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A Study on the Concept of 'Loyalty and Filial Piety' in the Taoist Scriptures (도교 경전에 나타난 충효관 연구 - 『문창효경(文昌孝經)』과 『정명충효전서(淨明忠孝全書)』를 중심으로 -)

Jo Min-hwan
- Journal of the Daesoon Academy of Sciences
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- v.45
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- pp.37-67
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- 2023
This paper aims to examine the loyalty and filial piety pursued by Taoists, focusing on the concept of loyalty and loyalty shown in Wenchang Filial Piety Classic and General Collection of Jingming on Loyalty and Filial Piety. After the Han Dynasty, the concept of loyalty and filial piety became the representative virtues that led the country and society to follow the ideology of Confucius as the dominant ideology. This applied to everyone from emperor to each individual. Taoism had different reasons for promoting the concept of loyalty and filial piety and these even varied from sect to sect, but generally, Taoism could also be said to emphasize loyalty and filial piety. Depending on the sect of Taoism, filial piety might be valued on its own or filial piety might be valued in conjunction with loyalty. In particular, defining Taoism was criticized for "forgetting the desirable behavior required in the human network of the world and severing relationships with various objects encountered in life." In this respect, the concept of loyalty and filial piety in General Collection of Jingming on Loyalty and Filial Piety, could be observed to emphasize 'filial piety' in conjunction with 'loyalty', and this shows the influence of Confucius' concept of loyalty and filial piety. At the same time, this shows the concept of loyalty and filial piety as reimagined by Taoism. The most fundamental aim of Taoism is to pursue immortality. However, as a prerequisite for becoming such a god, loyalty and filial piety, were practiced alongside 'gentleness' and 'humanity and trustworthiness.' Here, the Taoist emphasis on 'loyalty and filial piety', 'gentleness', and 'humanity and trustworthiness' is essentially the same as in Neo-Confucianism. However, seeking to become an immortal through these values represents a motivation that is different from Neo-Confucians who denied the pursuit of immortality. In this paper, loyalty and filial piety as understood and practiced by Neo-Confucian scholars will be compared with the same concepts in the Taoist context and the findings will be summarized via three categories. First, in the Taoist model longevity and the pursuit of immortality are seen as being closely related to filial piety. The reason why achieving longevity and pursuing immortality was considered closely related to filial piety is because this is a modified and enhanced reimagining of the Neo-Confucianist concept of loyalty and filial piety. The other is that Taoism's concept of loyalty and filial piety is richly supplemented with content about 'interactions between heaven and humankind.' When filial piety is practiced in this context, the principle of responding to the gods of heaven and earth is emphasized. At the same time, Taoism presents consequences for insufficient filial piety to parents or insufficient loyal to the king; disasters will be brought down by heaven. Finally, it is argued that the practice filial piety is necessary and should extend not only to parents to all phenomena in the world without distinguishing based on one's degree of intimacy to those phenomena.
https://doi.org/10.25050/jdaos.2023.45.0.37 인용 PDF