This English version was translated from the Chinese original with AI assistance. The Chinese text is authoritative.
When it comes to the saying “Of all evils, yin (淫) is the chief,” it is not hard to understand its literal meaning. Since ancient times this saying has been something everyone is very wary of, yet we often hear of such things happening. As for this saying, its meaning at the time may not have been quite the same as how we understand it now. Today when people hear 淫 they first think of matters between men and women. But in ancient times the meaning of 淫 (yín) was not quite the same as we understand it now, so taking it only at face value strays somewhat from the original meaning.
In fact, the 淫 in this saying was, in ancient times, a rather general term and did not refer to lewdness and debauchery. According to historical records, Confucius, on the poem “Guanju” of the Book of Songs, said: “Joyful but not excessive (淫), sorrowful but not wounding.” What does this mean? It means that the poem is so beautiful and elegant that reading it makes one feel comfortable, even happy, yet between the lines it expresses moderation and restraint; it is neither anxious over gain and loss nor given to great joy or great grief; rather, there is joy in sorrow, each tempering the other, filling one with reason and keeping the emotions well in hand. So the 淫 here actually means keeping the emotions under control.
Fan Zhongyan of the Northern Song also used the character 淫 in his writing. One line, “淫雨霏霏,” is a little puzzling. In fact, the 淫 in this line means “continuous, unceasing”; the line means that the weather is gloomy and cold, with a fine rain falling continuously without stop. So in ancient society, the use of the character 淫 was often not what modern people understand; on the contrary, it was sometimes woven into poetry as the finishing touch!
Back to the point: what, then, does the 淫 in “Of all evils, 淫 is the chief” actually refer to, and what does it mean to express? In fact it refers to “greed,” endless desire. The saying means that the true source of a person’s wrongdoing is his endless greed, not the lewdness that we now understand from the literal meaning. Of course, “greed” has a broad reference — it can be for money, power, beauty and so on.
Taken as a whole, the saying means that the source of all evil is people’s insatiable, endless greed. Its ultimate purpose is to warn everyone that in all things there must be a measure, that one must not overstep the bounds, and that one must learn contentment in order not to fall into the trap of greed. From ancient times to the present, how many people, for the sake of the selfish desires in their hearts, have met a tragic fate in the end — the examples are vivid before our eyes and make one tremble with fear!
Therefore our ancestors also said: “Do not do evil because it is small; do not fail to do good because it is small.” It is really the same principle, simply warning people that in daily life they should walk the right path and do good deeds, starting from every little thing, so as to lay a solid foundation for their future!
And the next line of this saying is the true classic, which I believe almost everyone has heard: it is what we now often say, “Of all virtues, filial piety comes first.” But in fact this line did not originally appear together with “Of all evils, 淫 is the chief.” The line “Of all virtues, filial piety comes first” had already appeared as early as the Song dynasty; its meaning is simple and clear — to admonish the younger generation to observe filial piety. Later, because the two lines rhyme well when read together and are similar in structure, they were put together.
We all know the lesson of the lamb kneeling to suckle and the crow feeding its parents in return. The lamb and the crow are just two very ordinary animals, yet even they know to be grateful to their parents: the lamb always kneels when it suckles, and when the crow grows up it instinctively feeds its parents. Even animals can go this far; looking back at the behavior of many people today, it is truly chilling.
