999 Even in filial piety, more is not required of any man than he is able to do. Thus in the "Analects" it is related: "Tsze-hea said, 'If a man.. in serving his parents exert his utmost strength although men say that he has not learned, I shall certainly say that he has.' (Bk. i., c. vii.) In another place the test is made this: Does the general judgment of the son's treatment of his parents coincide with their report-always sure to be favourable, no matter how he wrongs them? It runs thus: "Filial indeed is Min Tsze-K'een! Other people say nothing of him different from the report of his parents and brothers." (Analects, bk. xi., c. iii.) King Wu is quoted in the "Shu King" as condemning unfilial and unfraternal behaviour in no uncertain terms as follows: "Oh Fang, such great criminals are greatly abhorred, and how much more the unfilial and unbrotherly! As the son who does not reverently discharge his duty to his father but greatly wounds his father's heart; and the father who cannot love his son but hates him; as the younger brother who does not regard the manifest will of Heaven and refuses to respect his elder brother and the elder brother who does not think of the toil of their parents in bringing up their children and hates his younger brother." (Pt. v., bk. ix., 3.) In the "Analects," the disciple, Yu Tze, with feeling declares that all generous conduct flows from filial and fraternal sentiments, saying: "Filial piety and fraternal submission, are they not the root of all benevolent actions?" (Bk. i., c. ii., v. 2.) In the "Hsiâo King" the following encomiums for good and useful traits, flowing plainly out of early training in filial piety, are heaped upon him who has been truly filial: "He who 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. (C. x.) Mencius bluntly declares that filial piety necessarily results from a benevolent spirit and that one cannot exist without the other: "There never has been a man trained to benevolence who neglected his parents." (Bk. i., pt. i., c. i., v. 5.) The assiduous, brooding care, resembling that of a mother for her infant child, which the son is expected to cultivate as regards his aging parents, is nowhere better illustrated than in this saying of Confucius: "The ages of parents may by no means not be kept in the memory, as an occasion at once for joy and for fear." (Analects, bk. iv., c. xxi.) It is for this reason, also, i.e., that in the hour of need he may be within call, that this is enjoined by the sage: "While his parents are living, a son must not go abroad to a distance; or, if he should do so, he must have a fixed place to which he goes.' (Analects, bk. iv., c. xix.) Pious Observances after the Death of Parents. "Filial piety is seen in the skilful carrying out of the wishes of our forefathers and the skilful carrying forward of their undertakings." (Doctrine of the Mean, c. xix., v. 2.) "While a man's father is alive, look at the bent of his will; when his father is dead, look at his conduct. If for. three years he does not alter from the way of his father, he may be called filial." (Analects, bk. i., c. xi.) These passages from the "Doctrine of the Mean" and the "Analects" enjoin the continuance of filial piety, unabated, after the demise of parents. The filial piety of the poor may not be more than decent burial, with genuine grief and reverence; for it is not the expenditure or even the wealth of ceremony which constitutes the tribute-though the absence of either, if it can be afforded, is unpardonable-but rather the spirit of real veneration and sorrow. Confucius says of this: "In the ceremonies of mourning it is better that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to observances." (Analects, bk. iii., c. iv., v. 3.) Mencius gives an interesting and reasonable, though scarcely verifiable, account of the origin of burial, in this abiding tenderness for the authors of one's being: "In the most ancient times there were some who did not inter their parents. When their parents died, they took the bodies up and cast them into some water-channel. Afterwards, when passing by, they saw foxes and wildcats devouring the bodies and flies and insects covering them. The sweat burst forth upon their brows; they looked away, unable to bear the sight. For other people such perspiration did not burst out; but now their hearts' emotions affected their faces and their eyes. Instantly they hurried home, returned with spades and baskets, and covered the bodies. If this indeed was right, it is obvious that the filial son and virtuous man, in burying his parents, will behave according to propriety." (Bk. iii., pt. i., c. v., v. 4.) This was advanced by Mencius in reply to an argument by the philosopher Mih, that there should be economical simplicity in funerals and burials-an argument often renewed to this day, the constant occasion for which shows how universal and deeply seated is the sentiment which provokes expenditure sufficient to afford what is deemed a suitable tribute of affection to the dead. A stern duty, never to be shirked by a son, is to avenge his father if slain by the hand of an enemy. If the execution of the criminal law does this, well and good; but if not, the responsibility is on the son. In the "Li Ki" it is put thus: "With him who has slain his father, a son should not live under the same sky." (Bk. i., sect. i., pt. v., c. ii., v. 10.) Otherwise, however, the immediate duty of the son is fully performed by his grief, by proper burial, and the prescribed period of retirement and mourning; as it is said in the "Hsiâo King": "The services of love and reverence to parents when alive, and those of grief and sorrow for them when dead -these completely discharge the duty of living men." (C. xviii.) This mourning, however, must be the genuine expression of grief, deep and unassuageable; else the slight and feeble character of the son's piety is apparent. Confucius deems this the severest and most reliable test of the earnestness and depth of filial devotion, saying: "Men may not have shown what is in them to the full extent, and yet they will be found to do so on occasion of mourning for their parents." (Analects, bk. xix., c. xvii.) And he comments upon the mere show of it as comparable with two other destructive hypocrisies, as follows: "High station filled without indulgent generosity; ceremonies performed without reverence; mourning conducted without sorrowwherewith should I contemplate such ways?" (Analects, bk. iii., c. xxvi.) The period of mourning for a father had been fixed at three years-interpreted as twenty-seven months-before the time of Confucius. The following is his statement about it and the reason for it: "It is not till a child is three years old that it is allowed to leave the arms of its parents. And three years' mourning is universally observed throughout the empire." (Analects, bk. xvii., c. xxi., v. 6.) During this period of mourning the son, if he can afford it, lives retired from the world, leaving the management of his affairs to others and aban |