Volume 3/The Hsiao/Chapter 11

Chapter XI. Filial Piety in Relation to the Five Punishments.

The Master said, 'There are three thousand offences against which the five punishments are directed[1], and there is not one of them greater than being unfilial.

'When constraint is put upon a ruler, that is the disowning of his superiority; when the authority of the sages is disallowed, that is the disowning of (all) law; when filial piety is put aside, that is the disowning of the principle of affection. These (three things) pave the way to anarchy.'