Benevolence-Oriented Filial Piety of Confucius

Abstract

On the basis of his predecessors, Confucius made a connotative innovation of filial piety. Proposing that filial piety stemmed from the inner heart and was a manifestation of benevolence, he turned it from an external norm to an internal requirement of human heart. He transformed patriarchal filial piety of the Western Zhou Dynasty into filial piety as family ethics. He expanded filial piety from domain of family ethics to that of social ethics, and thus enriched the meaning of filial piety, making it more socially significant. He thought sacrificial filial piety was able to play an educational role. Keywords-Filial Piety ; Benevolence ; Confucius Confucius approved of the LiYue culture and system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, he remarked,I prefer the present Chou civilization.[1] Confucius believed that the collapse of Rites of Zhou was the main reason for social unrest at that time, and therefore he proposed restoration of propriety to save society. Noticing that the external ritual system could no longer sustain, he turned to more intrinsic value His notion of benevolence was all-inclusive, and filial piety was considered as the foundation of benevolence. Therefore, Confucius proposed benevolence-oriented filial piety. His filial piety, on the one hand, was inherited from the tradition of venerating and sacrificing to one's ancestors, on the other hand, represented a further innovation based on the thought of filial piety from the Spring and Autumn Period. I. NATURAL FILIAL PIETY AS A MANIFESTATION OF