《礼记》“远人情”祭祀理念论析

On the Sacrificial Principal of“Keeping Away From The Human Feelings”in The Records of Rites

《礼记》中论及祭礼的诸多章节提到“远人情”的祭祀理念,具体表现在祭品、祭器、祭礼步骤等与日常的人情喜好相去甚远,并且在祭祀尊卑有序的格局中,等级越高的祭祀其“远人情”的理念越明显。“远人情”的祭祀理念,一则反映了《礼记》对人神有别的认知及对天神尊严的肯定,二则反映了《礼记》思想体系对万物素朴之质的尊重与对报本反始精神的追求,三则反映了在《礼记》思想体系中祭礼的主要作用已从神秘化的人神沟通转化为现实的道德培养与情感表达。同时,祭礼“远人情”的价值理念与《礼记》其他篇目中提出的“近人情”“顺人情”观念并不矛盾:其一,二者应用范围不同,分别应用于祭祀礼仪与日常礼仪;其二,“远人情”中的“人情”更强调人的自然欲望,“近人情”中的“人情”更强调人的先天内在道德,在一定程度上“远人情”与“近人情”二者遥相呼应。

In the Record of Rites,there are so many recordings indicate that there is a principle of“keeping away from the human feelings”in the sacrificial rituals,which embodies in the sacrificial offerings,the sacrificial utensils and the sacrificial performances are not according with human being's feelings and their preference.Furthermore,the higher ranked sacrifices are,the more obvious“keeping away from the human feelings”concept embodied.The Liqi chapter of the Record of Rites sums up these into a sentence:the usages of ceremony that come closest to our human feelings are not those of the highest sacrifices.Firstly,the“keeping away from the human feelings”reflects a sense of telling the distinction between human beings and the gods and a reverence to the gods.Secondly,this sacrificial principle reflects the reverence to the things nature and idea that we should repay to the origins and return to our past in the Record of Rites.Third,this principle reflects that in the Record of Rites the most important function of sacrifices is to help the moral development and find a better way to express people's feeling,rather than to realize the mysterious communications between men and gods.It does not necessarily mean that there is a contradiction between“keeping away from the human feelings”and“according with human feelings”.On the one hand,the principle of keep away from the human feelings is carried out in the sacrificial rituals,while“according with human feelings”principle is followed in the daily rituals.On the other hand,in the“keeping away from the human feelings”context,human feeling is to emphasize the human's nature desires,while in the“according with human feelings”context,human feeling is more emphasize on the human's moral values and the nature reasons in born.To some extent,these two principles are according with each other.