论《诗经》中“孝”的两种含义

Two Meanings of Filial Piety in The Book of Songs

通过研读《诗经》中与“孝”相关的诗文,发现《诗经》之“孝”有祭祀先祖、善事父母两种含义。其中,孝的祭祀先祖义以继承祖先崇拜为基础,以道德化改造天与祖先为关键,以巩固和永葆西周政权为目的。而孝的善事父母义主要表现为对在世父母的奉养,对已过世父母的缅怀或因战事不能与父母相见时的惦念,对有过错父母的怨愤与宽慕。西周末年,孝的善事父母义开始兴起并逐渐成为孝的主流含义,其原因有三:其一,周王室的衰微动摇了祖先的神圣地位,随之兴起的疑祖怨祖思潮加速了先祖祭祀传统的衰落;其二,宗族大家庭的解体预示了家族的小型化倾向,为善事父母之孝的兴起提供了外在条件;其三,相较于孝的祭祀先祖义,善事父母之孝有着更直接的血缘基础与更丰富的情感基础,也更为契合人心。

Filial piety in The Book of Songs has two meanings:offering sacrifices to ancestors and gratitude for parents’rearing.The former,based on ancestor worship,was designed to consolidate and keep power of the Western Zhou Dynasty,and the moral transformation of the heaven and ancestors was essential to it.The latter can be summarized in three aspects:taking care of parents,missing or morning them,resenting or forgiving them.In the late Western Zhou Dynasty,gratitude for parents began to spread and gradually became the dominant meaning of filial piety for the following three reasons:the decline of Western Zhou Dynasty,the collapse of large clans with the emerging of small family,the more direct blood relation and the more solid emotional basis.