The Meaning of the Book of Filial Piety and its Understanding of Life

The meaning of Xiaojing is filial piety, and the basic connotation of "filial piety" includes the following five points:

1. Valuing life

The opening chapter of Xiaojing says, "The body is born of the parents, and one does not dare to destroy it, which is the beginning of filial piety." The world is precious to man, every person in the world is born of parents, are the continuation of the parents' life, and therefore cherish life, is the beginning of filial piety, is the most basic filial piety.

The Book of Filial Piety says, "The nature of heaven and earth (birth) is only valued by man." To preserve the body given by parents is to cherish life, and to cherish the life given by parents is filial piety. A sound body is the prerequisite for honoring parents and the material foundation for carrying on a career. Zeng Zi also said, "Parents are born whole, and the son returns whole, which can be called filial piety." What does it mean to be "whole"? "Not to lose one's body, not to dishonor one's body," not to cause bodily harm, is called "whole". The whole body filial piety is not only a person's personal affairs, a person has parents, ancestors, descendants, is a chain, related to the whole family, so you can not just hurt it. There is a proverb that says the same thing: "A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall."

2. Honor your parents

To honor your parents is to "feed" them with "sincerity and respect". Children's support for their parents is the minimum requirement for filial piety. Confucius said: "Today's filial piety, is said to be able to raise. As for dogs and horses, all can be raised. If you don't honor them, how can you be different?" This means, "Nowadays, people only consider it filial piety if they can support their parents. But even dogs and horses can be raised. Without respect for one's parents, where is the distinction?" Yes, not honoring and not fearing is not filial piety.

So how does one honor one's parents and how does one act as a filial son? In the Book of Filial Piety, "five preparations" are put forward: to honor one's home, to raise one's family, to be happy, to be sick, to be worried, to be saddened by one's loss, to be strict in one's sacrifices, and to be prepared for the five preparations, and then to be able to serve one's parents. The essence of the "five preparations" lies in the need to take parents to heart, including "the year of our parents, we must not be unaware of it, one is to be happy, the other is to be afraid of it", including the sincerity and respect to do a good job in the "birth, upbringing, death, and burial". "The first thing I want to do is to make sure that you have a good understanding of what is going on in your life and what is going on in your life.

3, "to bear the will", "to stand up"

"To bear the will" refers to the son to bear the father's will. The ancients advocated that the correct and reasonable will and cause of parents should be supported and inherited, which is a very important filial behavior. The Pseudo-Confucius of Confucius says: "It is filial piety to carry on the will of one's forefathers." The Book of Rites? Zhongyong (The Middle Ages) says, "The filial piety of a man is to be good at following the will of others, and good at describing the affairs of others." In today's language, the "will" and "deeds" here are the wishes, deeds and experiences of the ancestors.

The so-called "establishing oneself" means accomplishing something. The Confucian concept of life advocates that one should be active in the world and contribute to society. The Book of Filial Piety emphasizes that the highest level of filial piety is to honor and glorify one's relatives, i.e., "great filial piety and respect for one's relatives". As children, they must have positive and excellent words and deeds, and positive and outstanding achievements, so that their parents can be respected and enjoy honorable names and honors. As the folk saying goes: "In the first thirty years, the father honors the son, and in the next thirty years, the son honors the father," which is exactly the same thing.

4, "no violation", "admonition"

The ancients advocated that children should be filial to their parents, that is, we should do our best to provide for their parents, and always keep a sincere love and respect in their hearts. In the words of Confucius, this means "no disobedience". "No disobedience" does not mean that one obeys one's parents' wishes without going against them, but it means that one does not have any improper thoughts that go against one's conscience, and that everything is done out of one's heart and out of sincerity. Confucianism does not talk about "foolish filial piety" or "foolish loyalty". Confucius believed that the father's unrighteous behavior must be discouraged, so that he would not do unrighteous things against etiquette; if the son blindly obeyed his father, he would be an unfilial son. Confucius also put forward the idea of "a few remonstrances to parents", which means that of course children should be filial to their parents, but their parents' words are not 100% correct. What should we do when there is a mistake? Then do not blindly obey, to dissuade, of course, this dissuasion is a polite and patient persuasion, admonition is the principle, how to admonish is the method; principles should be adhered to, the method should also pay attention to.

5, prudence

Honoring parents and admonishing them are the content of "doing things for life", and filial piety has the content of "doing things for death", which Zeng Zi attributes to prudence. Being prudent in death is the funeral and burial of one's parents, while pursuing the distant is the sacrificial rites after the death of one's parents. According to Confucius, there are two aspects to the "affairs of the dead": one is to bury the dead with rituals, and the other is to offer sacrifices with rituals. Confucius regarded "sacrifice" as one of the major events in governing the state, and believed that the core of sacrifice was to "offer sacrifices with respect". From this, we can see that Confucius' idea of "prudence in the end of one's life" is to treat the burial of one's parents with caution, while "pursuing the distant" is to conduct sacrifices in a respectful manner. In this way, the people's virtues would naturally return to loyalty and generosity. Why is it necessary to be "prudent in pursuing one's parents"? Because this is a major event for the son of a man. "If you love and honor the things that happen in life, and mourn the things that happen in death, then the people's nature will be complete, the righteousness of life and death will be ready, and the work of filial piety will be finished." Through funerals and sacrifices, to express the grief of the deceased loved ones, respect and gratitude, which is the expression of inner feelings, but also to pray for the blessing of ancestors, or to honor the relatives of filial piety specific manifestations.