What is the unadorned background? (EK)

What is the unadorned background?


3.8 Zixia asked, "An ode says,

Her artful smile, with its alluring dimples, her beautiful eyes, so clear, the unadorned upon which to paint.

What does this mean?"

The Master said, "The application of colors comes only after a suitable unadorned background is present."

Zixia said, "So it is the rites that come after?"

The Master said, "It is you, Zixia, who has awakened me to the meaning of these lines! It si only with someone like you that I can begin to discuss the Odes."


If the rites are the colors, what is the unadorned background that has to precede the rites? Some other things that Confucius emphasizes, like learning (學) and ren(仁) could be some things that precede rites. However, aren't these things learned through the rites? For example, in Analect 1.2 Confucius says that filiality is the root of ren(仁). However, isn't filiality learned by practicing rites within the family? In this aspect, the rites seem to play a fundamental role in the cultivation of one's character. Whereas the way Zixia put it, the rites seem to be an accessory. What is the role of rites, and how fundamental is it?


Evelyn

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