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Chu Hsi's Family Rituals
A Twelfth-Century Chinese Manual for the Performance of Cappings, Weddings, Funerals, and Ancestral Rites
By Chu Hsi, Patricia Buckley Ebrey PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © 1991 Princeton University Press
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-691-03149-1
CHAPTER 1
General Principles of Ritual
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ABSTRACT
1. The Offering Hall
When a man of virtue builds a house his first task is always to set up an offering hall to the east of the main room of his house. For this hall four altars to hold the spirit tablets of the ancestors are made; collateral relatives who died without descendants may have associated offerings made to them there according to their generational seniority. Sacrificial fields should be established and sacrificial utensils prepared. Once the hall is completed, early each morning the master enters the outer gate to pay a visit. All comings and goings are reported there. On New Year's Day, the solstices, and each new and full moon, visits are made. On the customary festivals, seasonal foods are offered, and when an event occurs, reports are made. Should there be flood, fire, robbers, or bandits, the offering hall is the first thing to be saved. The spirit tablets, inherited manuscripts, and then the sacrificial utensils should be moved; only afterward may the family's valuables be taken. As one generation succeeds another, the spirit tablets are reinscribed and moved to their new places.
2. The Method of Fashioning the Long Garment
Fine cloth is used for the material and the finger-based foot for the measurements. The bodice uses four pieces of cloth and extends from the chest down to where the skirt is attached. The skirt is constructed of twelve pieces of cloth. At the top it attaches to the bodice, and it extends to the ankles. The garment has round sleeves, a square-angled neckline, a curved overlap, and a black border. With it are worn a large belt, a black silk cap, a head wrap, and black shoes.
3. Miscellaneous Instructions on Family Life of Mr. Ssu-ma
[No abstract provided.]
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The content of this chapter is devoted to the regular forms of the daily courtesies of families, the ones that cannot be neglected for even one day.
* 1. The Offering Hall
This section originally was part of the chapter on sacrificial rites. Now I have purposely placed it here, making it the first subject, because its contents form the heart of "repaying one's roots and returning to the beginning," the essence of "honoring ancestors and respecting agnatic kin," the true means of preserving status responsibilities in the family, and the foundation for establishing a heritage and transmitting it to later generations. My arrangement will let the reader sense that what is placed first is the most important. This chapter provides the basis for understanding the fine points in the later chapters concerning movements and postures, for walking here and there, getting up and down, going in and out, and facing various directions.
The ancient system of ancestral shrines (miao) does not appear in the classics. Moreover, there are elements of it not permitted to the lower ranks of today's gentlemen (shih) and commoners. Therefore, I have specially named the room the "offering hall" and extensively adapted customary rituals in formulating its procedures.
* When a man of virtue (chün-tzu) plans to build a house, his first task is always to set up an offering hall to the east of the main room of his house.
In setting up the offering hall use a room three chien wide. In front of the altars is the inner door and in front of it the two staircases, each with three steps. The one on the east is called the ceremonial stairs, the one on the west the western stairs. Depending on how much space is available, below the steps should be a covered area, large enough for all the family members to stand in rows. On the east there should be a closet for books, clothes, and sacrificial vessels inherited from the ancestors, and a spirit pantry. Have the wall go around them and add an outer door, which should normally be kept bolted.
If the family is poor and its space cramped, set up a one-chien-wide offering hall, without the closet and pantry. As substitutes, cases may be put at the base of the east and west walls. In the western one store the inherited books and clothes and in the eastern one the sacrificial vessels.
The main room refers to the front hall. When space is limited [and there is no front hall], it is also acceptable to make the offering hall to the east of the reception room.
As a general rule, the house with the offering hall should remain in the possession of the descent-line heir generation after generation, and not be subject to partition.
Here and throughout this book, in organizing the room, no matter which direction it actually faces, treat the front as south, the rear as north, the left as east, and the right as west.
* Make four altars to hold the spirit tablets of the ancestors.
Inside the offering hall, near the north end, have a stand for the four altars. Inside each altar, put a table. In the case of a great line, or a lesser line that is heir to a great-great-grandfather, the great-great-grandfather is furthest to the west, with the great-grandfather next to him, the grandfather next, and the father last. A lesser-line succeeding to a great-grandfather does not presume to sacrifice to a great-great-grandfather, and so leaves the westernmost of the altars empty. Likewise, a lesser-line heir to a grandfather does not presume to sacrifice to a great-grandfather, and so leaves the two western altars empty; and a lesser-line heir to a father does not presume to sacrifice to the grandfather, and so leaves the three western altars empty. If a great line has a gap in its generations, a western altar is also left empty, as in a lesser line.
The spirit tablets are all stored in a case and placed on the table, the front to the south. Hang a short curtain in front of each altar. In front of these altars, set up an incense table in the center of the room, with incense burners and incense boxes on it. Set up another, similar incense table in the space between the staircases.
Anyone who is not the eldest main-line son does not presume to sacrifice to his father. After a younger brother dies, his sons and grandsons, if they live with the eldest brother, will set up an offering hall for him in their private apartment, adding new altars each generation. When they leave and set up a separate residence, they will set up a full offering hall. If the younger son lives separately during his own lifetime, he can set up a study where he lives, on the model of an offering hall. After his death, his descendants can turn it into an offering hall.
On the format of spirit tablets, see the section on "preparing for the burial" in the chapter on funerals.
* Collateral relatives who died without descendants may have associated offerings made to them there according to their generational seniority.
Associate a great uncle and his wife with the great-great-grandfather. Associate an uncle and his wife with the great-grandfather. Associate one's wife, a brother, or a brother's wife with one's grandfather. Associate one's son or nephew with one's father. All these tablets should face west. The tablet cases for them should be like the standard ones. If a nephew's father later sets up an offering hall, his tablet should be moved there.
Master Ch'eng [I] said that when children die so young that there is no mourning for them, no sacrifices are made either. When they die in early youth, sacrifices are performed only during the lifetime of their parents. When they die in middle youth, mourning continues through the lifetime of their brothers. When they die in late youth, mourning continues through the lifetime of their fraternal nephews. When adults die without heirs, sacrifices are made through the lifetime of their brothers' grandsons. These rules were all created on the basis of moral principles.
* Establish sacrificial fields.
On first erecting an offering hall, calculate the size of the current fields and for each altar set aside one part in twenty as sacrificial fields. When "kinship is exhausted" for any ancestor, convert the specified land into grave fields. Later on, do the same for each regular or associated ancestor. The descent-line heir manages the property to supply the expenses of the sacrifices.
If earlier generations did not set aside any fields, then gather the descendants together at the grave site, calculate the size of their total land, and take a share. The descendants should write an agreement and inform the authorities. Neither mortgaging nor sale of the sacrificial fields is allowed.
* Prepare sacrificial utensils.
Suitable numbers of benches, mats, armrests, tables, wash basins, braziers, and dishes for wine and food should be prepared and stored in the closet. They should be kept locked up and not used for other purposes. In the absence of a closet they may be kept in a case. Those that cannot be stored may be lined up along the inside of the outer gate.
* Early each morning the presiding man enters the outer gate to look in.
The presiding man here is the descent-line heir who is in charge of the sacrifices of this hall. When he looks in in the morning he wears the long garment, bums incense, and bows twice.
* All comings and goings must be reported.
When the presiding man and presiding woman are about to go some place, before departing they enter the outer door of the offering hall and perform the "respectful look." They do the same on returning. After they return from staying away overnight, they bum incense and bow twice. When they will go far or will stay away more than ten days, before leaving they bow twice, bum incense, and report, "So and so is about to go to such a place and presumes to report it," then repeat the double bow. They do the same on their return, except they say, "Today A returned from such a place and presumes to appear here." If they are gone for a month, they open the inner doors, bow twice at the bottom of the stairs, then ascend the ceremonial staircase and burn incense. When their report is completed, they bow twice, go down, resume their earlier places, and bow twice again. Other family members do the same but do not open the inner door.
Here and elsewhere in this book the following conventions are followed. The presiding woman is the wife of the presiding man. Only the presiding man uses the ceremonial steps to go up and down; the presiding woman and other people, even seniors, use the western steps. For bowing, men bow two times and women four times, in either case called a double bow. This is also the practice when men and women bow to each other.
* On New Year's Day, the solstice, and each new and full moon, make a visit.
A day before New Year, the solstice, and the new or full moons, wash, sweep, and practice purification for a night. The next morning get up at dawn, open the door [of the offering hall], roll up the curtains [in front of the altar], and set a large dish of fresh fruit on the table in front of each altar. Put a tea cup, a tray, and a wine cup and saucer by each place. In front of the box of spirit tablets, set a bundle of reeds. Pile some sand in front of the incense table. Place another table above the ceremonial steps. On it place a wine decanter, a cup and saucer, and a wine bottle to its west. Two wash basins and towels go at the southeast base of the ceremonial steps. The basin with a rack on the west is to be used by the presiding man and his relatives. The one without a rack on the east is for the attendants. The towels are all in the north.
The participants, in full attire, from the presiding man on down, all enter the gate and take up their places. The presiding man faces north at the base of the ceremonial staircase. The presiding woman faces north at the base of the western steps. When the presiding man's mother is alive, she assumes a special place in front of the presiding woman. If the presiding man has uncles or elder brothers, they stand to his right, slightly in front of him, in rows in order of rank with the most senior at the west end. When there are uncles' wives, aunts, wives of elder brothers, or elder sisters, they stand to the left and slightly in front of the presiding woman, in rows in order of rank with the most senior at the east end. The younger brothers are on the presiding man's right, slightly behind him. Sons, grandsons, and male attendants are in back of the presiding man in rows in order of rank with the most senior at the western end. The wives of the presiding man's younger brothers and his younger sisters are slightly behind the wife, to her left. The wives of sons and grandsons, daughters, and female attendants are to the rear of the presiding woman in rows with the most senior at the eastern end.
When everyone is in place, the presiding man washes his hands, dries them, goes up the stairs, and inserts his official plaque. He opens the tablet case, takes the spirit tablets of his ancestors, and puts them in front of the case. The presiding woman washes, dries, goes up the stairs, and takes the spirit tablets of the ancestresses and sets them to the east of the men's tablets. Next they take out the associated tablets in the same way. An order is given to the eldest son and his wife or the eldest daughter to wash, dry, and come up. Starting with the lowest-ranking ones, they set out the associated tablets one by one, in the way described above. When this is completed, everyone from the presiding woman down returns to his or her place on the lower level.
The presiding man proceeds to the front of the incense table where he invokes the spirits, inserts his plaque, burns incense, bows twice, and steps back a little. The attendants then wash, dry, and come up. After taking the top off the wine jar and filling the decanter, one attendant carries the decanter to the right of the presiding man and another takes the cup and saucer to the left of the presiding man. The presiding man kneels, followed by both attendants. The presiding man takes the decanter, pours the wine, and hands the decanter back. Then he takes the cup and saucer, the saucer in his left hand, the cup in his right. After he pours the wine out in libation on top of the reeds, he then hands the cup and saucer to an attendant. After taking out his official plaque, he prostrates himself. On rising, he retreats slightly before bowing twice, then goes down the stairs and back to his place. At this point he greets the spirit by bowing twice with all those in line. Then the presiding man goes up the steps, inserts his official plaque, takes the decanter, and pours wine, first for the principal ancestor, then for the associated ones. Next he orders his eldest son to pour for all the lower-ranking associated ones.
The presiding woman comes up and takes the tea whisk. An attendant follows her with the bottle of hot water. They pour the tea, following the steps given above. As in the prior case, she orders the senior daughter-in-law or the eldest daughter to continue. The sons, wives, and attendants leave first, returning to their places below. The presiding man takes out his official plaque. He and the presiding woman stand in front of the incense table on the east and west respectively. After bowing twice they go back down to their places. With all those in line they take their leave of the spirit with two bows. With that they leave the hall.
At the winter solstice, make a sacrifice to the first ancestor, carrying out the ritual as given above.
On the day of the full moon, everything is as in the previous ceremony except for these changes: wine is not set out, nor are the tablets taken out; the presiding man pours the tea, his eldest son assisting him; the son goes down first and the presiding man, standing to the south of the incense table, bows twice, then comes down.
According to the Ritual, "when the father-in-law has died the mother-in-law retires," so the presiding man's mother does not take part in the sacrifice. It is also said, "A younger son does not make sacrifices." Therefore, today sacrifices are managed by the appropriate descent-line heir and his wife, who act as presiding man and presiding woman. When he has a mother, uncle, uncle's wife, elder brother, or elder brother's wife, then special places are reserved for them in the front, as described above.
Here and elsewhere in this book, "in full attire" means that those in office wear a scarf-cap, official robes, a belt, boots, and hold official plaques. Chin-shih degree-holders wear scarf-caps, scholar's robes, and belts. Unemployed gentlemen wear scarf-caps, black robes, and belts. Those without official status all wear hats, robes, and belts. Those unable to manage all of this may wear the long garment or light robes. Those with office may also wear hats and so on, but this is not full attire. Wives wear headdresses, large dresses, and long skirts. Unmarried daughters wear hats and jackets. Concubines wear headdresses and jackets.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Chu Hsi's Family Rituals by Chu Hsi, Patricia Buckley Ebrey. Copyright © 1991 Princeton University Press. Excerpted by permission of PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS.
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