《抱朴子外篇》Vol. 31

Ge Hong (Daoist name Baopuzi) observed regarding ritual systems: For governing the state and bringing stability to the people, ritual indeed serves as the most effective means—it regulates human relationships and constructs a complete social order. However, contemporary ceremonies like capping rites, wedding rituals, banquet etiquettes, and archery ceremonies have become excessively complicated. While human relationships certainly require rituals to manifest hierarchy and express respect, why must we insist on such elaborate protocols of kneeling, rising, bowing, and saluting?

In times of peace, certain officials became obsessed with reviving ancient rituals, even forcing commoners to spend months practicing ceremonial movements, reciting and rehearsing day and night without rest, only to face examinations afterward. Making mistakes during these assessments could result in demotion or punishment. This approach—treating convoluted rituals as daily norms—echoes Mozi's criticism: such practices take generations to learn fully and a lifetime to perform perfectly. Even the ancients knew to heed reasonable suggestions from woodcutters, children's rhymes, or even madmen. Mozi's critique holds merit—he advocated simplifying punishments, clearing obstructed roads, improving human affairs, and realizing the Kingly Way, though he didn't elaborate on specific methods. His condemnation of extravagant burials and cumbersome rituals remains particularly relevant today.

Since the Jian'an era of the Eastern Han, rulers like Cao Cao (Emperor Wu of Wei) and Cao Pi (Emperor Wen of Wei) implemented modest funerals—a direct application of Mozi's philosophy. I propose that in peaceful times, the court should select scholars thoroughly versed in ritual systems and broad in learning, entrusting them to revise the three classical texts: Rites of Zhou, Ceremonies and Rites, and Book of Rites. The revision should eliminate unnecessary complexities while preserving essential elements. For rituals where different schools diverge in form but agree in substance, retain the practicable aspects. Extravagant ceremonial objects (like various ritual vessels), elaborate chariots and robes, palatial specifications, banquet ostentation, funeral rites, and sacrificial procedures—all should be simplified. For only straightforward rituals spread easily, and frugal customs endure.

This passage discusses the simplification of ritual systems, advocating for the removal of cumbersome formalities while preserving their essential principles. The author criticizes contemporary rituals as overly complex, likening the five major rites (auspicious, inauspicious, military, diplomatic, and ceremonial) to tangled branches—their numerous provisions redundant and contradictory. Scholars waste entire years studying them without achieving full comprehension, squandering energy that could be devoted to other learning.

The proposed reform suggests merging similar ritual norms and eliminating unnecessary elements to focus on core principles. Such streamlining would make ritual systems as clear as the sun and moon, as orderly as the five colors, reducing scholars' burdens by ninety percent and ending Confucian scholars' futile debates. This transformation parallels cooking food with fire instead of raw sacrifices (ancient offerings of uncooked meat), or abandoning tree-dwelling for proper housing—progress that aligns with the times.

Conservatives might initially react with alarm, dismissing such proposals as arrogant. Yet the author reminds us: the ritual music systems of the Three Sovereigns (Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties) differed completely, and the Five Emperors' (legendary ancient rulers) ceremonies weren't inherited unchanged—yet all achieved social transformation and good governance. Reforms should adapt to actual circumstances rather than clinging to anachronisms like "sailing up mountains, riding horses across rivers, wearing armor to court, or bundling in furs during summer." If ancient systems were truly immutable, we should still be burning coffins for fuel and reverting to primitive nudity.

This exposition embodies Ge Hong's (the Baopuzi) pragmatic reformist philosophy, emphasizing institutional evolution with the times while rejecting conservative adherence to antiquity. The text mirrors Daoist Wuwei (non-action) principles applied to governance—streamlining complexity to achieve essential harmony.