原孝

On the Origin of the Early Concept of Filiality

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

本文從文獻與古文字資料出發，探討了孝這一先秦儒家重要概念的來源。本文首先探討了孝、老、考、ㄎ諸字的來源，認為孝字本義類享，是指以酒食奉養父母。通過將《詩•小雅•楚茨》與《禮記•郊特牲》、《儀禮•少牢饋食禮》以及金文中所見西周孝享之禮的比勘研究，本文試圖勾勒出一個早期的孝享活動基本儀文制度和禮節。本文的結論是孝之本義生於事生，然後擴而為事死。其初或為簡單的醴餼之獻，而其後事死之禮愈隆，终於與祭天地神祇之禮並重。《孝經》中分天子、卿大夫與士庶之孝，《論語》中所説的孝的具體原則（不失禮、不辱親、敬親和愛親），於是乎隨着時代的發展而產生。一個日常生活中的孝，擴而為宗敎行為，又進而赋予豐富的倫理內涵。

The present paper seeks to explore the origin of the concept of "Filiality" in early China in light of documentary examination and paleographic analysis. It discusses the etymology of a few characters in early writing, such as xiao 孝, lao 老, kao 考 and kao ㄎ, and argues that the original meaning of xiao depicts a son presenting food and wine to his father. In this paper, I have also compared the "Chuci" 楚茨 (Dense Is the Tribulus) poem in the Book of Odes, the "Jiaotesheng" 郊特牲 (The Single Victim at the Border Sacrifices) chapter of the Records on Ceremonial, the "Shaolao Kuishi li" 少牢饋食禮 (The Food Presentation and Lesser Offerrings) chapter of the Book of Etiquette and Ceremonial, with some description of food and wine presentation in bronze inscriptions of the Zhou dynasty, attempting to draw a picture of the content and precedure of xiao activity in Western Zhou. My conclusion is that the concept of xiao originated from a concrete picture of a son presenting food to his father (serving his living elders), and was extended to describe serving the dead. As the time went by, the presentation to the dead became more important and ceremonious. The concept of xiao, therefore, underwent a course of abstraction from the presentation of food and wine to elders to an important value Filiality in Confucian ethics.