The main contents of the traditional concept of filial piety
Raise and respect relatives
Parenting is the most basic obligation of children to their parents, which is based on the concept of gratitude. Everyone was born by his parents and grew up because of their careful care. This objective fact of the creation and maintenance of life has made human beings feel grateful, that is, when their parents are old, they should do their best to support them and do their duty of "feeding back". Mencius once put forward five cases of unfilial, that is, "being lazy with four, ignoring the support of parents, is unfilial." "The game is good to drink, regardless of parental support, and it is also unfilial. Good wealth, private wife regardless of parental support, three unfilial. From the desire of eyes and ears, I thought that my parents were killed and I was unfilial. Be brave, risk your parents, and be unfilial. " ("Mencius Li Lou II") Among the five kinds of unfilial situations, three are "ignoring parents' support", which can also prove from the opposite side that supporting parents is the basic obligation of a son. The traditional concept of filial piety not only requires children to do their duty to support their parents, but more importantly, children have a loving heart for their parents. Confucius paid special attention to "respecting relatives" and regarded loving parents as the difference between human beings and animals, and the difference between gentlemen and villains. "Today's filial piety, that can be raised. As for dogs and horses, both can be kept; Disrespect, why not? " In the traditional concept of filial piety, respecting relatives is a higher level of filial piety than raising relatives. Only by rising to respect for relatives.
Obedience and admonition
Respect for relatives is not only manifested in the attitude towards parents and elders, but also in polite behavior. At a deeper level, it is to obey the will of parents and elders, so filial piety is often used together. "Filial piety, livestock also; By the way without violating human relations, it is called a livestock. " (The Book of Rites. Sacrifice system ") The animals here are very obedient. "Father, view its ambition; Father didn't. Observe his actions. It is filial piety not to change the way of the father for three years. " (The Analects of Confucius. Shun means listening to your parents' words and acting according to their wishes, and everything is subject to their standards. But it is obviously one-sided to think that as long as it belongs to the elders, it is right under any circumstances, and to ask the children to obey absolutely under any circumstances. So what should children do when their parents and elders are at fault? Confucian ethics gives the answer, that is, children should gently advise. Confucius advocated "admonishing parents several times" (The Analects of Confucius. Establish a person), that is, euphemistically advise. Mencius once said: "Too close without complaining, the more sparse ... the more sparse, the more unfilial." (Mencius. In other words, it is unfilial for children not to complain, persuade or even blindly obey their parents' mistakes and unethical behaviors.
Give birth to a male heir to carry on the family line.
The traditional concept of filial piety holds that people must have children after marriage. With children and grandchildren, they can stably continue the family and even the whole clan, allowing ancestors to sacrifice. Failure to complete this important task is the greatest unfilial to parents and the greatest disrespect to ancestors. Mencius said: "There are three kinds of unfilial, and the last one is the biggest." (Mencius on Li Lou) The chapter of filial piety also said: "It doesn't matter whether parents are born or not." Even if parents are arrogant and extravagant, there will be no offspring to stay at home and make their parents dissatisfied. In ancient times, filial sons felt infinite regret and were ashamed of their parents. It can be seen that the concept of carrying on the family line was a way and complex to repay and comfort parents in ancient times.
Bereavement and sacrifice
The basic meaning of filial piety is "parents are good", including "things happen" and "things die". The latter is the continuation and extension of the former, expressing the respect and yearning of later generations for the deceased elders. "Death of things" is a very important content in the traditional concept of filial piety. "Things die like things happen, things die like things exist, and filial piety is the most important thing." (The Doctrine of the Mean) means serving the dead as the living, and serving the dead as the living is the highest expression of filial piety. Mencius said: "keeping in good health is not enough to achieve great things, but death can achieve great things." (Mencius. Teng Wengong ")" Raising may also be awkward; Respect can also be embarrassing; Ann may also be embarrassed. " As can be seen from the above, the traditional concept of filial piety attaches great importance to "death". "Death" is what the ancients called bereavement. Ceng Zi summarized the filial piety of bereavement as "cautious to the end". Cautiousness is the funeral behavior of parents' death, and the pursuit of distance is the etiquette after parents' death. It can be seen that the form of children expressing filial piety is funeral sacrifice, which means that parents or elders will hold funerals and sacrifices after their death.
Make a contribution to your parents.
Filial piety is the first of all virtues. So almost all those who get in the way are regarded as filial piety. If you want to survive, you must first survive, that is, keep your body. Because "the body is also, the body of the parents is also, and the body of the parents is disrespectful?" (The Book of Rites. Sacrifice righteousness ")" The body is a skin injury, and parents dare not hurt it. Filial piety begins. " (The Book of Filial Piety) means that a person's body is left behind by his parents. If a person damages his own body, it is equivalent to damaging the remains of his parents, which is unfilial. The traditional concept of filial piety not only requires children to stand up, but also needs to establish morality, make statements and make contributions on the basis of standing up. "It's called descendants show their parents, and filial piety is the end." (filial piety. The reason why children study hard at a cold window, enter the official career and strive for success is to inherit their father's will, be good at inheritance and description, and realize their parents' hopes for their children. "Those who are filial are good at inheriting the aspirations of others, and those who are good at telling people's affairs are also good" (The Doctrine of the Mean). In order to keep the family style simple, maintain the prosperity of the family, win honor for parents and families, and extend the life span of parents, families and families. Children within the scope of family ethics is the highest requirement of traditional filial piety.
Morality:
The following original items are only an understanding of morality in the sense of code of conduct:
Tao: The original intention is objective truth, that is, the laws of structure, movement and change of nature, the laws of objective development and change of society, the laws of human birth, aging, illness and death, which are the laws of natural existence and development. It exists objectively and affects the development of society and human beings. Follow it to develop, society will be healthy and harmonious, talents will be healthy and happy, and naturally there will be a leap-forward existence.
Germany: The original intention is to conform to nature. Both society and human beings need to develop. On the premise of not violating the laws of nature, we should transform nature, develop society and develop our own business.
It is also to adapt and transform nature without violating the Tao, so that society, nature and human beings can develop for a long time and live in harmony.
The unity of Tao and morality is morality. When people do things according to the law of Tao, they have "morality".
I have been looking for a definition of morality since the 1980s, but there is no suitable explanation. After thinking and consulting many predecessors, I finally reached the above conclusion and used it to educate future generations.
Tao: Tao is understanding.
Morality: Morality means giving.
Dao+De: Generally speaking, it means quality.
In essence, at the beginning of life, human nature is good, that is to say, people are born with instincts (many instincts will endanger the survival of others), but they just don't know how to restrain themselves. Therefore, everyone needs external and internal constraints on instinct. The external constraint is law, but the role of law is only to punish those aspects of human instinct that are harmful to human society, such as trying to hurt others. Therefore, we need internal constraints (that is, morality) to restrain behaviors that are not illegal by instinct, but will also cause harm to others (even human society).
Therefore, morality is the restriction of social norms on human instinct, in other words, people are born with the instinct to hurt or even kill other lives in any way (that is, "there is no morality in survival"), and morality is a tool to limit this instinct and reduce this harm after the law.