The Classic of Filial Piety (2013 Edition - EPUB)

Book excerpt: The Xiao Jing or Classic of Filial Piety is a Confucian classic treatise giving advice on filial piety. It teaches how one should behave towards a senior such as parents, elder brother or ruler. The text consists of a dialogue between Confucius and his disciple Zeng Zi, and whose students probably compiled the treatise around 400 BC. It has become associated with the Confucian school of philosophy which became the ideology of imperial China and its neighbours such as Korea, Vietnam and Japan. It is unique in being probably the world's first text devoted to filial piety. The family unit has long been regarded as the foundation of society in China and filial piety is seen as being especially important to social order and national stability. To make the text relevant to readers of today, this book includes representative stories from not only China, the traditional bastion of filial piety, but also other cultures around the world. In this way, readers will appreciate filial behaviour as a universal value.