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志第九祭祀下
Treatise 9: Sacrifices, Part Two.
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宗庙社稷灵星先农迎春
Topics: ancestral temples; the altars of soil and grain; the Lingxing sacrifice; the god of the first ploughing; the rite that greets spring.
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光武帝建武二年正月，立高庙于雒阳。 四时祫祀，高帝为太祖，文帝为太宗，武帝为世宗，如旧。 余帝四时春以正月，夏以四月，秋以七月，冬以十月及腊，一岁五祀。 三年正月，立亲庙雒阳，祀父南顿君以上至舂陵节侯。 时寇贼未夷，方务征伐，祀仪未设。 至十九年，盗贼讨除，戎事差息，于是五官中郎将张纯与太仆朱浮奏议：「礼，为人子事大宗，降其私亲。 礼之设施，不授之与自得之异意。 当除今亲庙四。 孝宣皇以孙后祖，为父立庙于奉明，曰皇考庙，独群臣侍祠。 愿下有司议先帝四庙当代亲庙者及皇考庙事。」 下公卿、博士、议郎。 大司徒涉等议：「宜奉所代，立平帝、哀帝、成帝、元帝庙，代今亲庙。 兄弟以下，使有司祠。 宜为南顿君立皇考庙，祭上至舂陵节侯，群臣奉祠。」 时议有异，不著。 上可涉等议，诏曰：「以宗庙处所未定，且礻合祭高庙。 其成、哀、平且祠祭长安故高庙。 其南阳舂陵岁时各且因故园庙祭祀。 园庙去太守治所远者，在所令长行太守事侍祠。 惟孝宣帝有功德，其上尊号曰中宗。」 于是雒阳高庙四时加祭孝宣、孝元，凡五帝。 其西庙成、哀、平三帝主，四时祭于故高庙。 东庙，京兆尹侍祠，冠衣车服如太常祠陵庙之礼。 南顿君以上至节侯，皆就园庙。 南顿君称皇考庙，钜鹿都尉称皇祖考庙，郁林太守称皇曾祖考庙，节侯称皇高祖考庙，在所郡县侍祠。
In the first month of Jianwu 2 (26 CE), Guangwu founded the High Ancestor’s temple in Luoyang. At the four seasonal xia sacrifices, Emperor Gao was honored as Taizu, Emperor Wen as Taizong, and Emperor Wu as Shizong, as in the old system. The remaining sovereigns were honored five times a year: spring in the first month, summer in the fourth, autumn in the seventh, winter in the tenth, plus the la offering at year’s end. In Jianwu 3 he set up shrines to his own line in Luoyang, reaching from his father, the Lord of Nandun, up to the Jieling marquis of Chunling. Rebels were still active and the state was absorbed in war, so the liturgy of sacrifice had not yet been fixed. By year nineteen the rebels were gone and arms could rest; Zhang Chun and Zhu Fu then argued from the canonical Rites that one who serves the main imperial line must demote one’s private ancestors. Whether rites are imposed from above or arise from inner conviction, the principle is not the same. Four shrines to his immediate forebears should therefore be removed. Xuan had raised a “royal father” temple at Fengming for his natural father, served only by officials, because he had inherited from his grandfather. They asked the court to decide which four earlier Han shrines should substitute for Guangwu’s private halls, and how to treat the “imperial father” shrine. The emperor sent the question to the three dukes, the academicians, and the deliberation gentlemen. Dai She’s party said Guangwu should take over the Western Han line by enshrining Ping, Ai, Cheng, and Yuan in place of his own four private temples. Younger brothers and more distant kin could be tended by routine official cults. For his own father they proposed a “royal father” temple from Nandun up to Jieling, with the bureaucracy as celebrants.” Debate split the court, and the minority positions went unwritten in the record. Guangwu endorsed them but added that, until permanent temple ground was chosen, all would temporarily join the sacrifice at the High Ancestor’s temple. Cheng, Ai, and Ping would meanwhile receive cult at the former Chang’an High Temple. Nanyang and Chunling could keep seasonal offerings at their existing garden-temples for the moment. If a garden-temple sat beyond easy reach of the prefect, the local magistrate was to stand in for him at the rites. Xuan alone, for genuine achievement, deserved the title Central Exemplar.” Luoyang’s High Temple then honored five sovereigns in the seasonal round, adding Xuan and Yuan. The western hall kept the tablets of Cheng, Ai, and Ping, served at the old High Temple each season. The eastern hall fell to the metropolitan governor, who matched the Chamberlain’s tomb ritual in dress and equipage. The line from Nandun through Jieling was worshipped only at the garden-temples. Lord Nandun's temple was called the Imperial Deceased Father's Temple; the Julu Commandant's temple was called the Imperial Deceased Grandfather's Temple; the Yulin Administrator's temple was called the Imperial Deceased Great-Grandfather's Temple; and Marquis Jie’s temple was called the Imperial Deceased Great-Great-Grandfather's Temple. The commanderies and counties where they were located attended to the sacrifices.
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二十六年，有诏问张纯，禘礻合之礼不施行几年。 纯奏：「礼，三年一祫，五年一禘。 毁庙之主，陈于太祖； 未毁庙之主，皆升，合食太祖； 五年再殷察。 旧制，三年三祫，毁庙主合食高庙，存庙主未尝合。 元始五年，始行禘礼。 父为昭，南向； 子为穆，北向。 父子不并坐，而孙从王父。 禘之为言谛，禘諟昭穆，尊卑之义。 以夏四月阳气在上，阴气在下，故正尊卑之义。 礻合以冬十月，五谷成熟，故骨肉合饮食。 祖宗庙未定，且合祭。 今宜以时定。」 语在《纯传》。 上难复立庙，遂以合祭高庙为常。 后以三年冬祫，五年夏禘之时，但就陈祭毁庙主而已，谓之殷。 太祖东面，惠、文、武、元帝为昭，景、宣帝为穆。 惠、景、昭三帝非殷祭时不祭。 光武皇帝崩，明帝即位，以光武帝拨乱中兴，更为起庙，尊号曰世祖庙。 以元帝于光武为穆，故虽非宗，不毁也。 后遂为常。
In year twenty-six the court questioned Zhang Chun on how long the grand di and xia offerings had been suspended. Chun submitted: “The Rites prescribe a collective xi every three years and a di every five years. Tablets from abolished temples were brought before the first ancestor. Tablets of still-standing temples likewise ascended to feast with the founding ancestor. The ritual canon calls for two great Yin offerings within each five-year span; received editions vary this line. Former practice held three xi in three years: only spirits from razed shrines ate with Gao; standing temples had not yet been merged. The di was first enacted in Yuanshi 5 (5 CE). Fathers stood on the zhao, the southern file. Sons stood on the mu, facing north. Father and son were not paired in the same row; grandsons aligned under the grandfather’s column. Di means “discernment”: it sets zhao and mu and thereby rank. Held in the fourth month, when yang rides high and yin lies below, it expresses who is senior and who junior. The winter xia in the tenth month, when grain is gathered, gathers the lineage for a communal meal with the dead. Until the founding temples were settled, only the combined offering was used. The time had come to settle the schedule in law." Details appear in Zhang Chun’s biography. Guangwu kept rebuilding separate halls impracticable, so the collective offering at the High Temple became the norm. Thereafter, at the third year’s winter xi and the fifth year’s summer di, only tablets from dismantled shrines were brought out—the so-called Yin rite. The founding ancestor faced east; Hui, Wen, Wu, and Yuan were zhao; Jing and Xuan were mu. Hui, Jing, and Zhao were omitted from ordinary seasonal cult and appeared only at the grand Yin. Mingdi, crediting Guangwu with restoring the house, raised a new temple titled Shrine of the World Exemplar. Yuan, though not a “numbered” exemplar, stayed on the mu side opposite Guangwu and so escaped abolition. The arrangement then stayed permanent.
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古不墓祭，汉诸陵皆有园寝，承秦所为也。 说者以为古宗庙前制庙，后制寝，以象人之居前有朝，后有寝也。 《月令》有「先荐寝庙」，《诗》称「寝庙弈弈」，言相通也。 庙以藏主，以四时祭。 寝有衣冠几杖象生之具，以荐新物。 秦始出寝，起于墓侧，汉因而弗改，故陵上称寝殿，起居衣服象生人之具，古寝之意也。 建武以来，关西诸陵以转久远，但四时特牲祠； 帝每幸长安谒诸陵，乃太牢祠。 自雒阳诸陵至灵帝，皆以晦望二十四气伏腊及四时祠。 庙日上饭，太官送用物，园令、食监典省，其亲陵所宫人随鼓漏理被枕，具盥水，陈严具。
The ancients did not worship at graves; Han mausolea gained garden-palaces, a Qin habit carried over. Scholars say the classic temple placed the hall of tablets in front and a “sleeping” chamber behind, like a ruler’s court and private quarters. The ‘Monthly Ordinances’ speaks of ‘first offering in the sleeping chamber and temple,’ and the Odes praise ‘sleeping chamber and temple, stately and bright,’ meaning the two communicated. The frontal temple kept spirit tablets and took the quarterly offerings. The rear chamber displayed grave goods and received first-fruits as though the sovereign still lived. Qin relocated the “sleeping” cult beside the mound; Han kept it, hence “sleeping halls” on the tumulus furnished like living quarters. After Jianwu, distant tombs in the west got a single seasonal victim each. Only when the sovereign toured Chang’an and called at the mausolea was a full tai-lao slaughtered. Luoyang-area tombs through Lingdi were served at new and full moon, the solar terms, fu and la, and the quarterly round. Temple days meant sending meals from the imperial kitchen, with park wardens checking gear while palace women, timing by water-clock, made beds, poured water, and laid out grave goods at the ruler’s own tomb.
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建武二年，立太社稷于雒阳，在宗庙之右，方坛，无屋，有墙门而已。 二月、八月及腊，一岁三祠，皆太牢具，使有司祠。 《孝经援神契》曰：「社者，土地之主也。 稷者，五谷之长也。」 《礼记》及《国语》皆谓共工氏之子曰句龙，为后土官，能平九土，故祀以为社。 烈山氏之子曰柱，能植百谷疏，自夏以上祀以为稷，至殷以柱久远，而尧时弃为后稷，亦植百谷，故废柱，祀弃为稷。 大司农郑玄说，古者官有大功，则配食其神。 故句龙配食于社，弃配食于稷。 郡县置社稷，太守、令、长侍祠，牲用羊□。 唯州所治有社无稷，以其使官。 古者师行平有载社主，不载稷也。 国家亦有五祀之祭，有司掌之，其礼简于社稷云。
Jianwu 2 saw the great altars of soil and grain east of Luoyang, south of the temples—open-air square mounds with a gate. They were offered three times yearly—second month, eighth month, and la—with tai-lao victims under commissioned officials. The Apocrypha to the Classic of Filial Piety states: "She is master of the soil. Ji is chief among the five grains." The Rites and Guoyu name Goulong, son of Gonggong, earth officer who levelled the nine domains, and therefore deified as She. Lie Mountain’s son Zhu, who grew every crop, had been Ji until Yin times; then Qi, Yao’s Minister of Millet, replaced the obsolete Zhu. Zheng Xuan notes that great offices “ate beside” the gods they served. Thus Goulong is paired with She and Qi with Ji. County altars were served by prefect or magistrate with sheep (the text has a lacuna after “sheep”). Provincial seats had soil but not grain, since the inspector was not a resident magistrate. On campaign armies bore the earth tablet but not that of grain—an ancient rule (the received text is corrupt at “always”). Han additionally kept the five domestic sacrifices under bureaus, with lighter ritual than the great altars.
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汉兴八年，有言周兴而邑立后稷之祀，于是高帝令天下立灵星祠。 言祠后稷而谓之灵星者，以后稷又配食星也。 旧说，星谓天田星也。 一曰，龙左角为天田官，主谷。 祀用壬辰位祠之。 壬为水，辰为龙，就其类也。 牲用太牢，县邑令长侍祠。 舞者用童男十六人。 舞者象教田，初为芟除，次耕种、芸耨、驱爵及获刈、舂簸之形，象其功也。
Han’s eighth year saw a memorial likening Zhou’s capital cult of Hou Ji to Han’s need; Gaozu then ordered Lingxing shrines throughout the realm. The name Lingxing (“spirit star”) attached to Hou Ji because he shared offerings with a star. Tradition equates that star with the celestial field. Another opinion makes the dragon’s left horn the celestial granary. Sacrifice was oriented to the ren-chen alignment. Water (ren) and the dragon (chen) were paired by sympathetic category. Victims were tai-lao; county magistrates presided. Sixteen boy dancers performed. Their dance enacted the farming year—slash, plough, hoe, shoo birds, reap, pound, and winnow.
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县邑常以乙未日祠先农于乙地，以丙戌日祠风伯于戌地，以己丑日祠雨师于丑地，用羊□。
Localities offered to the first plough on yiwei at “yi” soil, to the wind god on bingxu at xu, and to the rain master on jichou at chou, with sheep (text damaged).
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立春之日，皆青幡帻，迎春于东郭外。 令一童男冒青巾，衣青衣，先在东郭外野中。 迎春至者，自野中出，则迎者拜之而还，弗祭。 三时不迎。
On the Beginning of Spring the court donned green kerchiefs and welcomed the season beyond the eastern wall. One boy in green waited in the wilds east of the outer wall. The procession met him, bowed, and went home without an altar service. Summer, autumn, and winter had no parallel rite.
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论曰：「臧文仲祀爰居，而孔子以为不知。 《汉书·郊祀志》著自秦以来迄于王莽，典祀或有未修，而爰居之类众焉。 世祖中兴，蠲除非常，修复旧祀，方之前事邈殊矣。 尝闻儒言，三皇无文，结绳以治，自五帝始有书契。 至于三王，俗化雕文，诈伪渐兴，始有印玺，以检奸萌，然犹未有金玉银铜之器也。 自上皇以来封泰山者，至周七十二代。 封者，谓封土为坛，柴祭告天，代兴成功也。 《礼记》所谓「因名山升中于天」者也。 易姓则改封者，著一代之始，明不相袭也。 继世之王巡狩，则修封以祭而已。 自秦始皇、孝武帝封泰山，本由好仙、信方士之言，造为石检印封之事也。 所闻如此。 虽诚天道难可度知，然其大较犹有本要。 天道质诚，约而不费者也。 故牲有犊，器用陶匏，殆将无事于检封之间，而乐难攻之石也。 且唯封为改代，故曰岱宗。 夏康、周宣，由废复兴，不闻改封。 世祖欲因孝武故封，实继祖宗之道也。 而梁松固争，以为必改。 乃当夫既封之后，未有福，而松卒被诛死。 虽罪由身，盖亦诬神之咎也。 且帝王所以能大显于后者，实在其德加于民，不闻其在封矣。 言天地者莫大于《易》，《易》无六宗在中之象。 若信为天地四方所宗，是至大也。 而比太社，又为失所，难以为诚矣！
The commentary opens: Zang Wenzhong’s cult to the Yuanju bird drew Confucius’s rebuke for ignorance. The Western Han treatise shows how irregular cults piled up from Qin through Wang Mang. Guangwu’s restoration scrapped the exotic and revived the old rites—a world away from the past. Confucians say the Three Sovereigns had no script and used knotted cords; records begin with the Five Thearchs. Under the three dynasties ornament and fraud grew; seals curbed malice, but precious metal ware did not yet exist. Seventy-two generations from remote antiquity through Zhou are said to have performed the Tai feng. Feng meant raising a mound and burning the report that a new mandate had fulfilled its task. It matches the Rites: “By a famed peak ascend and report to Heaven.” A change of dynasty required a new feng to signal a fresh mandate, not a mere copy of the old. Later sovereigns on inspection tours only refurbished the altar and offered sacrifice. Qin Shihuang and Han Wudi climbed Tai out of quest for immortals and occultists’ tales, hence stone caskets and sealed credentials. Such is the tradition I have heard. Heaven’s way may be unfathomable, yet its broad pattern has an intelligible basis. Heaven’s way is simple and true—spare and without extravagance. So the rites used young calves and plain earthenware and gourds—far from the stone-casket sealing fad—yet rulers still took perverse pleasure in smashing those rocks. Only the Tai feng announces a new mandate, which is why Mount Dai is called the Ancestral Peak. Xia’s Kang and Zhou’s Xuan revived ruined dynasties without redoing the Tai rite. Guangwu meant to repeat Wudi’s climb in spirit, inheriting the founders’ path. But Liang Song insisted the ceremony had to be reinvented. After the deed was done heaven sent no favor, and Song himself died under the headsman’s blade. His crimes were his own, yet they also look like punishment for profaning the gods. What makes a ruler remembered is virtue among the living, not a mound on Tai. The Classic of Changes, supreme discourse on Heaven and Earth, nowhere pictures the Six Ancestors sandwiched between them. To treat them as the supreme foci of heaven, earth, and the four directions would elevate them beyond measure. Pairing them with the great altar of soil only misplaces them further—hardly a credible cult.
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赞曰：天地禋郊，宗庙享祀，咸秩无文，山川具止。 淫乃国紊，典惟皇纪。 肇自盛敬，孰崖厥始？
The summation runs: suburban smoke for Heaven and Earth, feasts in the temples, every spirit given its place though unrecorded in full detail, mountains and rivers each assigned. Licentious cults disorder the realm; the classical pattern is the emperor’s anchor. Reverence was there at the start—but who can mark the first step of that height?