Is The Classic of Filial Piety free to read?

Yes — all 18 chapters, with no account and no ads. James Legge's translation is out of copyright worldwide, so there is nothing to buy in order to read it. The paid part of Taoist Diary is listening: the narrated chapters and the daily audio, at $1.99 a month.

Which translation is this?

James Legge's, published in 1879. It is not modernised, paraphrased or trimmed — the sentences are his. The scan it was taken from is linked above, so any line here can be checked against it.

18 chapters, listed in full below — The Scope and Meaning of the Treatise through Filial Piety in Mourning for Parents. Most are short enough to read in a sitting, which is how the app serves them: one at a time, one a day.

The Classic of Filial Piety

Hsiao King

Attributed to: Attributed to Confucius and Zang-tze
Translated by: James Legge
Chapters: 18
This translation: 1879

Free of copyright worldwide. The translator died in 1897, and this translation was published in 1879. Even under the longest copyright term in the world — the author's life plus 100 years, which applies in Mexico — the text has been free since 1998. Source scan

Every chapter is free to read in Taoist Diary, with no account and no ads. Listening — the narrated chapters and the daily audio — is the subscription, at $1.99 a month.

Read it in the app The other 9 books

How it opens

(Once), when Kung-ni was unoccupied, and his disciple Zang was sitting by in attendance on him, the Master said, ‘Shan, the ancient kings had a perfect virtue and all-embracing rule of conduct, through which they were in accord with all under heaven. By the practice of it the people were brought to live in peace and harmony, and there was no ill-will between superiors and inferiors. Do you know what it was?’
The Classic of Filial Piety · The Scope and Meaning of the Treatise · translated by James Legge

Before you start

Is The Classic of Filial Piety free to read?: Yes — all 18 chapters, with no account and no ads. James Legge's translation is out of copyright worldwide, so there is nothing to buy in order to read it. The paid part of Taoist Diary is listening: the narrated chapters and the daily audio, at $1.99 a month.
Which translation is this?: James Legge's, published in 1879. It is not modernised, paraphrased or trimmed — the sentences are his. The scan it was taken from is linked above, so any line here can be checked against it.
How long is it?: 18 chapters, listed in full below — The Scope and Meaning of the Treatise through Filial Piety in Mourning for Parents. Most are short enough to read in a sitting, which is how the app serves them: one at a time, one a day.

The 18 chapters

1The Scope and Meaning of the Treatise
2Filial Piety in the Son of Heaven
3Filial Piety in the Princes of States
4Filial Piety in High Ministers and Great Officers
5Filial Piety in Inferior Officers
6Filial Piety in the Common People
7Filial Piety in Relation to the Three Powers
8Filial Piety in Government
9The Government of the Sages
10An Orderly Description of the Acts of Filial Piety
11Filial Piety in Relation to the Five Punishments
12Amplification of ‘the All-embracing Rule of Conduct’ in Chapter I
13Amplification of ‘the Perfect Virtue’ in Chapter I
14Amplification of ‘Making our Name Famous’ in Chapter I
15Filial Piety in Relation to Reproof and Remonstrance
16The Influence of Filial Piety and the Response to it
17The Service of the Ruler
18Filial Piety in Mourning for Parents