中国人的精神1.7
方疏桐
Again, as the absolute Divine duty of loyalty taught by Confucius secures the immortality of the race in the nation, so the cult of ancestor—worship taught in Confucianism secures the immortality of the race in the family. Indeed, the cult of ancestorworship in China is not founded much on the belief in a future life as in the belief of the immortality of the race. A Chinese, when he dies, is not consoled by the belief that he will live a life hereafter, but by the belief that his children, grandchildren, great—grand—children, all those dearest to him, will remember him, think of him, love him, to the end of time, and in that way, in his imagination, dying, to a Chinese, is like going on a long, long journey, if not with the hope, at least with a great “perhaps” of meeting again. Thus this cult of ancestor—worship, together with the Divine duty of loyalty, in Confucianism gives to the Chinese people the same sense of permanence in their existence while they live and the same consolation when they die which the belief in a future life in religion gives to the mass of mankind in other countries. It is for his reason that the Chinese people attach the same importance to this cult of ancestor—worship as they do to the principle of the Divine duty of loyalty to the Emperor. Mencius said: “Of the three great sins against filial piety the greatest is to have no posterity.”
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