Ｏｎ Ｚｅｎｃｉｕｓ’Ｆｉｌｉａｌ Ｐｉｅｔｙ

Abstract： Zencius inherits filial piety of Confucius’ and concept of filial piety before Spring and Autumn period， taking filial piety as basic principle of human beings， attaching great importance to filial piety， which focuses on continuity of life， emphasizing filial piety to be basis of laws and ultimate principles， discriminating it into several levels such as big filial piety ， middle filial piety and small filial piety. He regards respect as judgement of filial piety and attaches importance to practice， he himself is a fine example．

Key words: Zencius; filial piety; Confucius

【中圖分類號】I109

【文獻(xiàn)標(biāo)識碼】A 【文章編號】1002-2139（2009）-15-0158-2

Zencius， who is one of Confucius’ main disciples， has very high status in Confucianism according to records of ancient books. Zencius has deep influence on various aspects over generations， but the most important one is his filial piety. His filial piety， which is a bridge between Confucius’ and the school governed by filial piety afterwards， plays an important role in pre-Qin history.

1Zencius’ filial piety

Zencius’s filial piety comes from that of Confucius’ and earlier filial piety idea. In Confucius’ opinion， filial piety， which comes from people’s heart， is real emotion and repayment to one’s parents. But Zencius further puts forward the basis of filial piety—— “a person’s body comes from that of his parents ”， i.e ， a person’s body is extension of his parents’ and his life is also given by his parents. Zencius puts forward his new idea， regarding respect as judgment of filial piety and attaching importance to the practice of filial piety ，connecting filial piety theory with that of practice， perfecting inner connotation of filial piety.

1.1Attach great importance to the continuity of life ， cherishing his life and avoiding being hurt

Zencius pays great attention to “ taking care of one’s body is filial piety”， which meant a person should take care of himself， keep himself safe and avoid being hurt for the sake of respecting his parents. A person should cherish his life given by his parents. “The parents give birth to his child， and he dares not kill or hurt himself ……”.［1］ A person should be careful every day and avoid letting his parents worry about him. Zencius thinks a dutiful person should not have his sorrow and happiness， he should regard his parents’ sorrow and happiness as his own.

1.2 Emphasize filial piety to be the basis of laws and ultimate principles

In Confucius’ opinion， filial piety is only one of the virtues and is not so important as benevolence (“Ren”) . However， filial piety is enhanced unlimitedly and regarded as basis of all by Zencius. “Filial piety is the basis of ultimate principles” ［2］ Zencius tries his best to enlarge the applying scope of filial piety， he develops filial ideas， together with respect and love to his parents into an abstract and general principle. In his opinion， filial piety is a standard of judgment and eternal truth which is pervasive and correct forever. Zencius also points out that filial piety lies everywhere and almost includes everything， such as personal activity， social relationship and political behavior， etc. It contains solemnness， respect， loyalty， faith， courage. Zencius thinks a man who has neither of the five characters is not a good son， for that will bring shame to him and his parents. In order to emphasize the importance of filial piety， Zencius divides filial piety into different levels.

1.3 Discriminate filial piety into three levels

According to pattern of filial piety， Zencius divides it into three groups: big filial piety， middle filial piety and small filial piety. He says，“Respecting one’s parents is big filial piety，not humiliating one’s parents is middle filial piety，nourishing the mouth and body of one’s parents is small filial piety.”［3］Respecting one’s parents includes respecting， obeying them all his life and making them respected by others.

Respect one’s parents has two senses. Firstly， respect and obey them all his life. Zencius thinks a dutiful person who nourishes his parents should not only care for and respect his parents， but also please them and avoid reacting against them. Compared with supporting his parents， making them happy is more important. If a person maintains eternal love to his parents， he will serve them with a kind and pleasant countenance. If his parents make a mistake， he should point it out politely and respectfully.

Secondly， he should make his parents respected by others. First of all， he should not bring shame to his parents. Secondly， he should have a good reputation and make himself known， for that will be a good way of making his parents respected by others.

Not humiliating his parents is middle filial piety. That is to say， donnot makehis parents shameful because of his incorrect speech and behavior. He should pay attention to the following two aspects. Firstly， he should take care of himself in order not to humiliate the body his parents give him. Secondly， he should pay attention to his own behavior so as not to humiliate their personality. Humiliations， especially big ones， will bring bad consequences. If a person pays no attention to his speech and behavior， he will humiliate his parents’ personality and make them unhappy， he is not a dutiful person.

Taking care of one’s parents is small filial piety. Parents give life to his child and bring him up， the child should cherish this and try his best to take care of them， support them and meet the needs of theirs.

Zencius also notices ranks of filial piety. In Da Dai Liji #8226; Zencius on origin of filial piety， Zencius clearly divides filial piety into four levels according to social ranks: gentleman， Shi， civilian， and Renshan. Ancient scholars have made explanation on this and pointed out that gentleman refers to Qing Dafu and Renshan refers to king.

From above mentioned， we see that filial piety is based on patterns of being dutiful to one’s parents， and endows with moral content ， applies to social life and shows levels of filial piety clearly.

2The practice of Zencius’s filial piety

When talking about filial piety， Zencius not only mentions the theory， but also pays great attention to practice. In fact， he himself is a model of filial piety. Zencius ’s practice not only explains his theory concretely， which illustrates feasibility and significance of filial piety， but also reflects his emphasis on practice of filial piety.

Zencius takes care of his parents with respect. There are many records about Zencius’s filial practice in ancient book Mencius ，“The philosopher Tsang tsze (Zencius) ， in nourishing Tsang Hsi (Zencius’s father)， was always sure to have wine and flesh provided. And when they were being removed， he would ask respectly to whom he should give what was left. If his father asked whether there was anything left， he would sure to say， ‘there is’.After the death of Tsang Hsi， when Tsang Yuan (Zencius’s son)came to nourish Tsang –tsze， he was always sure to have wine and flesh provided. But when the things were being removed ，he did not ask to whom he should give what was left， and if his father asked whether there was anything left， he would answer‘no’……we may call Tsang tsze’s practice—— nourishing the will.” ［4］ When Zencius is serving his parents， he is quite considerate， he obeys and takes care of them wholeheartedly. According to Mencius ， Zengxi， who is Zencius’s father ，likes date， Zencius couldn’t help thinking of his father at the sight of date after Zengxi died， so he never eats it again. Zencius is so dutiful to his parents that he only cares for them and forgets all about himself.

Zencius attaches great importance to filial piety behavior. Zencius thinks a person should do his duties to his parents all his life. “when his parents are living， a good son should do his duties to them according to the usage prescribed by propriety. when they are dead， he should bury them and honour their memory according to the rites prescribed by propriety.［5］ Zencius also believes that one should respect and love them all his life， for that is demand of the rites prescribed by propriety. One should bury his parents after they died and offers a sacrifice to them. He thinks the sorrow of a dutiful person over his parents’ death is real emotion from heart. Zencius is very sad when buring his parents. Everytime when Zencius reads the ancient book Etiquette of Funeral，he couldn’t help weeping. It is not because Etiquette of Funeral is profound， but for Zencius thinks of his parents and regrets that he would never have opportunity to take care of them.

Zencius attaches great importance to continuity of life， in which taking good care of his body and cherish his life are included， emphasizes filial piety to be the basis of laws and ultimate principles， discriminates all levels of filial piety， such as big filial piety， middle filial piety and small filial piety．His original ideas enriches filial piety of Confucius’， substantiates content of his filial piety system and leave valuable treasure for later generations.

注釋：

［1］“LuShiChunQiu#8226; Xiaoxing”.

［2］［3］ “Da Dai Liji#8226;Zencius on the great filial piety”.

［4］ “Mencius#8226;Li Lou part I ”， James Legge ，The Chinese Classics，Klempner Press， 2007.

［5］“Analects#8226;Wei zheng” ， KU HUNG-MING， The discourses and sayings of Confucius， Kessinger Publishing， LLC2008.

注：原文發(fā)在《求索》2008年11期雜志上，此處譯文做了刪減。