In spiritual terminology, piety is a virtue that can mean religious devotion, spirituality, or a combination of both. A common element in most conceptions of piety is humility.
Etymology
The word piety comes from the Latin word pietas, the noun form of the adjective pius (which means "devout" or "good"). Pietas in traditional Latin usage expressed a complex, highly valued Roman virtue; a man with pietas respected his responsibilities to gods, country, parents, and kin.
-From wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piety" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Filial Piety
Respect for and responsibility to care for one's parents.
How important is Piety to you?
In Buddhist terms a person who has pietas and practices piety could be interpreted as someone who respects his responsibilities to the Three Treasures, (inlcuding support for the Sangha and monks), responsibility to care for one's country that one lives in, responsibility to care for one's parents, as well as being responsible to care for and support one's family and children.
How important is piety in your life?
How do you view responsibility and practice.
Do good for others is the third Pure Precept.
How does Piety, filial piety, and Pietas fit into that for you?
-from wikipedia on filial piety http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filial_piety" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;In Judaism and Christianity, one of the Ten Commandments is to Honor your father and your mother. Lee et al. argue that filial piety is rarely practiced in the Western world and most children from a Judeo-Christian background do not honor and care for parents to the extent of those from Eastern backgrounds. They contend that in Western cultures, the individual is more important than the family, and when an elderly parent becomes a burden to an adult child, his/her needs to be burden-free supersede any feeling of obligation to care for the parent.
In Gassho,
Sara H.