鐔津文集 3.22

3.22

Material support is insufficient to requite one's parents, so the Sage requited them with virtue. Virtue is insufficient to bring parents to ultimate realization, so the Sage brought them to realization through the Way. This 'Way' is not what the world calls the Way: it is wondrously attuned to the divine spirits and transcends life and death; it is the ultimate Way of the Sage. This 'virtue' is not what the world calls virtue: it encompasses all myriad goods and cloaks the unseen and the manifest; it is the ultimate virtue of the Sage. Do not the Confucians say: 'What the noble person calls filial piety is anticipating [their parents'] intentions, supporting their will, and guiding parents to the Way. Shen merely provides direct material support; how can that be considered filial piety?' It is said: 'What the noble person calls filial piety is when the people of the state sigh with admiration, saying: "How fortunate to have such a son!" This is what is called filial piety.' That may be so, but while the intention is similar, the meaning is different. As for those in the world who requite kindness, our Sage may be called the ultimate requiter of kindness; as for those in the world who practice filial piety, our Sage may be called purely filial. The sutra says: 'It is better to deliver one's parents in this single life through the teachings of the Three Venerable Ones.' The Book of Documents says: 'The millet and sacrificial grains are not fragrant; it is luminous virtue alone that is fragrant.' Is it not so? Is it not so? If I follow after the Sage, yet my virtue is uncultivated and my Way is not clarified, I will merely fail my parents and bring shame before the Sage!