On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v1.c8.s12.8

v1.c8.s12.8

The Buddhist Brother, we are told, may not lament over the death of a parent, but he shews his grateful remembrance by a religious service, and his filial piety by obtaining for a deceased parent a happy hereafter. The expressions "following the departed" and "being earnest about his death" are taken from the first *chuan* of the Lun-yü. There Tseng-tzŭ says that "if there be earnestness about the death [of a parent] and a following of the departed one (i. e. parent) the moral character of the people will return to a state of thorough goodness". By "earnestness about the death of a parent" the Confucianist meant being careful to have all the funeral rites duly observed; and by "following the departed parent" he meant keeping up the solemn services of worship to the deceased. These were services in which a man shewed his perfect filial piety, but the professed Buddhist carried out his views of filial piety and a future state in securing to his parents happiness in other spheres of existence.¹ To the Confucianist the death of a relative was the "end" of the relative, but to the Buddhist death was only a passing to another life.