Filial piety is one of the most basic and important virtues of the Chinese nation, and is considered by some scholars to be the yuan virtue of traditional Chinese ethics. Xiaogan, Hubei is a city named after filial piety, derived from the local filial piety son Dong Yongxing Xiaogantian. When talking about and studying the way of traditional Chinese studies, filial piety is the first thing people think of. The Book of Filial Piety is enshrined as the first of the Thirteen Classics and is said to have been written by Confucius. In the "Filial Piety Sutra , Kaizong Mingyi" it is said: "Filial piety, the origin of virtue." The Chinese character composition of the word "filial piety" is old at the top and the son at the bottom, which means that the son can inherit his relatives and go along with his wishes. In traditional Chinese moral norms, filial piety has a special status and role. The word "teaching" in education is composed of "filial piety" and "literature", and the fundamental basis of education is based on filial piety and human morality, and all education is expanded accordingly, playing the role of educating the people.
The fact that filial piety is placed on the basis of traditional ethics stems from the patriarchal system of ancient China that is linked by blood relations, which to a large extent determines the socio-political structure and ideology. Mencius once said, "The foundation of the world is in the country, and the foundation of the country is at home." "From the family to the family, and then to the clan, to form the society, and then to form the state." This sense of home-country isomorphism and home-country integration has penetrated into the deepest level of ancient Chinese social life, and this patriarchal system is the fundamental reason for the formation of traditional Chinese culture to emphasize ethics and morality, and advocate filial piety and respect for the elderly. Confucianism advocates the paternity of fatherly kindness and filial piety, and believes that family ethics can be naturally extended to social ethics, and "filial piety" extends upward to the "loyalty" of ministers to the monarch. Especially in the home and the country, as children should honor their parents, as subjects must be loyal to the monarch. This is the basis for the ancients to cultivate themselves and govern the country and the world. Since the Han Dynasty, confucianism has been officially exclusive, ruling the world with filial piety, and consolidating social rule, which lasted until the end of feudal society.
The ethical behavior of filial piety to parents and respect for elders reflects gratitude, return and respect, and everything is respected, and others are treated kindly, which is actually "benevolence". The foothold of Confucianism is benevolence, and the heart of benevolence is equal, starting with parents and brothers, who are closest to each other, and then generalizing to people who are not related by blood or even interest. The content of the "Filial Piety Sutra" is "Confucius is the great-son Chen Xiaodaoye", in which Confucius comprehensively and systematically discusses filial piety. Confucius advocated "benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom, and faith", but also said that filial piety is the foundation of benevolence. Filial piety has always been considered to be the foundation of Confucius Benevolence, and Confucianism attaches great importance to family ethics, of which "filial piety" occupies a very heavy weight, the so-called "hundred good filial piety first".
In the matter of relatives, in the matter of the king, finally established. Filial piety is actually the code of conduct of the ancients in dealing with the world, and the rules for standing in the world. When the parents are there, they are only obedient and sent to the end of the pension; when the parents die, they keep filial piety for three years and worship for life, which is the natural and righteous and natural life standard that people recognize and adhere to. Ancient officials even enforced this norm: when their parents died, not only did the commoners observe filial piety for three years, but government officials also had to abandon the official home system, "regardless of leaps, keep the system for twenty-seven months", called "Ding Worry". Fill in the service and then make up for the post. Due to special circumstances, such as the ruler's excessive dependence, at the end of the minister's funeral, he was summoned to a post, or ordered that he did not have to abandon his official post, did not wear public clothes, served in a simple manner, did not celebrate, and sacrifices, banquets, etc. were represented by The Emperor, called "seizing affection", but this rarely happened.
The "Book of Filial Piety" stipulates different contents of filial piety according to different people: the filial piety of the Son of Heaven requires "love and respect to his relatives, while the morality is imposed on the people and punished in the four seas", proposing that the Son of Heaven should lead the civil heavens, saying that the Son of Heaven is "the king of the commandments" and is "given by providence", so it is called "the Son of Heaven", and the Son of Heaven should regard the heavens as his father and serve the heavens with filial piety. Because Of Providence is the most benevolent, the Son of Heaven must imitate Heaven and practice benevolent government; the filial piety of the princes requires that "there is no arrogance in the top, that there is no danger in the high, that there is no restraint and modesty, and that there is no overflow"; that the filial piety of the Qing Dafu requires "not to speak illegally, not to do the Tao, to have no choice in the mouth, and to have no choice in the body"; and the filial piety of the people requires "using the way of heaven, dividing the interests of the land, and using it sparingly to adopt parents". Monarchs can govern the country with filial piety, and subjects can use filial piety to govern the family.
Filial piety is also essentially different in terms of levels and aspects. Such as filial piety, that is, support, for the parents to provide for the end of the pension. Parents raise their children to grow up, parents are old, there is no labor force and source of livelihood, and children should fulfill their obligations of support, which is the most basic filial piety. However, with the improvement of the economy and the change of concepts, most parents are no longer "raising children and preventing the elderly", and some children still need their parents' property to live. Therefore, the level of filial piety of children should be raised to filial piety and filial respect. Filial piety is to go along with their hearts and make their parents satisfied. "Parents are here, not far away, travel must be good." It is to meet the expectations of parents that their children are by their side and worry about their safety outside, so that they can rest assured and at ease. Another example is "The Father is there, look at his will; the Father is not, look at his deeds; three years without changing from the Father's way, which can be described as filial piety." "Long-term observation and obedience to the father's ambitions and behaviors is filial piety in a higher sense."
Let's talk about filial piety. If Zixia asked filial piety, Confucius said: "In front of parents, it is difficult to always be pleasant with Yan. There are things that young people go to help do, and when they have wine and rice, let the elders eat, is this filial piety? "Just satisfying parents from material life and helping them to do some labor, but not obeying and respecting parents, this cannot be said to be filial piety." Another example is ziyou asking filial piety. Zi Yue: "The filial piety of the present is said to be able to be nurtured." As for dogs and horses, they can be raised; if they are disrespectful, why should they be different? "Confucius pointed out that even dogs and horses can be raised to feed parents, and if it is disrespectful to parents, what is the difference between providing parents and raising dogs and horses?" People need respect, the ancients said "heaven and earth kings and teachers", kissing, respect is the moral law that everyone must abide by, and respect for parents in addition to the moral and etiquette of the mandatory requirements, but also out of the children's emotional instincts, respect for parents is always the true meaning of humanity.
At the same time, Confucius opposed foolish filial piety, and part of the story in the "Twenty-Four Filial Pieties" compiled by Guo Jujing in the Yuan Dynasty is foolish filial piety, such as the Eastern Han Dynasty", "burying children and serving mothers" means that Guo Ju buried his children alive because his family was poor, in order to save grain for his mother to eat; Wang Xiang of the Jin Dynasty was abused by his father and stepmother. One winter, the stepmother wanted to eat carp, but because of the cold river freezing, unable to catch, Wang Xiang lay naked on the ice, after the ice melted, two carp jumped out of the crack, Wang Xiang was very happy, holding back to the stepmother, which is "lying on the ice to seek carp"; there are "mosquitoes full of blood", "weeping bamboo shoots", "smelling thunder weeping tomb" and so on, the common point of these stories is blindness, lack of humanity, to the filial piety side of the "filial piety", contrary to the proper meaning of filial piety from the heart of benevolence, is used by politicians and their spokesmen, After the alienation of Confucian filial piety, it is used to strengthen the concept of the "Three Principles" and maintain the "teaching materials" of the rule of his home country.
Of course, it is very rare for children to be foolish and filial piety now, and filial piety is weakening with the dilution of tradition. "Father for Son" is gone, but many "little emperors" and "little princesses" have been born. It is said that the water flows down, "whoever says anything will repay the three Chunhui", the love of parents for their children is persistent, selfless and great! But if it develops into coddling, it will hinder the growth of the child, so that the child will lack the minimum gratitude and respect for the parents from an early age. It is said that "the adopter knows the grace of his parents", but unfortunately, many young people now raise their own children but forget their fathers. Although this aspect is the filial piety of sons and daughters-in-law and girls and sons-in-law, it is also related to the long-term doting of parents and unprincipled habits of juniors. Therefore, the love for children also needs to be rational, focus on the long term, and carry out gratitude education from an early age, so that they can live in the hearts of their parents with their own hearts and develop the habit of filial piety to their parents.
With China entering an aging society, old-age care has become a major issue that the government and the whole people generally focus on. How to make the old age of the elderly more healthy, fulfilling, happy and dignified, first of all, as the descendants of the children and grandchildren should think and practice: for example, for the empty nest elderly, the children should take the initiative to take the parents to live in their own homes, there is really no way and should often go home to see or make relevant proper arrangements; for one parent to die first, the other party is willing to remarry, the children can not covet the inheritance, and selfishly interfere in the marriage against the elderly; the elderly are sick, they should take care of it carefully, thinking of ways to let the elderly lose their burdens. Be physically and mentally comfortable. Everyone has the day of aging, as children and juniors, they should put themselves in the shoes of filial piety to the elderly with a heart of gratitude, from the moment when they have the ability to fulfill filial piety to the time when their parents leave, always remind themselves of the responsibility of filial piety, do not wait until "the son wants to raise and the relatives are not there" when the return is empty and sad. This is also the most basic embodiment of benevolence in the human world, which extends to the respect for the elderly and the love of children for the public.