Legge Translation (1861)

Meng Yizi asked what filial piety was. The Master said: "It is not being disobedient."

Soon after, as Fan Chi was driving him, the Master told him, saying: "Mengsun asked me what filial piety was, and I answered him, 'not being disobedient.'"

Fan Chi said: "What did you mean?"

The Master replied: "That parents, when alive, be served according to propriety; that, when dead, they should be buried according to propriety; and that they should be sacrificed to according to propriety."