The Last Dance (2024) and the moral significance of funeral ritual in the Xunzi — by Dr. Angel Ting, Division of Social Sciences
破・地獄（2024） 與《荀子・禮論》中喪禮的道德意義
Keywords: Xunzi, funeral ritual, Chinese filial piety, Chinese philosophy, cultural and religious studies
Accepted: May 29, 2025; Published online: June 7, 2025; Published: June 27, 2025
In The Last Dance (破・地獄) (2024), Yuet, being the daughter of the Taoist priest Master Man, performed the last dance – a traditional funeral ritual named ‘Break Hell Gate’ (破地獄) – for his deceased father. It was regarded as disrespectful to the Taoist tradition since only men are allowed to conduct the ritual. However, being appointed by her father, Yuet served her father for the very last time and completed her duty deferentially.
‘Break Hell Gate’ is a Taoist funeral ritual which symbolises breaking the gate of hell in order to save the deceased from the Nether world (幽冥界) so they can reincarnate. Taoism is a local religion in Hong Kong that is heavily influenced by Buddhism (such as the idea of hell and reincarnation), as exemplified by ‘Break Hell Gate’. ‘Break Hell Gate’ is originated from a Buddhist story named ‘Mulian rescuing his mother’ (目蓮救母). It is told that Mulian’s mother was not kind and acted unwholesomely when she was alive, and hence she was sent to the hell after she died because of Karma. Mulian, however, was very filial, and respected and loved his mother deeply. He therefore went to seek help from Buddha to save his mother from hell1.
Funeral ritual is one of the most important rituals in the Chinese society. To observe the funeral ritual in the Chinese culture is to uphold the value of ‘filial piety’ (孝), to show respect, and to serve one’s parent for the very last time. In Confucianism (儒家), it is said that,
‘Thus they served the dead as they would have served them alive; they served the departed as they would have served them had they been continued among them – the height of filial piety (事死如事生，事亡如事存，孝之至也).’ (The book of Zhong Yong 《中庸》)2
Xunzi (荀子), an early Confucian, also asserts that funeral ritual is particularly conscientious in the matter of life and death. If a person is generous only to those who are alive but niggard towards the dead, one is disrespectful to them, which is something that a noble person (君子) is ashamed of, for serving funeral ritual is the last opportunity for one to perform one’s duty to the deceased3.
Xunzi puts a strong emphasis on funeral ritual not only because it is the last duty performed that cannot be repeated, but also because it is the proper expression of emotions. On the one hand, offering sacrifice is to express one’s remembrance of and the longing for the deceased. On the other hand, funeral ritual prevents those who are noble from being overwhelmed with grief and thus harming themselves, while helping those who are unfilial to express emotions that are appropriate for the occasion. Ultimately, funeral ritual is a form that beautifies a conduct to reach Confucian morality.
Funeral ritual as a proper way to express one’s emotions is best exemplified by the practice of mourning period. Xunzi points out that extending the mourning period of one’s deceased parents to the third year of their death is pertinent to one’s love and feeling towards the deceased. The mourning period is apportioned with reference to the rules of the natural world. It is suggested that the mourning period of the closest kin should be one year, which is comparable to one cycle of the complete change of four seasons. However, it is also pointed out that the greater the wound, the more the pain it gives, and hence the more time it takes to heal. As parent-child relationship is the closest among all human relations, and the loss of one’s parents will be the most painful to a person, extending the mourning period allows one to fully express one’s grief and pain before resuming to one’s ordinary course of life. The mourning period has to end in the twenty-fifth month (i.e. the first month of the third year) because otherwise there will be no ending of the funeral ritual. Nonetheless, it does not mean that the children will stop longing for their parents; it only means that their emotions have been properly expressed, and that they are now ready to return to their life. While for others, the mourning period varies from three months to one year, depending on one’s relationship with the deceased. The closer one is to the deceased, the longer the mourning period lasts.
Despite the fact that the mourning period was defined in accordance with one’s relationship with the deceased, the mourning period for one’s lord (the king) is also extended to the third year after he has deceased. The lord is regarded as the parent of his people who not only provides welfare but also establishes laws and orders that ensure their flourishing, and hence he deserves the deepest respect from his officials and people.
More importantly, funeral ritual also marks the distinction between humans and animals. Xunzi argues that even animals would mourn and long for their lost companions. Humans as the creature with the most awareness (知), their remembrance of their parents should not have an end. Thus, if a person neither grieves for nor respects the deceased, the person is no different from an animal. The principle of funeral ritual, then, is to allow a person to show their griefs and respects in a proper way through adorning and burying the dead. If the deceased is not properly adorned and buried, one would feel repulsed and would become negligent in one’s duty to the deceased, eventually resulting in showing disrespect to the dead. Accordingly, the adornment and the burial aim to cultivate one’s grief and respect, and also to alleviate one’s sorrow as time passes, so that one would not be harmed by the intense emotions and feelings.
For Xunzi, the nature of humans (性) is raw and simple (朴)4, while ritual principles (禮) (such as the funeral ritual), as the products of humans’ conscious activity (偽), are forms that help to beautify the nature of humans. Without the nature of humans, there is nothing to be adorned by ritual principles. Likewise, without ritual principles, the nature of humans cannot beautify itself. It is only when the nature of humans is being adorned by ritual principles that one becomes a sage and reaches perfection. On this account, funeral ritual, in the eyes of Xunzi, is a refined expression that takes into consideration the laws of the natural world, human relationships, as well as the needs of the society that helps to keep a country in harmony.
In the Diary of a Madman (《狂人日記》), LU Xun (魯迅) criticises the ritual principles practiced by Confucian as cannibalism, which implies that people are often being oppressed in the name of Confucian morality. The same is true for the situation of Yuet. She is not taught to practice Taoist funeral ritual because it is a craft that can only be performed and passed to men, which becomes the main reason why her relationship with her father gets worse over the years. When she is later appointed by her father to conduct the ritual, the rest of the people despise her and walk away from the mourning hall. Confucius and Xunzi would nonetheless disagree. In the Analects, Confucius affirms that it is only when one’s native substance (質) is properly refined by morality (文) (benevolence (仁) and righteousness (義)) that one becomes a noble person. If the native substance predominates over the practice of morality, one would become churlish. However, if one’s practice of morality overrules one’s native substance, it would result in pedantry5. In the Xunzi, it is also emphasised that ritual principles are performed properly only with the foundation of emotions and feelings, while one’s emotions and feelings can be properly expressed through ritual principles. Essentially, ritual principles are executed sincerely only when they are grounded on emotions and feelings.
Next time you have to perform a ritual, do not think of it as a form or formality, be mindful that it is a way to properly express your emotions and feelings that helps to beautify human nature to achieve perfection. Like Yuet, she is not attached to the formalities that the funeral ritual of ‘Break Hell Gate’ must be performed by men. Rather, she is performing the ritual as the duty of a daughter, expressing her love and longing for her father dearly, and serving her father with the very last dance.
Acknowledgement:
I dedicate this paper to my father, whom I loved and missed dearly.
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Notes:
[1] 周子峰 著，《葬之以禮：香港殯儀文化初探》，香港：中華書局，2020年。
[2] Translation taken from Chinese Text Project, https://ctext.org. Assessed 17 May 2025.
[3] All the details and justifications of the funeral rituals mentioned in this paper are taken from the chapter ‘Discourse on Ritual Principles’ in the Xunzi (《荀子・禮論》). The interpretation of original text is adapted from 李滌生 著，《荀子集釋》，臺灣：學生書局，1979年. The English translation of the original text is adapted from Knoblock, John, Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works, vol. 3 (California, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994).
[4] Although there is a chapter named ‘Man’s Nature is Evil’ (《性惡》) in the Xunzi, Xunzi himself does not advocate an essentialist view of human nature. By claiming that human nature is ‘evil’, Xunzi is denying the idea that humans are born with any incipient moral dispositions (a position upheld by Mencius). See Chong, Kim-chong, ‘Xunzi and the Essentialist Mode of Thinking on Human Nature’, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 35 (2008): 63-78.
[5] The Analects, chapter ‘Yong Ye’. 《論語・雍也》。See also Chong, Kim-chong, Early Confucius Ethics (Chicago, Illinois: Open Court, 2007), 1-18.
References:
Chong, Kim-chong. Early Confucius Ethics. (Chicago, Illinois: Open Court, 2007).
———. ‘Xunzi and the Essentialist Mode of Thinking on Human Nature’. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 35 (2008): 63-78.
Knoblock, John. Xunzi: A Translation and Study of the Complete Works. Vol. 3 (California, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994).
李滌生 著，《荀子集釋》，臺灣：學生書局，1979年。
周子峰 著，《葬之以禮：香港殯儀文化初探》，香港：中華書局，2020年。