Jiézàng 節葬

‘Restricting Funerals’: a triad of chapters of the Mòzǐ, only the third of which survives. Instead of asking whether elaborate funerals conform to custom, the chapters ask whether they promote the recognised goals of humane government and family welfare. Their characteristic strategy is to evaluate practices by their consequences rather than their symbolic meaning. Particularly notable is the argument that widespread acceptance of a custom does not by itself show that the custom is beneficial or right.