Confucius loved eating meat

The so-called saints and heroes are also men and women who eat meat. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, loved eating meat. The biggest evidence is that "Zi heard about Shao in Qi, and he didn't know the taste of meat in March, and said: 'I don't want to do it for pleasure!'" ("The Analects of Confucius")

People want to express their appreciation for a certain thing People's love often compares it with other things they love, thus obtaining a strong foiling effect. The so-called "three months without knowing the taste of meat" shows how deeply Confucius was moved by Shao music. The subtext is: Meat was in short supply at that time, and the taste of meat was alluring and unforgettable. Master Confucius also loved meat. Now he has even forgotten the taste of meat, which shows that Shao music is perfect, and Confucius’ talent and obsession with music are also extraordinary. .

If Confucius could not eat meat, or had a high degree of resistance to the temptation of meat, then it would not be a big deal to "not know the taste of meat in three months". It was precisely because Confucius loved to eat meat that his transcendence of the low-level desires for food and appetite that ordinary people could not get rid of highlighted his sensitivity and love for the high-level culture of music.

In "The Analects", Confucius' eating of meat is mentioned many times.

"Yang Huo wanted to see Confucius, but Confucius didn't see him, so he returned to Confucius." Yang Huo, a powerful minister at that time, wanted to summon Confucius, but Confucius didn't go, so he gave Confucius a steamed suckling pig. On the one hand, according to the etiquette at that time, the officials gave gifts to the scholars, and the scholars had to pay homage and accept them in person, so Yang Hu wanted to force Confucius to see him; on the other hand, Confucius was specially given a steamed suckling pig, which was probably in Confucius' favor.

Confucius always considered himself to be "the queen of scholar-bureaucrats", so when he ate meat, he was also very particular about it, rather than just feasting on it. "The meat is never tired of fineness" means that the meat is not too finely chopped; if the meat is rotten (meat spoiled), do not eat it; if the smell is unpleasant, do not eat it; if it is not cooked properly, do not eat it; if the meat is not cut according to a certain method, do not eat it; buy it. Do not eat the dried meat that comes (for fear of being unclean); do not eat the meat left over from the sacrifice after three days (it will rot over time). At the same time, although there is a lot of meat on the table, it does not taste more than a staple food. ("The Analects of Confucius")

Confucius had taste in eating meat, although in his time, eating meat was a luxury behavior that was difficult for ordinary people to enjoy. One of the contents of the Kingly Utopia of Mencius, the sub-sage of Confucianism, is that "those in their seventies can eat meat." Historian Xu Zhuoyun pointed out that in the Zhou Dynasty, "only wealthy people could eat meat for every meal. The so-called 'meat-eaters are despicable', and 'meat-eating' was the name for the officials." Until the late Ming Dynasty, Gu Yanwu also talked about " When the world rises and falls, every man is responsible for it." He did not forget to add the sentence "The rise and fall of a country are determined by meat-eaters."

The "Book of Rites" records the details of Confucius eating meat sauce. One year before Confucius died, his disciple Zilu died in Weiguo. After hearing this, Confucius cried for Zilu in the front yard of his house. Later, the mourner said that Zilu was chopped into meat paste after his death, and Confucius asked people to throw away the meat paste he had eaten.

In addition, Confucius's favorite disciple Yan Yuan died two years before him. After the funeral, the Yan family sent Confucius sacrificial meat. Confucius went outside to receive the sacrificial meat, returned to the house, and played the harp before eating.