University · Moderate

Chapter 29 The Qi Family
[Original text]

The Master said: "Ghosts and gods are virtues, and they are so prosperous! Seeing them is not seen; hearing them is not heard; they are things that can't be left behind. Make all the people in the world obey them in full glory, and perform sacrifices in them. ⑤ Almost! As on it, as on its left and right.

"Poetry" said ⑥: "God's Gesi ⑦, can't be thought about, but can be shot ⑧ thought." 'My husband's insignificance is obvious, and his sincerity cannot be concealed⑨, such a husband! "

【Note】

①Ghosts and gods: Ghosts generally refer to dead ancestors.Ancient superstitionists believed that spirits would not die after death, and called them ghosts.God, an elf with personality and consciousness that is supernatural and can dominate the material world imagined in ancient mythology and religion.

②Consider things without leaving them behind: This sentence basically means that all things are born with the spirit of ghosts and gods, and there is no omission.Body, nourishes all things.Forget, forget, omit.

③ Qiming Shengfu: You must bathe and fast before offering sacrifices to show reverence.Qi (zhāi), the same as "zhai", fasting.Bright and clean.

④ Sacrifice by inheritance: inheritance, responsibility, and service.Sacrifice refers to offering sacrifices to ghosts and gods.Sacrifice (sì), worship. "Zuo Zhuan Wen Gong Two Years": "Sacrifice is a major event of the country."

⑤Yangyang: The appearance of flowing and floating.

⑥ "Poetry" said: These few lines of poems come from the chapter "The Book of Songs Daya".This poem mainly exhorts the rulers of the Zhou Dynasty to cultivate morality and propriety, and accuses some rulers of being fatuous and incompetent.

[-] Gesi: grid, to, coming. "Shang Shu Shun Dian": "The emperor said: 'Ge, Ru Shun'".思, modal particle, meaningless.

[-] degrees: speculation.矧 (shěn): Besides.Shoot (yì): Disgust, slack and disrespectful.

⑨Micro-distinct: micro, subtle.This refers to the hidden nothingness of ghosts and gods.Obviously, obviously.Here it means that ghosts and gods can show misfortunes and blessings in the world, so they are obvious.Cover (yǎn): The meaning of covering up.

【Translation】

Confucius said: "The merits and virtues performed by ghosts and gods are really grand! You can't see their shape when you look at them, and you can't hear their sounds. However, all things grow and nurture with the spirit of ghosts and gods, so they can't be forgotten. Let the people of the world People, during the sacrificial season, fast and purify their minds and bathe, wear gorgeous sacrificial clothes, and worship the sacrifices devoutly. When the sacrificial ceremony is held, the mighty, ghosts and gods seem to float above people in a soothing manner, and seem to flow and fill people's hearts. beside.

"The Book of Songs" said: "Ghosts and gods come, their whereabouts are unpredictable, how can we be slack and disrespectful to them?" 'The deeds of ghosts and gods are originally hidden and empty, but their merits and virtues are so obvious. From subtle to obvious, the sincerity of virtue cannot be concealed like this! "

[Zhu Xi Tips]

Right No.16 chapter.

【Translation】

Zhu Xi said that the above paragraph is Chapter No.16.

(End of this chapter)