Wei Nisheng cited the Zuo Tradition; Zhang Zai cited Songs of Chu.
"'The Fallen of the Nation' in Songs of Chu sings, 'Their souls resolute, they stand as heroes among ghosts.'
Qu Zi mourned their spirit; he did not mean that ghosts clad in armor and wielding halberds truly walked the world.
If they truly existed, why did Qu Zi not see them himself and write of them?"
"Hahaha!" Zhang Zai laughed heartily, waving his sleeve and wagging a finger.
"It was nothing more than..."
"Borrowing the name of ghostly heroes to embolden the resolve of fallen warriors!"
After hearing him out, Wei Nisheng nodded, but did not concede defeat.
He stood, his gaze more serious than before.
"Zihou, your argument that ghosts and spirits are 'the innate capacities of the two forms of qi' has taught me much."
"But I have one more question."
"Brother Wei, by all means."
"May I ask, when we worship our ancestors at the winter solstice, where does the qi that moves them to respond come from?"
Wei Nisheng looked at Zhang Zai and spoke each word distinctly.
"At the winter solstice, descendants worship their ancestors with sincere hearts, and their ancestors partake of the offerings.
If ghosts and spirits are merely the two forms of qi, yin and yang, with no independent souls, then where are our ancestors when we worship them?
Who comes to partake? If no one does, have a thousand years of ancestor worship been nothing but self-deception?"
It was a barbed question.
Ancestor worship was the heart of ritual, the embodiment of filial piety, and the foundation of Confucian ethics.
If ghosts and spirits did not exist, ancestor worship lost its recipient, and filial piety lost its grounding.
A poor answer would mean more than losing a debate-it would