Ke Loo asked about serving the spirits of the dead. The Master said, "While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?" Ke Loo added, "I venture to ask about death?" He was answered, "While you do not know life, how can you know about death?"

9. CONFUCIUS VINDICATES HIS GREAT GRIEF FOR THE DEATH OF HWUY. 1. 哭 is the loud wail of grief. Moaning with tears is called 泣. 3. 夫人=斯人, 'This man'. The third definition of夫in the dict. is 有所指之辞, 'a term of definite indication'.

10. CONFUCIUS' DISSATISFACTION WITH THE GRAND WAY IN WHICH HWUY WAS BURIED. 1. The old interpreters take 门人 as being the disciples of Yen Yuen. This is not natural, and yet we can hardly understand how the disciples of Confucius would act so directly contrary to his express wishes. Conf. objected to a grand funeral as inconsistent with the poverty of the family (see ch. 7). 3. 视, lit., 'regarded me', but that term would hardly suit the next clause. 夫, as in the last ch. This pass., indeed, is cited in the dict, in illustration of that use of the term. 二三子, see III. 24.

11. CONFUCIUS AVOIDS ANSWERING QUESTIONS ABOUT SERVING SPIRITS, AND ABOUT DEATH. 鬼神 are here to be taken together, and understood of the spirits of the dead. This appears from Confucius using only 鬼in his reply, and from the opposition between 人 and 鬼. 人 is man alive, while 鬼 is man dead—a ghost, a spirit. Two views of the replies are found in commentators. The older one says—'Confucius pur off Ke Loo, and gave him no answer, because spirits and death are obscure and unprofitable subjects to talk about.' With this some modern writers agree, as the author of the 翼注, but others, and the majority, say—'Confucius answered the disciple profoundly, and showed him how he should prosecute his inquiries in the proper order. The service of the dead must be in the same spirit as the service of the living. Obedience and sacrifice are equally the expression of the filial heart. Death is only the natural termination of life. We are born with certain gifts and principles, which carry us on to the end of our course.' This is ingenious refining, but, after all, Confucius avoids answering the important questions proposed to him.