Analects 3.10: 八佾 (Ba Yi)
Confucius and his disciples · Classical Chinese original · new English translation and commentary by Text Atlas
Overview
Book 3 examines what gives ritual its authority and meaning. Household displays borrow the forms of rulers, while humaneness, restraint, grief, and reverence test what those forms can express. Questions about poetry, inherited rites, sacrifice, and music show understanding at work: a learner carries an image further, the Master asks about everything, and a musical whole holds its parts together. Rulers and ministers each receive a standard of conduct. The book ends by distinguishing beauty from goodness and by asking what high office, ritual, and mourning are worth without the qualities they require.
Analects 3.10
子曰、禘、自既灌而往者、吾不欲觀之矣。
The Master said, “At the di sacrifice, once the libation has been poured, I have no wish to watch further.”
Commentary
ritual The point at which he stops watching 禘 names the di sacrifice, which Legge calls the “great sacrifice.” 灌 is the libation, a ritual pouring of a drink. The Master identifies a point after which he does not wish to watch, leaving the reason unstated. The following question about the rite’s meaning keeps outward performance and understanding in tension.
Basis: translation-comparison
Confidence: medium