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The Wisdom of the East Series
EDITED BY
L. CRANMER-BYNG
Dr. S. A. KAPADIA
THE BOOK OF FILIAL DUTY
WISDOM OF THE EAST
THE BOOK OF
FILIAL DUTY
TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE
OF THE HSIAO CHING
BY IVAN CHÊN
FIRST SECRETARY TO THE CHINESE LEGATION
WITH THE TWENTY-FOUR EXAMPLES
FROM THE CHINESE
[Illustration]
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1908
PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.,
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 7
THE DOCTRINE OF FILIAL DUTY 16
THE TWENTY-FOUR EXAMPLES 33
EDITORIAL NOTE
The object of the Editors of this series is a very definite one. They
desire above all things that, in their humble way, these books shall be
the ambassadors of goodwill and understanding between East and West—the
old world of Thought and the new of Action. In this endeavour, and in
their own sphere, they are but followers of the highest example in the
land. They are confident that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals
and lofty philosophy of Oriental thought may help to a revival of that
true spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the nations of
another creed and colour. Finally, in thanking press and public for
the very cordial reception given to the “Wisdom of the East” Series,
they wish to state that no pains have been spared to secure the best
specialists for the treatment of the various subjects at hand.
L. CRANMER-BYNG.
S. A. KAPADIA.
NORTHBROOK SOCIETY,
185 PICCADILLY, W.
INTRODUCTION
I. THE ORIGIN OF THE BOOK
The _Hsiao Ching_, or _Book of Filial Duty_, is generally held to be
the work of an unknown pupil of Tsêng Ts‘an, the disciple of Confucius,
to whom is attributed the famous Confucian classic known as _The
Greater Learning_. Certainly it can be traced back as far as 400 B.C.,
within a century from the death of Confucius. The preservation of
the text in its present form is due to the Emperor Ming Huang (A.D.
685-762), one of the most fascinating characters in Chinese history,
who had it engraved, together with eleven other of the Confucian
writings, on tablets of stone and set up in his capital of Chang-an. He
afterwards added a commentary of his own, which is still extant, and
has proved invaluable to all commentators of a later period. _The Book
of Filial Duty_ is often found in China bound up with another treatise
called the _Hsiao Hsüeh_, or _Teaching for the Young_, of which the
following is a specimen: “The way to become a student is with meekness
and humility, receiving with confidence every word spoken by the
master. The pupil, when he sees men of virtue, should try to follow
in their steps; when he hears wise sayings, he should try to conform
to them. He must not harbour evil designs, but always act honourably.
Whether at home or abroad, he must have a fixed abode, and resort with
those who are well disposed, regulating his demeanour with care, and
curbing the passions.”
Few books have enjoyed greater popularity amongst all classes in
China than _The Book of Filial Duty_. It may be called _The Book of
Emperors_, from the fact that so many Emperors, both before and after
Ming Huang, have commentated upon it. Equally it is _The Book of
Youth_, being the first treatise of importance placed in the hands of
children, after the horn books of elementary instruction. The reason
for its survival after so many centuries is not hard to seek. Family
life has always been, from time immemorial, the foundation-stone
of the Chinese Empire, and filial piety is the foundation-stone of
family life. Nor does this duty of son to father merely extend to
the living. The living head of the family pays due reverence to the
countless ancestors who have preceded him. A witty Chinese writer
once remarked that in the West family life only began after death—in
the family vault. Here, at any rate, after years of separation and
divided interests, the members met to enjoy a common oblivion. I cannot
but think that there is some exaggeration in this; yet not even the
greatest apologist of Western methods will venture to deny that the
Chinese and indeed most Oriental ideals of family life are superior to
his own. Whilst living, only the calls of Empire, or the demands of
their profession, may keep relations apart; but the interests of the
family are always greater than the interests of the individual, and no
exile is without hope of return to the home of his fathers. The dead
will not be forgotten, for it will be the duty of their sons to offer
sacrifice to their shades. The death-days of two generations of parents
are kept sacred with solemn festival, and the nameless and unnumbered
dead have their special days of ceremony and remembrance in the spring
and autumn. Every house has its family shrine, every village its hall
of ancestors. Thus the filial piety of the survivors honours those who
have gone.
As regards the living, respect is the great essential of daily
intercourse. The subject respects his emperor, the son his father,
the wife her husband, and the younger brother his elder brother. But
respect is not only for those older than ourselves, or of superior
station. The wisdom of Confucius is nowhere more clearly shown than in
his utterance concerning the respect to be paid to youth: “A youth is
to be regarded with respect. How do we know that his future will not
be equal to our present? If he reach the age of forty or fifty, and
has not made himself heard of, then he will indeed not be worthy of
respect.”
_Maxima debetur pueris reverentia!_
The Chinese national spirit is a spirit of continuity; the spirit of
the Confucian philosophy is a spirit of harmony with the environment of
daily life. “Confucius,” says Tzŭ-ssŭ, “possessed, as if by hereditary
transmission, the virtues of Yao and Shun [Emperors of the Golden Age],
and modelled himself on Wên and Wu [first King of the Chou dynasty,
1133 B.C.] as his exemplars. Above all, he kept in unison with the
seasons of the sky; below, he conformed to the water and the land.
“We may liken him unto the sky and earth in respect of the universality
with which they uphold and sustain things, the universality with which
they overspread and enfold things. We may liken him unto the four
seasons in respect of their varied march; unto the sun and moon in
respect of their alternate shining.
“All things are kept in train together without their injuring one
another; their ways go on together without interfering one with
another: the smaller forces in river streams, the greater forces in
ample transformations. It is this that makes the sky and earth so
great.”[1]
The first environment of the human soul is that of the family. Before
we can become good subjects, before we can aspire to study nature and
mould ourselves upon the laws of heaven and earth, we must first of
all learn to become good sons, to complete the unity of family life.
All things will be added in their due course. To the Chinese mind the
successful policy in life is a policy of adjustment. This policy runs
from highest to lowest, and back again from lowest to highest. The
Emperor adjusts himself to the requirements of his great Ministers,
they in their turn to the provincial governors, they in their turn to
the local magistrates, and so on down the scale of social order. So
this policy of adjustment works equally upwards from the youngest son
of the meanest family to the Emperor himself, who adjusts his methods
to those employed by his August Father. As _The Book of Odes_ says:
That great and noble Prince displayed
The sense of right in all he wrought;
Adjusting justly, grade by grade,
The spirit of his wisdom swayed
Peasant and peer; the crowd, the court.
It is for this reason that _The Book of Filial Duty_ commences with
a chapter on “Filial Piety in the Son of Heaven.” The Emperor is, the
Emperor always has been, the father of the greatest family on earth—the
Chinese nation.
II. THE TWENTY-FOUR EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY
Instead of the _Hsiao Hsüeh_, or _Teaching for the Young_, which is
usually grouped with _The Book of Filial Duty_, I have chosen _The
Twenty-four Examples of Filial Duty_ by way of illustration to the
_Hsiao Ching_. They are naïve and terse, and yet not without their
simple charm. Even where they lend themselves to exaggeration, as in
the story of the old gentleman who dressed himself in gay garments
and frisked in front of his very venerable parents, they are not
meaningless nor devoid of humanity. The lesson to be drawn is that our
duty towards our parents is the first obligation in life, and that we
should go, if necessary, to all lengths to fulfil it. Nothing is known
of the authorship of these stories, or the time in which they are
written. Each story is accompanied by its commentary, and probably the
stories themselves originated during the Ming dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644),
the commentaries belonging mostly to the latter years of that dynasty.
The period dealt with in these tales is a very wide one, and ranges
from the time of the great Emperor Shun (_circa_ 2300 B.C.) down to
the Sung dynasty (A.D. 900-1200). There have been many editions of
_The Twenty-four Examples_ in Chinese, mostly embellished with quaint
and original woodcuts, of which the figure on the cover of the present
volume, kindly supplied by Mrs. Lionel Giles, is an example.
III. FILIAL DUTY AND PARENTAL LOVE
In conclusion, I hope none of my readers will imagine, from these
examples and the treatise that precedes them, that Chinese family life
is cold and repellent, and devoid of mutual love. The moment a tiny
life enters the circle it is guarded by the triple walls of kinship.
In the children our parents return to us; in the children we survive.
All through Chinese history the exile longs for return to wife and
children. All through Chinese literature you will find allusion to the
love of little ones which has been the heritage of the Chinese from
time unknown. _The Book of Odes_, quoted in Mr. Ku Hung-ming’s eloquent
translation of the _Chung Yung_, or _Conduct of Life_, for this Series,
says:
When wives and children and their sires are one,
’Tis like the harp and lute in unison.
When brothers live in concord and in peace,
The strains of harmony shall never cease.
The lamp of happy union lights the home,
_And bright days follow when the children come_.
With the Chinese the natural joys of life have always been the most
sought after. Home, family, friendship, landscape, and flowers—these
are the pleasures which they delight in. The religion of Confucius
is the religion of daily life. On the side of the parent there is
responsibility; on the side of the child, obedience, but not a blind
one. Of the responsibility of parents there is no question. Confucius
himself laid down the law when he sentenced a father, who had brought
an accusation against his son, to be imprisoned with him. On being
remonstrated with, he made this memorable reply: “Am I to punish for
a breach of filial piety one who has never been taught to be filially
minded? Is not he who neglects to teach his son his duties equally
guilty with the son who fails in them? Crime is not inherent in human
nature, and therefore the father in the family and the government in
the State are responsible for the crimes committed against filial piety
and the public laws.”
On the other hand, the obedient son must be able to discriminate and
not follow blindly, when the father is at fault. In the _Li Chi_, or
_Book of Rites_, it is written: “When his parents are in error, the
son must remonstrate with them with respect and gently. If they do not
receive his reproof, he must strive more and more to be dutiful and
respectful towards them till they are pleased, and then he must again
point out their fault.”
The Chinese give respect to the living, and also reverence the dead.
It is from the past that they have tried to learn, and the past is a
pathway which the feet of spirits have trodden and made luminous. And,
moreover, no man can escape from his ancestors, even if he go to the
uttermost parts of the earth and dwell among strangers. Over the heads
of the family the politician, ancient and modern, looks to the State.
But China, from the shelter and security of her myriad bulwarks, has
watched the sun of many empires rise and set.
NOTE
In preparing this little book for the press, I am indebted to Mr.
Lionel Giles and Mr. L. Cranmer-Byng for their kind assistance. Mr.
Giles has revised the English spelling of Chinese names according to
the system almost universally adopted by sinologues to-day; while Mr.
Cranmer-Byng has made himself responsible for the Introduction. As
regards _The Twenty-four Examples of Filial Duty_, due acknowledgment
must be made to Vol. VI. of _The Chinese Repository_, which contains
the only complete translation of these stories, and has been
extensively drawn upon for the present work.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Translated by John Carey Hall in _Chinese Civilisation_, by Pierre
Laffitte.
THE DOCTRINE OF FILIAL DUTY
CHAPTER I
THE MEANING OF FILIAL DUTY
Once upon a time Confucius was sitting in his study, having his
disciple Tsêng Ts‘an to attend upon him. He asked Tsêng Ts‘an: “Do
you know by what virtue and power the good Emperors of old made the
world peaceful, the people to live in harmony with one another, and
the inferior contented under the control of their superiors?” To this
Tsêng Ts‘an, rising from his seat, replied: “I do not know this, for
I am not clever.” Then said Confucius: “The duty of children to their
parents is the fountain whence all other virtues spring, and also the
starting-point from which we ought to begin our education. Now take
your seat, and I will explain this. Our body and hair and skin are all
derived from our parents, and therefore we have no right to injure any
of them in the least. This is the first duty of a child.
“To live an upright life and to spread the great doctrines of humanity
must win good reputation after death, and reflect great honour upon our
parents. This is the last duty of a son.
“Hence the first duty of a son is to pay a careful attention to every
want of his parents. The next is to serve his government loyally; and
the last to establish a good name for himself.
“So it is written in the _Ta Ya_[2]: ‘You must think of your ancestors
and continue to cultivate the virtue which you inherit from them.’”