Analects 3.2: 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 3.2
三家者、以雍徹。子曰、相維辟公、天子穆穆、奚取於三家之堂。
The three families accompanied the clearing of the sacrificial vessels with the Yong hymn. The Master said, “‘Lords and princes assist; the Son of Heaven stands in solemn dignity.’ What place do these words have in the halls of the three families?”
Commentary
ritual A song names its occasion The quoted words supply a royal setting: lords and princes assist the Son of Heaven. Confucius asks how those words fit the three families’ halls. The ritual song carries relationships and claims to standing into the room where it is sung; its words are part of what the act means.
Basis: textual-inference
Confidence: high