*76. Chap. III. Sse-yi [OMITTED] (Sacrifices to the Departed).
Sacrifices are merely manifestations of the feelings of love
and gratitude, which the living cherish towards ghosts and spirits.
The latter cannot enjoy the sacrifices, which are presented to them,
because having no body, they are devoid of knowledge and cannot
eat or drink. If Heaven and Earth could eat or drink, they
would require such enormous quantities of food, that man could
never appease their hunger. Wang Ch`ung treats of the nature of
ghosts, and refers to the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth, to the
House, to the Gods of Wind, Rain, and Thunder, to the Sun, the
Moon, and the Stars, and to the Ancestors.
