Li Lou I · Passage 28 / 28 · 孟子 4A.28
Mencius 4A.28: Shun's greatness rests in great filiality
Mencius locates Shun's greatness not first in receiving the world, but in exhausting the way of serving his parents until family order could truly stand.
孟子曰：「天下大悅而將歸己，視天下悅而歸己，猶草芥也，惟舜爲然。不得乎親，不可以爲人；不順乎親，不可以爲子。舜盡事親之道，而瞽瞍厎豫。瞽瞍厎豫而天下化；瞽瞍厎豫而天下之爲父子者定。此之謂大孝。」
Mencius said, 'Suppose the case of the whole kingdom turning in great delight to an individual to submit to him. To regard the whole kingdom thus turning to him in great delight but as a bundle of grass - only Shun was capable of this. He considered that if one could not get the hearts of his parents he could not be considered a man, and that if he could not get to an entire accord with his parents, he could not be considered a son. By Shun's completely fulfilling everything by which a parent could be served, Gu Sou was brought to find delight in what was good. When Gu Sou was brought to find that delight, the whole kingdom was transformed. When Gu Sou was brought to find that delight, all fathers and sons in the kingdom were established in their respective duties. This is called great filial piety.'
Priority note
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Central question
Why does Mencius say that Shun's greatness rests fundamentally in great filiality?
Direct answer
Because for Mencius a person who cannot set the nearest human relationship right is not yet fit to be fully human. Shun first fulfilled the way of serving his parents, and only then did wider order radiate outward.
First principle
The widest order is not built by skipping the nearest relation. It expands outward from the successful ordering of the most fundamental human bond.
Why it matters
This passage serves searches around Shun, filiality, and why Mencius treats family order as the root rather than the rival of political order.
Further reading
What this passage is doing
This is passage 28 of 28 in Li Lou I. The cleanest entry point is "Suppose the case of the whole kingdom turning…". In context, it works as part of Mencius's argument about self-examination, disorder, and keeping the way and can be read alongside Humane government / kingly way.
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Li Lou I often approaches disorder through self-examination and the standards for keeping the way.
Related principles
Citation note
Do not seize only on the image of the whole world turning to Shun. Mencius puts the weight on the prior claim that one must first get the relation with parents right.