we must use the nose for smelling. When with the mouth or the nose we smell something, our eyes can see it, and what our eyes perceive, our hands can strike. Now, in case the hands cannot strike, we know that the mouth and the nose cannot smell.

Another objection might be raised. When Duke Pao of Sung' was sick, the priest said, "Yeh Ku will direct the service of the discontented spirit." The ghost leaning on a pole addressed Yeh Ku saying, "Why are my vessels not filled with plenty of rice? Why are the grazing animals for the sacrifice not big and fat? Why are the sceptres and badges not of the proper measure? Is it your fault or Pao's?"

"Pao is still an infant in swathing cloth," replied Yeh Ku with a placid face, "who understands nothing about this. For how could he know or give any directions?"

The angry spirit lifted his pole and struck Yeh Ku dead on the steps of the altar.-Can this not be considered a proof of his having been able to use his hand?

It is not certain that Yeh Ku's death was caused by the blow of a discontented ghost. Just at that moment he was doomed to die; an apparition took the shape of a malignant ghost, and being shaped like a ghost, it had to speak like a ghost, and it also dealt a blow like a ghost. How do we know?

A ghost is a spirit, and spirits are prescient. Then after having remarked that the sacrificial vessels were not full of rice, the sceptres and badges not of the proper size, the victims lean and small, the ghost, being prescient, ought to have reproached Yeh Ku and struck him with the pole. There was no need to first ask him. The fact that he first asked, shows that he was not prescient, and, if he was not prescient, it is plain that he was not a spirit. Being neither prescient nor a spirit, he could not appear with a body, nor talk, nor strike a man with a pole.

Yeh Ku was an honest official who took the guilt upon himself, and offered himself for punishment, so that the ghost struck him. Had he been dishonest and inculpated Pao, the ghost would have hit Pao with his pole.

Furthermore, provided that the spirit resented the laxity in the performance of his sacrifice, and therefore made his appearance, and killed the superintendent of the sacrifice, then would he, in case all the rites were duly fulfilled, be pleased and appear, and

1 Duke Pao alias Wen of Sung, 609-588 B.C. His death is chronicled in the Chun-chiu, Duke Cheng 2nd year.

as a favour present the sacrificer with some food? Men have joy and anger, and spirits should have these sensations likewise. A man who does not rouse another's anger, preserves his life, whereas he who displeases him, loses it. The malignant ghost in his wrath made his appearance, and inflicted a punishment, but the sacrifices of the Sung State have certainly often been according to the rites, wherefore did the ghost not appear then to reward?

Joy and anger not being like the human, rewards and punishments are not like those dealt out by man either, and owing to this difference we cannot believe that Yeh Ku was slain by the spirit.

Moreover, in the first place, for smelling one takes in air, and for speaking one breathes it out. He who can smell, can talk likewise, as he who inhales, can exhale too. Should ghosts and spirits be able to smell, they ought to speak about the sacrifices. Since they are incapable of speech, we know that they cannot smell either.

Secondly, all those who smell, have their mouths and their noses open. Should their noses be stopped up by a cold, or their mouths gagged, olfaction becomes impossible. When a man dies, his mouth and his nose putrefy, how could they still be used for smelling?

Thirdly, the Liki has it that, when men have died, they are dreaded. They then belong to another class of beings than man, hence the dread. As corpses they cannot move, they decay, and are annihilated. Since they do not possess the same bodies as living people, we know that they can have no intercourse with the living. As their bodies are dissimilar, and as we know that there can be no intercourse, their eating and drinking cannot be like that of man. The Mongols and the Annamese' are different nations, and in the matter of eating their tastes widely differ. Now, the difference between the departed and the living is not merely like that between the Mongols and the Annamese. Hence we infer that the dead cannot smell.

Fourthly, when a man is asleep, we may put some food near him, he does not know, but, as soon as he awakes, he becomes aware of it, and then may eventually eat it. When a man is dead, however, and sleeps the long sleep, from which there is no awakening, how could he know anything or eat then? This shows that he is unable to smell.

The Hu in the north, and the Yueh in the south of China. Lun - Hêng.

33

Somebody might raise the question, what it means that the spirits partake of a sacrifice, as people say. It means that people conscientiously clean the sacrificial vessels, that the rice is fragrant, and the victims fat, so that persons coming near and perceiving all this would feel inclined to eat and drink. With these their feelings they credit the ghosts and spirits, which, if they were conscious, would decidedly enjoy the offerings. Therefore people speak of the spirits, as though they were partaking of the sacrifice.

Another objection is the following:-The Yiking says that an ox killed by the eastern neighbour, is not like the humble offering of the western neighbour. This assertion that the eastern neighbour does not come up to the western, signifies that the animal of the eastern neighbour is big, but his luck small, whereas the fortune of the western neighbour is great, though his sacrifice be poor. Now, if the spirits are denied the faculty of enjoying the offering, how can we determine the amount of happiness?

This also depends on the question, whether a sacrifice is carefully prepared, so that everything is clean, or not. Chou had an ox immolated, but he did not fulfill all the rites. Wên Wang, on the other hand, made only a small offering, but did his utmost to show his devotion. People condemn a lack of ceremonies, and are full of praise for a pious fulfilment of all the rites. He who is praised by the people, finds support in all his enterprises, while the one who is disliked, meets with opposition, whatever he says or does. Such a resistance is no smaller misfortune than the rejection of a sacrifice by the spirits, and the general support is a happiness like that experienced, when the spirits smell the oblation.

Ghosts cannot be pleased or angry at a sacrifice for the following reason. Provided that spirits do not require man for their maintenance, then, in case they did need them, they would no more be spiritual. If we believe in spirits smelling the sacrifices, and in sacrifices causing happiness or misfortune, how do we imagine the dwelling places of the ghosts? Have they their own provisions stored up, or must they take the human food to appease their hunger? Should they possess their own stores, these would assuredly be other than the human, and they would not have to eat human food. If they have no provisions of their own, then man would have to make offerings to them every morning and every evening. According as he had sacrificed to them or not, they would be either satiated or hungry, and according as they

1 Yiking, 63d diagram (Chi-chi), Legge's translation p. 206.

had eaten their fill or were hungry, they would be pleased or vexed.

Furthermore, sick people behold ghosts, and, while asleep, people meet with the departed in their dreams. They are shaped like men, therefore the sacrifices presented to them are like human food. Having food and drink, the spirits must be provided with raiment too, therefore one makes silken clothes for them after the fashion of the living. Their sacrifices are like dinners for the living. People desire to feed them, and hope that the ghosts will cat their offerings. As regards the clothes, however, they are not larger than from five or six inches to one foot. Now, supposing that tall and big spirits, which have been observed, are to don garments of a foot in length, would they be very pleased, and bestow happiness on the donors?

Should the ghosts, which have been seen, be really dead men, then the clothes made for them ought to be like those of the living, if, however, those garments are really put on by the ghosts, they must be shaped like dolls. Thus the question about ghosts and spirits remains an open one. How is it possible then to secure their protection and happiness by means of abundant offerings, and how can people firmly believe in this?

CHAPTER XLII.

Sacrifices (Chi-yi).

According to the Liki the emperor sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, the feudal princes to the Mountains and Rivers,' the ministers, and high dignitaries to the Five Genii,2 the scholars and the common people to their ancestors.3 From the offerings to the spirits of the Land and Grain down to those in the ancestral hall there is a gradation from the son of heaven down to the com

moners.

The Shuking says that a special sacrifice was made to Shangti, a pure one to the Six Superior Powers, a sacrifice on high to the Mountains and Rivers, and a sacrifice to the various spirits round about.4

6

[Shun, says the Liki, offered the imperial sacrifice to Huang Ti, the suburban sacrifice to Ti K'u, the patriarchal to Chuan Hsü, and the ancestral to Yao. The Hsia dynasty likewise presented the imperial sacrifice to Huang Ti, but the suburban to K'un, the patriarchal to Chuan Hsü, and the ancestral to Yü. The Yin dynasty transferred the imperial sacrifice to Ti K'u, the suburban to Ming,' the patriarchal to Hsieh, and the ancestral to T'ang. The Chou dynasty made the imperial sacrifice to Ti Ku, the suburban to Chis, the patriarchal to Wen Wang, and the ancestral to Wu Wang."

Wood was burned on the big altar as a sacrifice to Heaven, a victim was buried in the big pit as a sacrifice to Earth. A red

1 The mountains and rivers of their territory.

2 The five genii of the house to whom the Five Sacrifices were offered. See

further on.

3 Cf. Liki, Chü-li (Legge, Sacred Books Vol. XXVII, p. 116).

4 Shuking, Shun-tien Pt. II, Bk. I, 6 (Legge Vol. III, Pt. I, p. 33).

5 Huang Ti, Ti K'u and Chuan Hsü are mythical emperors.

to have been the father of Yao.

6 K'un, the father of Yü.

7 Ming was a descendant of Hsieh, who was a son of Ti K'u.

Ti Ku is said

The four sacrifices here mentioned were presented by the sovereigns of the ancient dynasties to the founders of their dynasties, their ancestors, and predecessors.