慎终追远与国人之灵魂归宿

Finding the Final Home for Souls through Worshipping Parents' Funerals and Ancestors' Commemorations

"慎终追远"是中国孝道文化的一项重要内容,也是中华民族高度智慧的结晶。它通过对严父的崇敬、进而对祖先的崇拜,形成为一种"礼教"的形式,不仅培养了农耕文明所需要的温柔敦厚人格,也从制度上凝聚了全体国民的向心力,促使中华民族从"祖先认同"走向了"民族认同";尤为重要的是,它让国人通过血缘链的接续找到了灵魂的归宿,并通过子孙"慎终追远"的香火祭祀,使灵魂获得了永生。

Chinese filial culture attaches great importance to worshiping the rites of parents' funeral and commemorations to ancestors,which is a condensed wisdom of the nation.It has been accepted as an ethical custom to show respect to the severe father and admiration for ancestors in a Chinese family.This custom not only cultivates a mild and gentle personality adapted to the farming culture,but also helps to increase the attachment of the whole people to the national unity,pushing the Chinese nation from an ancestor identity one to an ethnic identity one.Most importantly,this custom helps the compatriots find the final home of souls through the succession of blood chain,and in turn souls go into immortality through passing-on-descendants' worshiping incense.