The doctrine of the Confucian Five Human Relations has its source in "the Book of Mencius". In this Book, Mencius states that "there should be affection between father and son, there should be righteousness between ruler and minister, there should be attention to their separate functions between husband and wife, there should be a proper order between old and young, and there should be faithfulness between friends." However, it is no doubt that this statement of Mencius does not have formed his own thought, but is established on the basis of the moral doctrine of Emperor Shun which was noted in "Shoo-king". And we can find another interpretation about Emperor Shun's doctrine in "Ch'un-ch'iu Tso chuan", that is "father should have a mind of righteousness, mother should have a mind of affection, older brother should have a mind of fraternity, younger brother should have a mind of reverence, and son should have a mind of filial piety", besides the above statement of Mencius. In this paper, I would like to examine which interpretation does correspond to the original sense of Emperor Shun's doctrine, and to explain the original form of the Confucian Five Human Relations.
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