Claim. True filial piety endures unjust treatment — even spit and indifference from one’s own kin — and gives without remembering having given.
Elaboration. SMM presses the radical-other-orientation: “Your grandfather and grandmother may spit at you, your mother may ignore you and your brothers may treat you with indifference, but still you should take care of your grandparents and pay attention to all the rest of the family. When you can give in this way, and forget that you have given, you will then take your place among the ranks of filial children that will be remembered by successive generations” (CSG 14.3 §3, 204-94, 1990.7.1). The amnesia of giving is what makes the giving real — memory of one’s own service is itself an interruption of love. Filial piety becomes a posture in which the self disappears into the act, leaving no internal ledger to be checked.
See also. csg-the-quiet-server-not-the-self-announcer-is-filial