AMPLIFICATION OF THE “IMPORTANT DOCTRINE”
Confucius said: “The best way to teach the people to love their
sovereign is for the sovereign first to love his own parents; to teach
them to be polite to each other is for the sovereign himself first to
be polite to all his elders; and to improve bad manners and customs is
for him first to pay attention to the composition of the music played
in the country.
“What is etiquette? It is simply due respect to one’s elders. If I
respect the parents, the son will be pleased; if I respect the elder
brothers, the younger ones will be pleased; and if I respect the
sovereign, all the ministers will be pleased. I respect only one
person, but I please thousands upon thousands. Those to whom the
respect is paid are few, and those whom I please are many. This is what
is called an ‘important doctrine.’”