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Front Page arrow Titles (by Subject) arrow Chapter X.: An Orderly Description of the Acts of Filial Piety. - The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism. Part I The Shu King, the Religious Portions of the Shih King, the Hsiao King

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Chapter X.: An Orderly Description of the Acts of Filial Piety. - Misc (Confucian School), The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism. Part I The Shu King, the Religious Portions of the Shih King, the Hsiao King [1879]

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The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism. Part I The Shu King, the Religious Portions of the Shih King, the Hsiao King, trans. James Legge (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879).

Part of: The Sacred Books of the East, 50 vols.

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Chapter X.

An Orderly Description of the Acts of Filial Piety.

The Master said, ‘The service which a filial son does to his parents is as follows:—In his general conduct to them, he manifests the utmost reverence; in his nourishing of them, his endeavour is to give them the utmost pleasure; when they are ill; he feels the greatest anxiety; in mourning for them (dead), he exhibits every demonstration of grief; in sacrificing to them, he displays the utmost solemnity. When a son is complete in these five things (he may be pronounced) able to serve his parents.

‘He who (thus) serves his parents, in a high situation, will be free from pride; in a low situation, will be free from insubordination; and among his equals, will not be quarrelsome. In a high situation pride leads to ruin; in a low situation insubordination leads to punishment; among equals quarrelsomeness leads to the wielding of weapons.

‘If those three things be not put away, though a son every day contribute beef, mutton, and pork1 to nourish his parents, he is not filial.’

[1 ] Compare with this the Confucian Analects, II, vii.