Analects of Confucius Book 16–20: Confucius on ritual

For Confucius, there was so much more to ritual than grand sacrificial ceremonies attended by the great and good draped in their finery. These were just the icing on the cake.

Confucius regarded ritual as the thread that held the social fabric together by giving meaning and majesty to even the most mundane activities and interactions — whether it be eating a meal or meeting someone in the street.

No wonder Confucius tells his son Boyu: “If you don’t study ritual, you won’t be able to take your place in society.” After all, as he points out in his final thoughts on the topic in the Analects: “If you do not understand ritual, you cannot become a complete person.”

Here is the full collection of Confucius’s thoughts on ritual in Book 16 to Book 20 of the Analects.

Confucius on ritual
16.2
“When the way prevails in the world, ritual, music, and punitive military campaigns are initiated by the son of the heaven. When the way does not prevail in the world, ritual, music, and punitive military campaigns are initiated by the feudal lords.”

16.5
“Three kinds of pleasure are beneficial to you; three kinds of pleasure are harmful to you. The pleasure of regulating yourself with ritual and music, the pleasure of praising the qualities of other people, and the pleasure of having many wise friends; these are all beneficial. The pleasure of wild extravagance, the pleasure of idle wandering, the pleasure of lavish feasting; these are all harmful.”

16.13
“If you don’t study ritual, you won’t be able to take your place in society.”
[To his son Boyu]

17.11
“Ritual, ritual, surely there is more to it than just jade and silk! Music, music, surely there is more to it than just bells and drums!”

17.24
[A leader] cannot stand those whose courage is not tempered by ritual.

20.3
“If you do not understand fate you cannot become a leader. If you do not understand ritual, you cannot become a complete person. If you do not understand the meaning of words, you cannot understand people.”

Links
Book 16, Chapter 2
Book 16, Chapter 5
Book 16, Chapter 13
Book 17, Chapter 11
Book 17, Chapter 24
Book 20, Chapter 3

Note
I took this image at the Summer Palace in Beijing.