Sui and Tang · Ruler

Taizong 太宗

Attested AD 626 - AD 717

Passages
9
Chapters
5
Histories
3

Overview

The translated histories identify Taizong as a ruler. This record brings together 9 passages from 5 chapters across 3 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

RolesRuler

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Taizong 太宗 Taizong
Title Emperor Taizong 太宗 Tàizōng
Temple name Taizong 太宗 Taizong
Temple name Taizong 太宗
Temple name Taizong 太宗 Tàizōng

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Ruler

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  • Child of Gaozu (高祖)
    Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: father
    Kinship Term: father / 父 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son

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Works and attributed material

Events and relationships

Assessments and attributes

  • Assessment: noted inconsistencies in mourning dress grades · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
    Explicit · xintangshu:020:s0089

Source notes

References in the histories

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Old Book of Tang, Chapter 27Volume 23 Treatises 3: Rites 3 · 2 passages
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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.
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.
Old History of the Five Dynasties, Chapter 72Volume 72 Book of Later Tang 48: Biographies 24: Zhang Chengye, Zhang Juhan, Ma Shaohong, Meng Hangqiong · 1 passage
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New Book of Tang, Chapter 20Volume 20 Treatises 10: Rites and Music 10 · 1 passage
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初，太宗嘗以同爨緦而嫂叔乃無服，舅與從母親等而異服，詔侍中魏徵、禮部侍郎令狐德棻等議：「舅為母族，姨乃外戚它姓，舅固為重，而服止一時，姨喪乃五月，古人未達者也。 Early on Taizong observed that kin eating from one pot wore finest hemp, yet elder brother's wife and husband's younger brother had no mourning; maternal uncle and aunt were equally close yet dressed differently. He ordered Wei Zheng, Linghu Defen, and others to debate: "The uncle is mother's clan; the aunt is outer kin of another surname—the uncle weighs heavier, yet mourning lasts one season while the aunt's is five months: the ancients missed this.
New Book of Tang, Chapter 44Volume 44 Treatises 39: Selecting and Appointing Officials 1 · 3 passages
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New Book of Tang, Chapter 52Volume 52 Treatises 48: Finance and Economics 2 · 2 passages
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