法苑珠林 55.44

55.44

The One Beyond the World replied: “Examining this corrupt argument, it is not the path of loyalty and filial piety. A loyal subject serves the state, desiring its reception of boundless blessings. A filial child brings peace to parents, striving to avert calamity before it shows a sign. Hearing of the causes and conditions of abundant blessings, one pursues them as if one might not catch up; seeing the sprouts and beginnings of sudden disaster, one flees them as if testing boiling water. The state values prayers to Heaven and Earth, praying for blessings; the family avoids the taboos of yin and yang, guarding against calamities. When blessings seem likely, one pursues them; when calamities seem likely, one shuns them. Such is human nature, and such is the path of loyalty. You, however, would discard what people call blessings and embrace what people call calamity; how could this be a loyal subject’s plan to benefit the state, or a filial child’s method to bring peace to parents? If one were to abolish the grain offerings in the ancestral shrine and bestow the fish and meat upon sons and grandsons, or destroy the ceremonial robes and caps of the seasonal sacrifices to supply clothing for servants and concubines, merely seeking the kindness of benevolence toward inferiors without honoring the blessings that bring peace to superiors, begrudging the cost of meals to nourish parents and contemplating abolishing their care to enrich one’s household—could this be called the path of loyalty and filial piety?