months. Where the roots were woven with the cloth, they made a change. 12. On occasion of mourning for a minor, if he were of the highest grade or the middle, they changed the dolychos cloth of the three years' mourning, assuming it when they had completed the months of these intervening rites. This was done not because of the value set on the linen, but because no change was made at the conclusion of 1 This was done in the mourning for nine months and for one year ; not in that for five months and for three. 2 That is, after the sacrifice at the end of the first year. 3 This is supplementary, say the ^7/ien-lung editors, to para- graph 8. BK. XXXIII. FU WAN. 383 the wailing. They did not observe this rule on the death of a minor of the third or lowest grade. 13. The ruler of a state mourned for the son of Heaven for the three years. His wife observed the rule of a lady of her husband's house who had gone to her own married home in mourning for the ruler 1 . 14. The heir-son of a ruler did not wear mourn- ing for the son of Heaven 2 . 15. A ruler acted as presiding mourner at the mourning rites for his wife, his eldest son, and that son's wife. 16. The eldest son of a Great officer, by his proper wife, wore the mourning of an ordinary officer for the ruler, and for the ruler's wife and eldest son. 1 7. When the mother of a ruler had not been the wife (of the former ruler) 3 , the body of the ministers did not wear mourning (on her death). Only the officers of the harem, the charioteer and the man-at- arms who sat on the left, followed the example of the ruler, wearing the same mourning as he did. 18. For a high minister or Great officer, (during the mourning rites for him), the ruler wore in his place the coarse glazed linen, and also when he went out (on business not connected with the rites). If it were on business connected with them, he wore also the skin-cap and the band round it. Great officers dressed in the same way for one another. At the mourning rites for their wives, they wore the same dress, when they were going to be present at 1 That is, for a year. 2 To avoid suspicion, say the commentators. I do not see it. 3 She must have been a concubine, or some inferior member of the harem. Various circumstances might have concurred to lead to her son's succession to the state. 1 84 THE hi Kl. BK. XXXIII. those rites ; if they went out (on other business), they did not wear it. 19. In all cases of going to see others, the visitor (being in mourning for his parents) did not put off his headband. Even when he was going to the ruler's court, he did not put it off; it was only at the ruler's gate that (in certain circumstances) he put off his sackcloth. The Directory of Mourning says, ' A superior man will not take away from others their mourning rites ; ' and so it was deemed wrong to put off this mourning. 20. The Directory of Mourning says, ' Crimes are many, but the punishments are only five. The occasions for mourning are many, but there are only five varieties of the mourning dress. The occasions must be arranged, according as they are classed in the upper grade or in the lower.' BOOK XXXIV. ArEN AWAN OR TREATISE ON SUBSIDIARY POINTS IN MOURNING USAGES \ 1. What is the reason that the headband worn with the frayed sackcloth, for a father, must be made of the fibres of the female plant ? Those fibres have an unpleasant appearance, and serve to show outwardly the internal distress. The appearance of (the mourners), wearing the sackcloth for a father with its jagged edges, corresponds to those fibres. That of one wearing the sackcloth for a mother with its even edges, corresponds to the fibres of the male plant. That of one wearing the mourning; of nine months looks as if (the ebullitions of sorrow) had ceased. For one wearing the mourn- ing of five months or of three, his (ordinary) appear- ance is suitable. These are the manifestations of sorrow in the bodily appearance 2 .