 |
The Book of Rites 1 |
|||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
Selections from The Li Ki is one of the 'Five Chinese Classics'. This title is usually translated the Book of Rites. The work is a compilation of assorted texts which describe Chinese religious practices from the eighth to the fifth century B.C. It was first written down about 200 B.C. This work is of interest because of the minute description of Chinese culture from this period, including funerary rites, clothing, cosmological theories, astronomy, economy, geography, history, family structure, the Imperial court, music, crime and punishment, horticulture, and even some exotic recipes. ******* Always and in everything let there be reverence one is thinking deeply, and with speech composed and definite. This will make the people tranquil. Pride should not be allowed to grow; the desires should not be indulged; the will should not be gratified to the full; pleasure should not be carried to excess. Men of talents and virtue can be familiar with others and yet respect them; can stand in awe of others and yet love them. They love others and yet acknowledge the evil that is in them. They accumulate (wealth) and yet are able to part with it (to help the needy); they rest in what gives them satisfaction and yet can seek satisfaction elsewhere (when it is desirable to do so). When you find wealth within your reach, do not try to get it by improper means; when you meet with calamity, do not (try to) escape from it by improper means. Do not seek for victory in small contentions; do not seek for more than your proper share. 5. Do not positively affirm what you have doubts about; and (when you have no doubts), do not let what you say appear (simply) as your own view. We know that the parrot and some other birds can be taught to speak; but I do not know that any animal has been taught to enunciate words even as these birds do. When one is ten years old, we call him a boy; he goes to school. When he is twenty, we call him a youth; he is capped. When he is thirty, we say, 'He is at his maturity;' he has a wife. When he is forty, we say, 'He is in his vigour;' he is employed in office. When he is fifty, we say, 'He is getting grey;' he can discharge all the duties of an officer. When he is sixty, we say, 'He is getting old;' he gives directions and instructions. When he is seventy, we say, 'He is old;' he delegates his duties to others. At eighty or ninety, we say of him, 'He is very old.' When he is seven, we say that he is an object of pitying love. Such a child and one who is very old, though they may be chargeable with crime, are not subjected to punishment. At a hundred, he is called a centenarian, and has to be fed. |
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
