"Benevolence" is the core of Confucius' ethical thought. "When you ask Ren, Confucius says' love'." [5](P 17 1) "The benevolent loves others" is a concise summary of benevolence by Confucius. He believes that "filial piety" is the basis of "benevolence". "Who is filial to his younger brother?" [5](P7 1) Since the concept of filial piety is the highest moral standard of Confucius' ethical thought, there must be some most specific and direct behavioral requirements for the realization of this concept value.
The founders of Confucianism attached great importance to the emotional communication between parents and children, and emphasized that children respected, loved and supported their parents. [7] It is true that the most basic requirement of filial piety is the material support of children to their parents, but Confucius did not stop at material support. He believes that it is not enough to have material support, but to express sincere respect and love for parents emotionally. So he added: "Today's filial piety is to raise. As for dogs and horses, they can be raised if they can. Disrespect, why not? " [5] (p79) If you don't respect and love your parents emotionally, it's only material support. What's the difference between dogs and horses? Confucius' highest exposition of "filial piety" requires children to act according to their parents' wishes before their parents die, and inherit their parents' wishes after their parents die. Therefore, Confucius said: "The father is observing his will, but the father is not observing his actions. Three years later, he has not changed from his father's road, which can be described as filial piety. " [5](P74) Zhou Wuwang and Zhou Gongdan inherited the will of King Wen to destroy Shang Zhouwang, so Confucius praised them and said, "And Duke Zhou was very filial! People who are filial are good at inheriting people's ambitions and telling people things. " [5](P44) Sima Qian's Historical Records and Ban Gu's Hanshu are all determined to complete the unfinished business left by his father, which is the embodiment of the highest requirements of Confucius' filial piety.
Confucius asked his children to honor their parents. There are some records in ancient books as follows:
Confucius said, "People are born with courtesy; When you die, you will be buried and sacrificed. " [5] (p79) When parents are alive, they should reciprocate; When you die, you should be buried and sacrificed according to etiquette.
When Meng asked about filial piety, Confucius said, "Parents only worry about their illness." [5](P79) Caring for parents' diseases is the key to filial piety.
Confucius said, "If you don't travel far, you will travel easily." [5] (P98) is to ask children to be filial in front of their parents.
Mencius further developed Confucius' thought of benevolence and filial piety, believing that filial piety is the essence of benevolence. So, "What is the big deal? Things are big. " [5](P357) also said: "Filial piety is the most important thing, and it is nothing more than respecting relatives; Respecting relatives is nothing more than raising the world. " [5](P385). Extending the concept of filial piety that originated and existed in the family to the whole society is the uniqueness of Mencius' concept of filial piety. Therefore, Mencius said: "I am old, and people are old; Young and frivolous, and young people. " [5](P253)
After Confucius and Mencius, many scholars advocated the concept of filial piety. In the mid-Northern Song Dynasty, the leading figures of Neo-Confucianism both expounded the Confucian concept of filial piety in Chengdu and Luoyang, which made the concept of filial piety spread rapidly among the people and left a deep imprint.
Zhang Zai extended Mencius' view of filial piety to others at a deeper level. He put forward that "respect for the elderly makes them long, kindness makes them young, virtue makes them virtuous, and virtue makes them beautiful." It's my brother's fault that the world is tired, disabled and widowed. He didn't tell me. With security, so do children's wings. ”[8](P 180)
Cheng has a new understanding of the relationship between benevolence and filial piety. They pointed out that "filial piety is also the foundation of benevolence!" Words are the foundation of benevolence, not benevolence. [9] (Volume 11) "Benevolence-oriented" and "Benevolence-oriented" are different, and filial piety is used, which cannot be confused. He also said: "People can be unfilial, but they can't do their best to be filial." [9] (Volume 23) We should not only have the concept of filial piety, but also have filial piety actions.
Wei Yuan, a famous Confucian scholar in Qing Dynasty, also expounded filial piety. He said: "A gentleman's words are filial and respectful; A gentleman's words are respectful and filial. I dare not forget my parents in one fell swoop, and I dare not forget my parents when I speak. " [10] (p14) In serving parents, filial piety and respect are closely combined. This is Wei Yuan's new insight.
Four filial piety is the basis of politics, and the rulers strongly advocate filial piety.
The concept of filial piety is also the basis of rulers' administration.
Or Confucius said, "Zi Xi is not a politician?" Confucius said, "The book says,' Filial piety! Be filial, be friends with brothers, and talk about politics. "Is it also a government and a government? [5](P82) When someone asked Confucius why he didn't go into politics, Confucius quoted the words in Shangshu to explain that he used the concept of filial piety to influence social politics, that is, to participate in politics. This dialogue shows that Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, regarded the activity of promoting filial piety as a political act from the beginning.
"The Book of Filial Piety" says: "The filial piety of a husband begins with the obedience of the relatives, and ends with the obedience of the middle." This points out that filial piety is a combination of ethics and political behavior. The importance of "filial piety" to feudal politics is more specific in the chapter "Filial Piety and Three Talents". "The Book of Filial Piety and Three Talents" wrote: "The filial piety of the husband, the classics of heaven, the righteousness of the earth, and the trip of the people. The classics of heaven and earth, but the classics of the people. Then the weather is clear, because of the benefits of the land, to follow the world, to teach, and its politics is not strict. The first king can change the people when he sees the teachings. " Governing the country is based on moral education, which is based on filial piety. Therefore, filial piety, the world naturally governs. Xiao Jing Xiao Zhang records: "In the past, the Ming king ruled the world with filial piety, but ... the world was peaceful and there was no disaster. Therefore, it is the same for Wang Ming to govern the world with filial piety. " As long as filial piety, peace and security, political clarity. A son also said, "He is very filial to his younger brother, but he seldom commits crimes. People who are not good at making mistakes and are good at making trouble are not there. " [5](P70) Emperors all know that advocating filial piety plays a very important role in stabilizing their own rule. Therefore, Confucian filial piety is highly respected. In order to show their respect for filial piety, the rulers of the Han Dynasty added a word "filial piety" to the posthumous title of most emperors from the beginning, such as "filial piety" and "Emperor Xiaowen". The History of Han Literature and Art contains: "The Analects of Confucius and the Book of Filial Piety are both doctors in Chinese." The Book of Filial Piety is valuable. At the same time, filial piety is regarded as the basis for selecting officials. Filial piety can be called "filial piety" and is appointed as an official by the court. What's more, it is not uncommon for the Ninth Five-Year Plan Emperor to compile the Annotations of Xiao Jing, such as Jin and Yuan emperors, Liang Wudi and Tang Xuanzong.
The feudal rulers attached importance to the propaganda of "filial piety", mainly for the purpose of persuading loyalty with filial piety, and its theoretical basis came from the "three cardinal guides and eight orders" in The University.
"University" begins with the following sentence: "The way of a university is to be well-known, close to the people and stop at perfection". These are the three cardinal principles. That is, first, we must cultivate talents and be virtuous; Second, we must govern the country and the people; Third, we should achieve the above two goals.
The "eight eyes" of a "university" are: respect for things, knowledge, honesty, integrity, self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world. "University" contains: "Self-cultivation, family planning; If there is harmony, the country will govern; If you govern this country, the world will be peaceful ... the so-called governance must be in harmony with your family; If your family can't teach, you can teach others. Therefore, a gentleman is a Buddhist without becoming a monk; Filial piety, so things also, ... "Rulers use filial piety to educate people, which is the process of repairing people's bodies. To publicize filial piety to the general public is to influence people and reunite their families. And these two measures are ultimately aimed at achieving the goal of governing the country and leveling the world.
"Governing the country must first govern the family" [5](P 12) points out the importance of governing the country with filial piety and governing the family first. "Filial piety is what matters to the monarch", [5](P 12) directly points the object of people's filial piety to the monarch. "Sacrifice" says "unfilial to the monarch." More clearly, disloyalty to the monarch is unfilial.
Of course, to promote filial piety, the rulers need to set an example, respect the old and love the young, and regulate the world. "The so-called people who rule the country in peace: the old are old and the people are filial, the people are long and the people are young, and the people are lonely and different. It is the way of a gentleman. " [5](P 14) Because of this, emperors of past dynasties also made many gestures such as the above to promote filial piety in order to stabilize their rule.
In addition to some non-mandatory means, the rulers also use mandatory means to promote filial piety, that is, to infiltrate the Confucian ethical thought of filial piety into the criminal law and formulate legal provisions to punish unfilial. The Qin dynasty inherited the tradition of "punishing unfilial" in the pre-Qin dynasty and had its own rules to punish unfilial. "Bamboo Slips of Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land" contains: A son was accused of being unfilial and wrote to the government. The government investigated and dealt with him according to the accusation, "Cut off his son's foot and move to a county near Shu, so that he can never move." Since then, there have been legal provisions to punish "unfilial", which are more intensive and severe.
Emperors of past dynasties praised "filial piety" with the ultimate goal of stabilizing their own rule. But it is undeniable that this kind of behavior has a certain benign effect on society objectively.