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3.13 Wangsun Jia asked about the meaning of the saying, Better pay court to the stove.Than pay court to the Shrine. The Master said, “It is not true. He who has put himself in the wrong with Heaven has no means of expiation left.”
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3.12 Of the saying, “The word ‘sacrifice’ is like the word ‘present’; one should sacrifice to a spirit as though that spirit was present.”
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3.11 Someone asked for an explanation of the Ancestral Sacrifice. Confucius said, “I do not know. Anyone who knew the explanation could deal with all things under Heaven as easily as I lay this here”; and he laid his finger upon the palm of his hand.
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3.10 The Master said, “At the Ancestral Sacrifice, as for all that comes after the libation, I had far rather not witness it!”
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3.9 The Master said, “How can we talk about the ritual of the Xia? The State of Qi supplies no adequate evidence. How can we talk about the ritual of Yin? The State of Song supplies no adequate evidence. For there is a lack both of documents and of learned men. But for this…
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3.7 The Master said,”Gentlemen never compete. You will say that in archery they do so. But even then they bow and make way for one another when they are going up to the archery-ground, when they are coming down and at the subsequent drinking-bout. Thus even when competing, they still remain gentlemen.”
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3.6 The head of the Ji family was going to make the offerings on Mount Tai. Confucius said to Ran Qiu, “Cannot you save him from this?” Ran Qiu replied, “I cannot.” Confucius said, “Alas, we can hardly suppose Mount Tai to be ignorant of matters that even Lin Fang inquires into!”
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3.5 Confucius said, “The rude tribes of the east and north have their princes, and are not like the States of our great land which are without them.””