The Ta Ya or Greater Ya, in three Books, contains thirty-one pieces,
sung on great occasions at the royal court and in the presence of the
king. p. Lacharme called it 'Magnum Rectum (Quod rectum est superiore
ordine).' But there is the same objection here to the use of the word
'correct' as in the case of the pieces of the previous Part. I use the
name 'Major Odes of the Kingdom.' The greater length and dignity of most
of the pieces justify the distinction of the two Parts into Minor and Major.

The Sung, also in three Books, contains forty pieces, thirty-one of
which belong to the sacrificial services at the royal court of Kau;
four, to those of the marquises of Lu; and five to the corresponding
sacrifices of the kings of Shang. p. Lacharme denominated them correctly
'Parentales Cantus.' In the Preface to the Shih, to which I have made
reference above, it is said, 'The Sung are pieces in admiration of the
embodied manifestation of complete virtue, announcing to the spiritual
Intelligences their achievement thereof.' Ku Hsi's account of the Sung
was--'Songs for the Music of the Ancestral Temple;' and that of Kiang
Yung of the present dynasty--'Songs for the Music at Sacrifices.' I have
united these two definitions, and call the Part--'Odes of the Temple and
the Altar.' There 'is a difference between the pieces of Lu and the
other two collections in this Part, to which I will call attention in
giving the translation of them.

Only the pieces of the fourth Part have professedly a religious character.

From the above account of the contents of the Shih, it will be seen that
only the pieces in the last of its four Parts are professedly of a
religious character. Many of those, however, in the other Parts,
especially the second and third, describe religious services, and give
expression to religious ideas in the minds of their authors.