傳統孝行成爲負擔的理由 ――《世宗實錄》中出現的孝行特點和問題

Abstract

Filial piety, which is a unique ethical behavior of human beings, is a fundamental responsibility of children to their parents. Most animals take care of their offspring, but only humans return the love to their parents. The responsibilities of filial piety mainly consisted in taking care of one’s living parents. During King Sejong’s 世宗 reign, however, the focus of filial piety was shifted to emphasizing rites and individual worship for their late parents such as three-year mourning. In other words, filial piety became a religious act. Even the government and/or social organizations encouraged this religious conduct by awarding filial children. These organizations tended to find more extreme cases of filial piety, causing overacting like a prolonged period of mourning lasting four to five years, instead of the typical three-year period during King Sejong’s reign. In this way, filial piety required more time and energy making it an extremely difficult and special behavior. As a result, filial piety became a burden to ordinary people in the time of King Sejong.