Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s9.t2.9

v1.c7.s9.t2.9

Confucius attached great importance to filial piety, as it is manifested in his comments in this field in the legendary Classic of Filial Piety. In the Analects, he was asked about filial piety by his disciples, his answers differed from person to person, however, the essence of his answers never go beyond “love and respect”. He said, “The person to his dear one would never ill-treat others; the person to respect his dear one would never be rude and arrogant towards others”, (Chapter Son of Heaven, Classic of Filial Piety). Sages from the ancient time to the present made their offsprings aware of the virtue of respect by right of patriarchal awe-inspiring and made people aware of the virtue of loving people by their own exemplary role. But Confucius did not consider the custom of which sons must obey the order of father as the only filial piety. He advocates the filial piety should proceed from righteousness, and in the time of imperative, frank criticism of father’s faults is also way to show filial piety, and in his words, “If father is doing something disloyal or unjust, it is the son’s duty to offer criticism to his father, so is the duty for court official to do so towards sovereign” (Chapter Criticism, Classic of Filial Piety).