Respect Through Ritual
Li expresses respect for others and social order.
Ritual actions express respect - for elders, ancestors, rulers, and social order itself. Through li, we honor what is worthy of honor and maintain proper relationships with others.
Respectfulness without li becomes laborious.
Li gives proper form to the impulse of respect.
Analects
Written about in
- What Confucianism says about reverence and ritual
Ritual gives the impulse of respect somewhere to go. Without a form to take, the passage suggests, respectfulness simply becomes laborious.