《論語》中出現許多關於喪禮、祭禮的記載，對於事死禮儀與終極關懷多所著墨。孔子身處「禮壞樂崩」的時空環境，各項禮儀規範漸漸不被正確地實踐。除了時人違禮之舉外，部分禮儀的文獻記載亦付之闕如；同時為了順應時空、社會經濟條件的變遷，部分禮儀逐漸發生改變。在禮壞樂崩的局面下，面對固有三年之喪的禮儀遭受質疑，孔子將三年之喪的基礎建立在人人皆有的情感要求之上，對喪禮進行普遍性建構，並進一步由終極關懷開展教化。本研究旨在探究喪禮做為觸發真實情感充分展現的外在關鍵事件，引發內在真實情感的湧現，促使人產生實踐禮及倫理規範的動力，成為「行仁」的開端。最後說明喪禮除了因應內在情感外，又兼具外在啟牖功能，逐步剖析由生者身心安頓所構築的情感理論如何促成喪禮的教化功能。

There are numerous records about funeral and sacrifice written in The Analects of Confucius. It is seen that Confucius put more emphasis on the rites, dealing with those who passed away and the ultimate concern of funeral and sacrifice. Confucius lived in a time when rites and music were in ruins and that all rites and rules were incorrectly practiced. Despite of the fact that the behaviors of people violated the rites, some documents about it were also lost. Meanwhile, in order to coordinate with the transformation of time and social and economic conditions, some rites began to change. With rites and music being in ruins, the tradition of three-year mourning was doubted. Based on the emotional requirement of all people, Confucius used three-year mourning as the foundation and made funeral more common so as to launch education through ultimate concern. This study aims to discuss the role of funeral as the external key event which triggers people’s real emotion to fully express. And with the emergence of inner true feelings, it turns out to be the motivation for people to implement rites and ethic regulations thus becomes the beginning of “practicing Ren”. Lastly, in addition to respond to inner emotions, explanation about the function of funeral which also possesses feature of external inspiration is introduced. With a step-by-step analysis, the study shows how the emotional theory constructed by physical and mental settlement of the living facilitates educational function of the funeral.