Leadership Lessons from Confucius: jade and silk, bells and drums

Confucius said: “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!”
子曰：「禮云禮云，玉帛云乎哉？樂云樂云，鐘鼓云乎哉？」

By all means enjoy the grandeur of a ceremony. Just do not ignore the substance beneath it. That is where you will find its essence and discover its meaning.

Notes

This article features a translation of Chapter 11 of Book 17 of the Analects of Confucius. You can read my full translation of Book 17 here.

(1) This is not the first time in the Analects that Confucius criticizes his contemporaries for using ritual ceremonies and music as an excuse for making extravagant displays of their wealth and holding lavish entertainments and banquets. See 3.1, 3.2, and 3.6 for his bitter condemnations of the ritual excesses of the Three Families, most notably the Ji.

(2) In 3.4, Confucius explains to his follower Lin Fang: “For festive ceremonies, simplicity is better than extravagance; for funerals, genuine grief is better than excessive formality.” In 3.12, he adds: “Sacrifice requires presence: you should sacrifice to the spirits as if they are there… If I am not fully present at the sacrifice, it is as if I did not attend the sacrifice at all.” For him, authenticity and respect are key to proper ritual.

(3) With such flagrant abuses of ritual taking place around him, Confucius believed that the end of Zhou civilization was nigh. But no matter how vociferously the sage complained, he was powerless to stop the slide.

I took this image in a hillside temple in the Four Beasts Scenic Area in Taipei.