Three Years Mourning
Mourning parents for three years as expression of gratitude.
Confucius advocated three years of mourning for parents, reflecting the three years they carried and nursed the child. This practice expresses deep gratitude and honors the parent-child bond.
A child is not separated from its parents' arms for three years. The three-year mourning is the universal practice.
Mourning practices express depth of the parent-child relationship.
Analects
Written about in
- What Confucianism says about family
Three years of mourning were set against the three years a child spends in its parents' arms. The symmetry is the whole argument.