How Can Shun Live Happily Thereafter?: Revisiting the Question of Filial Piety in Mencius 7A35

How Can Shun Live Happily Thereafter?: Revisiting the Question of Filial Piety in Mencius 7A35

Audio recording of a lecture given by Qiu Lin on September 26, 2025 as part of the Dean’s Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean’s Office has provided this description of the event: "In Mencius 7A35, Tao Ying poses a dilemma to Mencius: Suppose Shun's father had committed murder—what would Shun have done? Mencius famously answers that Shun would have 'cast aside the world (tian-xia) as if discarding a worn shoe. He would have secretly carried the old man on his back and fled to the edge of the Sea, living there happily thereafter and forgetting about the world'. This answer has sparked intense debate among Confucian scholars throughout history. Despite the wide range of views on this issue, however, scholars generally construe this case as a classic conflict of values, where the Mencian Shun would have chosen filial piety over justice. In this talk I offer a different reading of this case, one that emphasizes Shun's transformation as a person—from a widely revered emperor to a fugitive who cut himself off from all but one significant relationship in his life—and asks this question: How is it possible that after undergoing such a change, Shun is still able to live 'happily thereafter'? By shifting our focus, I argue that what Shun would have done is far more morally demanding than simply letting his father face his due punishment. In my view, if Shun had chosen the latter, he would have been a just emperor, but fallen short of being a sage king by Mencius' standards."

Santa Fe, NM

2025-09-26

Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online.

sound

mp3

English

SF_LinQ_How_Can_Shun_Live_Happily_Thereafter_2025-09-26

m4a

00:36:40