The book of filial duty · Confucius
THE FILIAL DUTY OF THE LITERARY CLASS
From the manner in which we should treat our father we learn how to treat our mother. The love toward them is the same. From the manner in which we should treat our father we also learn how to serve our August Master. The respect shown to them is the same. To our mother we show love, to our August Master respect, while to our father, both love and respect. If we can serve our August Master with such feelings as we have toward our father, then loyalty is shown; and if we treat venerable persons with respect, then harmony will reign in the circle of our life. Not failing to treat the August Master with loyalty and the venerable with respect, we shall be able to make ourselves secure in our high position and to offer sacrifices to our ancestors for ever. This is the filial duty of the Literati. So in the _Shih Ching_ it is written: “Do not do anything in the course of a day which will reflect dishonour upon your ancestors.” To do the necessary in every season (such as growing crops in spring and reaping harvest in autumn), to do the utmost to make lands as fertile as possible, and to be frugal in their expense, in order to keep their parents in comfort, is the filial duty of the common people. From the Emperor downwards to the common people, every one has the same duty imposed upon him, and there is no instance in which we can find that a man cannot fulfil this duty.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.