Xu Yuanmei
In ancient times, the emperor and the princes must have officials who raised animals. When the season came, they all took a bath and personally worshiped the animals. Sacrificial animals must be taken there, which is the highest respect. The king summoned the cow, took it in and looked at it, selected its hair and divined it. If it was auspicious, then he would raise it. The king wears a leather hat and white silk, and on the first and half moons, the king inspects the animals, so as to devote himself to the work and show his filial piety. In ancient times, the emperor and the princes must have a public mulberry and silkworm room near the river. The palace is built with a height of three feet and a thorn wall to close it from the outside. When the great morning comes, the king wears a leather hat and white silk, and divines the auspiciousness of the three palace ladies and the concubines, and asks them to go to the silkworm room, offer seeds and bathe in the river; and mulberry in the public mulberry, eat the wind. After the year is over, the concubines finish the silkworms and present the cocoons to the king, and then offer the cocoons to the lady. The lady asks, "Is this what I wear for you?" Then she takes the cocoons and gives them a small sacrifice. In ancient times, those who offer cocoons usually use this! On a good day, the lady reels silk, and she spreads it in three basins, and then she asks the three palace ladies and the concubines to reel it; then she makes it red and green, black and yellow, and makes it into a pattern. After the clothes are made, the king should wear them to worship the ancestors, which is the utmost respect. The gentleman said: "Rites and music should never be separated from the body. If you use music to regulate the mind, then the heart of being easy, honest, and understanding will arise naturally. If the heart of being easy, honest, and understanding arises, then you will be happy, happy, peaceful, peaceful, long-lasting, and heavenly, and heavenly, divine. Heaven is trustworthy without words, and divine is majestic without anger. Use music to regulate the mind. Use ritual to regulate the body, then you will be solemn and respectful, and solemn and respectful will be dignified and majestic. If the mind is not harmonious and happy for a moment, then the heart of contempt and deceit will enter; if the appearance is not solemn and respectful for a moment, then the heart of arrogance and laziness will enter. Therefore, music is what moves the inside, and ritual is what moves the outside. Music is extremely harmonious, and ritual is extremely smooth. If the inside is harmonious and the outside is smooth, then the people will look at his face and not argue with him; look at his appearance, and the people will not be arrogant and easy. Therefore, when the brilliance of virtue moves inside, the people will all listen to him; when the reason is expressed outside, the people will all obey him. Therefore, it is said: If the way of ritual and music is achieved, the world will be filled with them, and it will be easy to carry them out. Music is what moves the inner self; ritual is what moves the outer self. Therefore, ritual is about reduction, and music is about abundance. Ritual is reduced and then progresses, and progress is the essence; music is abundant and then returns, and return is the essence. If ritual is reduced but not progressed, it will be lost; if music is abundant but not returned, it will be lost. Therefore, ritual has reward and music has return. If ritual gets its reward, there will be joy; if music gets its return, there will be peace. The reward of ritual and the return of music have the same meaning.
