![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The di sacrifice rite (dili 禘禮) is an important traditional Chinese religious ceremony for offering sacrifices to ancestors. The rites of the Shang, Western Zhou and Spring and Autumn Periods have evolved in terms of the person who conducts them, as well as regarding the recipients, forms and the time of the ritual. In the Shang Dynasty, the di sacrifice rite was performed by the king. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, the person who presided over the ceremony was first the King of Zhou, and then the counsellors. The Spring and Autumn di sacrifice rite inherited these practices and understandings. It involves a more detailed ritual: those who preside over the ceremony are first the feudal lords (zhuhou 諸侯), then the counsellors (qing dafu 卿大夫) and finally descending to the rank of officials of counsellors (jiachen 家臣). The di sacrifice addressees are also mainly close ancestors. The di rite eventually evolved to give rise to guan rituals (guanli 灌[祼]禮), auspicious ancestral rites, private di sacrifices, procedures for determining generation order of the clan temple (ding zhaomu 定昭穆), and other rituals.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. ‘Chenggong shisannian’ 成公十三年 [Year Thirteen of Duke Cheng], Zuozhuan, Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 382.
2. Lau, trans., The Analects, 23.
3. Wang, trans., Liji yijie, 452.
4. Ibid, 455.
5. Pan, ‘Diji kaolüe,’ 5–27; Liu, ‘Qianxi Yindai wanqi zhi Chunqiu shiqi diji de Bianhua,’ 119, 125; Liu, Shang Zhou jizu li yanjiu, 47–76.
6. Guoyu, SKQS vol. 406: 49; Wang, trans., Liji yijie, 452.
7. This article does not discuss the di sacrifice rite in the Warring States because there are virtually no relevant historical records of this period.
8. Jao, Rao Zongyi ershi shiji xueshu wenji, 995-998; Chang, Shangdai zongjiao jisi, 69–172; Dong, ‘Yin Zhou diji tanzhen,’ 75–77; Liu, Shang Zhou jizu li yanjiu, 70–71; Pan, ‘Diji kaolüe,’ 9–15. It should be noted that Liu Yuan did not point out that the recipients of the di sacrifice in Shang Dynasty included the gods of the land. He pointed out that the Shang di sacrifice was mainly a method of offering sacrifices, and the purpose of the ritual was to seek rain in order to obtain good agricultural harvests. Refer to page 71 of his book, Shang Zhou jizu li yanjiu. I believe that the di ritual of offering sacrifices has been a form of sacrificial ceremony since the Shang Dynasty, including its method of offering sacrifices. Moreover, I think the guan rituals 祼禮 appeared in the period of King Xin 帝辛.
9. Liu, ‘Xizhou Jinwen zhong de jizu li,’ 495–496; Cao, ‘Xizhou shiqi de diji yu xiaji,’ 404–415; Chen, ‘Fanyou, Zouding ji Zhongmingwen Quanshi,’ 15–16; Zhang, ‘Xizhou jinwen liuzhong lizhi yanjiu,’ 40–43. The six points mentioned above in my article are the same as those in Liu’s Shang Zhou jizu li yanjiu, which are (2) and (4). For details, please refer to Liu, Shang Zhou jizu li yanjiu, 58–62, 71, 76.
10. Lau, trans., The Analects, 163.
11. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 128. Here and elsewhere, the Wechsler phonetic system used by Legge has been changed to the pinyin system.
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid, 658.
14. Ibid, 770.
15. Ibid.
16. Takezoe, Sashi kaisen, 2202.
17. Chunqiu jingzhuan jijie, 1663; Yang, annot. Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhu, 1568.
18. Lau, trans., The Analects, 163.
19. Chunqiu Gongyangzhuan zhushu, 2328.
20. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 128.
21. Chunqiu jingzhuan jijie, 219.
22. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 658.
23. Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhengyi, 1902; Chunqiu Gongyangzhuan zhushu, 2292; Chunqiu jingzhuan jijie, 679.
24. Takezoe, Sashi kaisen, 1876.
25. Wang, trans. Liji yijie, 444.
26. Gu, Chunqiu dashi biao, 1472.
27. Chunqiu Gongyangzhuan zhushu, in Shisanjing Zhushu, 2244.
28. Yang, annot., Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhu, 262.
29. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 128.
30. Ibid, 226.
31. Ibid, 472.
32. Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhengyi, 2143.
33. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 150–151.
34. Ibid, 473.
35. Jin state sent troops later.
36. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 658.
37. Chao, ‘Shilun Chunqiu shiqi de zuxian chongbai,’ 90–93.
38. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 658.
39. Takezoe, Sashi kaisen, 1877–1878.
40. Chunqiu Guliang zhuan zhushu, 2438.
41. Lau, trans., The Analects, 21.
42. Zhuzi yulei, 64.
43. Lunyu jijie yishu, 360–361.
44. Wang, Tang xieben Lunyu Zhengshi zhu jiqi yangjiu, 20.
45. System of Zhao and Mu 昭穆, arranging tablets of the first-generation ancestor and the last six monarchs in the Grand Temple. The first-generation ancestor or founder of dynasty in the centre, those ancestors of the second, fourth and sixth generations on the left were called Zhao 昭, and those of the third, fifth and seventh generations on the left were called Mu 穆.
46. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 128.
47. Ibid, 150–151.
48. Chunqiu jingzhuan jijie, 219, 265.
49. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 232, 234.
50. Yang, annot., Chunqiu Zuozhuan zhu, 525.
51. Takezoe, Sashi kaisen, 2202.
52. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 446.
53. Wang, trans., Liji yijie, 294.
54. Ibid, 437, 438.
55. Yeung, ‘Xinhan rujia zhengzhi wenhua shiyu xia de Zhougong yu Kongzi,’ 7–8.
56. Guoyu, SKQS vol. 406: 45.
57. Ibid.
58. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 549.
59. Chunqiu jingzhuan jijie, 1123.
60. Ibid., 1128.
61. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 710.
62. Lau, trans., The Analects, 19.
63. Ibid, 19.
64. Gu, Chunqiu dashi biao, 1759–1760.
65. Luo, ‘Chunqiu shiqi jizu fanwei yanjiu,’ 7–14.
66. Guoyu, SKQS vol. 406: 50.
67. Legge, trans., Ch’un Ts’ew, 658.
68. Takezoe, Sashi kaisen, 1876.
69. Wang, trans., Liji yijie, 444.
70. Takezoe, Sashi kaisen, 1876.
71. Ibid, 1877.
72. Guoyu, SKQS vol. 406: 48; Wang, trans., Liji yijie, 675.
73. Luo, ‘Chunqiu shiqi jizu fanwei yanjiu,’ 63–64.
74. Guoyu, SKQS vol. 406: 49. The definitions of jiao, zu, zong, and bao in this article are based on the interpretation of Qian, Sanli tonglun, 575, 467, 791.
75. Guoyu, SKQS vol. 406: 49.
76. Ibid.
77. Ibid, 159.