「死孝」觀念的演變及意義

The Evolution and the Significance of ''Dead Filial Piety''

根據儒家禮書的想法，一個人父母過世之後，他應該會極為悲痛，這種內在的悲痛形諸外表，自然不會也不應該飲酒食肉，但為了保護父母給予自己的身體，悲痛應該節制，不可影響到健康，如果因為過於悲痛，而影響到自己的生命（滅性），則是不孝。魏晉時期，有的人碰到父母之喪時，外表上看，違背居喪的禮儀，居然飲酒食肉，但內心的悲痛卻更大。當時人將按照傳統規定居喪的表現稱為生孝；對這種新出現的居喪表現稱為死孝，而且對後者的評價反而更高。本文將討論死孝此一詞彙何時出現，為何會在那個時期出現，社會對死孝態度的演變：從反對到爭議，到接受、讚許，以及死孝這一詞彙意義及行為在唐朝以後的演變，希望能藉此揭示傳統孝道發展的部分脈絡。

According to the Book of Rites, one must be deeply sad at the passing-away of one's parents. Translated into external conduct, this sadness precludes any indulgence in wine and meat. At the same time, in order to preserve the bodily from inherited from one's parents, one should practice modest mourning so that the health will not be affected. Behaving to the contrary will incur accusations of unfiliality (conceived to be equivalent to the extinction of human nature). During the Wei-Jin period, there were people who practiced exactly what the Book of Rites prohibits, i.e. drinking wine and eating meat. Yet this by no means makes their mourning less poignant. Contemporaries called mourning that followed traditional practices “living filial piety”（生孝）, whereas that did not “dead filial piety”（死孝）. And the latter was praised more highly. This essay explores when the term “living filial piety” first came into use and why; how did society change its attitude towards the “living filial piety” from initial opposition, ambivalence, to acceptance and approval; how did the term evolve after the Tang dynasty. It is hoped that some light will be shed on the historical development of traditional filial piety by tracing the origin and evolution of the “living filial piety”, both in term of its meaning and mourning practices.