RITUAL SHOOTING：COMPETITION BETWEEN GENTLEMEN

RITUAL SHOOTING：COMPETITION BETWEEN GENTLEMEN

A scene from the ritual shooting of the shire of the Zhou Dynasty(Simulated by Center for Chinese Ritual Studies, Tsinghua University) .周代鄉射禮模擬場景（清華大學中國禮學研究中心主持復原）。

nihao: What is unique about ritual shooting? Peng：During the 2008 Olympics, the whole country was talking about how to express the uniqueness of Chinese Sports in the openning ceremony of the olympics. I thought the“ shooting ceremony of the shire” could best represent it. It is a historical tradition of ritual, and it is also a sport. Though most nations in the world have archery, it is used in either war or field hunts. However, during the Axial Age, Confucius in Early China gave archery another layer: a part of the ritual. So archery became philosophically relevant. It teaches people how to cultivate their moral characters, and so differs from archery in many other nations.

nihao: Why is archery able to cultivate our moral characters？Peng:When you hold the bow on stage, you should never be in a hurry to shoot the arrow, but to check if you stand right, or in our ancient saying, if your“ inner core is upright, and your body is straight”. In a word, you have to make sure that you have‘ gentleman-ship'. When you look at the target, you have to think about whether your concentration is good, whether your breath is controlled, and whether your strength is accurate. Moreover, you have to be able to“ not blame your failure on the winner”, and to think about what you did wrong. The whole system of norms in archery is also a process to rectify your inner character. In the western world, virtue, sports, wisdom, and aesthetical senses are different parts of a person, whereas in China, those are considered an inseparable whole. So that's why the Chinese ideal is“ a perfect man”. In the third round of the ritual shooting of the shire, the band needs to play the ode from“ The Book of Songs”, and each shot needs to be in harmony with the rhythm, otherwise it won't count as on target. Is there any other country on earth that requires music with archery? Our ancestors believe that music can in fluence people's minds most directly. That is why archery combined with elegant music and elegant posture is a very important way to teach people through ritualistic activities. When the ancient people talked about the cultivation of both the inner mind and the outer body, they believed that such outer practices would help with your virtue, same as the inner mind would in fluences your behavior.

nihao：How did the traditional Chinese sports consider competition? Peng：Ancient Chinese people believed that competition with others was normal in a society, however, you had to respect your opponents. All East Asian countries, especially those which are largely in fluenced by Confucianism, emphasise“making a salute” in their various sports, such as Taekwondo, Judo, Sumo, and Go. And at the end of the competition, you have to thank your opponent for their efforts. That's rare in Western sports. The core idea in this is what Confucius once said: ”even in competition, you have to be a gentleman”. You don't have to be vicious in competitions. On the contrary, you should show respect and consider competition as a way to uplift yourself.

射之禮：君子之爭

nihao:禮射有什么獨特之處？

彭：2008年奧運會時，舉國都在議論開幕式怎么展現中國體育內涵的獨特性。我認為鄉射禮就是最好的代表。它有悠久的歷史，是一種禮儀文化 ，也是一項體育運動。世界各民族幾乎都有弓箭，但大多用于戰爭、田獵的武器。但在軸心時代，孔子將射箭賦予了禮的色彩，賦予了哲學的內涵，它變成了教化人修身養性的方式，這是別的民族沒有的。

nihao:為什么射箭可以教化人？

彭：拿著弓站在臺上，先不是要急著射出箭，而是要看有沒有站對、站好，有沒有做到“內志正，外體直”，有沒有君子風度。扭頭望目標時，要比心智是不是集中，氣息有沒有下沉，用力是不是精準。另外，如果射不中，能不能做到“不怨勝己者”，從自己身上找原因。這是一整套的規范動作，一種向內尋求改造自己心性的過程。西方人將德育、體育、美育、智育切成一塊塊，但中國人是一體的。所以中國人講“完人”。鄉射禮第三輪，旁邊樂隊要奏《詩經》，箭發出去時，必須跟音樂節奏一致，否則就不算中。世界上哪一個國家，射箭是需要跟音樂結合的？古人認為音樂對心靈的影響最直接，所以，射箭配上純正、典雅的音樂，再加上得體的動作，形成了一整套禮化的過程。古人講內外兼修。由內到外，也可以由外到內。常常保持外在各種行為合乎禮儀，可以內化積累德養。

nihao：中國傳統體育精神里如何看待競爭？

彭：古人認為在社會上，跟別人是有競爭的，但必須尊重對手。東亞凡是受到儒家文化影響的國家，體育運動中都強調“行禮”，比如跆拳道、柔道、相撲、圍棋，到最后，一定要謝謝對手指教。西方比較沒有這種規矩的。這就是孔子強調的“其爭也君子”，競爭不要搞惡斗，而是充分尊重對手，最終促成自己的提高。

Professor Peng Lin from the Department of History, Tsinghua University, shows us the ritual for the shooting of the shire. He is also an expert on Chinese ritual studies.清華大學歷史系教授、中國禮學研究專家彭林示范鄉射禮禮儀。