A CASE OF RITUALISM 137 



the empire of Chow (Li, 894-828 B.C.; Yue, 822-812 B.C.). 

 "Where shall I go if I depart from Lu. The Chiao and the 

 Ti of Lu are illegitimate and sinful. The Law of the Duke 

 of Chow has gone to decay." The guilt of Lu cannot be 

 extenuated by adducing the practice of the sacrifices of the 

 Chiao by the Dukes of Ch'i*and Sung. | These have some 

 justification, because they are descended from the royal 

 Houses of YuJ and Hsieh. § They maintain the ancestral 

 customs of kings : and as the commentators add 

 "The Statutes of the ancestors 

 Should be cherished by the descendants." 



Thus we see that Confucius grieved not only over Lu, 

 but also over the conditions of the moral life of the Empire 

 generally./ These deteriorations in the institutions cul- 

 minated in the times of Li and Yu just mentioned : but 

 whether these men introduced customs specially detrimental, 

 or whether their names were reprobated in a general way 

 by Confucius is not clear. But it is very clear that he 

 expressed his sorrow on the moral and spiritual conditions of 

 affairs in the empire. 



Dr. Ku Liang || makes certain general observations on 

 these matters mentioned in the Chronicles, (a) There was 

 want of proper care in watching the sacred animals, proving 

 that the daily inspection of the growing horns had been 

 neglected. For if this duty had been faithfully carried out 

 the presence of the venomous mice or rats could have been 

 early detected. (It may be asked whether these mice or 

 rats were plague carriers). (b) That the times for the 

 observation of the Chiao in Lu were arbitarily shifted, 

 (c) That the divination also was arbitary very often. Thus 

 he reaches the conclusion that the practices of Lu were 

 irregular. Nevertheless he too fails to lay his finger on the 

 vital point. He has simply considered the accidental and 

 not fundamental irregularity of the proceedings. For this he 

 is brought to task by Dr. Lin. 



Dr. Lin of San Shan^j states that Ku Liang and the two 

 other authors of the Three Books did not appreciate the 

 fundamental idea of the spring and autumn Chiao. For 

 the simple reason that they paid attention to minor points 

 and details relating to the ceremonial and neglected to deter- 

 mine the fundamental issue. "This is often the failing of 

 scholars — it is marvellous how often they can err ! ' ' These 

 men nibble at the question of why the mice bit the horns; 

 why this divination was unsuccessful and so on. What they 

 should have done says Dr. Lin was to decide whether the 



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