从舜之大孝谈“仁”与儒家人伦

On “Authoritative Conduct” and Confucian Ethics from the Great Family Reverence of Shun

摘要: 舜是孔孟所推崇的圣人。孔子和孟子都曾以“大孝”论述舜。孟子认为圣人即是人伦之至，舜在人伦的各个方面做到了恰到好处，并且率先为天下立人伦教化使得人与禽兽有了根本的区别。儒家的“仁义”学说与事亲从兄的人伦道德有着密不可分的联系，客观人伦关系中的“一本”决定了仁爱原则必定要体现出差等。作为“行仁之本”，孝在具体的道德实践中发挥着根源性的作用。大孝体现了“为仁由己”的原则，具体来讲，即是不论父母的智愚贤不肖、生死离合，单方面地恪守自己的分位，履行自己的常德，在复杂多变的情感关系中自觉体认生活的“理”或“道”，以接近中道的实践智慧事亲尽伦。

Abstract: Shun was a sage respected by Confucius and Mencius. Confucius and Mencius discussed shun with “great family reverence”. Mencius believed that the sage was the most perfect personality, and shun had done a proper job in all aspects of human ethics. The Confucian doctrine of “authoritative conduct and appropriateness” is closely related to the human ethics of the parents and elder brother. As the root of authoritative conduct, family reverence plays a fundamental role in concrete moral practice. Great family reverence embodies the principle of “acting authoritatively by oneself”, specifically speaking, that is, whether their parents are wise or foolish, alive or dead, unilaterally abide by their obligations, perform their own virtue, in the complex and changeable emotional relationships consciously recognize the “reason” or “way” of life, to close to the middle way of practical wisdom treating the family.