The Legend of Asking for Rites on the Monument of Confucius Asking for Rites

Although this incident has not been recorded, it is well-known among the people in Yudong. Here, the legend is briefly recorded as follows:

Confucius was frustrated all his life. He only served as the commander of Lu for three months, and was ousted by the emerging feudal forces. In order to restore what he thought was the most ideal social form of the Western Zhou Dynasty, he led his disciples to travel around the world, preaching scriptures and preaching a set of Confucian thoughts such as "self-denial and courtesy", kindness, loyalty and forgiveness. However, the era in which it lived was the era of great change in which feudalism replaced slavery. The emerging landlord class launched an all-round struggle for power against the decadent slave owners and nobles, and the whole world was in a state of collapse. Therefore, what Confucius preached was out of date, and everywhere he went, he ran into a wall. What's more, a tragedy of "seven days without food" was performed in Chen Cai, and almost even his life was put in. As soon as Chen Caizhi's siege was solved, Confucius was exhausted, so he looked up at the sky and sighed, "I can't do it, I'll float on the sea by fork!" " He gave up the idea of preaching in the west and led his disciples to turn around and return to Shandong.

After a hard reflection on my way back to Shandong, I still can't figure out the fact that Wang Zhidao was not accepted by others. When I was thinking hard, I felt that I had come to Luyi County. Confucius certainly heard about Laozi's return to his hometown to practice Buddhism. So when I came to Luyi, I suddenly realized that there was a bright future, and I had the idea of visiting Lao Tzu again to ask for advice and dispel doubts. When he made up his mind, he went straight to visit and was warmly received by Lao Tzu. He also entertained Confucius and his disciples with Song He wine, the predecessor of Song He Grain Liquid. After praising "good wine", Confucius warned his disciples: "Only wine is boundless, not as chaotic as it is". This means that all of you, no matter how much you can drink, don't get drunk because of good wine and don't make jokes. As for the content of Kong Lao's talk about his knowledge, it is nothing more than aiming at the questions raised by Confucius, expounding his philosophical thoughts and general plans of "letting nature take its course", "being quiet and self-correcting" and "doing nothing without doing anything".

Supposedly, this meeting is mainly about social issues, and the contents of the weekly ceremony have been dropped. Why is it still called asking the ceremony later? The author believes that since Confucius' question ceremony has been passed down as a much-told story, people still call it the question ceremony because of Chen Xiang-yin. But there is nothing to say. This legend, like the inscription "Confucius asked about the ceremony" in the Ming Dynasty, confirms the truth of this matter from one side.