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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：「又舅之與姨，親疏相似，而服紀有殊，理未為得。宜集學者詳議。餘有親重而服輕者，亦附奏聞。」於是侍中魏徵、禮部侍郎令狐德棻等奏議曰：臣聞禮所以決嫌疑，定猶豫，別同異，明是非者也。非從天降，非從地出，人情而已矣。夫親族有九，服術有六，隨恩以薄厚，稱情以立文。然舅之與姨，雖為同氣，論情度義，先後實殊。何則？舅為母之本族，姨乃外戚他族，求之母族，姨不在焉，考之經典，舅誠為重。故周王念齊，每稱舅甥之國；秦伯懷晉，實切《渭陽》之詩。在舅服止一時，為姨居喪五月，循名喪實，逐末棄本。蓋古人之情，或有未達，所宜損益，實在茲乎！《記》曰：「兄弟之子，猶子也。蓋引而進之也；嫂叔之不服，蓋推而遠之也。」禮：繼父同居，則為之期；未嘗同居，則不為服。從母之夫，舅之妻，二夫人相為服。或曰，同爨緦。然則繼父之徒，並非骨肉，服重由乎同爨，恩輕在乎異居。故知制服雖繫於名；亦緣恩之厚薄者也。或有長年之嫂，遇孩童之叔，劬勞鞠養，情若新生，分飢共寒，契闊偕老。譬同居之繼父，方他人之同爨，情義之深淺，寧可同日而言哉！在其生也，愛之同於骨肉；及其死也，則曰推而遠之。求之本原，深所未諭。若推而遠之為是，則不可生而共居；生而共居之為是，則不可死同行路。重其生而輕其死，厚其始而薄其終，稱情立文，其義安在？且事嫂見稱，載籍非一。鄭仲虞則恩禮甚篤，顏弘都則竭誠致感，馬援則見之必冠，孔伋則哭之為位。此並躬踐教義，仁深孝友，察其所尚之旨，豈非先覺者歟？但於其時，上無哲王，禮非下之所議，遂使深情郁乎千載，至理藏於萬古，其來久矣，豈不惜哉！今屬欽明在辰，聖人有作，五禮詳洽，一物無遺。猶且永念慎終，凝神遐想。以為尊卑之敘，雖煥乎大備；喪紀之制，或情理未周。爰命秩宗，更詳考正。臣等奏遵明旨，觸類旁求，採摭群經，討論傳記。或引兼名實，無文之禮咸秩，惇睦之情畢舉，變薄俗於既往，垂篤義於將來，信六籍所不能談，超百王而獨得者也。諸儒所守，互有異同，詳求厥中，申明聖旨。謹按曾祖父母舊服齊衰三月，請加為齊衰五月。嫡子婦舊服大功，請加為期。眾子婦小功，今請與兄弟子婦同為大功九月。嫂叔舊無服，今請服小功五月報。其弟妻及夫兄，亦小功五月。舅服緦麻，請與從母同服小功。
While Taizong was hearing the ritual-revision officers report on business, the subject reached mourning dress. Taizong said: "Also, maternal uncles and maternal aunts are similar in closeness, yet the mourning regulations differ for them; in principle this does not seem right. Scholars should be assembled to deliberate on it in detail. Other cases where kinship is heavy but mourning is light should also be appended and reported." Thereupon Palace Attendant Wei Zheng, Vice Minister of Rites Linghu Defen, and others memorialized in deliberation: Your servants have heard that ritual is what resolves doubts and suspicions, settles hesitations, distinguishes sameness and difference, and clarifies right and wrong. It does not descend from Heaven or emerge from earth; it is simply human feeling. Kin have nine degrees and mourning techniques have six, thinning or thickening according to affection and establishing the text according to feeling. Yet although maternal uncle and maternal aunt are of the same breath, when feeling is discussed and obligation measured, the former and latter are truly different. Why? The maternal uncle belongs to the mother's root clan, while the maternal aunt is an external relative of another clan. Seeking within the mother's clan, the maternal aunt is not there; examining the classics, the maternal uncle is truly weighty. Therefore when the Zhou king remembered Qi, he always called it the state of uncle and nephew; when the Earl of Qin cherished Jin, it was truly close to the poem Weiyang. For a maternal uncle, mourning stops at one season; for a maternal aunt, one mourns five months. This follows the name and loses the substance, pursuing the branch and abandoning the root. The feeling of the ancients perhaps had something not yet fully reached, and what should be reduced or increased truly lies here. The Record says: "The sons of brothers are like sons; this draws them in and advances them. That elder-brother's wife and younger-brother-in-law do not mourn each other pushes them away." In ritual, for a stepfather who has lived with one, one wears one-year mourning; if he has never lived with one, one wears no mourning. A mother's sister's husband and a maternal uncle's wife, these two spouses mourn one another. Some say that those who share the cooking hearth wear fine hemp. Thus stepfathers and such are not flesh and blood, yet mourning is heavy because of sharing the hearth, and affection is light because of living apart. Therefore we know that although mourning dress depends on names, it also follows the thickness or thinness of affection. Sometimes there is an elder sister-in-law of advanced years with a younger brother-in-law who was a child; she toiled to raise him, with feeling as if newly giving birth, sharing hunger and cold, and staying with him through hardship into old age. Compared with a stepfather who shared the household or with another person sharing the cooking hearth, how could the depth or shallowness of feeling and obligation be discussed on the same day? While she lives, he loves her as flesh and blood; when she dies, one says she is pushed away. Seeking the root of this, we deeply fail to understand it. If pushing away is right, then they should not live together while alive. If living together while alive is right, then they cannot be treated as people on the road when dead. To value the living and slight the dead, to thicken the beginning and thin the end: where is the meaning of matching feeling and establishing text? Moreover, serving a sister-in-law is praised in more than one written record. Zheng Zhongyu's grace and ritual were very deep; Yan Hongdu exhausted sincerity and produced a response; Ma Yuan always put on his cap when seeing his sister-in-law; Kong Ji cried for his sister-in-law with a set position. These all personally practiced teaching and obligation, with benevolence deep in filial and fraternal feeling. Examining the purpose of what they honored, were they not those who awakened first? Only in their time there was no wise king above, and ritual was not for those below to debate; thus deep feeling was suppressed for a thousand years, and perfect principle was hidden for ten thousand ages. This has been so for a long time; is it not regrettable? Now we meet a time when reverent brightness is present and a sage has arisen. The five rites are detailed and complete, with not one thing omitted. Still Your Majesty forever thinks on careful endings and concentrates spirit in distant reflection, considering that although the sequence of honored and lowly is bright and fully prepared, the regulations of mourning may not yet be complete in feeling and principle. Therefore you ordered the Minister of Rites to examine and correct them in more detail. Your servants, in memorializing, follow the bright command, seek sideways by analogy, gather from the many classics, and discuss commentaries and records. Some cases draw on both name and substance; rites without written text are all ordered, and the feeling of generous harmony is fully raised, changing thin customs from the past and transmitting deep obligation to the future. This is truly what the six classics could not discuss and what surpasses the hundred kings as Your Majesty's sole attainment. The various scholars hold to different views. We have sought the center in detail and extend and clarify the sage command. Respectfully, the old mourning for great-grandparents was three months of trimmed mourning; we request increasing it to five months of trimmed mourning. The old mourning for the principal son's wife was great-work mourning; we request increasing it to one year. The mourning for wives of other sons was small-work mourning; we now request making it the same as for brothers' sons' wives, great-work mourning for nine months. Elder-brother's wife and younger-brother-in-law formerly had no mourning; we now request reciprocal small-work mourning for five months. The younger brother's wife and her husband's elder brother should also have small-work mourning for five months. Mourning for a maternal uncle was fine hemp; we request making it the same as for a mother's sister, small-work mourning.
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制可之。
The throne approved.
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顯慶二年九月，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。
In the second year of Xianqing, in the ninth month, rites-revising officials Zhangsun Wuji and others again memorialized, saying: "According to ancient mourning dress, a nephew for his mother's brother wears three months' finest hemp; the mother's brother's return mourning for the nephew follows the same rule. 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. We now request revision of the Code and Commentaries so that the mother's brother's return mourning for the nephew is also lesser accomplishment." They also said: "In ancient ritual a secondary mother was finest hemp; in the new ritual there is no mourning. 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. We request that according to ancient precedent mourning of finest hemp be worn." The throne approved again.
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龍朔二年八月，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：「雖云嫡母，終是繼母，據禮緣情，須有定制。付所司議定奏聞。」司禮太常伯隴西郡王博乂等奏稱：緬尋《喪服》，母名斯定，嫡、繼、慈、養，皆在其中。惟出母制，特言出妻之子，明非生己，則皆無服。是以令云母嫁，又云出妻之子。出言其子，以著所生，嫁即言母，通包養、嫡，俱當解任，併合心喪。其不解者，惟有繼母之嫁。繼母為名，正據前妻之子；嫡於諸孽，禮無繼母之文。甲令今既見行，嗣業理申心制。然奉敕議定，方垂永則，令有不安，亦須釐正。竊以嫡、繼、慈、養，皆非所生，並同行路。嫁雖比出稍輕，於父終為義絕。繼母之嫁，既殊親母，慈、嫡義絕，豈合心喪？望請凡非所生，父卒而嫁，為父後者無服，非承重者杖期，並不心喪，一同繼母。有符情禮，無玷舊章。又心喪之制，惟施服屈，杖期之服，不應解官。而令文三年齊斬，亦入心喪之例；杖期解官，又有妻喪之舛。又依禮，庶子為其母緦麻三月。既是所生母服，准例亦合解官。令文漏而不言，於事終須修附。既與嫡母等嫁同一令條，總議請改，理為允愜者。依集文武官九品已上議。得司衛正卿房仁裕等七百三十六人議，請一依司禮狀，嗣業不解官。得右金吾衛將軍薛孤吳仁等二十六人議，請解嗣業官，不同司禮狀者。母非所生，出嫁義絕，仍令解職，有紊緣情。杖期解官，不甄妻服，三年齊斬，謬曰心喪。庶子為母緦麻，漏其中制。此並令文疏舛，理難因襲。依房仁裕等議，總加修附，垂之不朽。其禮及律疏有相關涉者，亦請准此改正。嗣業既非嫡母改醮，不合解官。
In the second year of Longshuo, in the eighth month the relevant office memorialized: "Director of Literary Affairs Xiao Siye's legitimate stepmother remarried and died; he requests to declare heart mourning. According to the ordinance, a stepmother's remarriage and being the eldest son both do not require leaving office." An edict followed: "Although she is called a legitimate mother, in the end she is a stepmother. According to ritual and following feeling, there must be a fixed rule. Send this to the responsible office to deliberate and determine, then memorialize." Bo Yi, Director of Ceremonies and Chamberlain for Ceremonials, Prince of Longxi Commandery, and others memorialized: Searching deeply in the Mourning Dress, the name mother is fixed, and legitimate, step-, compassionate, and adoptive mothers are all included within it. Only in the rule for a divorced mother does it specifically say "the son of a divorced wife," making clear that if she did not give birth to him, there is no mourning for all such cases. Therefore the code says "when a mother remarries," and also says "the son of a divorced wife." When it says "divorced," it mentions her son to show the one she bore; when it says "remarries," it says mother and broadly includes adoptive and legitimate mothers. All should leave office and observe inner mourning. The only one who does not leave office is a stepmother who remarries. The name stepmother properly refers to the son of a former wife; for the legitimate wife in relation to concubine-born sons, ritual has no text calling her stepmother. Since the statute is now in force, Siye may in principle extend inner mourning. Yet since an edict orders determination so that it may become a permanent rule, if the statute has something unsettled, it must also be corrected. Privately we think that legitimate, step-, compassionate, and adoptive mothers are all not the birth mother and are all the same as people on the road. Though remarriage is slightly lighter than divorce, in relation to the father it is still a severing of obligation. Since remarriage of a stepmother differs from the birth mother, and the obligation to a compassionate or legitimate mother is severed, how should inner mourning apply? We request that whenever the woman is not the birth mother and, after the father dies, she remarries, the one who succeeds as heir to the father should have no mourning for her, while one who does not bear the main succession should observe staff-year mourning, and none should observe inner mourning, all being the same as with a stepmother. This accords with feeling and ritual and does not blemish the old statutes. Also, the rule of inner mourning applies only when mourning dress is reduced; staff-year mourning should not require leaving office. Yet the code text puts three-year mourning with trimmed and unhemmed garments also under inner mourning; staff-year mourning requiring leaving office also has the error of a wife's mourning. Again according to ritual, a concubine-born son mourns his mother with fine hemp for three months. Since this is mourning for the birth mother, by precedent he should also leave office. The code omits this and does not say it, but in practice it must ultimately be amended. Since it is in the same statute as remarriage of a legitimate mother, we request that all these points be revised together, which in principle is fitting. The matter was referred to assembled civil and military officials of the ninth rank and above for deliberation. The opinion of Fang Renyu, Chief Minister of the Guard, and 736 others was obtained, requesting full adherence to the Director of Ceremonies' statement and that Siye not leave office. The opinion of Xuegu Wuren, General of the Right Gold Bird Guard, and twenty-six others was obtained, requesting that Siye leave office, differing from the Director of Ceremonies' statement. Since a mother who is not the birth mother severs obligation by remarrying, still ordering departure from office disrupts following feeling. Requiring departure from office for staff-year mourning, without distinguishing mourning for a wife; falsely calling three-year trimmed and unhemmed mourning inner mourning; omitting the middle rule for a concubine-born son mourning his mother in fine hemp: these are all omissions and errors in the code text and are hard in principle to carry forward. Follow the deliberation of Fang Renyu and the others, revise and add all of them, and transmit this imperishably. Where the ritual and legal commentary are related to these matters, we also request that they be corrected according to this. Since Siye's case is not remarriage of a legitimate mother, he should not leave office.
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詔從之，
The court assented.
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上元元年，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， 開元五年，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：干尊坤卑，天一地二，陰陽之位分矣，夫婦之道配焉。至若死喪之威，隆殺之等，禮經五服之制，齊斬有殊，考妣三年之喪，貴賤無隔，以報免懷之慈，以酬罔極之恩者也。稽之上古，喪期無數，暨乎中葉，方有歲年。《禮》云：「五帝殊時，不相沿樂；三王異代，不相襲禮。」《白虎通》云：「質文再變，正朔三而復。」自周公制禮之後，孔父刊經已來，爰殊厭降之儀，以標服紀之節。重輕從俗，斟酌隨時。故知禮不從天而降，不由地而出也，在人消息，為適時之中耳。春秋諸國，魯最知禮，以周公之後，孔子之邦也。晉韓起來聘，言「周禮盡在魯矣。」齊仲孫來盟，言「魯猶秉周禮。」尚有子張問高宗諒陰三年，子思不聽其子服出母，子游謂同母異父昆弟之服大功，子夏謂合從齊衰之制。此等並四科之數，十哲之人，高步孔門，親承聖訓，及遇喪事，猶此致疑，即明自古已來，升降不一者也。三年之制，說者紛然。鄭玄以為二十七月，王肅以為二十五月。又改葬之服，鄭云服緦三月，王云訖葬而除。又繼母出嫁，鄭云皆服，王云從於繼育，乃為之服。又無服之殤，鄭云子生一月，哭之一日；王云以哭之一日易服之月。鄭、王祖經宗傳，各有異同；荀摯采古求遺，互為損益。方知去聖漸遠，殘缺彌多。故曰會禮之家，名為聚訟，寧有定哉！而父在為母三年，行之已逾四紀，出自高宗大帝之代，不從則天皇后之朝。大帝御極之辰，中宮獻書之日，往時參議，將可施行，編之於格，服之已久。前王所是，疏而為律；後王所是，著而為令。何必乖先帝之旨，阻人子之情，虧純孝之心，背德義之本？有何妨於聖化，有何紊於彝倫，而欲服之週年，與伯叔母齊焉，與姑姊妹同焉？夫三年之喪，如白駒之過隙，君子喪親，有終身之憂，何況再周乎！夫禮者，體也，履也，示之以跡。孝者，畜也，養也，因之以心。小人不恥不仁，不畏不義。服之有制，使愚人企及；衣之以衰，使見之摧痛。以此防人，人猶有朝死而夕忘者；以此制人，人猶有釋服而從吉者。方今漸歸古樸，須敦孝義，抑賢引愚，理資寧戚，食稻衣錦，所不忍聞。若以庶事朝儀，一依周禮，則古之人臣見君也，公卿大夫贄羔雁、珪璧，今何故不依乎？周之用刑也，墨、劓、宮、刖，今何故不行乎？周則侯、甸、男、衛，朝聘有數，今何故不行乎？周則不五十不仕，七十不入朝，今何故不依乎？周則井、邑、丘、甸，以立徵稅，今何故不行乎？周則三老五等，父死子及，今何故不行乎？周則冠冕衣裘，乘車而戰，今何故不行乎？周則分土五更，膠序養老，今何故不行乎？諸如此例，不可勝述。何獨孝思之事，愛一年之服於其母乎？可為痛心，可為慟哭者！《詩》云：「哀哀父母，生我劬勞。」《禮》云：「父之親子也，親賢而下無能；母之親子也，賢則親之，無能則憐之。」阮嗣宗晉代之英才，方外之高士，以為母重於父。據齊斬升數，粗細已降，何忍服之節制，減至於周？豈後代之士，盡慚於古。循古未必是，依今未必非也。又同爨服緦，禮經明義。嫂叔遠別，同諸路人。引而進之，觸類而長。猶子咸衣苴枲，季父不服緦麻，推遠之情有餘，睦親之義未足。又母之昆弟，情切渭陽，翟酺訟舅之冤，甯氏宅甥之相，我之出也，義亦殷焉。不同從母之尊，遂降小功之服，依諸古禮，有爽俗情。今貶舅而宗姨，是陋今而榮古。此並太宗之制也，行之百年矣，輒為刊復，實用有疑。
In the first year of Shangyuan, Empress Wu submitted a memorial, saying: "As for when the father is alive, mourning for the mother stops at one cycle—though heart mourning is three years, the garment is reduced 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. We now request that when the father is alive mourning for the mother run the full three years." Gaozong decreed and put her proposal into practice. In the fifth year of Kaiyuan, Right Remonstrator Lu Lübing submitted a memorial: "According to ritual, when the father is alive, for the mother one cycle until removal of the spirit tablet, three years' heart mourning. 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. Now Your Majesty filially governs the realm and moves in accord with ritual classics; we request return to the old articles, that it may accord 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. Tian Zaisi, Bureau Director in the Ministry of Justice, made a proposal: Qian is honored and kun is lowly; Heaven is one and earth is two. The positions of yin and yang are divided, and the way of husband and wife is paired with them. As for the awe of death and mourning and the grades of fullness and reduction, the ritual classics have the system of the five mourning grades. Trimmed and unhemmed mourning differ, but the three-year mourning for father and mother has no barrier between noble and base, because it repays the kindness of bearing and cherishing and answers boundless grace. Examining high antiquity, mourning terms had no fixed number; by middle antiquity, only then were there years and months. The Ritual says: "The Five Emperors differed in time and did not follow one another in music; the Three Kings differed in age and did not inherit one another's rites." The Baihu Tong says: "Plainness and refinement change twice, and the first month changes through three and returns." Since the Duke of Zhou made ritual and since Confucius edited the classics, there have been different rules of suppression and reduction to mark the divisions of mourning regulations. Heavy and light follow custom; deliberation and adjustment follow the time. Thus we know ritual does not descend from Heaven or come out from earth; it lies in human increase and decrease, making what fits the time and the mean. Among the states of the Spring and Autumn, Lu best knew ritual, because it was the descendants of the Duke of Zhou and the state of Confucius. When Han Qi of Jin came on a visit, he said, "The rites of Zhou are all in Lu." When Zhongsun of Qi came to make a covenant, he said, "Lu still holds the rites of Zhou." Yet Zizhang asked about Gaozong's three years of silent mourning; Zisi did not allow his son to wear mourning for his divorced mother; Ziyou said that brothers with the same mother but different fathers should wear great-work mourning; Zixia said they should follow the trimmed-mourning rule. These were all among the numbered disciples of the four categories and the ten philosophers, men of high rank in Confucius's gate who personally received the sage teaching; yet when they encountered mourning matters, they still produced doubts like this. This makes clear that since antiquity increases and reductions have not been uniform. As for the three-year system, explanations are confused. Zheng Xuan considered it twenty-seven months; Wang Su considered it twenty-five months. Again for mourning after reburial, Zheng says one wears fine hemp for three months, while Wang says one removes it when burial is completed. Again for a stepmother who remarries, Zheng says all wear mourning, while Wang says that only if one followed and was raised by her does one wear mourning. Again for a child who died young and for whom there is no mourning, Zheng says that for a child born one month, one cries one day; Wang says one day of crying replaces one month of mourning. Zheng and Wang each take the classics as ancestor and the commentaries as lineage, and each has differences. Xun Zhi collected antiquity and sought what was left, alternately reducing and increasing. From this we know that as the sages recede farther away, gaps and losses become more numerous. Therefore it is said that houses that assemble ritual are called gathered lawsuits; how could there be a fixed answer? Yet the three-year mourning for a mother while the father is alive has been practiced for more than forty years. It came from the generation of Gaozong the Great Emperor, not from the court of Empress Zetian. When the Great Emperor ruled and the palace submitted the document, the former deliberations could be put into practice; it was compiled into the regulations, and the mourning has been worn for a long time. What a former king approved was set out as law; what a later king approved was written as ordinance. Why must we oppose the former emperor's intent, block the feeling of a person's son, diminish a pure filial heart, and turn against the root of virtue and obligation? What harm is there to sage transformation? What disorder is there to the constant human order, that one would make the mourning one year, equal to that for paternal uncles' wives, and the same as for paternal aunts and sisters? The three-year mourning passes like a white colt through a crack; a gentleman mourning his parent has lifelong grief, how much more for two full cycles! Ritual is embodiment, practice, showing it by traces. Filial piety is storing up, nourishing, following it by the heart. Petty people are not ashamed of inhumanity and do not fear unrighteousness. Mourning dress has regulations to make foolish people reach upward; they are clothed in mourning garments so that seeing them produces crushing pain. Using this to guard people, there are still those who forget by evening one who died in the morning. Using this to regulate people, there are still those who remove mourning and follow auspicious affairs. Now we are gradually returning to ancient simplicity and must deepen filial piety and obligation. Restraining the worthy and drawing in the foolish, in principle, depends on Ning Qi; eating rice and wearing brocade are things one cannot bear to hear. If ordinary affairs and court ceremony are all to follow the Zhou rites, then when ancient ministers saw the ruler, dukes, ministers, and great officers presented lambs, geese, jade tablets, and disks; why do we not follow this now? Zhou punishments used tattooing, nose-cutting, castration, and foot-cutting; why do we not carry them out now? Zhou had hou, dian, nan, and wei domains, and audiences and visits had fixed numbers; why do we not carry this out now? Zhou did not let one serve before fifty, and at seventy one did not enter court; why do we not follow this now? Zhou used jing, yi, qiu, and dian to establish taxation; why do we not carry this out now? Zhou had three elders and five grades, father dying and son succeeding; why do we not carry this out now? Zhou used caps, robes, fur garments, and chariots in battle; why do we not carry this out now? Zhou divided land and had five geng, and in village and school nourished the aged; why do we not carry this out now? Examples such as these cannot be fully stated. Why only in the matter of filial thought begrudge one year of mourning for one's mother? This can make the heart ache; this can make one wail. The Odes says: "Alas, alas, my father and mother, who bore me with toil." The Ritual says: "When a father loves his child, he loves the worthy and lowers the incapable; when a mother loves her child, if worthy she loves him, and if incapable she pities him." Ruan Sizong, an outstanding talent of Jin and lofty man beyond the world, considered the mother weightier than the father. Based on the thread counts of trimmed and unhemmed mourning, coarseness and fineness already descend. How can one bear for the term of mourning to be reduced to one year? Surely later men are not all ashamed before antiquity. Following antiquity is not necessarily right; following the present is not necessarily wrong. Again, those who share the cooking hearth wear fine hemp; this is a clear meaning of the ritual classics. Elder-brother's wife and younger-brother-in-law are kept distant and treated like people on the road. Drawing them in and advancing them extends by analogy. Nephews all wear hemp mourning, but a younger uncle does not wear fine hemp; the feeling of pushing away is more than enough, and the obligation of harmonizing kin is insufficient. Again the mother's brothers have feeling as close as Weiyang; Di Pu litigated his uncle's injustice, and the Ning family housed a nephew as minister. Since I come from them, obligation too is deep. Not sharing the honor of a mother's sister, they are thereby lowered to small-work mourning. According to the ancient rites, this conflicts with common feeling. Now lowering the maternal uncle while honoring the maternal aunt is to scorn the present and glorify antiquity. These are all Taizong's regulations and have been practiced for a hundred years; rashly cutting and restoring them truly creates doubt.
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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。 臣開元五年，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 again submitted a memorial, saying: "The Ritual: when the father is alive, for the mother eleven months then practice; thirteenth month auspicious; fifteenth month end-of-mourning; heart mourning three years. 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, in the fifth year of Kaiyuan, 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. Let fathers be fathers, sons be sons, elder brothers be elder brothers, younger brothers be younger brothers, husbands be husbands, and wives be wives—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 that later ages will again have women who usurp their husbands' government." The memorial closed.
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疏奏未報。 履冰又上奏曰：臣聞夫婦之道，人倫之始。尊卑法於天地，動靜合於陰陽，陰陽和而天地生成，夫婦正而人倫式序。自家刑國，牝雞無晨，四德之禮不愆，三從之義斯在。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，見無二尊也。」准舊儀，父在為母一週除靈，再周心喪。父必三年而後娶者，達子之志焉。豈先聖無情於所生，固有意於家國者矣。原夫上元肇年，則天已潛秉政，將圖僭篡，預自崇先。請升慈愛之喪，以抗尊嚴之禮，雖齊斬之儀不改，而几筵之制遂同。數年之間，尚未通用。天皇晏駕，中宗蒙塵。垂拱之末，果行聖母之偽符；載初之元，遂啟易代之深釁。孝和雖名反正，韋氏復效晨鳴。孝和非意暴崩，韋氏旋即稱制。不蒙陛下英算，宗廟何由克復？《易》云：「臣弒其君，子弒其父，非一朝一夕之故。」其斯之謂矣。臣謹尋禮意，防杜實深，若不早圖刊正，何以垂戒於後？所以薄言禮教，請依舊章，恩敕通明，蒙付所司詳議。且臣所獻者，蓋請正夫婦之綱，豈忘母子之道。諸議多不討其本源，所非議者，大凡只論罔極之恩；喪也寧戚；禽獸識母而不識父；秦燔書後禮經殘缺，後儒纘集，不足可憑；豈得與伯叔母服同，豈得與姑姊妹制等；三王不相襲禮，五帝不相沿樂；齊斬足為升降，歲年何忍不同：此並道聽途說之言，未習先王之旨，又安足以議經邦理俗之禮乎？臣請據經義以明之。所云「罔極之恩」者，春秋祭祀，以時思之。君子有終身之憂，霜露之感，豈止一二周之服哉！故聖人恐有朝死而夕忘，曾鳥獸之不若，為立中制，使賢不肖共成文理而已。所云「喪也寧戚」者，孔子答林放之問。至如太奢太儉，太易太戚，皆非禮中。苟不得中，名為俱失，不如太儉太戚焉。毀而滅性，猶愈於朝死夕忘焉。此論臨喪哀毀之容，豈比於同宗異姓之服？所云「禽獸識母而不識父」者，禽獸群居而聚筜，而無家國之禮，少雖知親愛其母，長不解尊嚴其父。引此為諭則亦禽獸之不若乎！所云「秦燔書後禮經殘缺，後儒纘集，不足可憑」者，人間或有遺逸，豈亦家戶到而燔之？假若盡燔，苟不可信，則墳黃都謬，庠序徒立，非聖之談，復云安屬？所云「與伯叔姑姊服同」者，伯叔姑姊有筵杖之制、三年心喪乎？所云「五帝不相沿樂，不相襲禮」，誠哉是言！此是則天懷私苞禍之情，豈可復相沿樂襲禮乎？所云「齊斬足為升降」者，母齊父斬，不易之禮。按《三年問》云：「將由修飾之君子與，三年之喪，若駟之過隙，遂之，則是無窮也。然則何以周也？曰：至親以周斷。是何也？曰：天地則已易矣，四時則已變矣，其在天地之者，莫不更始焉，以是象之也。然則何以三年？曰：加重焉耳。」故父加至再周，父在為母加三年心喪。今者還同父沒之制，則尊厭之律安施？《喪服四制》又曰：「凡禮之大體，體天地，法四時，則陰陽，順人情，故謂之禮。」訾之者是不知禮之所由生。非徒不識禮之所由制，亦恐未達孝子之通義。臣謹按《孝經》，以明陛下孝治之合至德要道，請論世欲訾禮之徒。夫至德謂孝悌，要道謂禮樂。「移風易俗，莫善於樂，安上治民，莫善於禮。」又《禮》有「無體之禮，無聲之樂。」按《孝經援神契》云：「天子孝曰就，就之為言成也。天子德被天下，澤及萬物，始終成就，則其親獲安，故曰就也。諸侯孝曰度，度者法也。諸侯居國，能奉天子法度，得不危溢，則其親獲安，故曰度也。卿大夫孝曰譽，譽之為言名也。卿大夫言行佈滿，能無惡稱，譽達遐邇，則其親獲安，故曰譽也。士孝曰究，究者以明審為義。士始升朝，辭親入仕，能審資父事君之禮，則其親獲安，故曰究也。庶人孝曰畜，畜者含畜為義。庶人含情受朴，躬耕力作，以畜其德，則其親獲安，故曰畜也。」陛下以韋氏構逆，中宗降禍，宸衷哀憤，睿情卓烈。初無一旅之眾，遂殄九重之妖，定社稷於阽危，拯宗枝於塗炭。此陛下孝悌之至，通於神明，光於四海，無所不通。使諸侯得守其法度，卿大夫得盡其言行，士得資親以事君，庶人得用天而分地。此陛下無體之禮，以安上理人也。上元以來，政由武氏，文明之後，法在凶人。賊害宗親，誅滅良善，勳階歲累，酺赦年頻。佞之則榮華，正之則遷謫。神龍、景雲之際，其事尤繁；先天、開元之間，斯弊都革。此陛下之無聲之樂，以移風易俗也。臣前狀單略，議者未識臣之懇誠。謹具狀重進，請付中書門下商量處分。臣言若讜，然敢側足於軒墀；臣言不忠，伏請竄跡於荒裔。
No answer came. Lu Lubing again submitted a memorial: Your servant has heard that the way of husband and wife is the beginning of human relations. Honored and lowly take law from Heaven and earth; movement and stillness accord with yin and yang. When yin and yang are harmonious, Heaven and earth generate and complete; when husband and wife are correct, human relations are thereby ordered. From regulating the family to governing the state, the hen has no morning cry; the rites of the four virtues do not fail, and the obligation of the three followings is here. The Four Mourning Systems says: "Heaven has no two suns, earth has no two kings, the state has no two rulers, and the household has no two honored ones; these are ordered by one principle. Therefore when the father is alive, one wears one-year mourning for the mother, showing that there are not two honored ones." According to the old ritual, when the father was alive, for the mother one removed the spirit seat after one cycle and observed inner mourning for two cycles. That the father must wait three years before marrying again expresses the son's intent. How could the former sages have had no feeling for the one who gave birth, when they were certainly intent on household and state? Looking back, in the first year of Shangyuan, Zetian had already secretly taken hold of government. Planning usurpation, she first honored her ancestors. She requested raising compassionate mourning to oppose the rites of reverence; although the forms of trimmed and unhemmed mourning were not changed, the system of mats and seats became the same. For several years it still was not generally used. The Heavenly Emperor died, and Zhongzong suffered dust and exile. At the end of Chuigong, the false tally of the Sage Mother was indeed carried out; in the first year of Zaichu, the deep provocation for changing dynasties was opened. Although Xiaohe was called a return to correctness, the Wei clan again imitated the morning cry. Xiaohe suddenly died contrary to expectation, and the Wei clan immediately took charge. Had it not been for Your Majesty's heroic planning, how could the ancestral temples have been restored? The Changes says: "When a minister murders his ruler or a son murders his father, it is not the cause of one morning or one evening." This is what it means. Your servant has carefully sought the meaning of ritual, and its guard and prevention are truly deep. If we do not early plan to cut and correct this, how can we transmit warning to later times? Therefore I briefly spoke of ritual teaching and requested following the old statutes. The gracious edict was penetrating and clear, and I received referral to the responsible offices for detailed deliberation. What your servant submitted was a request to correct the bond of husband and wife; how could it forget the way of mother and son? Most deliberations do not examine the root and source. What they criticize generally only discusses boundless grace, that in mourning one should prefer grief, that birds and beasts know their mothers but not their fathers, that after Qin burned the books the ritual classics were damaged and later Confucians compiled them and are not reliable, that how could it be the same mourning as for paternal uncles' wives, how could it equal the rules for paternal aunts and sisters, that the Three Kings did not inherit one another's rites and the Five Emperors did not follow one another in music, and that trimmed and unhemmed garments are enough for increase and reduction while one cannot bear for the years to differ. These are all words heard on the road, not practiced in the former kings' intent. How are they enough to discuss the rites that order the state and regulate custom? Your servant requests to rely on classic meaning to clarify it. As for what is called "boundless grace," spring and autumn sacrifices remember it by season. A gentleman has lifelong grief and the feeling of frost and dew; how could it stop with one or two cycles of mourning dress? Therefore sages feared that some would have a morning death and evening forgetfulness, worse than birds and beasts, and established a middle regulation, so that worthy and unworthy together completed pattern and principle. As for what is called "in mourning, prefer grief," this is Confucius answering Lin Fang's question. As for too extravagant and too frugal, too easy and too grief-stricken, all are not within the ritual mean. If one cannot attain the mean, both are called losses, though too frugal and too grief-stricken are better. Destroying oneself and extinguishing one's nature is still better than morning death and evening forgetfulness. This discusses the appearance of grief and self-damage when facing mourning; how can it be compared to mourning dress for the same lineage and different surnames? As for "birds and beasts know the mother but not the father," birds and beasts live in flocks and gather without the rites of household and state. When young, they may know to love their mothers, but when grown they do not understand honoring their fathers. If this is cited as an analogy, are we not worse than birds and beasts? As for "after Qin burned the books, the ritual classics were damaged, and later Confucians compiled them, so they cannot be relied upon," among people there may have been texts left or lost; did Qin burn them from house to house? Suppose they were all burned. If they cannot be trusted, then the ancient classics are all mistaken, schools stand in vain, and to what does talk that rejects the sages belong? As for "the same mourning as paternal uncles' wives and paternal aunts and sisters," do paternal uncles' wives, paternal aunts, and sisters have a system of mats and staffs or three years of inner mourning? As for "the Five Emperors did not follow one another in music and did not inherit one another's rites," true indeed are these words! This was Zetian's feeling of harboring selfishness and wrapping disaster; how could one again follow her music and inherit her rite? As for "trimmed and unhemmed are enough for increase and reduction," trimmed for mother and unhemmed for father is unchanging ritual. According to Questions on Three Years: "Is it because of cultivated gentlemen? Three years of mourning is like a team of four horses passing a crack; if one extended it, it would be endless. Then why stop with one year? It says: the closest kin are cut off by a year. Why is this? It says: Heaven and earth have already changed; the four seasons have already changed; among what is within Heaven and earth, nothing has not begun anew, and this is used to model it. Then why three years? It says: weight is added." Therefore for the father it is increased to two full cycles, and while the father is alive, for the mother it is increased by three years of inner mourning. If now it is returned to the rule for when the father has died, where will the law of honored suppression be applied? The Four Mourning Systems also says: "In general, the great body of ritual embodies Heaven and earth, takes law from the four seasons, follows yin and yang, and accords with human feeling; therefore it is called ritual." Those who criticize this do not know from what ritual is born. Not only do they not understand from what ritual is made; I also fear they have not grasped the general obligation of a filial son. Your servant has carefully examined the Classic of Filial Piety to make clear that Your Majesty's filial governance accords with utmost virtue and the essential way, and I request to discuss those in the age who wish to criticize ritual. Utmost virtue means filial piety and fraternal respect; the essential way means rites and music. "For changing customs, nothing is better than music; for securing superiors and governing the people, nothing is better than ritual." Also, the Ritual has "formless ritual and soundless music." According to the Filial Piety apocryphon Yuan Shen Qi: "The Son of Heaven's filial piety is called completion; completion means accomplishing. When the Son of Heaven's virtue covers All Under Heaven and his grace reaches the myriad things, beginning and end are accomplished, and then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called completion. A feudal lord's filial piety is called measure; measure means law. When a feudal lord resides in his state and can uphold the Son of Heaven's laws and measures, not becoming endangered or overflowing, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called measure. A minister or great officer's filial piety is called reputation; reputation means name. When a minister or great officer's words and conduct spread fully and can have no evil name, and his reputation reaches far and near, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called reputation. A shi's filial piety is called investigation; investigation takes clarity and examination as its meaning. When a shi first enters court, leaves his parents and enters service, and can examine the rite of using the father as resource to serve the ruler, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called investigation. A commoner's filial piety is called storing up; storing up takes containing and preserving as its meaning. When a commoner contains feeling and receives simplicity, personally plowing and laboring in order to store up his virtue, then his parents obtain peace; therefore it is called storing up." Because the Wei clan plotted rebellion and Zhongzong suffered disaster, Your Majesty's imperial heart was grieved and angered, and your sagely feeling was outstanding and fierce. At first you had not even one brigade of troops, yet you destroyed the monster in the ninefold palace, fixed the altars of soil and grain in danger, and rescued the imperial branches from mire and ashes. This is the utmost of Your Majesty's filial piety and fraternal respect, penetrating to spirits and brightness, shining over the four seas, with nothing it does not reach. It lets feudal lords keep their laws and measures, ministers and great officers exhaust their words and conduct, shi use kinship to serve the ruler, and commoners use Heaven and divide earth. This is Your Majesty's formless ritual, by which you secure superiors and order the people. Since Shangyuan, government came from the Wu clan; after Wenming, law lay with cruel people. They harmed imperial kin, killed the good, accumulated merit ranks every year, and frequently held feasts and amnesties. To flatter them brought glory; to correct them brought demotion and exile. During Shenlong and Jingyun, these affairs were especially numerous; between Xiantian and Kaiyuan, these abuses were all reformed. This is Your Majesty's soundless music, by which you changed customs. Your servant's previous statement was brief, and the debaters did not understand my earnest sincerity. I have carefully prepared this statement and present it again, requesting that it be sent to the Secretariat-Chancellery for deliberation and disposition. If your servant's words are honest, then I dare stand beside the palace steps. If your servant's words are not loyal, I humbly request exile to the distant borders.
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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 Regular Attendant of the Cavalry Yuan Xingchong submitted a deliberation, saying: "Of Heaven and Earth's nature, only the human is most spiritual—because wisdom encompasses the ten thousand things, only the perspicacious become sage, discerning noble and base, distinguishing honored and humble, keeping distant what is suspect, dividing feeling and 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. We respectfully examine the doubts in all three cases and together request that following the ancient is correct." The bureaucracy still could not settle.
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至七年八月，下敕曰：「惟周公制禮，當歷代不刊；況子夏為《傳》，乃孔門所受。格條之內，有父在為母齊衰三年，此有為而為，非尊厭之義。與其改作，不如師古，諸服紀宜一依《喪服》文。」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。
By the eighth month of the seventh year, an edict was issued: "Only the rites made by the Duke of Zhou should remain unaltered through successive ages; how much more since Zixia made the commentary, receiving it from Confucius's school. Within the regulations there is three-year trimmed mourning for a mother while the father is alive; this is something done for a particular purpose, not the meaning of honored suppression. Rather than changing and remaking it, it is better to take antiquity as teacher. The various mourning regulations should all follow the text of the Mourning Dress." From this time, in the households of ministers and grandees, mourning for a mother while the father was alive was carried out differently: some, after one cycle and the end-of-mourning rite, wore end-of-mourning garments for sixty days and then removed mourning, while observing inner mourning for three years; some kept end-of-mourning dress the full three years after one cycle; some followed Shangyuan's hemmed sackcloth for three years. Debaters of the time right and wrong were clamorous; Yuan Xingchong said to people: "The sage instituted the ritual of honored reduction—how could he not know the depth of a mother's kindness? It is because one honors the grandfather and values the temple founder, wishing people to keep far from beasts and near yet distinct from barbarians. Feeling sways easily; shallow views are common. Once the measure is disorderly, how can it be stopped!" 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.
12
二十三年，藉田禮畢，正制曰：「服制之紀，或有所未通，宜令禮官學士詳議聞奏。」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。」
In the twenty-third year, after the plowing rite was completed, a formal ordinance said: "In the regulations of mourning dress, some points may not yet be fully understood. Let ritual officials and scholars deliberate in detail and report." Wei Tao, Director of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, memorialized: "Respectfully according to the Ceremonies and Rites, Mourning Dress: for a maternal uncle, fine hemp for three months. 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. We hope it may be entrusted to the Department of State Affairs to assemble the multitude of officials for detailed discussion, striving for compromise, and made a perpetual standard."
13
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，至開元八年，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. We hope to preserve the clear directive of the eighth year as the enduring law for ten thousand generations."
14
職方郎中韋述議曰：天生萬物，惟人最靈。所以尊尊親親，別生分類，存則盡其愛敬，沒則盡其哀戚。緣情而制服，考事而立言，往聖討論，亦已勤矣。上自高祖，下至玄孫，以及其身，謂之九族。由近而及遠，稱情而立文，差其輕重，遂為五服。雖則或以義降，或以名加，教有所從，理不逾等。百王不易，三代可知，日月同懸，咸所仰也。自微言既絕，大義復乖，雖文質有遷，而必遵此制。謹按《儀禮·喪服傳》曰：「外親之服皆緦麻。」鄭玄謂：「外親，異姓。正服不過緦麻。」外祖父母，小功五月，以尊加也。從母，小功五月，以名加也。舅甥外孫、中外昆弟，依本服緦麻三月。若以匹敵，外祖則祖也，舅則伯叔父之別也。姨舅伯叔，則父母之恩不殊，而獨殺於外氏，聖人之心，良有以也。《喪服傳》曰：「禽獸知母而不知父。」野人曰，父母何算焉。都邑之士，則知尊祢矣。大夫及學士，則知尊祖也。諸侯及其太祖，天子及其始祖。聖人究天道而厚於祖祢，系姓族而親其子孫，近則別其賢愚，遠則異於禽獸。由此言之，母黨比於本族，不可同貫明矣。且家無二尊，喪無二斬，人之所奉，不可貳也。特重於大宗者，降其小宗；為人後者，減其父母之服；女子出嫁，殺其本家之喪。蓋所存者遠，所抑者私也。今若外祖及舅更加服一等，堂舅及姨列於服紀之內，則中外之制，相去幾何？廢禮徇情，所務者末。古之製作者知人情之易搖，恐失禮之將漸，別其同異，輕重相懸，欲使後來之人，永不相雜。微旨斯在，豈徒然哉！且五服有上殺之義，必循源本，方及條流。伯叔父母本服大功九月，從父昆弟亦大功九月，並以上出於祖，其服不得過於祖也。從祖祖父母、從祖父母、從祖昆弟，皆小功五月；以出於曾祖，服不得過於曾祖也。族祖祖父母、族祖父母、族祖昆弟，皆緦麻三月，以其出於高祖，其服不得過於高祖也。堂舅姨既出於外曾祖，若為之制服，則外曾祖父母及外伯叔祖父母，亦宜制服矣。外祖加至大功九月，則外曾祖合至小功，外高祖合至緦麻。若舉此而舍彼，事則不均；棄親而錄疏，理則不順。推而廣之，是與本族無異矣。服皆有報，則堂外甥、外曾孫、侄女之子，皆須制服矣。聖人豈薄其骨肉，背其恩愛。情之親者，服制乃輕，蓋本於公者薄於私，存其大者略其細，義有所斷，不得不然。苟可加也，亦可減也，往聖可得而非，則禮經可得而隳矣。先王之制，謂之彝倫，奉以周旋，猶恐失墜，一紊其敘，庸可止乎？且舊章淪胥，為日已久矣。所存者無幾，又欲棄之，雖曰未達，不知其可。請依《儀禮·喪服》為定。
Wei Shu, Bureau Director of Staff Registration, deliberated: Heaven gives birth to the myriad things, and only humans are most numinous. Therefore they honor the honored and love the kin, distinguish those born from one another and classify kinds; while alive they exhaust love and reverence, and when dead they exhaust grief and sorrow. Following feeling they made mourning dress, and examining affairs they established words; former sages discussed this with great diligence. From Gaozu down to great-great-grandsons and including oneself is called the nine kin. From near reaching distant, matching feeling and establishing text, differentiating light and heavy, they then made the five mourning grades. Though some are reduced by obligation and some increased by name, teaching has what it follows and principle does not exceed rank. This was not changed by the hundred kings, and can be known from the Three Dynasties; like sun and moon hanging together, all looked up to it. Since subtle words were cut off and great meaning again went awry, although plainness and refinement changed, this system was necessarily followed. Respectfully according to the Ceremonies and Rites, Mourning Dress Tradition: "Mourning for external kin is all fine hemp." Zheng Xuan says: "External kin are those of different surnames. The regular dress does not exceed fine hemp." Maternal grandparents have small-work mourning for five months because honor adds to it. A mother's sister has small-work mourning for five months because the name adds to it. Maternal uncles, nephews, daughters' children, and cousins across inner and outer lines follow the basic mourning of fine hemp for three months. If matched as equals, a maternal grandfather is a grandfather, and a maternal uncle is the counterpart of a father's elder or younger brother. Aunts and uncles, elder and younger, do not differ in the affection of father and mother, yet only the maternal line is reduced; the sage's intention truly had reason. The Mourning Dress Tradition says: "Birds and beasts know their mothers but do not know their fathers." The rustic says, what reckoning is there of father and mother? Men of towns know to honor the father; great officers and scholars know to honor the ancestor; feudal lords reach their Grand Ancestor, and the Son of Heaven reaches his first ancestor. Sages fully understood the Way of Heaven and gave weight to ancestors and fathers, tied surnames and clans, and loved their descendants; near at hand they distinguished worthy and foolish, and far away they differed from birds and beasts. Speaking from this, it is clear that the mother's party cannot be put on one string with the root clan. Moreover a household has no two honored ones, mourning has no two unhemmed garments, and what a person serves cannot be double. One who gives special weight to the great lineage lowers the small lineage; one adopted as another's heir reduces mourning for his parents; a woman who marries out reduces mourning for her natal family. This is because what is preserved is distant and what is restrained is private. Now if the maternal grandfather and maternal uncle are additionally raised one mourning grade, and second maternal uncles and maternal aunts are arrayed within the mourning regulations, then how far apart are the inner and outer systems? To abandon ritual and follow feeling is to work on the lesser point. Ancient makers of institutions knew that human feeling is easily shaken and feared that loss of ritual would gradually spread. They distinguished sameness and difference and made light and heavy far apart, wanting later people never to mix them. This subtle meaning lies here; how could it be accidental? Moreover the five mourning grades have the meaning of upward reduction. One must follow source and root before reaching branches and streams. Father's brothers and their wives have the basic mourning of great-work mourning for nine months; father's brother's sons also have great-work mourning for nine months, both because above they come from the grandfather, and their mourning cannot exceed that for the grandfather. Grandparents of the grandfather's line, grandparents of the father's cousin line, and cousins of the grandfather's line all have small-work mourning for five months, because they come from the great-grandfather, and the mourning cannot exceed that for the great-grandfather. Clan great-great-grandparents, clan great-grandparents, and clan cousins all have fine hemp for three months, because they come from the high ancestor, and their mourning cannot exceed that for the high ancestor. Second maternal uncles and aunts come from the external great-grandfather; if mourning dress is made for them, then mourning dress should also be made for external great-grandparents and external great-uncles and great-aunts. If the maternal grandfather is increased to great-work mourning for nine months, then the external great-grandfather should reach small-work mourning and the external high ancestor should reach fine hemp. If one raises this but leaves out that, the matter is uneven; to abandon the close and record the distant is contrary to principle. Pushed and broadened, this is no different from the root clan. Mourning all has reciprocal return, so second nephews across the maternal line, external great-grandsons, and the sons of nieces would all require mourning dress. Could sages have been thin toward their own flesh and blood and turned against affection? For those closest in feeling, the mourning system is light because what is based in the public is thinner than the private; it preserves the greater and omits the finer. Obligation has what it cuts off, and it cannot be otherwise. If it can be increased, it can also be reduced. If former sages may be declared wrong, then the ritual classics may be destroyed. The former kings' system is called the constant human order; even when reverently carried out, one fears losing it. Once its sequence is disturbed, how can it be stopped? Moreover the old statutes have sunk and decayed for a long time. What remains is not much, and now one wishes to abandon it. Though this is called lack of understanding, I do not know that it is acceptable. I request that the Ceremonies and Rites, Mourning Dress be followed as the fixed rule.
15
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：「朕以為親姨舅既服小功，則舅母於舅有三年之服，服是受我而厚，以服制情，則舅母之服，不得全降於舅也，宜服緦麻。堂姨舅古今未制服，朕思惇睦九族，引而親之，宜服袒免。又鄭玄注《禮記》云『同爨緦』，若比堂姨舅於同爨，親則厚矣。又《喪服傳》云『外親之服皆緦』，是亦不隔於堂姨舅也。若以所服不得過本，而須為外曾祖父母及外伯叔祖父母制服，亦何傷乎？是皆親親敦本之意，卿等更熟詳之。」
Yang Zhongchang, Vice Director of the Ministry of Rites, deliberated: "Respectfully according to the Ceremonies and Rites: "All mourning for external kin is fine hemp." It also says: "Maternal grandparents, with honor added, and mothers' sisters, with the name added, both have small-work mourning 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. What the Court of Imperial Sacrifices calls increases, in my foolish view, cannot be accepted." 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 deliberations were submitted, the emperor again personally instructed his attendants, saying: "I consider that since close maternal aunts and uncles already receive small-work mourning, and an uncle's wife has three-year mourning for the uncle, her mourning is thickened by receiving it from me. If mourning dress regulates feeling, then mourning for an uncle's wife cannot be wholly lowered from that for the uncle, and she should receive fine hemp. Second maternal aunts and uncles have never had mourning dress fixed in ancient or recent times, but I think of strengthening harmony among the nine kin, drawing them in and making them close, so they should receive bared-shoulder exemption. Also, Zheng Xuan's annotation to the Book of Rites says, "Those who share the cooking hearth receive fine hemp." If second maternal aunts and uncles are compared to those who share the hearth, this is thick in kinship. Again the Mourning Dress Tradition says, "Mourning for external kin is all fine hemp." This too does not exclude second maternal aunts and uncles. If one says that the mourning worn may not exceed the root, and therefore mourning dress must also be made for external great-grandparents and external great-uncles and great-aunts, what harm would that do? All this is the intention of loving kin and thickening the root. You should examine it further and carefully."
16
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：「從服有六，此其一也。降殺之制，禮無明文。此皆自身率親，用為制服。所有存抑，儘是推恩。朕情有未安，故令詳議，非欲苟求變古，以示不同。卿等以為『外族之親，禮無厭降，報服之制，所引甚疏』。且姨舅者，屬從之至近也，以親言之，則亦姑伯之匹敵也。豈有所引者疏，而降所親者服？又婦，從夫者也。夫之姨舅，夫既有服，從夫而服，由是睦親。實欲令不肖者企及，賢者俯就。卿等宜熟詳之。」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。 天寶六載正月，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, foolish and ignorant petty officials, still do not fully grasp it." Xuanzong again composed a personal reply: "There are six kinds of derivative mourning, and this is one of them. As for the rules of lowering and reducing, the ritual has no clear text. These all proceed from oneself in leading kin and are used to make mourning dress. What is preserved and restrained is entirely a pushing outward of grace. My feeling is not settled, and therefore I ordered detailed deliberation; I did not wish merely to seek alteration of antiquity in order to show difference. You and the others consider that 'for kin of the external clan, ritual has no suppressing reduction, and the reciprocal mourning system is drawn from very distant cases.' But maternal aunts and uncles belong to the closest of derivative kin. Speaking by kinship, they also match paternal aunts and uncles. How could the examples cited be distant, while the mourning for close kin is reduced? Also, a wife follows her husband. Since the husband has mourning for his maternal aunts and uncles, she wears mourning by following her husband, and in this way kinship is harmonized. I truly wish to make the unworthy reach upward and the worthy bend downward. You and the others should examine this thoroughly." Yao Chong and the others memorialized: "Your Majesty embodies utmost benevolence and extends the Way of grace broadly, intending to enlarge drawing-in and show harmony among kin; you have again issued virtuous words and again ordered detailed 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. We all hope the regulation will be approved and put into practice." The quote ended. The regulation was approved. In the sixth year of Tianbao, first month: a married-out mother should observe the full three-year mourning.