佛祖統紀 46.31

46.31

The author remarks: The Confucians of this world know to revere the Master as the Ancient Sage, yet do not know to avoid his taboo personal name. For instance, the poets of the Tang and Song were fond of making sport with the Ancient Sage's name; their ignorance of ritual was like this. Tuizhi's poem says, 'Boarding a raft to pursue the sage Qiu.' Ouyang's poem says, 'Benevolence and righteousness, Qiu and Ke'; and also, 'How dare one discuss poetry at the gate of Qiu?' These two Confucians rejected Buddhism and Daoism and revered Confucius and Mencius, always full of zeal, yet conversely they insulted the sage's personal name. If Han and Ouyang still did not know ritual, the rest are not worth rebuking. How great was Emperor Youling's understanding of revering the Ancient Sage! He deemed that the fief titles of Zengzi and others violated the taboo name and thus violated the disciples' ritual, and so drafted alternative titles for them. If future Confucians could extend this intent, convey it to the central court, and request that the rules of taboo avoidance be put into practice, would this not show that the Confucian school has models of conduct?