Disciples

Chapter 18

Original
Funeral rites, offering sincerity;
As with the dead, as with the living.

Translation
In funerals for parents, etiquette should be emphasized, and the ancestors should be worshiped with piety; the deceased parents should be treated as they were when they were alive.

allusion
In the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, there was a dutiful son named Wang Po, who was famous in the village for hearing thunder and weeping at the tomb.

Wang Po knew how to respect and be filial to his parents since he was a child.The father was a noble man, but his innocence was brutally hurt.Under the careful care of his mother, Xiao Wang Po grew up quickly.Wang Po was tall and burly, and well-informed.Later, Wang Po lived in seclusion in the mountains and made a living by teaching.Knowing that he was knowledgeable and well-informed, the imperial court tried to hire him as an official several times, but he refused one by one.He built a thatched cottage next to his father's tomb, pious and filial.

Since his father's death, Wang Po put all his thoughts on his mother.He personally took care of his mother's food and daily life, and talked with her to make fun of him, so as to relieve the loneliness of the old man after losing his husband.

A few years later, my mother drove west due to a long illness.Overwhelmed with grief, Wang Po buried his parents together as a filial son.

Wang Po stands in the world and regards filial piety as paramount.Later, because of internal strife in the Jin Dynasty court, it affected the people.Wang Po's relatives and friends were all planning to move eastward for refuge, but Wang Po was the one who missed the resting place of his parents. No matter how everyone persuaded him, he was unwilling to leave, and finally died in the war.Later generations appreciated his filial piety very much, and his deeds were widely praised, and everyone was moved by him.

(End of this chapter)