How to Explain Filial Piety in The Analects of Confucius

The content of filial piety in The Analects of Confucius can be summarized as filial piety of parents and filial piety of teachers and students, that is, children and younger generations respect and cherish their ancestors, follow the precedent, support and respect their parents, and students respect and respect their teachers.

The Analects of Confucius is a collection of quotations from Confucius and his disciples. Yi Wenzhi: "The Analects of Confucius is one of the most important Confucian classics, ranking first among the four books. It is not only the designated classic of imperial examinations in feudal society, but also contains the administrative ideas of ancient rulers. As a result, later generations have the saying that "the Analects of Confucius governs the world". Now there are 20 articles in The Analects of Confucius, which mainly focus on ethics and education. With the great changes in social life, the Analects of Confucius, as a classic of traditional culture and an important classic of Chinese studies, seems to be getting farther and farther away from our lives, except for the attention of universities and research institutions and the sound of children babbling in Chinese studies museums. The circle is negative. More and more people have discovered the importance of Chinese studies.

If you read it carefully, you will find that many things mentioned in The Analects are basically about how to be a man, and they are open, so they have eternal significance. One of the principles of being a man is "filial piety", which still has profound guiding significance in today's society. Why do you say that?

Filial piety is one of the cores of China traditional culture.

China has a long history of 5,000 years. Our ancestors created a great Chinese civilization and a long-standing traditional culture in this vast land. Prosperous agriculture has created a highly developed agricultural civilization, and the patriarchal clan system based on blood relationship has become the main body of the traditional social system. The patriarchal clan system emphasizes the blood relationship between clan members, so "filial piety" has become one of the core concepts of traditional culture. From the perspective of historical and cultural development, the concept of filial piety is an important part of China culture. For thousands of years, people in China, rich or poor, have been deeply influenced by this so-called ethical code. China culture is filial piety culture, which maintains every member of the family and then condenses into society and country. It is the most important wealth in China's traditional culture and has made indelible contributions to the development of China culture.

"Filial Piety": the natural expression of family affection

The ancients said: the sky is far away and people are close, so-called filial piety is around. What is the original meaning of filial piety? Xu Shen said, "Filial piety is kindness to parents. From the old province, from the child, from the child to the old "; "Old" refers to elderly parents; "Zi" stands for children; "Old" in the top, "child" in the bottom. If it conforms, it means: "children obey their parents, which is filial piety." From the action point of view, "Zi" with "Lao" means that parents are old and weak, and their children need to carry them instead of walking, which is full of gratitude, gratitude and care. So is the understanding of filial piety in The Analects of Confucius.

Let's give a few simple answers to deepen our understanding.

Confucius said, "My father is here, so I will watch his ambition.": If you don't change to a father's way for three years, it is filial piety to watch his father's trip. " That is to say, when his parents are alive, observe his ambition, and when his parents die, observe his behavior. If he doesn't change the way his parents exist for three years, then his behavior is filial.

Confucius said, "When you are a parent, you must know your joys and sorrows. "That is to say, the age of parents can't be unknown. We are happy for their longevity and always worry about their aging.

Confucius said, "If parents don't travel far, they will travel well." In other words, don't travel far when your parents are here. If you must travel far, you must have a certain direction.

Xia Zi asked about filial piety, and Confucius said, "If you have something to do, I will take care of it myself." : I eat and drink. I used to think I was filial. "That is to say, Xia Zi asked what filial piety is, and Confucius said: The difficulty of filial piety is that when you honor your parents, you must be kind. If you have good food, you should first use it to honor your parents.

When Meng asked about filial piety, he said, "Don't violate", which means don't violate parents' wishes.

When Meng asked about filial piety, Confucius said: "Parents only worry about their diseases", which means that they are most worried about their own health.

Confucius explained "filial piety" to his disciples at different times and places. He actively advocated and negatively criticized. For example, Ziyou asked about filial piety, and Confucius criticized those unfilial people who said they could support themselves from the opposite side, thinking that they would not cherish the feelings of respect, so that they were no different from dogs and horses. No matter from the positive side or the negative side, we can deeply feel that the Analects of Confucius is about filial piety and harmony. Filial piety has become an external, dogmatic and binding thing, but it is regarded as a natural expression of deep affection and is the innate basis of all interpersonal communication and social life.

What is related to filial piety in The Analects of Confucius is death. Confucian filial piety attaches great importance to death, and regards funeral as one of the main symbols of filial piety, which is manifested in the view of funeral. Although the funeral is held for the dead, it is actually the inner expression of the filial piety of the living. Although it is to comfort the dead, it is actually the self-realization of the filial piety of the living. Confucius inherited and carried forward Zhou Li's concept of filial piety, and attached great importance to the role of filial piety in funeral. Confucius said in reply to disciple Fan Chi: "When you are alive, you should treat others with courtesy;" When I die, I will be buried with a ceremony and sacrificed with a ceremony. " When I thought that the three-year mourning period was too long, Confucius criticized Heaven: "It is unkind to do it! The son was born three years before he survived from his parents' arms. My husband lost his life for three years, and the whole world lost him. He loved his parents for three years! " (Yang Huo). In terms of funeral, although Kong did not advocate reburial and advocated spiritual mourning, his concept of filial piety objectively contributed to the rise of reburial in later generations. When we talk about filial piety, we don't want to restore the ethics of feudal society, but to learn the essence from it and serve the socialist harmonious construction. Therefore, we should also treat and accept the filial piety in the Analects of Confucius dialectically, such as.

Classics are profound and profound. But understanding society is more important than understanding classics. Seeing the influence of social changes on the relationship between children and parents and the decline of "filial piety" caused by the intensification of social alienation, we should not only think of persuasion and education, but also make a revolution from the source and from the deep heart. "Filial piety" naturally grows in people's hearts in many cases, and education is of course very important. If children are harmonious and natural, the seeds of love will be planted in his young mind. Only by loving his parents can he grow old together. Only in this way can our social moral level be qualitatively improved and our society can be built into a harmonious society as soon as possible.