Filial piety pervades the world

Author: Cao Yuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-01-01
Features: In ancient China, filial piety was absolutely not the exclusive privilege of emperors and officials; numerous famous filial sons came from the common people. Wu Song is renowned for slaying a tiger, but in fact, many filial sons were brave because of filial piety and had also killed tigers. Filial sons came from emperors, officials, and ordinary people alike, with many emerging from all walks of life and professions. Even among the Jiangnan Four Masters, including the seemingly carefree Tang Bohu, Shen Zhou was also a filial son. In traditional Chinese culture, filial piety had substantial content and contained invincible energy. On the other hand, a child's filial piety toward parents and parents' love for their children are interrelated. In modern society, there are countless loving fathers and mothers, but relatively speaking, children who truly possess the virtue of filial piety are far fewer.
It is said that a forest fire occurred in a certain place. After the firefighters extinguished the fire, they found a peculiar bird under a tree. It had been scorched. Yet, it still maintained a posture: its wings spread wide. A firefighter accidentally knocked over the bird. A miracle happened: several baby birds chirped and squeezed out from under the mother bird's wings. All the firefighters were moved. They truly felt a force capable of creating miracles. Amidst such a massive forest fire, the mother bird, driven by her instinctual love for her chicks, kept her wings spread wide until her death, protecting her baby birds. This was indeed a miracle. Conversely, if a child's filial piety toward parents can be elevated to a certain realm, they too can draw upon the immense energy filial piety, enough to achieve great things, succeed in all endeavors, and even create miracles.
The most important thing, as mentioned earlier, is that as long as one is willing, they can practice filial piety.