The eight virtues
孝 悌 忠 信 禮 義 廉 恥
There are eight qualities, which every individual has to cultivate in order to complete one's path of both Humanity and Tendo.
It is called "The eight virtues", in other words, " The eight treasures".
In short, one needs to learn and strive for each one of all virtues and influence on oneself and others.
The eight virtuous are:
孝 (Kou) - Filial piety
悌 (Tei) - Brotherly love
忠 (Chuu) - Pure heart
信 (Shin) - Trust
禮 (Rei) - Honour, Respect
義 (Gi) - Justice, Duty, Gallantry,Righteousness
廉 (Ren) - Honesty
恥 (Chi) - Sense of shame
None of those eight virtuous can lack as a human being.
If one was to lack in even one of eight virtuous, one will spoil enormous virtuous as a human being. All saints and sages of the past, while they were alive, they kept and cultivated such all virtues and made great effort for enhancement. In result, they immortalized their holy names.
孝 Kou
- Filial piety -
The Chinese character 孝 (Kou), this character is made of upper half 老 (Rou)-Old and lower half 子(Shi)-Child. That means that Old ones (parents) are already half in the ground therefore children are to be their parent's hands and foot to support them. There is no one, regardless of their status, who are brought up and fed without parents. This grace (favour) is as high as the Heaven and as great as the Earth, in which cannot be repaid with filial piety of only one generation. '孝 (Kou)-Filial piety' is the beginning of all acts; head of all good deeds. Saints made '孝 (Kou)-Filial piety' as the essence (foundation) of morality and made it as the heart (meaning) of enlightenment. Confucius said "walk in your parent's shoes properly and tell your parent's virtue properly, that is '孝 (Kou)-Filial piety’”. He also said" Our bodies-to every hair and bit of skin-are given by our parents, and we must not presume to injure or wound them, that is the beginning of '孝 (Kou)-Filial piety'. When we have established our character by practising the filial course so as to make our name famous in future ages and thereby glorify our parents, that is the end of '孝(Kou)-Filial piety’. It commences with the service of parents; it proceeds to the service of the seniors, rulers, elders; it is completed by the establishment of character. Confucius's teachings should be made use of in our everyday lives. It is not '孝 (Kou)-Filial piety' if we cannot respect not only parents but also elders, the place we live and people around us. Zengzi (disciple of Confucius), because of his filial piety, attained 道統 DOUTOU (Laum's decree to bring people back to heaven). The emperor Shun (帝舜) too gained recognition of his filial piety and inherited the position of the emperor from Yao (帝堯). When the parents were alive, it was the right thing for children to serve them faithfully, and when the parents had passed away, the children should devote themselves to give parents a proper burial and funeral and when it is the day of memorial service, children must look back to the great grace with a whole heart. Moreover, we, who already gained Tendo's treasure (Sanpo), ought to save all mankind and gain our virtue, save our parent's souls and increase our spiritual level more and more.
悌 Tei
- Brotherly love -
'悌 (Tei)-Brotherly love' is a path of peaceful relationships between brothers. Sisters should be on friendly terms with each other and brothers should be in harmony. Brothers and sisters should have in mind that they have duly seen the light from the same womb, drank same breast and grew up to be a man and woman. When older brother comes with the heart of amity, younger brother should show allegiance. When older sister fronts on generous will, younger sister should welcome with the heart of submission. Between siblings, we should deepen our affectionate feelings and should not raise the heart of grudge or jealousy. Love of siblings is heavier than a mountain; no money can buy this harmony (peace). Siblings should pledge that the difference of intelligence will not influence on the feeling of love and respect, disparity of wealth will not change the love towards each other. Then, the family will rise to greatness and will be flourishing. Especially for us, who gained Sanpo, we must accept all mankind in the whole world as our brothers and when someone is excel at something, we regard them as our superior and, respect (honor) them as our master. We ought to follow another's example of good deeds from our heart; we ought to listen to another's good words with deep reverence and act upon it orderly.
忠 Chuu
- Pure heart -
This Chinese character is made of 中 (Chuu)-centre and 心 (Kokoro)-heart. It means to see the impartial heart and the true self clearly. We should be faithful to express our heart of fairness by never deluding our consciences. God exists in our heart and God is in touch of our heart, therefore, to be true to our heart is to be true to God; that is to be faithful to God. It is to have the heart of impartiality and fairness; not to have selfishness or selfish motive; to devote our heart throughout; to devote our sincerity; to follow goodness; to correct badness; to have benevolence in our mind to act upon everything. Tokudosha (People who received Sanpo) ought to study our true nature, which were given by Heaven and devote ourselves to serve Heaven. We should not distinguish classification of ranks or disparity of wealth; we should equate everyone with impartiality and show our true heart.
信 Shin
- Trust -
This Chinese character '信 (Shin)-Trust' means 人 (Hito)-Human's 言 (Kotoba)-words. ’信 (Shin)-Shin' means the words that respects human and human's words that are respected. To do due honour to yourself and have desire to do due honour to others will not lose a path as human being. It is impossible to live having lack in any faith; a faith in God, a faith and reliance on others and a faith in yourself. It takes a great effort to even be punctual and to keep promises. The reason for universe to have an order (system/discipline), for everything to revolve without getting out of order is because there is "Trust”. The trust of Mother Nature is strong and never changes year after year. Surely, as a human being, when dealing with internal and external various matters, trust should be at its fundamental. Human's trust is just like a pair of wheels of the car, if you lose it, you will be overturned and will not be able to move at all. Confucius said " through the ages, people die, on equal term, if people lose '信 (Shin)-Trust' people cannot stand up and walk nor live." On the contrary, heart of faith will raise un-wavered strong heart. Without the heart of faith, doubt will raise and one cannot live. Faith is the foundation for the human race to success. Therefore one has to reflect one's words and action and be truthful at all times.
禮 Rei
- Honour/Respect -
The literal meaning of a word 礼 (Rei) is to bend one's body to pick up a bean that is on the ground. To bend one's body means to shows the heart of veneration by lowering one's head to correspond to others. If one has '礼 (Rei)-Honour/Respect', I will respond with '礼 (Rei)-Honour/Respect' and the relationship between "One" and "I" should be harmonized well. It is beautiful to be modest yourself and give way to others. Without '礼 (Rei)-Honour/Respect' amongst the high and low, young and old, it will put the things in the wrong order and will engage a conflict. What human beings differ from birds and animals is that human know this '礼 (Rei)-Honour/Respect'. It differs because human knows the ethics, and respect; in other words, human knows the path one should walk on and the courtesy, which people should follow. We should follow through '礼節 (Reisetsu)-Respect and Modesty for others' by honouring superiors, loving interiors, respecting wise men of the past and educating younger men to complete that path one should walk on as a human being. In order to live in a human society, one should be moderate; one should not forget decorum in familiarity; one should face internal/external problems with respect; one should come closer to the righteous people; one should keep mischief people at a distance; one should beautify environment at all time and one should keep an atmosphere solemnly.
義 Gi
- Justice/Duty/Gallantry -
In order to accomplish something righteously, everyone should unite with the right path and never to have part in dishonesty (injustice). Be estranged from filthy lucre and profit, be loyal to your duty, value righteousness and make that as your benefit, have the spirit of tremendous sturdiness, cultivate your right mind, and learn from Mencius’s saying" I submit myself to natural influences (I cultivate a magnanimous spirit under natural influences)". There must not be strong discriminations between others and I. It is because there is a fundamental major solidarity relationship between others and oneself. Just as pulling one string of hair will tremble the whole body; there should be an existence of chivalry in between individuals. One should share advantages and disadvantages; one should look at each other and learn together if it is good, remonstrate others from the heart if it is mischief and change them to good. One should cultivate the heart of heroism (loyalty and courage) which rejoices the happiness of others, has mercy on the misfortune of others, saves others from difficulties.
廉 Ren
- Honesty -
'廉 (Ren)-Honesty' is an absolute honesty. It is to keep one's mind and body pure and not to have corrupt actions. One should not get tempted by filthy lucre and profit regardless of one's poverty, one should not be blinded by unclean money or materials and one should not taint one's dignity with corruption nor bribe. Government officials must not bend the law in the power of their authority and deceive people nor trap people. Government officials must contribute to the peace of the mind of the nation. Ancient emperors used to visit sages with honesty to give them the position of government officials. A man called Youshin turned down the gift of money and goods from people and instead, he taught them the four principle "God knows, the earth knows, others knows and I (my conscience) know" and set this as a model of absolute honesty. One must not only think of one's own interests from the beginning. One should not spend manpower nor physical force in vain, one should be fair when dealing with matters. When achieving good relationships, it should be the hope (light) without self-interest and it should be clean and straight (honest/faithful).
恥 Chi
- Sense of Shame -
The Chinese character '恥 (Chi)-Shame' means the 心 (Kokoro)-heart of 耳 (Mimi)- ears. Ears of the heart have the greatest inspiration. It listens to the voice and let one's mind know. The origin of one's spirit is only good (virtue) and is not mischief. The origin of one's energy is miraculous (wonderful) and is not ignorant. Only the ears listen to dark voice and steeped in vice which rose greed in one's heart and covered one's true nature. If one's true nature is not clear, one will not know the shame and will lose a sense of shame. Our true nature has been paralyzed by the worldly desires and everyone know it very well that it is shameful to evil act and wrong doing. Only have we lost the ability to distinct good and evil, right and wrong because we went against our consciences. Mencius once said, "The heart to shame evil is the awakening of righteousness." '恥 (Chi)-Shame' is the most essential item in doing any type of virtues. If one knows a sense of shame, one will be able to walk on the right path. By knowing the sense of shame, one determines, one gets stimulated, one forms a resolution and one can even become sages. Be ashamed of sins and do not be proud of injustice. Be proud of seeking for the truth and be delighted to work hard at cultivating yourself.
