老莱子孝行説話における孝の眞意

The True Meaning of Filial Piety in the Legend of Lao-lai-tzu as a Dutiful Son

Shimomi Takao

東方學

Lao-lai-tzu 老莱子 appears in classical works of the pre-Ch'in period, the Shih-chi 史記, and the Lieh-nü chuan 列女傳 as a Taoist-like thinker or as a recluse. He is traditionally said to have been the author of the Lao-lai-tzu which the Han-shu 漢書, records as consisting of 16 Books (p'ien 篇) in its "I-wen chih" 藝文志. However, the text is not extant. Apart from this, particularly well-known about Lao-lai-tzu is the legend of his being a dutiful son. This popularly known legend first appeared in the Hsiao-tzu chuan 孝子傳 and later came to be included in the "twenty-four filial sons" (erh-shih-ssu hsiao 二十四孝). The gist of the legend is that an aged son behaves like an infant in front of his parents, which probably suggests the idea of filial piety in a most exemplary way. However, we still find it rather difficult to explain reasonably the true meaning of hsiao 孝 as told by this extraordinary behavior.

A classification of materials related to the Lao-lai-tzu legend that have been handed down to us shows that there are two explanations of his filial act in question. The first one is Chao Ch'i's 趙岐 commentary on the Mencius Book V "Wan Chang" 萬章 Part 1, which says that the extraordinary act of Lao-lai-tzu's is derived from his considerate affection for his parents. We can understand this interpretation that a filial son pleases his parents by showing his deep affection for them. The second one is Shih Chiao-shou's 師覺授 Hsiao-tzu chuan which, using the meaning of "lao" 老 limitedly in the phrase "p'u ch'eng lao" 不稱老 (never call oneself old) in the Li-chi 禮記, explains Lao-lai-tzu's behavior as the one he displayed out of his intention not to make his parents realize their old age. We may understand his reluctance to behave as an old man before his parents because otherwise his parents would keenly feel the sorrow of their old age. The reason is not clear, however, why such a consideration should be conveyed to his parents through behaving like an infant. In a word, the necessity of connecting such a consideration with such a means is very weak. Shih's interpretation is thus unconvincing. However, this interpretation gives a certain direction to the Lao-lai-tzu legend and also has exerted a great influence on the history of interpretation of the above phrase in the Li-chi.

In this paper the present author examines materials related to the Lao-lai-tzu legend of the two kinds separately, and then he demonstrates that the phrase in the Li-chi has nothing to do with the legend in meaning, pointing out the problems in the interpretations by Shih and others. Furthermore, he compares the Lao-lai-tzu legend with the Po Yü 伯兪 legend and considers the character of the Lao-lai-tzu legend from a comprehensive viewpoint in an attempt to clarify the true meaning of filial piety as implied in the legend. Finally he concludes that, as was commented on by Chao Ch'i and others, for a son to keep cherishing affection for his parents even when he becomes old is "filial piety" in its true meaning.

Oriental thought [ 120 ]

jpn

東方學會

[ISSN] 0495-7199

[NCID] AN00166871