Research On The Issue Of Emotions And Rites In The Book Of Rites

The current version of The Book of Rites(Liji)written by Dai Sheng in Han Dynasty includes 49 chapters of annotations of Zheng Xuan about the purpose and meaning of pre-Qin Dynasty’s rites.The Book of Rites expounded Confucian policies of rites thoroughly,the issue of emotions and rites is not only the foundation but also the key issue of Confucian policies of rites.The Book of Rites also expounded the connotations of emotion and rites,the origin and development of the issue of emotion and rites,and connected the issue with the issue of heaven and human,mind and nature,loyalty and forbearance,benevolent government.Therefore,the paper’s topic was selected as Research on the Emotion and the Rite in The Book of Rites.On the basis of combing the relevant researches,the paper explores the rational way of Confucian virtue and administration,according to “the connotations of emotion and rites——the relationship between emotion and rites——rites and benevolence ——the relationship between emotion and rites and administration in The Book of Rites.The first chapter is the introduction,which mainly explored the research purpose and significance,summarizes the domestic and foreign scholars’ definition of the concept of Confucian emotion,rites and morality in the pre-Qin Dynasty.The paper expounded the Confucian emotion and rites in combination with the Book of Rites and related classics,and combined the Confucian thought of virtue with the concept of governance.On the basis,the paper explained Confucian virtue and political ideal,which formed a complete ideological system,The second chapter explored the connotation of rites and emotion in the Book of Rites.The rites is the imitation of heaven and yin-yang,the means of regulating emotions,the ways of governing country.Through learning the Tao of heaven,the rites has its metaphysical foundation and objective basis.The “Qing” in the Book of Rites includes the meaning of emotions,and the emotions has different levels,which is reflected in the division of emotional inclinations: “inborn benevolence”,“knowing the benefit of benevolence” and “reluctant benevolence”.The division reflects what Confucians approved is not biological emotions but moral emotions and the subliming of biological emotions is an important way of shaping personality.The third chapter analyzed the relationship between rites and emotions in the Book of Rites.Rites are not only established on the imitation of the Tao of heaven,but also on the exploration of human emotions.Through the exploration of human emotions,rites could express the emotions in concrete ways and make people form moral habits,distinguish the big benefit of morality and the harm of fame or wealth,so that they can establish the moral belief.Rites could also make emotions appropriate and sincere,and form ideal personality finally.The forth chapter expounded “the love for parents”,“the love for others” and“the love for all creatures” cultivated by rites in the Book of Rites.Confucianism believed that only by “love his parents”,can we achieve “love others” and even “love every creature”,assist heaven and earth’s cultivation.The benevolence of Confucianism is moral emotion.Men of noble characters(Junzi)not only comply with rites themselves,but also promote their family to comply with rites,and put their love for family to others.And,rites emphasized that the gentleman should not only“cheng ji” and “cheng ren”,but also “cheng wu”,attach importance to the growth and development of all things so that human could live in harmony with all creatures,and get their own place,reach the realm of virtue.The fifth chapter expounds the benevolent governance in the Book of Rites..Confucianism believes that building a rich country and guarantee the people’s living are the fundamental premise of educating the people.Through saving the people’s power,the common people could have their own properties;through welfare and not grabbing common people’s wealth,rulers could avoid the gap between the rich and the poor.Then the people could be educated.Confucianism believed that the ruler’s own moral cultivation is the key to enlightenment.Only when the ruler himself can do the right thing first,then can he guide the people to be virtuous with etiquette and music,and promote the kindness with the law.Confucianism emphasized governance should be based on enlightenment,so that the people can know shame,good and evil.The research on the issue of emotions and rites in The Book of Rites could not only deepen the understanding of Confucianism,but also help persons to be harmonious with themselves,society and nature.The issue of rites and emotions is traditional cultural resource for the construction of Chinese harmonious society.