[Footnote 1:  An important part of a Chinaman’s education still.  The text-book, “The Li Ki,” contains rules for behavior and propriety for the whole life, from the cradle to the grave.]

BOOK II

Good Government—­Filial Piety—­The Superior Man

Sayings of the Master:—­

“Let a ruler base his government upon virtuous principles, and he will be like the pole-star, which remains steadfast in its place, while all the host of stars turn towards it.

“The ‘Book of Odes’ contains three hundred pieces, but one expression in it may be taken as covering the purport of all, viz., Unswerving mindfulness.

“To govern simply by statute, and to reduce all to order by means of pains and penalties, is to render the people evasive, and devoid of any sense of shame.

“To govern upon principles of virtue, and to reduce them to order by the Rules of Propriety, would not only create in them the sense of shame, but would moreover reach them in all their errors.

“When I attained the age of fifteen, I became bent upon study.  At thirty, I was a confirmed student.  At forty, nought could move me from my course.  At fifty, I comprehended the will and decrees of Heaven.  At sixty, my ears were attuned to them.  At seventy, I could follow my heart’s desires, without overstepping the lines of rectitude.”

To a question of Mang-i, as to what filial piety consisted in, the master replied, “In not being perverse.”  Afterwards, when Fan Ch’i was driving him, the Master informed him of this question and answer, and Fan Ch’i asked, “What was your meaning?” The Master replied, “I meant that the Rules of Propriety should always be adhered to in regard to those who brought us into the world:  in ministering to them while living, in burying them when dead, and afterwards in the offering to them of sacrificial gifts.”

To a query of Mang Wu respecting filial piety, the Master replied, “Parents ought to bear but one trouble—­that of their own sickness.”

To a like question put by Tsz-yu, his reply was this:  “The filial piety of the present day simply means the being able to support one’s parents—­which extends even to the case of dogs and horses, all of which may have something to give in the way of support.  If there be no reverential feeling in the matter, what is there to distinguish between the cases?”

To a like question of Tsz-hia, he replied:  “The manner is the difficulty.  If, in the case of work to be done, the younger folks simply take upon themselves the toil of it; or if, in the matter of meat and drink, they simply set these before their elders—­is this to be taken as filial piety?”

Once the Master remarked, “I have conversed with Hwui the whole day long, and he has controverted nothing that I have said, as if he were without wits.  But when his back was turned, and I looked attentively at his conduct apart from me, I found it satisfactory in all its issues.  No, indeed!  Hwui is not without his wits.”