What is the real Chinese culture of filial piety

The traditional Chinese culture of filial piety is a composite concept, rich in content and wide-ranging. There are both cultural concepts and institutional etiquette. Analyzed in terms of respect and upbringing, it mainly contains the following aspects, which we can summarize in twelve words, namely: respecting relatives, providing support, attending to illnesses, standing up for one's self, advising and admonishing, and having a good end.

1, respect for relatives

The essence of traditional Chinese filial piety is to advocate for parents first "respect" and "love", no respect and love, can not talk about filial piety. Confucius said: "Today's filial piety, is said to be able to raise. As for dogs and horses, all can be raised, do not respect, how to be different?"

That is to say, the treatment of parents is not just material support, the key is to have love for parents, and this love is from the heart of the sincere love. Without this kind of love, not only can we not talk about filial piety and honor to parents, but it is no different from raising dogs and horses. At the same time, Confucius believed that the most difficult thing for children to fulfill filial piety is to maintain this "love" at all times, that is to say, to treat their parents happily.

2, support

The material basis of traditional Chinese filial piety is to provide for parents materially, i.e., to support them, "to be born is to be raised," which is the minimum program of filial piety and respect for parents. Confucianism advocates that parents should be the first to be provided for materially, and if there is meat, the elderly should be the first to be allowed to eat it. This is very important; filial piety emphasizes the priority of elderly parents in material life.

3. Serving the sick

Elderly people are frail and prone to illness, so traditional Chinese filial piety emphasizes "serving the sick" as an important part of filial piety. If your elderly parents are sick, you should treat them promptly, take good care of them, and give them more care in life and spirit.

4. Establishing oneself

The Book of Filial Piety says, "To be a good man and to be famous in the world is the end of filial piety. This means that the children should "establish themselves" and achieve a career. When a child achieves something in his or her career, the parents will feel happy, honored, and proud. Therefore, it is also ungrateful to one's parents if one does nothing all day long and spends one's life in mediocrity.

5, admonition

The chapter on admonition in the Classic of Filial Piety states, "If the father has a son who fights for him, then his body will not fall into unrighteousness. Therefore, when there is injustice, then the son cannot help but contend with the father." In other words, when the parents are unrighteous, not only should they not obey them, but they should admonish them so that they will correct their unrighteousness, which will prevent them from falling into unrighteousness.

6, a good end

The Book of Filial Piety states: "The filial son's service to his parents is also, living to his respect, raising to his joy, sick to his sorrow, mourning to his mourning, sacrificing to his severity, five are ready, then he can serve his parents". Confucian filial piety puts a great deal of emphasis on the funeral, and all kinds of rituals are to be performed at the time of the funeral.

Expanded Information

One of China's earliest works to explain the meaning of words, the Er Ya, defined it as "to serve one's parents well is filial piety." In the Han Dynasty, Jia Yi's Xinshu (New Book) defined it as "a son's love for his parents is called filial piety". In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xu Shen explained in his Shuo Wen Jie Zi (Explanation of Characters), "The one who serves his parents well is from the old man's province, from the son, and the son takes up the old man's work".

The Thirteen Classics Commentary, made by the famous Han Dynasty scribe Zhao Qi, has long had a complete and authoritative explanation. "In the rites there are three unfilial, that is to say, the ayi curved from, set up relatives not righteousness, one unfilial also; family poverty, parents old, not for the salary service, the second unfilial also; do not marry without a child, extinct ancestor sacrifices, the third unfilial also."

What is worth noting here is that the four words "extinction of ancestor sacrifice" explain why not marrying without children is the biggest unfiliality. Because as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, the Han Chinese people have established to respect the Tao of Heaven, ancestor worship as the core of the faith, also known as "respect for Heaven and ancestor".

In the view of the traditional Han people, human life is continued in the children and grandchildren, through the offspring of the ancestor's sacrifice, the soul of the ancestors can be rested, the blood line is connected to the eternal inheritance, generations of ancestral tablets exist in the ancestral temple, the incense will not be extinguished, which is the beliefs of the Han people and the spirit of the support. In the view of the traditional Han people, people who are not worshipped will become lonely souls and ghosts after death, and they will not have peace in the ground, which is a very miserable situation. Therefore, not marrying without children is the greatest unfiliality.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Filial Piety (Traditional Culture)