Issue 270

 

Third: Determining Its Aim and Purport. What does this Sutra take as its aim and purport? It is contained in these eight words, i.e. filial piety, deliverance of beings to the shore of liberation, uprooting suffering, repaying kindness. What does it all come down to? It all comes down to being well versed in filial piety—the principle of being filial to one’s parents. When people can be filial to one’s parents, it is heaven and earth’s glory. What gladdens heaven and earth is for people to be filial to their parents, hence the verse:

Heaven and Earth values filiality—filiality is foremost.  Filiality is of utmost importance. By practicing filiality—just this one word—the entire family is peaceful.

Filial people begets filial offspring.  If you are filial to your parents, your children will be filial to you, and vice versa.

Why do we need to be a person? What is the point of being a person? It is not simply resigning yourself to being born a person living a muddled life. That is not the way to go. The basic duty of being a person is to be filial to your parents. Your parents are the heaven and the earth; they are your elders and teachers; they are—simply—the Buddhas. If it were not for your parents, you would not have this body of yours; without this body of yours, you would have no way of becoming a Buddha. Therefore, if you wish to become a Buddha, first you need to be filial to your parents. Hence, filial piety is foremost.

The second tenet of this Sutra is “deliverance of beings.” What does “deliverance” mean? It means to embark from this shore to arrive at the other shore, likewise from birth-and-death to nirvana, also from afflictions to bodhi. Here, “deliverance of beings” means to take beings across. It is not taking across one being, two beings, or three, or five, but it refers to deliverance of all the 12 categories of beings. We should resolve on teaching and transforming all of them, in order for them to attain Buddhahood soon. That is ‘deliverance of beings’.

The third is ‘uprooting suffering‘. This Sutra aims to eradicate the suffering of beings.

The fourth is repaying kindness, meaning to reciprocate the kindness of one’s parents.

Filial piety, deliverance of beings, uprooting suffering, repaying kindness—these eight words constitute the aim and purport of the Earth Store Sutra. It would be too much for us to go into detail. I went over the important points so you would get the gist of it.

At the mention of the practice of filial piety, the thought, “I’ve got to go home to be filial to my parents” pops into some people’s minds. Once they get home and see their parents, they forget all about it. While here, they mean to be filial to their parents, but once back home, they forget all about it. Why? It is because they do not truly understand the meaning of being filial to their parents.

To be truly filial to your parents, you should be studying the Buddhadharma. When you study the Buddhadharma here, you are being filial to your parents. It is not necessary that you have to go home to practice filiality since you forget all about it once you get home. By studying the Buddhadharma here and becoming the best person in the world, you will benefit the world. By benefiting the world, you are being filial to your parents.

There are four types of filiality, namely: lesser, greater, remote, recent. “Lesser filiality” refers to filiality within one’s family, toward one’s own parents. It falls short of “extending the filiality for one’s elders to others’ elders”—of achieving vast and great filiality.

What is vast and great filiality? It is the ‘greater filiality’ that attends to all under the sky, regarding everyone’s parents as one’s own parents. It is extending filiality for one’s elders to others’ elders. Its scope is expansive, not narrow. Yet this ‘greater filiality’ falls short of being ‘true filiality’. What is ‘true filiality’? True filiality is when you become a Buddha; it is beyond the scope of the four types of filiality. It is genuine and true filiality.

Take the example of Shakyamuni Buddha. Although his father forbade him from becoming a monastic and locked him up in the palace, he secretly ran away to cultivate the Path as a monastic. After six years of hardship on Snow Mountain, he sat under the bodhi tree and, upon seeing the shining stars in the night sky, became enlightened to the Path and attained Buddhahood. That is ‘true filiality’. After he became a Buddha, he ascended to the celestial palace to speak the Buddhadharma for his mother. Wouldn’t you agree that that is ‘true filiality’?

‘Recent filiality’ is the practice of filiality patterned after latter-day role models. ‘Remote filiality’is the practice of filiality patterned after the ancients of old. Recent filiality is comparable to lesser filiality, with some exceptions. Remote filiality is illustrated in China’s Twenty-four Paragons of Filiality. They are exemplars for all times. The august virtue they exemplified endures through all ages.

Speaking of the Twenty-four Paragons of Filiality, there’s one in China named Dong Yong, also known as Dong An, who is very filial. One of his neighbors, Wangji, was the richest man, while he himself was the poorest. Dong An’s mom, by virtue of her son’s filial devotion, was well-nourished and plump. Though old in age, she was happy day and night. On the other hand, Wangji’s mom ate the finest delicacies—poultry, seafood, assorted meats—but she was skin-and-bones. She was unhappy and worried all the time.

One day, when both sons were away, the skinny mom inquired of the plump mom, “Your family is poor and you don’t have any good food, yet you’re all chubby. How is it that you get so plumpish at your old age?”

Dong An’s mom told the skinny mom, “My son is very filial. He does not do anything bad. He abides by rules and regulations and he works hard. I have no worries at all and I am very happy. As the saying goes, when the heart is carefree, the body plumps out. I’m happy, so I plump out.”

She went on to ask the skinny mom, “You are wealthy and you eat good food. So why are you all skin and bones? Is there something wrong with you?”

The skinny mom replied, “Sure I’ve got money and eat well, but my son is a roughneck. He gets in trouble with the law day in and day out. He’s either wanted by the police for questioning, or there’d be some warrants for him to appear in court. I worry about him all the time. No matter how well I eat, I am not happy. I’m stressed out. I get skinnier by the day because there’s no way I can put on weight when I’m all worried.”

While the two moms—one skinny, one chubby—were chatting up a storm about their sons, the unfilial one returned and overheard their conversation. After the moms had said their goodbyes and went home, Wangji went to Dong An’s house and beat up the chubby mom. “You blabbermouth! Why did you feed my mom all that crap?” he yelled.

When Dong An came home and saw his mom upset, he asked why. She told her son, “Wangji was here and beat me up. He accused me of speaking ill of him to his mom.”Dong An did not say anything to that but simply comforted his mom, “Please don’t be mad. That’s just how he is. Don’t mind him.”However, after his mom got beaten up and yelled at by that hooligan, she got sick and died.

Upon his mom’s death, Dong An’s temper raged, “When my mom was alive, I did not fight with you to keep her from worrying. Now this has led to her death.”So he picked up a knife and killed Wangji. The skinny mom had always worried that her son might get himself killed one day, and sure enough, he got killed. Afterwards, with Wangji’s head in hand, Dong An went to his mom’s grave and set the head on an altar table. He lit incense, bowed, and said, “Mom, please don’t be mad anymore. So he beat you up, right? Now I have avenged you. I killed him to offer his head to you.”

When he finished with the rite of offerings—guess what happened next? He took the head with him and turned himself in, confessing, “My mom died after the beating. So I killed him and made offering of his head to my mom. Do what you will with me. I’ll accept the court’s verdict, and won’t dodge the law.”The county prefect handed down a life sentence and he was put in jail. It just so happened that the emperor granted a general amnesty and all convicts were set free. Without further questioning, Dong An was released. After his release, he became a high-ranking government official. This is due to his filial piety.

Although filiality is categorized into four types (remote, recent, greater, lesser), true filiality is cultivating the Path and accomplishing Buddhahood in the future. Now that you are studying the Buddhadharma—without having to return to your homes—that is ‘True Filiality’. To truly be able to study the Buddhadharma, and be able to practice and uphold the Buddhadharma, is what it truly means to be filial to your parents.