Hallo! This is Prof. Bin Song at Washington College. To continue the previous topic, in this unit 4 of the course Ru and Confucianism, we will discuss another legendary sage-king at the beginning of the Ru tradition, Shun, who stepped onto the throne because of Yao’s abdication.

Yao accepted Shun’s candidacy to become the next King, because the assembly of representatives recommended Shun’s virtue of filiality (孝, xiao), and its another translation is “filial piety”. Because the virtue of filiality takes such a central role to the Ru ethic, we would focus upon this topic when discussing Shun. The above recommendation says that:

“Shun is the son of a blind man. His father was obstinately unprincipled; his (step-)mother was dishonest; his (half-)brother Xiang was arrogant. He has been able, however, by his virtue of filiality to live in harmony with them, and to lead them gradually to self-discipline, so that they no longer proceed to great wickedness. ” (Canon of Yao, translation adapted from James Legge)

But why can Shun finally transform his wicked family? The Classic of Documents continues to tell us that:

“In the early time of the King (Shun), when he was living by mount Li, he went into the fields, and daily cried with tears to the compassionate Heaven. To his parents, he took to himself all guilt, and charged himself with their wickedness. (At the same time,) with services to deliver, he appeared respectful before his father Gu-Sou, looking grave and awe-struck, till Gu also became transformed by his example. (This is how) entire sincerity moves the spirits!” (Counsel of the Great Yu, translation adapted from James Legge)

Ru classics added some details to Shun’s filial deeds. For instance, the Record of the Grand Historian by Si Maqian tells us that Shun’s family were once so wicked as to plot to kill him for multiple times, but Shun succeeded to foresee and flee all these plots in extremely smart ways; however, when Shun’s family’s unjust punishments to Shun were not that severe, Shun would simply bear them (《史记 五帝本纪》). Mencius also told us that when Shun cried with tears to the compassionate Heaven, he appeared to “resent” (怨) his parents because he always “admired and loved” (慕) them. However, Shun would not follow every order of his parents. A notable instance is that Shun did not ask for his parents’ approval when deciding to get married. This is because if he did so, he would fail to marry anybody, and if stripped of the possibility of continuing the family’s lineage, he would have been more unfilial. (Mencius 5A)

Given the first, also the greatest example of filiality in such a disintegrated and dysfunctional family, the later Ru tradition is sharply alert to the possible existence of evil and wickedness of one’s parents. Overall, the principle to respond to the wrong-doings of one’s parents is described as “remonstration” by the Classic of Filiality, a book written around the 3nd century B.C.E under the influence of Confucius’s thought. It says:

“The father who had a son that would remonstrate with him would not sink into the gulf of unrighteous deeds. Therefore when a case of unrighteous conduct is concerned, a son must by no means keep from remonstrating with his father, nor a minister from remonstrating with his ruler. Hence, since remonstration is required in the case of unrighteous conduct, how can (simple) obedience to the orders of a father be accounted as filial?” (Translation adapted from James Legge)

In a more concrete term, Confucius explained the method of remonstration with one’s parents in the Analects 4:18 in this way:

The Master said, “In serving your parents, remonstrate with them gently. After showing your aspiration, though they do not comply, remain reverent but do not abandon your purpose. Though weary, hold no resentment.”

And Confucius’s method is elaborated in the Classic of Rites as such:

If a parent has a fault, (the son) should with bated breath, bland aspect and gentle voice, remonstrate with him. If the remonstration does not take effect, he will be the more reverential and the more filial; and when the father seems pleased, he will repeat the remonstration. If he should be displeased with this, rather than allowing him to commit an offence against anyone in the neighborhood or countryside, (the son) should strongly remonstrate. If the parent be angry and (more) displeased, and beat him till the blood flows, he should not presume to be angry and resentful, but be (still) more reverential and more filial. (Nei Ze, translation adapted from James Legge)

Good, with all these original materials in hand, how do we make sense all of these? Why can Shun continually love his parents even if they were extremely wicked? In particular, why did Shun’s filial love towards his parents not turn into a simple and blind obedience? Instead, Shun’s ultimate purpose was to turn his family to be good humans who know right or wrong, and thus, can discipline themselves.

After reading Shun’s filial story, although some scenarios of it seem extremely problematic from today’s perspective such as Shun’s family’s murderous plots, we are still left with a questioning mind to try to make sense of it at least from its own perspective. In human history, puzzling stories such as Socrates’s suicide and Jesus’s crucifixion all defy against normal human understanding. But once understood, they all have left an indelible mark upon a certain type of human spirituality. Since Shun was taken as the greatest example of filiality by the Ru tradition, it is not a lesser deal for us to try to comprehend it.

In order to sympathize with Shun’s filial story, we need to understand the motivation, method, and consequence of his filial deed.

So, what motivated Shun to keep filial even in face of wicked and abusive parents and brother? Mencius says that love towards one’s parents belongs to humans’ inborn disposition of “conscientious knowing” (良知) and “conscientious ability.” (良能) He also likened it to the spontaneously arising feeling of empathy and alarm towards a baby about to fall into a well. In the further development of Ruist metaphysics starting from Mencius, running through the Classic of Change, and all the way down to Neo-Confucianism, this moral sprout of conscientious knowing is seen as the manifestation of the virtue of humaneness leading to a universal love towards all beings in the universe. And this definitive virtue of human beings is furthermore connected to the power of daily renewal of the entire cosmos called “birth birth” or “constant creativity.” Seen from this metaphysical-ethical framework, why did Shun still love his parents even if they are wicked towards him?

Firstly, this is because Shun just cannot help doing so. That Shun had such a sensitive inner moral compass and grew up to hold on to it speaks to the fact that his adult life derived from a not too abusive childhood, and since he maintained to be a full-shaped human, he naturally had this constant feeling of love, admiration and concern towards his parents, particularly towards his father. In other words, this is a strong, natural feeling irreducible from the nature of Shun’s humanity, and as such, Shun must learn how to live with it, rather than suppressing or overlooking it to its oblivion, which is impossible.

Secondly, extraordinary human deeds are normally grounded upon a firm commitment to something beyond and larger than their nearby world. When describing Shun’s sincerity, the Classic of Documents says: “his mysterious excellence was resonated on high” (Canon of Shun) and this spoke to Shun’s faith. Using the language prevalent in the aforementioned Ruist metaphysical ethics, we can say what deeply motivated Shun is his unitary experience with the ever creating heaven and earth while being committed to fulfilling his human potential to continually humanize himself and the people surrounding him. In this sense, there is a faith in the depth of Shun’s heart towards the goodness of human nature as the goodness is entailed by the continual creating and life-affirming power of the cosmos. As discussed about the meaning of Ru in Unit 1, the ultimate mission of a Ru’s life is to manifest the cosmic creativity in the human world in a uniquely humane way, and the sustainability of human civilization becomes therefore one most wanted goal of this manifestation. For such a sustainability, the perfecting of parental relationship is definitely a precondition. If children lost trust towards their parents, or if parents lost trust towards their children, what else can we expect to exist in human civilization, let alone to sustain and thrive it? Therefore, the second answer to the question just asked is that, Shun had to love his parents in this way since this constitutes what is ultimately meaningful, purposeful and powerful for him.

However, how Shun remonstrated with his parents was highly consistent with the method described by later Ruist Classics that we have quoted, that is, Shun never abandoned his purpose of remonstration until he successfully transformed his parents. However, one notable distinction here is that given the extreme wickedness of his parents, it is conceivable that Shun’s remonstration did not take many verbal forms. Instead, he mainly remonstrated via his deeds, and influenced through his examples. For instance, he fled his parents’ murderous plots in order not to make them commit unrighteous conducts and serious crimes. He went to the fields to cry his resentment to the Heaven, with a consequence that people could hear it, and thus, circulated the message back to his parents. Shun also got married against his parents’ will, and respectfully did his duties and services before the eyes of his father. All of these gave us an idea about how Shun was persistent to do the right thing, and try to correct his parents’ wrong-doing, while showing deep love and respect to them.

There are undoubtedly great consequences of Shun’ filial deeds to later reflections upon family relationship in the Ru tradition.

Firstly, this unswerving faith towards the goodness of human nature is mostly supported by Ru scholars within the realm of family relationship. The relationship between Ruler and ministers is instead thought of as being much more fragile because if the rulers do not listen to remonstration, a Ru would think there is no obligation to continually indicate the loyalty towards them. In extreme cases, as argued by Mencius, it is even legitimate to overthrow a ruthless dictator.

Secondly, to love parents regardless of their wicked intention, to persist in rectifying parents’ wrong doing because of one’s indestructible love towards them, and more importantly, to abide by what is right to manifest humaneness in even broken family relationships, all of these constitute unique traits of the Ruist understanding of the virtue of filiality. To be genuinely filial, one needs to cultivate the virtue of “piety” towards the continually creating power of the cosmos, the virtue of “faithfulness” towards the intrinsic goodness and transformability of human nature, and the virtue of “independent thought” in the sense of abiding by the right principles in spite of parents’ wrong-doing and bad influences. It is indeed not an easy process; however, it speaks a lot to the feature of Ru spirituality.

And finally, seen from the perspective of self-cultivation, it is indeed very desirable not to give up one’s intention to rectify the wrong-doings of one’s family. However, seen from the perspective of social government, it cannot be denied that the wickedness of some human beings is very hard, if not impossible, to be transformed. Therefore, morally, Shun’s story encourages people to treat their family as such in a similar situation; however, a legal system of law and punishment should also be established so that these wrong-doings would not bring unbearable harms. This is the reason why although Confucius thought governance through ritual and moral impact is preferred, governance by law and punishment cannot be repealed either (Analects 2.3).

Seen from today’s perspective, any murderous intention and any bodily abuse by a wicked parent to their children, simply should not be tolerated in any sense. They should be immediately reported, and we should find all legal methods to stop them. However, if we elevate Shun’s filial story out of these ancient contexts, and look at its timeless kernel, we will find it implies one principle of human life that applies even today, that is, for any human relationship to go normal and well, a moral sense of right or wrong must always accompany the feeling of love and care, vice versa, and accordingly, the independent thought of individuals must never be abandoned.

Recommended Further Reading:

The Classic of Filial Piety
Michale Ing, “Born of Resentment: Yuan 怨 in Early Confucian Thought.” Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 15.1 (March 2016): 19-33.
Keith Knapp, Selfless Offspring: Filial Children and Social Order in Medieval China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2005.

Quiz:

1, What is special about Shun’s family?

A, His mother dies early, his father is obstinately unprincipled
B, His father, step-mother, and step-brother were extremely wicked and cruel towards him

2, When parents did something wrong, the Ru tradition’s instruction to their children is:

A, simple obedience.
B, crying while doing nothing.
C, persistent remonstration until success.

3, Which of the following Ru classics talks of the virtue of filiality?

A, The Classic of Filial Piety
B, The Classic of Documents
C, The Analects
D, The Classic of Rites

4, Love towards one’s parents belongs to humans’ inborn disposition called “Conscientious knowing” or “Conscientious ability.” Which philosopher has this view?

A, Confucius
B, Mencius
C, Xunzi

5, What is the ultimate mission of a Ru?

A, performing ritual
B, pursuing education
C, being a governmental official
D, manifesting humaneness to continue the constantly creativity of the cosmos in the human world.

6, If rulers do not listen to the remonstration of ministers for multiple times, what should these ministers do according to Ruism?

A, continue to be loyal and continue to remonstrate
B, no need of loyalty towards the rulers (which may mean leaving the government or the state)
C, in extreme cases, help to overthrow the rulers.

7, within a couple of sentences, please explain why Shun is thought of as the most filial son in the Ru tradition.

8, What’s your understanding of Shun’s story? Do you have any critical thought on it?