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志第七禮儀七
Treatise Seven: Rites Seven
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，太宗因修禮官奏事之次，言及喪服，太宗曰：「」於是侍中魏徵、禮部侍郎令狐德棻等奏議曰：
While Taizong was hearing the rites officers on routine business, he turned to mourning dress. The emperor spoke; the passage concluded. Then Palace Attendant Wei Zheng, Vice Minister of Rites Linghu Defen, and others submitted a memorial:
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制可之。
The throne approved.
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九月，修禮官長孫無忌等又奏曰：「依古喪服，甥為舅緦麻，舅報甥亦同此制。 貞觀年中，八座議奏：『舅服同姨，小功五月。』 而今律疏，舅報於甥，服猶三月。 謹按旁尊之服，禮無不報，已非正尊，不敢降也。 故甥為從母五月，從母報甥小功，甥為舅緦麻，舅亦報甥三月，是其義矣。 今甥為舅使同從母之喪，則舅宜進甥以同從母之報。 修律疏人不知禮意，舅報甥服，尚止緦麻，於例不通，禮須改正。 今請修改律疏，舅報甥亦功。」 又曰：「庶母古禮緦麻，新禮無服。 謹按庶母之子，即是己昆季，為之杖期，而己與之無服。 同氣之內，吉凶頓殊，求之禮情，深非至理。 請依典故，為服緦麻。」 制又從之。
Ninth month: Zhangsun Wuji and the rites revision staff wrote that under the old mourning code a nephew wore three months' finest hemp for his mother's brother, and the uncle reciprocated the same. In Zhenguan the Eight Seats had ruled that mourning for a mother's brother matched that for a mother's sister: five months' lesser accomplishment. Yet the current Code and Commentaries still fixed the uncle's return mourning for a nephew at three months. Collateral elders always received return mourning in ritual; though not primary kin, the grade must not be cut. So a nephew wore five months for a mother's sister, and she returned lesser accomplishment; for a mother's brother he wore finest hemp, and the uncle returned three months' finest hemp—that was the pattern. If a nephew's mourning for his mother's brother was raised to match a mother's sister, the uncle's return mourning for the nephew should rise to match her return as well. The Code revisers had missed the point: leaving the uncle's return at finest hemp broke precedent and had to be fixed. They asked that the Code be amended so the uncle's return mourning for a nephew was also lesser accomplishment. They added: ancient ritual required finest hemp for a secondary mother; the new code required none. Sons of a secondary mother were full siblings: one wore staff for a year for them, yet wore nothing for the secondary mother herself. Within one flesh, joy and grief were graded worlds apart—a poor fit to ritual feeling. They asked that precedent be restored: finest hemp for a secondary mother. The throne approved again.
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八月，所司奏：「司文正卿蕭嗣業，嫡繼母改嫁身亡，請申心制。 據令，繼母改嫁及為長子，並不解官。」 既而有敕：「」司禮太常伯隴西郡王博乂等奏稱：
Eighth month: the relevant office reported that Xiao Siye, Director of Literary Affairs, sought heart mourning after his legitimate stepmother remarried and died. The code said neither a stepmother's remarriage nor being eldest son required leaving office. An edict followed; the passage concluded. Director of Ceremonies Bo Yi, Prince of Longxi, and others wrote:
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詔從之。
The court assented.
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，天后上表曰：「至如父在為母服止一期，雖心喪三年，服由尊降。 竊謂子之於母，慈愛特深，非母不生，非母不育。 推燥居濕，咽苦吐甘，生養勞瘁，恩斯極矣！ 所以禽獸之情，猶知其母，三年在懷，理宜崇報。 若父在為母服止一期，尊父之敬雖周，報母之慈有闕。 且齊斬之制，足為差減，更令周以一期，恐傷人子之志。 今請父在為母終三年之服。」 高宗下詔，依議行焉。 ，右補闕盧履冰上言：「准禮，父在為母一週除靈，三年心喪。 則天皇后請同父沒之服，三年然始除靈。 雖則權行，有紊彝典。 今陛下孝理天下，動合禮經，請仍舊章，庶葉通典。」 於是下制令百官詳議； 並舅及嫂叔服不依舊禮，亦合議定。 刑部郎中田再思建議曰：
Empress Wu then memorialized: when the father still lived, mourning for the mother ended after one cycle; though heart mourning ran three years, the garment was cut by reverence for the father. A child owes the mother a singular depth of love: without her there is no birth, without her no rearing. She tended his dryness and wetness, swallowed bitterness and gave sweetness—the labor of nurture exhausts what kindness can mean. Even beasts know their dam; three years in the womb demand a commensurate return. Stopping at one cycle while the father lived honored him fully but left the mother's kindness short. Hemmed sackcloth already graded the mourning; shrinking three years to one cycle would wound a son's intent. She asked that when the father lived, mourning for the mother run the full three years. Gaozong decreed and put her proposal into practice. Right Remonstrator Lu Lübing wrote: ritual fixed one cycle until tablet removal and three years' heart mourning for a mother while the father lived. Empress Wu had asked for the same garment as when the father was dead—three years before tablet removal. That expedient had been carried out, but it tangled the standing canon. The emperor now governed by filial piety and ritual; Lübing asked to restore the old rule and align with the comprehensive canon. A decree ordered the bureaucracy to deliberate. Mourning for uncles, aunts, sisters-in-law, and younger uncles that no longer matched the old ritual was to be settled in the same review. Penal Bureau Director Tian Zaosi offered a proposal.
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於是紛議不定。 履冰又上疏曰：「《禮》：父在，為母十一月而練，十三月而祥，十五月而禫，心喪三年。 上元中，則天皇后上表，請同父沒之服，亦未有行。 至垂拱年中，始編入格，易代之後，俗乃通行。 臣，頻請仍舊。 恩敕並嫂叔舅姨之服，亦付所司詳議。 諸司所議，同異相參。 所司惟執齊斬之文，又曰亦合典禮。 竊見新修之格，猶依垂拱之偽，致有祖父母安存，子孫之妻亡沒，下房筵幾，亦立再周，甚無謂也。 據《周易·家人》卦云：『利女貞女正位於內，男正位於外。 男女正，天地之大義。 家人有嚴君焉，父母之謂也。 父父、子子、兄兄、弟弟、夫夫、婦婦，家道正而天下正矣。』 《禮》：『女在室，以父為天； 出嫁，以夫為天。』 又：『在家從父，出嫁從夫，夫死從子。』 本無自專抗尊之法。 即《喪服四制》云：『天無二日，土無二王，國無二君，家無二尊，以一理之也。 故父在為母服周者，避二尊也。』 伏惟陛下正持家國，孝理天下，而不斷在宸衷，詳正此禮，無隨末俗，顧念兒女之情。 臣恐後代復有婦奪夫政之敗者。」
Debate deadlocked. Lübing wrote again, citing the Ritual: while the father lived, for the mother eleven months to practice, thirteenth month auspicious rites, fifteenth month end-of-mourning, and three years' heart mourning. In Shangyuan Wu had asked for mourning equal to a father's death, but it had not yet taken effect. Only in Chuigong was it written into the code; after the dynastic shift the custom spread. Your servant had repeatedly asked to restore the old rule. The throne also sent mourning for sisters-in-law, younger uncles, and maternal kin to the relevant offices for review. The offices split. One office clung to the hemmed-sackcloth articles and called that canonical. The new code still followed Chuigong's error: with grandparents alive and a grandson's wife dead, lower apartments sometimes observed a second full cycle—absurd. The Changes, Family hexagram, says: constancy profits the woman; she holds correct position within, the man without. Correct man and woman embody Heaven and Earth's great principle. A household has a stern lord: father and mother. Father father, son son, elder brother elder brother, younger brother younger brother, husband husband, wife wife—right the family and the realm follows. The Ritual says: in the chamber a woman takes her father as Heaven; after marriage she takes her husband as Heaven. Again: at home she follows the father, in marriage the husband, in widowhood the son. There is no charter for defying elders on one's own. The Mourning Dress Four Principles says: Heaven has no two suns, earth no two kings, a state no two lords, a family no two elders—one principle rules all. Hence while the father lives, mourning for the mother is one cycle—to avoid two elders in one house. Your Majesty rightly orders family and state by filial rule, yet has not settled this rite in the imperial heart—do not follow custom and indulge a child's feeling alone. Your servant fears later ages will again see wives seize their husbands' authority. The memorial closed.
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疏奏未報。 履冰又上奏曰：
No answer came. Lübing wrote again.
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左散騎常侍元行沖奏議曰：「天地之性，惟人最靈者，蓋以智周萬物，惟睿作聖，明貴賤，辨尊卑，遠嫌疑，分情理也。 是以古之聖人，征性識本，緣情制服，有申有厭。 天父、天夫，故斬衰三年，情理俱盡者，因心立極也。 生則齊體，死則同穴，比陰陽而配合，同兩儀而成化。 而妻喪杖期，情禮俱殺者，蓋以遠嫌疑，尊乾道也。 父為嫡子三年斬衰，而不去職者，蓋尊祖重嫡，崇禮殺情也。 資於事父以事君，孝莫大於嚴父。 故父在，為母罷職齊周而心喪三年，謂之尊厭者，則情申而禮殺也。 斯制也，可以異於飛走，別於華夷。 羲、農、堯、舜，莫之易也； 文、武、周、孔，同所尊也。 今若舍尊厭之重，虧嚴父之義，略純素之嫌，貽非聖之責，則事不師古，有傷名教矣。 姨兼從母之名，即母之女黨，加於舅服，有理存焉。 嫂叔不服，避嫌疑也。 若引同爨之緦，以忘推遠之跡，既乖前聖，亦謂難從。 謹詳三者之疑，並請依古為當。」 自是百僚議意不決。
Left Cavalry Regular Attendant Yuan Xingchong argued: among Heaven and Earth's creatures only humans are most spirit-filled—wisdom spans the ten thousand things, the perspicacious become sages, they sort noble and base, honored and humble, keep distance from suspicion, and divide feeling from principle. Ancient sages read nature for the root and followed feeling to set garments—sometimes extending, sometimes reducing. Heaven is father, Heaven is husband—hence three years' full sackcloth where feeling and principle are both spent, the heart sets the utmost limit. Alive they share one body; dead one grave—yin and yang paired, the two principles made whole. Yet a wife's death brings staff for one year—feeling and ritual both cut—to keep distance from suspicion and honor the yang way. A father wears three years' full sackcloth for a legitimate son yet does not leave office—honoring the grandfather, weighting the legitimate line, exalting ritual over feeling. Serving the lord as one serves the father—no filial piety exceeds honoring the father. So while the father lives, for the mother one leaves office, wears hemmed sackcloth one cycle, and heart-mourns three years—honored reduction: feeling extended, ritual cut. That system separates humans from beasts and the civilized from the barbarian. Xi, Nong, Yao, and Shun never altered it; Wen, Wu, the Zhou, and Confucius honored it alike. To cast off honored reduction, wound reverence for the father, ignore the suspicion plain garments guard against, and invite the charge of defying the sages would abandon the ancients and harm moral teaching. A mother's sister shares the mother's sister's name—she is the mother's female line; raising mourning for a mother's brother has its reason. Sisters-in-law and younger uncles wore no mourning—to avoid suspicion. To cite finest hemp for sharing a hearth and forget the rule of pushing kin distant both departs from the sages and is hard to follow. On all three doubtful points he asked that the ancient rule stand. The bureaucracy still could not settle.
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至七年八月，下敕曰：「」自是卿士之家，父在為母行服不同：或既周而禫，禫服六十日釋服，心喪三年者； 或有既周而禫服終三年者； 或有依上元之制，齊衰三年者。 時議者是非紛然，元行沖謂人曰：「聖人制厭降之禮，豈不知母恩之深也，以尊祖貴祢，欲其遠別禽獸，近異夷狄故也。 人情易搖，淺識者眾。 一紊其度，其可止乎！」 二十年，中書令蕭嵩與學士改修定五禮，又議請依上元敕，父在為母齊衰三年為定。 及頒禮，乃一依行焉。
Seventh year, eighth month: a decree; the passage concluded. Thereafter ministerial households diverged: some finished one cycle and end-of-mourning, wore end-of-mourning dress sixty days, then left garments while heart-mourning three years; some kept end-of-mourning dress the full three years after one cycle; some followed Shangyuan's hemmed sackcloth for three years. Opinion swarmed; Yuan Xingchong told colleagues: the sage made honored reduction knowing a mother's kindness full well—he honored the grandfather and the temple founder so people would stand far from beasts and near yet apart from barbarians. Feeling sways easily; shallow views are common. Once the measure tangles, who can stop it? Year twenty: Secretariat Director Xiao Song and the academicians revised the Five Rites and again asked to fix Shangyuan's rule—hemmed sackcloth three years for a mother while the father lived. When the rites were issued, everyone followed them.
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二十三年，藉田禮畢，正制曰：「」太常卿韋縚奏曰：「謹按《儀禮喪服》：舅，緦麻三月。 從母，小功五月。 《傳》曰：可以小功，以名加也。 堂姨舅、舅母，恩所不及。 外祖父母。 小功五月。 《傳》曰：何以小功，以尊加也。 舅，緦麻三月，並是情親而服屬疏者也。 外祖正尊，同於從母之服。 姨舅一等，服則輕重有殊。 堂姨舅親即未疏，恩絕不相為服。 親舅母來承外族，同爨之禮不加。 竊以古意猶有所未暢者也。 且為外祖小功，此則正尊情甚親而服屬疏者也，請加至大功九月。 姨舅儕類，親既無別，服宜齊等，請為舅加至小功五月。 堂姨舅疏降一等，親舅母從服之例，先無制服之文，並望加至袒免。 臣聞禮以飾情，服從義制，或有沿革，損益可明。 事體既大，理資詳審。 望付尚書省集眾官吏詳議，務從折衷，永為典則。」
Year twenty-three, after the plowing rite: a formal ordinance; the passage concluded. Director of Ceremonies Wei Yun wrote, citing the Ceremonial Mourning Dress: a mother's brother, three months' finest hemp. A mother's sister, five months' lesser accomplishment. The Commentary: lesser accomplishment may apply—the name adds the grade. Hall cousins on the mother's side and uncles' wives—kindness does not reach them. Maternal grandparents— five months of lesser accomplishment mourning. The Commentary asks why lesser accomplishment: honor raises the grade. A mother's brother, three months' finest hemp—all close in feeling, distant in kin grade. Maternal grandparents are primary elders, the same grade as a mother's sister. Mother's sister and mother's brother are one class, yet the garments differ in weight. Hall cousins are not yet distant kin, yet kindness is cut and they wear no mourning for each other. An uncle's wife who joins the outer clan does not receive the shared-hearth rite. Ancient intent, he ventured, was not yet fully expressed. Maternal grandparents wore lesser accomplishment though feeling was very close and kin grade distant—he asked to raise them to nine months' greater accomplishment. Mother's sister and mother's brother were the same class without kin distinction—the garment should match; he asked five months' lesser accomplishment for a mother's brother. Hall cousins dropped one grade; an uncle's wife had no prior garment rule—he asked baring shoulder and untying the cap-band for them all. I have heard that ritual adorns emotion and mourning dress follows moral rule—where practice has shifted, what to add or trim can be stated plainly. The matter is weighty and calls for careful deliberation. Please refer it to the Department of State Affairs for a full council of officials, seek a balanced outcome, and fix it as a lasting rule. The quote ended.
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於是太子賓客崔沔建議曰：「竊聞大道既隱，天下為家。 聖人因之，然後製禮。 禮教之設，本為正家，家道正而天下定矣。 正家之道，不可以貳，總一定議，理歸本宗。 父以尊崇，母以厭降，豈忘愛敬，宜存倫序。 是以內有齊斬，外服皆緦麻，尊名所加，不過一等，此先王不易之道也。 前聖所志，後賢所傳，其來久矣。 昔辛有適伊川，見被髮而祭於野者，曰：『不及百年，此其戎乎？ 其禮先亡矣！』 貞觀修禮，時改舊章，漸廣渭陽之恩，不遵洙、泗之典。 及弘道之後，唐隆之間，國命再移於外族矣。 禮亡徵兆，儻或斯見，天人之際，可不誡哉！ 開元初，補闕盧履冰嘗進狀論喪服輕重，敕令僉議。 於時群議紛拏，各安積習，太常禮部，奏依舊定。 陛下運稽古之思，發獨斷之明，至，特降別敕，一依古禮。 事符故實，人知向方，式固宗盟，社稷之福。 更圖異議，竊所未詳。 願守八年明旨，以為萬代成法。」
Then Mentor of the Heir Apparent Cui Mian memorialized: "I have heard that once the Great Way was hidden, the realm became a single household. The sages took that as their basis and then fashioned ritual. Ritual teaching was instituted chiefly to set the household in order; when the household is right, the realm is stable. The way to order a household cannot be divided in two: one settled rule, with principle anchored in the main line. The father is exalted and the mother reduced in rank—not to forget love and respect, but to keep relational order. Hence within the family are the heaviest grades of mourning; for outside kin all wear the lightest hemp; added honor never exceeds one step—this is the former kings' unchanging rule. What the ancient sages set down and later worthies handed on has stood for ages. Long ago Xin You went to Yichuan and saw people with loose hair sacrificing in the open country, and said, 'In less than a hundred years, will this be the Rong? Their ritual will die first! When Zhenguan revised ritual, old statutes were altered, maternal kin were favored ever more widely, and the standards of Confucius's homeland were left aside. After Hongdao and in the Tanglong years, the dynastic mandate twice passed to outsiders. The death of ritual had its omens—perhaps we see them here; at the meeting of Heaven and humanity, ought we not take warning! Early in Kaiyuan, Remonstrance Councillor Lu Lübing had memorialized on the grades of mourning dress, and an edict ordered joint deliberation. Debate then was tangled, each side clinging to habit; the Court of Imperial Sacrifices and the Ministry of Rites urged keeping the old rules. Your Majesty, drawing on antiquity and acting with decisive clarity, in Kaiyuan 8 issued a special edict restoring the ancient mourning rules in full. That matched ancient precedent, gave the people a clear standard, and strengthened the clan bond—a blessing to the state. To reopen dispute on this point is, in my view, hard to understand. I ask that the clear mandate of Kaiyuan 8 be kept as the permanent law for ages to come. The quote ended.
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職方郎中韋述議曰：
Director of Staff Registration Wei Shu offered this view:
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禮部員外郎楊仲昌議曰：「謹按《儀禮》曰：『外服皆緦。』 又曰：『外祖父母以尊加，從母以名加，並為小功五月。』 其為舅緦，鄭文貞公魏徵已議同從母例，加至小功五月訖。 今之所加，豈異前旨？ 雖文貞賢也，而周、孔聖也，以賢改聖，後學何從？ 堂舅姨、堂舅母，並升為袒免，則何以祖述禮經乎？ 如以外祖父母加至大功，則豈無加報於外孫乎？ 如外孫為報，服大功，則本宗庶孫，何同等而相淺乎？ 儻必如是，深所不便。 竊恐內外乖序，親疏奪倫、情之所沿，何所不至，理必然也。 昔子路有姊之喪而不除，孔子問之，子路對曰：『吾寡兄弟而不忍也。』 子曰：『先王制禮，行道之人皆不忍也。』 子路聞而除之。 此則聖人因言以立訓，援事抑情之明例也。 禮不云乎，無輕議禮。 明共蟠於天地，並彼日月，賢者由之，安敢小有損益也！ 況夫《喪服》之紀，先王大猷，奉以周旋，以匡人道。 一辭寧措，千載是遵，涉於異端，豈曰弘教。 伏望各依正禮，以厚儒風。 太常所謂增加，愚見以為不可。」 又戶部郎中楊伯成、左監門錄事參軍劉秩並同是議，與沔等略同。 議奏，上又手敕侍臣等曰：「」
Vice Director of Rites Yang Zhongchang wrote: "I have reviewed the Ceremonies, which states, 'All mourning for external kin is si hemp. It also says, 'Maternal grandparents, by honor added, and mother's sisters, by name added, both wear xiao gong for five months. For the maternal uncle, si hemp—Wei Zheng, Duke of Zhengwen, had already argued he should match the mother's sister at xiao gong for five months, and that was settled. What is now proposed to be added—how does it differ from that earlier ruling? Wei Zheng was worthy, but Zhou and Confucius were sages; to let worthies revise sages—what should later students follow? Cousins on the mother's side and their wives, all raised to tan mian—how then can we claim to follow the ritual canon? If maternal grandparents are raised to da gong, must not maternal grandsons also return the heavier mourning? If maternal grandsons wore da gong in return, how could patrilineal grandsons of the same degree wear less? If it must be so, the inconvenience is grave. I fear inner and outer kin will fall out of order and near and far will invert rank—where feeling leads, what limit will hold? That is inevitable. Long ago Zilu mourned a sister but would not leave off the garments; Confucius asked him, and Zilu said, 'I have few siblings and cannot bear to do so.' The Master said, 'When the former kings made ritual, even passers-by felt the same reluctance. Zilu heard and removed the mourning. Here the sage turned a remark into teaching—an explicit case of using precedent to curb excess of feeling. Does ritual not say, Do not lightly debate ritual? It coils with Heaven and Earth and stands with sun and moon—the worthy follow it; who would dare trim it even slightly! Above all the Mourning Garments—the former kings' great design, carried in practice to set the human way right. A single phrase is not lightly altered; a thousand years follow it; to wander into side paths is not to enlarge teaching. I beg that all adhere to the orthodox rites and strengthen Confucian practice. The increases urged by the Court of Imperial Sacrifices seem to me inadmissible.' The quote ended. Bureau Director Yang Bocheng in the Ministry of Revenue and Left Gate Recorder Liu Zhi also wrote in the same vein, broadly agreeing with Cui Mian and his allies. When the opinions were submitted, the emperor again personally instructed the chief ministers:
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侍中裴耀卿、中書令張九齡、禮部尚書李林甫等奏曰：「外族之親，禮無厭降。 外甥既為舅母制服，舅母還合報之。 夫外甥既為報服，則與夫之姨舅，以類是同，外甥之妻，不得無服。 所增者頗廣，所引者漸疏。 微臣愚蒙，猶有未達。」 玄宗又手製答曰：「」耀卿等奏曰：「陛下體至仁之德，廣推恩之道，將弘引進，以示睦親，再發德音，更令詳議。 臣等按《大唐新禮》：親舅加至小功，與從母同服。 此蓋當時特命，不以輕重遞增，蓋不欲參於本宗，慎於變禮者也。 今聖制親姨舅小功，更制舅母緦麻，堂姨舅袒免等服，取類《新禮》，垂示將來，通於物情，自我作則。 群儒風議，徒有稽留。 並望准制施行。」 制從之。 正月，出嫁母宜終服三年。
Chief Attendant Pei Yaoqing, Grand Counselor Zhang Jiuling, Minister of Rites Li Linfu, and others wrote: "External kin are not subject to ritual demotion. A nephew already mourns his aunt by marriage; she in turn should return the obligation. If a nephew wears return mourning, the same logic covers the husband's aunts and uncles; a nephew's wife cannot go without dress. What is added grows wide; what is cited grows remote. We, dull and ignorant, still do not fully grasp it. The quote ended. Xuanzong also drafted a personal reply. Yaoqing and others then wrote: "Your Majesty embodies utmost benevolence and extends grace broadly, seeking to widen kinship and show familial warmth, and has again ordered further deliberation. We have reviewed the New Tang Rites: a mother's brother was raised to xiao gong, matching the mother's sister. That was a special order of the time, not a ladder of ever-heavier grades—chiefly to keep external kin from merging with the main line, a cautious change of ritual. Now Your Majesty sets mother's brothers and sisters at xiao gong, an aunt by marriage at si hemp, and cousins on the mother's side at tan mian—following the New Rites as a type, showing the future a rule that fits human feeling and is made here and now. The Confucian debaters had only delayed. All ask that the regulation be approved and enforced. The quote ended. The regulation was approved. First month: a married-out mother should observe the full three-year mourning.