Zai Wo asked: "The three-year mourning period is surely too long! If a gentleman neglects the rites for three years, the rites will decay; if he neglects music for three years, music will fall to ruin. The old grain is gone and the new grain has ripened; the fire-making wood has gone through its full cycle — surely one year is enough." The Master said: "Would you feel at ease eating fine rice and wearing embroidered silk during the mourning period?" Zai Wo replied: "I would." The Master said: "If you would feel at ease, then do so! But a gentleman in mourning finds no sweetness in fine food, no pleasure in music, and no comfort in his dwelling — that is why he does not do these things. Now if you feel at ease, then by all means do so!" After Zai Wo had left, the Master said: "How unbenevolent Zai Yu is! A child is not free from its parents' arms until it is three years old. The three-year mourning is the universal observance throughout the world. Did Zai Yu not receive three years of loving care from his parents?"