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Dear Friends,
Homage to Triple Gems..Buddha, Dharma and Sangha
"Buddha and his all teaching were always meant for everyone…not to own self only"
Concluding part from....The Filial Piety Sutra.
1. THE KINDNESS OF PROVIDING PROTECTION AND CARE WHILE THE CHILD IS IN THE WOMB
The causes and conditions from accumulated kalpas grows heavy,
Until in this life the child ends up in its Mother's womb.
As the months pass, the five vital organs develop;
Within seven weeks the six sense organs start to grow.
The mother's body becomes as heavy as a mountain;
The stillness and movements of the fetus are like a kalpic wind disaster.
The mother's fine clothes no longer hang properly,
And so her mirror gathers dust.
2. THE KINDNESS OF BEARING SUFFERING DURING BIRTH
The pregnancy lasts for ten lunar months
And culminates in difficult labour at the approach of the birth.
Meanwhile, each morning the mother is seriously ill
And during each day drowsy and sluggish.
Her fear and agitation are difficult to describe;
Grieving and tears fill her breast.
She painfully tells her family
That she is only afraid that death will overtake her.
3. THE KINDNESS OF FORGETTING ALL THE PAIN ONCE THE CHILD HAS BEEN BORN
On the day the compassionate mothers bears the child,
Her five organs all open wide,
Leaving her totally exhausted in body and mind.
The blood flows as from a slaughtered lamb;
Yet, upon hearing that the child is healthy,
She is overcome with redoubling joy,
But after the joy, the grief returns,
And the agony wrenches her very insides.
4. THE KINDNESS OF EATING THE BITTER HERSELF AND SAVING THE SWEET FOR THE CHILD
The kindness of both parents is profound and deep,
Their care and devotion never cease.
Never resting, the mother saves the sweet for the child,
And without complain she swallows the bitter herself.
Her love is weighty and her emotion difficult to bear;
Her kindness is deep and so is her compassion.
Only wanting the child to get its fill,
The compassionate mother doesn't speak of her own hunger.
5. THE KINDNESS OF MOVING THE CHILD TO A DRY PLACE AND LYING IN THE WET HERSELF
The mother is willing to be wet
So that the child can be dry.
With her two breasts she satisfies its hunger and thirst;
Covering it with her sleeve, she protects it from the wind and cold.
In kindness, her head rarely rests on the pillow,
And yet she does this happily,
So long as the child is comfortable,
The kind mother seeks no solace for herself.
6. THE KINDNESS OF SUCKLING THE CHILD AT HER BREAST, NOURISHING AND BRINGING UP THE CHILD
The kind mother is like the great earth.
The stern father is like the encompassing heaven:
One covers from above; the other supports from below.
The kindness of parents is such that
They know no hatred or anger toward their offspring,
And are not displeased, even if the child is born crippled.
After the mother carries the child in her womb and gives birth to it,
The parents care for and protect it together until the end of their days.
7. THE KINDNESS OF WASHING AWAY THE UNCLEAN
Originally, she had a pretty face and a beautiful body,
Her spirit was strong and vibrant.
Her eyebrows were like fresh green willows,
And her complexion would have put a red rose to shame.
But her kindness is so deep she will forgo a beautiful face.
Although washing away the filth injures her constitution,
The kind mother acts solely for the sake of her sons and daughters,
And willingly allows her beauty to fade.
8. THE KINDNESS OF ALWAYS THINKING OF THE CHILD WHEN IT HAS TRAVELLED FAR
The death of loved ones is difficult to endure.
But separation is also painful.
When the child travels afar,
The mother worries in her village.
From morning until night, her heart is with her child,
And a thousand tears fall from her eyes.
Like the monkey weeping silently in love for her child,
Bit by bit her heart is broken.
9. THE KINDNESS OF DEEP CARE AND DEVOTION
How heavy is parental kindness and emotional concern!
Their kindness is deep and difficult to repay.
Willingly they undergo suffering on their child's behalf.
If the child toils, the parents are uncomfortable.
If they hear that he has traveled far,
They worry that at night he will have to lie in the cold.
Even a moment's pain suffered by their sons and daughters.
Will cause the parents sustained distress.
10. THE KINDNESS OF ULTIMATE COMPASSION AND SYMPATHY
The kindness of parents is profound and important.
Their tender concern never cease.
From the moment they awake each day, their thoughts are with their children.
Whether the children are near or far away, the parents think of them often.
Even if a mother lives for a hundred years,
She will constantly worry about her eighty year old child.
Do you wish to know when such kindness and love ends?
It doesn't even begin to dissipate until her life is over!
The Buddha told Ananda, "When I contemplate living beings, I see that
although they are born as human beings, nonetheless, they are ignorant
and dull in their thoughts and actions. They don't consider their
parents' great kindness and virtue. They are disrespectful and turn
their backs on kindness and what is right. They lack humaneness and are
neither filial nor compliant."
"For ten months while the mother
is with child, she feels discomfort each time she rises, as if she were
lifting a heavy burden. Like a chronic invalid, she is unable to keep
her food and drink down. When the ten months have passed and the time
comes for the birth, she undergoes all kinds of pain and suffering so
that the child can be born. She is afraid of her own mortality, like a
pig or lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Then the blood flows all over the
ground. These are the sufferings she undergo."
"Once the child
is born, she saves what is sweet for him and swallows what is bitter
herself. She carries the child and nourishes it, washing away its filth.
There is no toil or difficulty that she does not willingly undertake
for the sake of her child. She endures both cold and heat and never even
mentions what she has gone through. She gives the dry place to her
child and sleeps in the damp herself. For three years she nourishes the
baby with milk, which is transformed from the blood of her own body."
"Parents continually instruct and guide their children in the ways of
propriety and morality as the youngsters mature into adults. They
arrange marriages for them and provide them with property and wealth or
devise ways to get it for them. They take this responsibility and
trouble upon themselves with tremendous zeal and toil, never speaking
about their care and kindness."
"When a son or daughter become
ill, parents are worried and afraid to the point that they may even grow
ill themselves. They remain by the child's side providing constant
care, and only when the child gets well are the parents happy once
again. In this way, they care for and raise their children with the
sustained hope that their offspring will soon grow to be mature adults."
"How sad that all too often the children are unfilial in return! In
speaking with relatives whom they should honour, the children display no
compliance. When they ought to be polite, they have no manners. They
glare at those whom they should venerate, and insult their uncles and
aunts. They scold their siblings and destroy any family feeling that
might have existed among them. Children like that have no respect of
sense of propriety."
"Children may be well taught, but if they
are unfilial, they will not heed the instructions or obey the rules.
Rarely will they rely upon the guidance of their parents. They are
contrary and rebellious when interacting with their brothers. They come
and go from home without ever reporting to their parents. Their speech
and actions are very arrogant and they act on impulse without consulting
others. Such children ignore the admonishments and punishments set down
by their parents and pay no regard to their uncles' warnings. Yet, at
the same time, they are immature and always need to be looked after and
protected by their elders."
"As such children grow up, they
become more and more obstinate and uncontrollable. They are entirely
ungrateful and totally contrary. They are defiant and hateful, rejecting
both family and friends. They befriend evil people and under influence,
soon adopt the same kinds of bad habits. They come to take what is
false to be true."
"Such children may be enticed by others to
leave their families and run away to live in others towns, thus
denouncing their parents and rejecting their native town. They may
become businessmen or civil servants who languish in comfort and luxury.
They may marry in haste, and that new bond provides yet another
obstruction which prevents them from returning home for long periods of
time."
"Or, in going to live in other towns, these children may
be incautious and find themselves plotted against or accused of doing
evil. They may be unfairly locked up in prison or they may meet with
illness and become enmeshed in disasters and hardships, subject to the
terrible pain of poverty, starvation, and emaciation. Yet no one there
will care for them. Being scorned and disliked by others, they will be
abandoned on the street. In such circumstances, their lives may come to
an end. No one bothers to try to save them. Their bodies swell up, rot,
decay, and are exposed to the sun and blown away by the wind. The bones
entirely disintegrate and scatter as these children come to their final
rest in the dirt of some other town. These children will never again
have a happy reunion with their relatives and kin. Nor will they ever
know how their ageing parents mourn for and worry about them. The
parents may grow blind from weeping or become sick from extreme grief
and despair. Constantly dwelling on the memory of their children, they
may pass away, but even when they become ghosts, their souls still cling
to this attachment and are unable to get it go."
"Others of
these unfilial children may not aspire to learning, but instead become
interested in strange and bizarre doctrines. Such children may be
villainous, coarse and stubborn, delighting in practices that are
utterly devoid of benefit. They may become involved in fights and
thefts, setting themselves at odds with the town by drinking and
gambling. As if debauchery were not enough, they drag their brothers
into it as well, to the further distress of their parents."
"If
such children do live at home, they leave early in the morning and do
not return until late at night. Never do they ask about the welfare of
their parents or make sure that they don't suffer from heat or cold.
They do not inquire after their parents' well being in the morning or
the evening, nor even on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month. In
fact, it never occurs to these unfilial children to ever ask whether
their parents have slept comfortably or rested peacefully. Such children
are simply not concerned in the least about their parents' well being.
When the parents of such children grow old and their appearance becomes
more and more withered and emaciated, they are made to feel ashamed to
be seen in public and are subjected to abuse and oppression."
"Such unfilial children may end up with a father who is a widower or a
mother who is a widow. The solitary parents are left alone in empty
houses, feeling like guests in their own homes. They may endure cold and
hunger, but no one takes heed of their plight. They may weep
incessantly from morning to night, sighing and lamenting. It is only
right that children should provide for ageing parents with food and
drink of delicious flavours, but irresponsible children are sure to
overlook their duties. If they ever do attempt to help their parents in
any way, they feel embarrassed and are afraid people will laugh at them.
Yet, such offspring may lavish wealth and food on their own wives and
children, disregarding the toil and weariness involved in doing so.
Other unfilial offspring may be so intimidated by their wives that they
go along with all of their wishes. But when appealed to by their parents
and elders, they ignore them and are totally unfazed by their pleas."
"It may be the case that daughters were quite filial to their parents
before their own marriages, but they may become progressively rebellious
after they marry. This situation may be so extreme that if their
parents show even the slightest signs of displeasure, the daughters
become hateful and vengeful toward them. Yet they bear their husband's
scolding and beatings with sweet tempers, even though their spouses are
outsiders with other surnames and family ties. The emotional bonds
between such couples are deeply entangled, and yet these daughters hold
their parents at a distance. They may follow their husbands and move to
other towns, leaving their parents behind entirely. They do not long for
them and simply cut off all communication with them. When the parents
continue to hear no word from their daughters, they feel incessant
anxiety. They become so fraught with sorrow that it is as if they were
suspended upside down. Their every thought is of seeing their children,
just as one who is thirsty longs for something to drink. Their kind
thoughts for their offspring never cease."
"The virtue of one's
parents' kindness is boundless and limitless. If one has made the
mistake of being unfilial, how difficult it is to repay that kindness!"
At that time, upon hearing the Buddha speak about the depth of one's
parents kindness, everyone in the Great Assembly threw themselves on the
ground and began beating their breasts and striking themselves until
their hair pores flowed with blood. Some fell unconscious to the ground,
while others stamped their feet in grief. It was a long time before
they could control themselves. With loud voices they lamented, "Such
suffering! What suffering! How painful! How painful! We are all
offenders. We are criminals who have never awakened, like those who
travel in a dark night. We have just now understood our offenses and our
very insides are torn to bits. We only hope that the World Honoured One
will pity and save us. Please tell us how we can repay the deep
kindness of our parents!"
At the time the Tathagata used eight
kinds of profoundly deep and pure sounds to speak to the assembly. "All
of you should know this. I will now explain for you the various aspects
of this matter."
"If there were a person who carries his father
on his left shoulder and his mother on his right shoulder until his
bones were ground to powder by their weight as they bore through to the
marrow, and if that person were to circumambulate Mount Sumeru for a
hundred thousand kalpas until the blood that flowed out covered his
ankles, that person would still not have repaid the deep kindness of his
parents."
"If there were a person who, during the period of a
kalpa fraught with famine and starvation, sliced the flesh off his own
body to feed his parents and did this as many times as there are dust
motes as he passed through hundreds of thousand of kalpas, that person
still would not have repaid the deep kindness of his parents."
"If there were a person who, for the sake of this parents, took a sharp
knife and cut his eyes and made an offering of them to the Tathagatas,
and continued to do that for hundreds of thousands of kalpas, that
person still would not have repaid the deep kindness of his parents."
"If there a person who, for the sake of this father and mother, used a
sharp knife to cut out his heart and liver so that the blood flowed and
covered the ground and if he continued in this way to do this for
hundreds of thousands of kalpas, never once complaining about the pain,
that person still would not have repaid the deep kindness of his
parents."
"If there were a person who, for the sake of his
parents, took a hundred thousand swords and stabbed his body with them
all at once such that they entered one side and came out the other, and
if he continued in this way to do this for hundreds of thousands of
kalpas, that person still would not have repaid the deep kindness of his
parents."
"If there were a person who, for the sake of his
parents, beat his bones down to the marrow and continued in this way to
do this way to do this for hundreds of thousands of kalpas, that person
still would not have repaid the deep kindness of his parents."
"If there were a person who, for the sake of this parents, swallowed
molten iron pellets and continued in this way to do this for hundreds of
thousands of kalpas, that person still would not have repaid the deep
kindness of his parents."
At that time, upon hearing the Buddha
speak about the kindness and virtue of parents, everyone in the Great
Assembly wept silent tears and felt searing pain in their hearts. They
reflected deeply, simultaneously brought forth shame and said to the
Buddha, "World Honoured One, how can we repay the deep kindness of our
parents?"
The Buddha replied, "Disciples of the Buddha, if you
wish to repay your parents' kindness, write out this Sutra on their
behalf. Recite this Sutra on their behalf. Repent of transgressions and
offenses on their behalf. For the sake of your parents, make offerings
to the Triple Gem. For the sake of your parents, hold the precept of
pure eating. For the sake of your parents, practise giving and cultivate
blessings. If you are able to do these things, you are being a filial
child. If you do not do these things, you are a person destined for the
hells."
The Buddha told Ananda, "If a person is not filial,
when his life ends and his body decays, he will fall into, the great
Avici Hell. This great hell is eighty thousand yojanas in circumference
and is surrounded on all four sides by iron walls. Above, it is covered
over by nets, and the ground is also made of iron. A mass of fire burns
fiercely, while thunder roars and bright bolts of lightning set things
afire. Molten brass and iron fluids are poured over the offenders'
bodies. Brass dogs and iron snakes constantly spew out fire and smoke
which burns the offenders and broils their flesh and fat to a pulp."
"Oh, such suffering! Difficult to take, difficult to bear! There are
poles, hooks, spears, and lances, iron halberds and iron chains, iron
hammers and iron awls. Wheels of iron knives rain down from the air. The
offender is chopped, hacked, or stabbed, and undergoes these cruel
punishments for kalpas without respite. Then they enter the remaining
hells, where their heads are capped with fiery basins, while iron wheels
roll over their bodies, passing both horizontally and vertically until
their guts are ripped open and their bones and flesh are squashed to a
pulp. Within a single day, they experience myriad births and myriad
deaths. Such sufferings are a result of committing the five rebellious
acts and of being unfilial when one was alive."
At that time,
upon hearing the Buddha speak about the virtue of parents' kindness,
everyone in the Great Assembly wept sorrowfully and addressed the
Tathagata, "On this day, how can we repay the deep kindness of our
parents?"
The Buddha said, "Disciples of the Buddha, if you
wish to repay their kindness, then for the sake of your parents, print
this Sutra. This is truly repaying their kindness. If one can print one
copy, then one will get to see one Buddha. If one can print ten copies,
then one will get to see ten Buddhas. If one can print one hundred
copies, then one will get to see one hundred Buddhas. If one can print
one thousand copies, then one will get to see one thousand Buddhas. If
one can print ten thousand copies, then one will get to see ten thousand
Buddhas. This is the power derived when good people print Sutras. All
Buddhas will forever protect such people with their kindness and their
parents can be reborn in the heavens to enjoy all kinds of happiness,
leaving behind the sufferings of the hells."
At that time,
Ananda and the rest of the Great Assembly the asuras, garudas, kinnaras,
mahoragas, people, non-people, and others, as well as the gods,
dragons, yakshas, gandarvas, wheel-turning sage kings, and all the
lesser kings, felt all the hairs on their bodies stand on their ends
when they heard what the Buddha had said. They wept grievously and were
unable to stop themselves. Each one of them made a vow saying, "All of
us, from now until the exhaustion of the bounds of the future, would
rather that our bodies be pulverised into small particles of dust for a
hundred thousand kalpas, than to ever go against the Tathagata's sagely
teachings. We would rather that our tongues be plucked out, so that they
would extend for a full yojana, and that for a hundred thousand kalpas
an iron plough run over them; we would rather have a hundred thousand
bladed wheel roll freely over bodies, than to ever go against the
Tathagata's sagely teachings. We would rather that our bodies be
ensnared in an iron net for a hundred thousand kalpas, than to ever go
against the Tathagata's sagely teachings. We would rather that for a
hundred thousand kalpas our bodies be chopped, hacked, mutilated, and
chiseled into ten million pieces, so that our skin, flesh, joints, and
bones would be completely disintegrated, than to ever go against the
Tathagata's sagely teachings."
At that time, Ananda, with a
dignity and a sense of peace, rose from his seat and asked the Buddha,
"World Honoured One, what name shall this Sutra have when we accord with
it and uphold it?"
The Buddha told Ananda, "This Sutra is
called THE SUTRA ABOUT THE DEEP KINDNESS OF PARENTS AND THE DIFFICULTY
OF REPAYING IT. Use this name when you accord with it and uphold it."
At that time, the Great Assembly, the gods, humans, asuras, and the
others, hearing what the Buddha has said, were completely delighted.
They believed the Buddha's teaching, received it, and offered up their
conduct in accord with it. Then they bowed respectfully to the Buddha,
before withdrawing.
by
k.jagadeesh
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