Zálǐ yì 雜禮議
Miscellaneous Ritual Discussions
by 吳商 (撰)
About the work
A single-juàn reconstruction of 吳商 Wú Shāng’s (third century, Sūn-Wú dynasty) lost Zálǐ yì 雜禮議 — a miscellaneous compilation of ritual-discussion judgements. Wú Shāng was a Sūn-Wú-court ritualist; his standard biography is not in Sānguó zhì and his lifespan is not preserved in standard sources. The CHANT reconstruction (CH2e1114) is drawn from Dù Yòu 杜佑’s Tōngdiǎn 通典 citations.
Abstract
The opening preserved fragment addresses the yìxìng-wéi-hòu 異姓為後 problem (adopting an heir from a different surname) — a major biàn-lǐ difficulty in early-medieval Chinese ritualism. The question: when one adopts an heir from a different surname, should the adopted heir continue to mourn for his original kin? And should his own descendant in turn follow this original-kin mourning, or treat the original-kin as no longer ritually-relevant?
Wú Shāng’s answer: “shén bù xīn fēi zú, míng fēi yìxìng suǒ yīng jì yě” 神不歆非族，明非異姓所應祭也 (the spirits do not partake of non-clan offerings, making clear that different-surname [heirs] should not perform the [adoptive-lineage] sacrifice). The contemporary practice of widespread different-surname adoption is acknowledged: “qǐng-shì rén wú-hòu, bìng qǔ yìxìng yǐ zì-jì” (recently those without heirs all take different-surname [adoptees] to continue [their line]). The original-kin mourning is upheld: “běn-qīn zhī fú, gǔ-xuè zhī ēn, wú jué dào yě” (the mourning for original-kin and the blood-and-bone bond — there is no way to sever).
The substantive content addresses various such biàn-lǐ difficulties in jì-sì (sacrifice), sāngfú (mourning-dress), and lineage-continuation matters in the early-medieval Chinese context.
The dating bracket (220–280) reflects Wú Shāng’s documented Sūn-Wú dynasty activity.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The work survives only as Tōngdiǎn citations.
Other points of interest
The Wú Shāng position on yìxìng-wéi-hòu — that the spirits do not partake of non-clan offerings, requiring the adopted heir to continue mourning his birth-kin — is one of the principal early-medieval ritualist objections to the practice of different-surname adoption that was widespread in the Three-Kingdoms / Western-Jìn period. The position would later be developed into the doctrinally important Sòng-period zōng-fǎ reform-tradition.
Links
- Chinese Text Project — Tōngdiǎn: https://ctext.org/tongdian