Stories of Filial Piety (8)

K'ung Jung was born in A.D. 153, during the Eastern Han Dynasty. His birthplace was in the region of the onetime state of Lu, in today's Shantung Province. He was a twentieth-generation descendant of Confucius.

K'ung Jung was clever as a boy, and his elders were proud of him. He learned quickly, from both books and daily life.

Jung was the sixth of seven sons. He was always respectful to his older brothers, and did as they told him. When there was a special treat to eat at home, Jung would stand quietly to one side, first letting his elder brothers eat before he took a portion.

One day when Jung was four, his mother brought in a tray of pears for everyone to eat. Some of Jung's older brothers started fighting for the big ones. Jung's grandfather observed that Jung was not joining in on the fight, and gave a big pear to the boy. Jung, however, instead of eating the pear, put it back on the tray.

His grandfather was surprised, and said, "Why didn't you eat the pear?" Jung said, "It's good manners to let the old people eat the big pears, and the young people eat the small pears. Because I'm young, I should eat a little one, so I put the big one back." Then his elders praised him: "Even though he's just a little boy, he knows more than his brothers about propriety."

In the Sung Dynasty, about a thousand years later, Wang Ying-lin wrote the San Tzu Ching (Three-Character Classic). In the book, he mentioned K'ung Jung: "When Jung was four, he let his elder have the pear." Even today, we still remember young Jung's example of propriety.