Family virtue

Author: Sajina
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-02
Features: Traditional Chinese society is an integrated whole of family and state, with a political structure that extends from the hierarchical relationships within the family (clan) to the (ruler-subject) relationships. Due to this integration, the relationships within the family and the state share a similar structure, homology, and intermingling. The entire society becomes a moral entity that is intertwined with multiple ethical relationships and highly cohesive in these relationships. The ethics of the family (clan) and the ethics of society (state) are not separated but rather interconnected, mutually responding, and harmonizing with each other. Filial sons and loyal ministers are fundamentally the same. At the same time, personal virtue holds a central position in this undifferentiated social ethics, existing as the living soul within it. Individuals elevate their virtue through the moral practice of "self-cultivation, family harmony, governance, and peace," achieving the ethical realm that transcends the universe and human affairs, such as "empathizing with all living beings" and "harmonizing with the heavens and earth."