2015, Vol., No.22

Journal of Korean Hyo Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.52

pISSN : 1738-253X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/hyo

This study focuses on understanding children’s mentality, which is the foundation of good education. Children’s mentality is based on their experiences. An Austrian Psychologist, Alfred Adler, emphasized the importance of experience. He stated that one creates his/her experience. He also said not to find experiences for yourself but to try to fit yourself into the experiences. Some people may sometimes not remember their experiences. Adler mainly observed the relationships in families between parents and children, and attempted to find the proper roles of parents in a family. Children’s behaviors are the effects of an event. For example, wetting beds or acting out in school is probably because of an accumulation of various experiences. Adler suggested that to resolve these issues, parents need to care for their children and give them more attention. It is also important to cooperate with them. In the modern era, to help educate the young generations, we first need to understand children’s mentality. There can be many reasons behind one specific behavior. As a classic saying says, “Old habits die hard.” The habits created in one’s family can change a person’s life. Therefore, good relationships in a family is a very important factor for happiness and can determine the quality of a person’s life.

Even though they have done or did their uttermost to support and educate their children, it is regrettable that there are numerous senior citizens who suffer from domestic abuse, far from being the recipients of filial piety. There may be various factors responsible for increasing elder abuse and neglect, but the biggest cause will be the collapse of filial piety and rampant individualism in modern Korean society. Children undutiful to their elderly parent(s) tend to forget that their existence in the world presupposes that of their fathers and mothers. Steps should be taken to make mandatory regulations for promoting elderly welfare, since it is actually virtually impossible to induce self-centered children to practice filial duties for their parent(s). In this regard, filial duty insurances should be established so that senior citizens can rely on them instead of counting on their children. Indeed, offenders of elder abuse must be brought to court for due punishment, but restorative approaches, such as service order for filial piety and attendance order for seminars on filial duties, can help undutiful children realize importance of filial piety, thus decreasing or preventing the occurrences of elder abuse cases. To decrease or prevent elder abuse effectively, no single and uniform approaches will work, so multi-dimensional approaches from legal, administrative, criminological, political, and social considerations.

This study aims to examine the modern understanding of filial piety in Won-Buddhism, religion founded in Korea. After many years of searching for the truth and undergoing ascetic practices, Sotaesan(1891-1943), the Founding Master of Won-Buddhism, attained supreme enlightenment in 1916. Won-Buddhism is now recognized as one of four major religions in Korea and is growing worldwide. Similar to other Eastern traditions, the virtue of filial piety is emphasized in Won-Buddhism. According to Sotaesan, although the practice of Hyo(filial piety,孝) may vary according to the era, the spirit of filial piety will continue throughout the ages. One of the main teachings in Won-Buddhism is the Fourfold Grace which includes the Grace of Parents. Filial piety is one of the main concepts in the section on the Grace of Parents. Jeongsan(1900-1962), the second Prime Dharma Master of Won-Buddhism, taught that the way to practice filial piety was to show gratitude to one's parents, which is accomplished by awakening to the Fourfold Grace. Daesan(1914-1998), the third Prime Dharma Master of Won-Buddhism, filial piety and benevolence and is therefore known as the sage of filial piety. This study will be an important step to present the concept of Won-Buddhism's thoughts of filial piety.