Kuang Zhang and Conventional Filial Piety
Text
English translation
Original Chinese text
公都子曰:“匡章,通国皆称不孝焉。夫子与之游,又从而礼貌之,敢问何也?”
English translation
Gongduzi asked, “Everyone in the state calls Kuang Zhang unfilial. Yet you associate with him and treat him with courtesy. May I ask why?”
Original Chinese text
孟子曰:“世俗所谓不孝者五:惰其四支,不顾父母之养,一不孝也;博弈、好饮酒,不顾父母之养,二不孝也;好货财、私妻子,不顾父母之养,三不孝也;从耳目之欲,以为父母戮,四不孝也;好勇斗狠,以危父母,五不孝也。
English translation
Mencius replied, “Popular opinion names five forms of being unfilial: neglecting one’s limbs through idleness and failing to support one’s parents is the first; gambling and drinking while neglecting their support is the second; loving wealth and indulging one’s wife and children while neglecting them is the third; giving free rein to the desires of the eyes and ears and thereby disgracing one’s parents is the fourth; and delighting in violence and fighting so as to endanger one’s parents is the fifth.”
Original Chinese text
章子有一于是乎?夫章子,子父责善而不相遇也。责善,朋友之道也。父子责善,贼恩之大者。
English translation
“Does Zhang have any one of these faults? Zhang and his father each demanded goodness of the other, but they could not come to agreement. Urging one another toward goodness is appropriate among friends; when father and son do it to each other, it gravely damages their affection.”
Original Chinese text
夫章子岂不欲有夫妻子母之属哉?为得罪于父,不得近;出妻屏子,终身不养焉。
English translation
“Would Zhang not wish to have the bonds of husband and wife, parent and child? Because he had offended his father, he could not be near him. He sent his wife away and kept his son apart; throughout his life, he would not accept their support.”
Original Chinese text
其设心以为不若是,是则罪之大者。是则章子已矣。”
English translation
“He believed that unless he acted this way he could not atone for his offense; that belief itself was his greatest fault. That is the case with Zhang.”