The book of filial duty · Confucius
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.’” Confucius said: “When a ruler wishes to teach his people to love their parents, he does not go to their family every day to teach them. He teaches them by his showing reverence to all old people. In the same manner he teaches his people to show respect to their elders by doing so first; and to be loyal to their ruler by his doing duty to his superiors first. “The _Shih Ching_ says, ‘The behaviour of the ruler is so good that he is loved by the people as their parent.’ A ruler could not have been so loved by his people had he not possessed the highest virtue.”
Confucius said: “A true gentleman is always filial to his parents, and in order to fulfil his duty to them to the fullest extent, he also serves his August Master with patriotism. He always shows reverence to his elder brothers, and in order to fulfil his duty to them to the fullest extent, he does the same towards every one who is older than he. “As he can maintain order in his family affairs, so he can do the same in the government. He bases the principle of the government of a State upon that of a ruling family, and the consequent success will make his name to be remembered throughout generations to come.”
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.