Tan Gong (Teil 1)

Übersetzung James Legge

Zeng-zi reported You-zi's words to Zi-you, who said, 'How very like his words are to those of the Master! Formerly, when the Master was staying in Song, he saw that Huan, the minister of War, had been for three years having a stone coffin made for himself without its being finished, and said, "What extravagance! It would be better that when dead he should quickly decay away." It was with reference to Hwan, the minister of War, that he said, "We should wish to decay away quickly when we die." When Nan-gong Jing-shu returned (to the state), he made it a point to carry his treasures with him in his carriage when he went to court, on which the Master said, "Such an amount of property! It would have been better for him, when he lost his office, to make haste to become poor." It was with reference to Nan-gong Jing-shu that he said that we should work to become poor quickly, when we have lost office."' Zeng-zi reported these words of Zi-you to You-zi, who said, 'Yes, I did say that these were not the words of the Master.' When the other asked him how he knew it, he said, 'The Master made an ordinance in Zhong-Du that the inner coffin should be four inches thick, and the outer five. By this I knew that he did not wish that the dead should decay away quickly. And formerly, when he had lost the office of minister of Crime in Lu, and was about to go to Jing, he first sent Zi-xia there, and afterwards Ran You. By this, I knew that he did not wish to become poor quickly.'

Übersetzung James Legge

Guo-zi gao said, 'Burying means hiding away; and that hiding (of the body) is from a wish that men should not see it. Hence there are the clothes sufficient for an elegant covering; the coffin all round about the clothes; the shell all round about the coffin; and the earth all round about the shell. And shall we farther raise a mound over the grave and plant it with trees?'

Tan Gong (Teil 2)

Übersetzung James Legge

When the son of Heaven died, three days afterwards, the officers of prayer were the first to assume mourning. In five days the heads of official departments did so; in seven days both males and females throughout the royal domain; and in three months all in the kingdom. The foresters examined the trees about the various altars, and cut down those which they thought suitable for the coffins and shell, If these did not come up to what was required, the sacrifices were abolished, and the men had their throats cut.

Übersetzung James Legge

On the death of the mother of Guo Zhao-zi, he asked Zi-zhang, saying, 'At the interment, when (all) are at the grave, what should be the places of the men and of the women?' Zi-zhang said, 'At the mourning rites for Si-tu Jing-zi, when the Master directed the ceremonies, the men stood with their faces to the west and the women stood with theirs to the east.' 'Ah!' said the other, 'that will not do;' adding, 'All will be here to see these mourning rites of mine. Do you take the sole charge of them. Let the guests be the guests, while I (alone) act as the host. Let the women take their places behind the men, and all have their faces towards the west.'

Übersetzung James Legge

When the mother of Ji Kang-zi died, Gong-shu Ruo was still young. After the dressing, Ban asked leave to let the coffin down into the grave by a mechanical contrivance. They were about to accede, when Gong-jian Jia said, 'No. According to the early practice in Lu, the ducal house used (for this purpose) the arrangement looking like large stone pillars, and the three families that like large wooden columns. Ban, you would, in the case of another man's mother, make trial of your ingenuity - could you not in the case of your own mother do so? Would that distress you? Bah!' They did not allow him to carry out his plan.

Li Qi

Übersetzung James Legge

In others, greatness of size formed the mark. The dimensions of palaces and apartments; the measurements of dishes and (other) articles; the thickness of the inner and outer coffins; the greatness of eminences and mounds - these were cases in which the greatness of size was the mark.