Sui and Tang · Official and Historian

Wei Shu 韋述

Attested AD 735

Passages
1
Chapters
1
Histories
1

Overview

The translated histories identify Wei Shu as a historian and official. This record brings together 1 passage from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

TypeEnglishChinesePinyin
Personal Wei Shu 韋述 Wei Shu
Title Bureau Director of Staff Registration 職方郎中
Personal name Wei Shu 韋述 Wei Shu

Identity

Historicity
Historical
Identification
Named
Sex
Male

Roles

  • Historian
  • Official

Life and dates

Attested activity

  • Source Date: Text: 開元二十三年 · Western Year: AD 735
    Explicit event contextual date · jiutangshu:027:s0124

Career and standing

  • Label: Bureau Director of Staff Registration / 職方郎中 · Action: held
    Explicit · jiutangshu:027:s0124

Places and affiliations

Works and attributed material

References in the histories

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Old Book of Tang, Chapter 27Volume 23 Treatises 3: Rites 3 · 1 passage
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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.