People Cannot Be Trusted if They Don’t Show Reverence for Their Parents
Learning from the sayings of Confucius
The philosopher You said, “They are few who, being filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their superiors. There have been none, who, not liking to offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring up confusion. The superior man bends his attention to what is radical. That being established, all practical courses naturally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission! — are they not the root of all benevolent actions?”
— Chapter 2, Book 1, The Analects of Confucius
Family has always played a central role in Confucius’ ideas. The Confucius has adopted a middle way. With a family-oriented society, it is not so self-centered and individualistic as in Western civilization, and it is not too vaguely broad as in socialism. In Confucius’ mind, you cannot expect someone to love others or the country or the world, if they do not even love and cherish their family.
When we talk about family love, many people naturally think about the love of parents to their children. However, we all love our children. Even animals do. It won’t be hard to find people or animals to love their offspring unconditionally and protect them at all costs. What differentiates us humans from animals, however, is how we treat our parents and our peers.
Reverence for parents is considered in Chinese ethics the prime virtue and the basis of all right human relations. Our parents have spent over twenty years to raise us up, and it’s our turn to return the love, to show the utmost respect, and to take care of them when they get older. We cannot behave like animals, growing up and leaving the parents for good. Consequently, a person’s moral quality is often judged in China by how this person treats his/her elderly parents.
Reverence for parents and respect for peers is fundamental to any benevolent actions. One cannot be trusted if they do now show reverence for their parents, and one cannot love others or the nation or the world if they do not cherish their family members.
All my articles on The Analects of Confucius are collected here:
3 Classical quotes from Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism each day:
