Analects 3.14: 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 3.14
子曰、周監於二代、郁郁乎文哉、吾從周。
The Master said, “Zhou looked to the two dynasties before it. How rich its cultural tradition is! I follow Zhou.”
Commentary
ritual Choosing a tradition that has learned The phrase “two dynasties” points back to Xia and Yin, whose rites were discussed above. Zhou’s looking to them makes its inheritance a considered relation to earlier practice. 文 here names the richness of its cultural tradition. “I follow Zhou” turns appreciation into a stated allegiance.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: medium