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CHAPTER XI. FILIAL PIETY IN RELATION TO THE FIVE PUNISHMENTS.

The Master said, 'There are three thousand offences against which the five punishments are directed 2, and there is not one of them greater than being unfilial.

'When constraint is put upon a ruler, that is the disowning of his superiority; when the authority of the sages is disallowed, that is the disowning of (all) law; when filial piety is put aside, that is the disowning of the principle of affection. These (three things) pave the way to anarchy.'


Footnotes

481:2 See the Shû, p. 43, and especially pp. 255, 256.


Next: Chapter XII. Amplification of 'The All-Embracing Rule of Conduct'