The Analects – Chapter 44 (3.4). Authenticity as the core of propriety

3.4

Lin Fang asked for some main principles in connexion with ritual. Confucius said, “A very big question. In ritual at large it is a safe rule always to be too sparing rather than too lavish; and in the particular case of mourning-rites, they should be dictated by grief rather than by ease.”

林放問禮之本。子曰：「大哉問！禮，與其奢也，寧儉；喪，與其易也，寧戚。」

Notes

This passage from the Analects presents Confucius’ crucial discourse on the “essence of ritual propriety”, revealing Confucianism’s profound insight: the core of ritual lies not in formalities, but in authentic sentiment and substantive meaning.

During the Spring and Autumn period, aristocratic classes often paraded status through extravagant rituals, reducing even funerals to theatrical displays.

Confucius viewed this as a scourge. He condemned the prevailing practice of “prizing form over substance,” warning people not to let ritual degenerate into a hollow shell of hypocrisy.