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The Xiaojing 孝經 "Book on filial piety" is a Confucian text focusing on social relationships, especially that between father and son. It is traditionally attributed to Confucius 孔子 (d. 479 BCE) himself, but this attribution has been doubted since the Southern Song period 南宋 (1127-1279). It is assumed, instead, that it was compiled by disciples of Confucius or by Confucian scholars at the end of the Warring States period 戰國 (5th cent.-221 BCE) or the early Han period 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE). The received version is a product of the Song period and includes the commentaries of Emperor Xuanzong 唐玄宗 (r. 712-755) from the Tang period 唐 (618-907), the zhu 注 commentary, and the Song period scholar Xing Bing 邢昺, the shu 疏 commentary. Although it attracted attention already in earlier ages, it only became part of the Confucian Canon during the Northern Song period 北宋 (960-1126). The Xiaojiang is divided into 18 chapters.
The central term of the book is filial piety (xiao 孝), which is seen as the core concept of the Confucian social system. Filial piety is, according to Confucian philosophy, a social guideline established by Heaven and an appropriate principle of society codified by the Earth. Filial piety is the foundation of all other virtues, and of all actions taken by humans, nothing is of greater importance than filial piety. With the help of piety, a ruler is able to govern his country justly, and through it all people will bring order and harmony into their families. Filial piety, the relation between father and son, is equally in the sphere of the state by the relationship between a ruler and his ministers. In this respect, loyalty (zhong 忠) is the analogon to the principle of filial piety used in the private sphere. In the relation of two brothers, it can be compared with the love of the younger brother for the older (ti 悌).
The Xiaojing gives concrete instructions for the exhibition of filial piety. It has to penetrate all points that father and sons share and all social interactions where both sides are involved. The body is given to a son by his parents, and filial piety means not to harm the own body, i.e. suicide or shavin one's hair, like a Buddhist monk, are expression of poor filial piety. The concept also implicates that sons have to revere and to honour the name and the commemoration of their parents, as expressed in ancestor veneration. The highest form of venerating the own parents is to achieve a high position and a high social standing (li shen 立身). The own position will have an impact on the fame of the ancestors. Of course, physical care for parents is also included in the concept of filial piety, an aspect of great importance also in the modern society, where the social welfare of elderly people is often not secured by the state but has to be shouldered by a younger generation. Filial piety even includes the rituals and mourning rites to be performed on the death of a parent. In traditional China one had to leave office at the death of the father and had to pass through a three years long phase of mourning, in the case of a deceased mother two years.
The own social position also has an impact on how filial piety is conducted. The emperor, as Son of Heaven, did not only have to be filial to the personal parents, but also had to venerate Heaven, and to take care for the people, his virtual children. The Xiaojing defines the requirements for each rank of nobility, the feudal lords ( 諸侯), the grand ministers (qing dafu 卿大夫), and the lower nobility (shi 士). The common man had to follow the path of Heaven, to share among each other the fruits of the soil, to be sincere and economical, and to nourish the parents.
Missing filial piety should, as the Xiaojing suggests, also be punished by criminal law.
Source: Chen Ying 陳瑛 (1987). "Xiaojing 孝經", in: Zhongguo da baike quanshu 中國大百科全書, Zhexue 哲學, vol. 2, pp. 1006-1007. Beijing/Shanghai: Zhongguo da baike quanshu chubanshe.
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Exemplarious translation:
１０．紀孝行章
子曰：「孝子之事親也，居則致其敬，養則致其樂，病則致其憂，喪則致其哀， 祭則致其嚴，五者備矣，然後能事親。事親者，居上不驕，為下不亂，在醜不爭 ；居上而驕則亡，為下而亂則刑，在醜而爭則兵，三者不除，雖日用三牲之養， 猶為不孝也。」
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 pork to nourish his parents, he is not filial.'
１１．五刑章
子曰：「五刑之屬三千，而罪莫大於不孝。要君者，無上；非聖人者，無法； 非孝者，無親，此大亂之道也。」
Filial piety in relation to the five punishments
The Master said, 'There are three thousand offences against which the five punishments are directed, and there is not one of them greater than being unfilial. When constraint is put upon a ruler, that is the disowning of his superiority; when the authority of the sages is disallowed, that is the disowning of (all) law; when filial piety is put aside, that is the disowning of the principle of affection. These (three things) pave the way to anarchy.'
１６．感應章
子曰：「昔者明王事父孝，故事天明；事母孝，故事地察；長幼，故上下治； 天地明察，神明彰矣！故雖天子，必有尊也，言有父也；必有先也，言有兄也。 宗廟致敬，不忘親也；修身慎行，恐辱先也；宗廟致敬，鬼神著矣。孝悌之至， 通於神明，光于四海，無所不通。《詩》云：『自西自東，自南自北， 無思不服。[3.1.10.(244)＜文王有聲＞]』」
The Influence of Filial Piety and the Response to it
'The Master said, 'Anciently, the intelligent kings served their fathers with filial piety, and therefore they served Heaven with intelligence; they served their mothers with filial piety, and therefore they served Earth with discrimination. They pursued the right course with reference to their (own) seniors and juniors, and therefore they secured the regulation of the relations between superiors and inferiors (throughout the kingdom). When Heaven and Earth were served with intelligence and discrimination, the spiritual intelligences displayed (their retributive power). Therefore even the Son of Heaven must have some whom he honours; that is, he has his uncles of his surname. He must have some to whom he concedes the precedence; that is, he has his cousins, who bear the same surname, and are older than himself. In the ancestral temple he manifests the utmost reverence, showing that he does not forget his parents; he cultivates his person and is careful of his conduct, fearing lest he should disgrace his predecessors. When in the ancestral temple he exhibits the utmost reverence, the spirits of the departed manifest themselves. Perfect filial piety and fraternal duty reach to (and move) the spiritual intelligences, and diffuse their light on all within the four seas; they penetrate everywhere. It is said in the Book of Poetry, "From the west to the east, From the south to the north, There was not a thought but did him homage."'
Translated by James Legge (1899). The Sacred Books of China: The Texts of Confucianism. The Shu King, The Religious Portions of the Shih King. The Hsiao King. Oxford: Clarendon.
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Chinese literature according to the four-category system
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