The Core of Xunzi's Discourse on Ritual: The Origin, Structural Pattern, and Gradations of Ritual
This article offers an in-depth reading of the opening core text of Xunzi's Discourse on Ritual (Lilun), systematically analyzing the logical chain by which ritual arises from human desire and social conflict, elucidating the structural vision of 'honoring the root is called pattern; cleaving to function is called order,' and exploring the graduated levels of abundance, reduction, and the middle course in ritual, together with the Way of the noble person.
Chapter Nine: Archaic Sacrifice and the Primordial Form of Ritual -- Deeper Tracing from the Perspective of Myth and Folk Custom
Section 1: The Beginnings of Sacrifice and the Germination of Ritual
The most primordial form of ritual may be sacrifice -- people petitioning the spirits for survival. "Started with food and drink" (Liji, Liyun). Master Xun's "when desires are not satisfied, one cannot but seek" takes concrete form: the desire for survival cannot be met alone, so one must petition supernatural forces.
Section 2: The Spirits of Heaven and Earth and the Sacredness of Ritual
The Guoyu, "Discourses of Chu," records the event of "severing the communication between heaven and earth" -- concentrating the power to commune with spirits in specialized hands. "Offerings without measure" led to "disasters and calamities" -- paralleling Master Xun's "when seeking has no measure, contention follows."
Section 3: The Archetype of Order -- From Heaven and Earth to the Human World
The Shangshu, "Canon of Yao," records Emperor Yao "respectfully bestowing the seasons upon the people" -- the astronomical and calendrical order as archetype of human ritual order. The Yijing, Xici Zhuan: "Bao Xi looked upward and contemplated the images in the heavens ... and so he first created the eight trigrams" -- the most primordial "measure and boundary."
Section 4: Ritual in the Daily Life of Folk Custom
Food, meetings, marriage, and funeral all have their rites -- the concrete manifestation of "nourishing human desires, supplying human needs." Ritual is not the negation of desire but its civilization.