Sui and Tang · Ruler

Gaozong 高宗

Attested AD 649 - AD 683

Passages
18
Chapters
4
Histories
2

Overview

The translated histories identify Gaozong as a ruler. This record brings together 18 passages from 4 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

RolesRuler

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Gaozong 高宗 Gaozong
Temple name Emperor Gaozong 高宗 Gaozong
Temple name Gaozong 高宗 Gaozong
Temple name Gaozong 高宗 Gāozōng
Title Great Emperor 大帝
Title Heavenly Emperor 天皇

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Ruler

Life and dates

Attested activity

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

  • Spouse of Wu Zetian (武則天)
    Kinship Term: empress / 后 · Union Category: marriage · Relationship State: active
  • Parent of Zhongzong (中宗)
    Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

  • Kind: administrative · Role: issuer · Action: abolished-xiucai
    Explicit event contextual date · xintangshu:044:s0076
  • Kind: ritual · Role: ruler · Action: approved
    Explicit · jiutangshu:027:s0016
  • Kind: ritual · Role: ruler · Action: decreed three-year mourning for mother while father alive
    Explicit · jiutangshu:027:s0028
  • Kind: administrative · Role: ruler · Action: period after which charity granaries were diverted
    Explicit · xintangshu:052:s0027

Source notes

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 27Volume 23 Treatises 3: Rites 3 · 3 passages
Open chapter
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。 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.
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。 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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New Book of Tang, Chapter 44Volume 44 Treatises 39: Selecting and Appointing Officials 1 · 2 passages
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New Book of Tang, Chapter 52Volume 52 Treatises 48: Finance and Economics 2 · 1 passage
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