Today, I would like to get into the topic of how we fulfill our filial duty to our parents.
In the previous sessions
we learned how to be
a decent human being
because
that is the starting point
for our Buddhist cultivation.
Shakyamuni Buddha
gave Dharma talks for 49 years.
Where do we start
among these vast teachings?
Buddha told us to start with Filial Piety.
There's no beating around
the bush about this.
This is the foundation.
When he said that it's actually very wise
because it brings out all the afflictions,
all the troubles,
bad habits
we have to the surface.
Every one of us has bad habits and
these bad habits have created
a lot of obstacles in our life.
If you want to list them out one by one,
they are too numerous.
So using Filial Piety (孝 in Chinese),
he has summarized everything
that is wrong with our current state
as ordinary beings
because if you want to
overcome your own habits,
everything, every single habit,
that happens in your life,
if you want to uproot them, resolve them,
you have to start with Filial Piety.
This is by far
the best part of
Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings.
So we will go in depth about Filial Piety and
why Buddha started from there,
told us to start from there,
if you want to go
more deeply into Buddhism.
So why do we begin with Filial Piety?
How do we do that?
How do we do our best being filial?
If you look at modern times, this concept
of being loving and respectful towards your
parents and elders is quite strange, foreign.
Some people don’t even
know because some people,
a lot of people have this idea:
As long as I have money, I earn a lot
of money, I can support my parents
with a lot of good food and good shelter.
Let them live a luxurious, lavish life.
I think that's Filial Piety. But,
is it actually Filial Piety if we just do that?
You can't say it's not,
it's treating them well.
You're treating your own parents well,
but to be actually filial,
you cannot measure it,
it's not quantifiable.
You can't use money, how much money you
give your parents to measure how filial you
are because what about those who are poor?
Does it mean
that only the rich people can
be filial and the poor people cannot?
No. So we need to
have wisdom
in regard to these teachings.
So how do we do that?
How do we actually fulfill our
Filial responsibility towards our parents?
What kind of attitude
should we have?
This is a very important question for youth,
young people, because this idea is quite
distant so we need to remind ourselves.
Some people might say
cook good food for parents,
buy good clothes or gifts for them
and that's what we call perfecting Filial Piety,
but it's not there yet,
because anyone can do that,
there's no need to
practice or cultivate at all.
If so, anyone can,
if they earn enough money to,
just buy whatever gifts,
whatever clothes,
whatever food for their parents
and consider that Filial Piety.
If they want a TV, buy them a TV.
Is that called fulfilling your
filial responsibility?
No.
A lot of people do in this era,
if you talk to them,
I want to share with you the importance
of being filial towards your elders or
being loving and respectful to elders.
A lot of people say:
Are you out of your mind
or are you outdated?
Are you one of those people who are like statues
made from 1,000 years ago and that would
never change according to the era?
Isn't Buddhism about following the era,
adapting to the era? Why do we
stick to such outdated concepts?
What era are we in now?!
This is a view that's shared by
a lot of people nowadays.
Some even say
Buddhism itself is outdated,
cannot follow, adapt to the time, to that era.
Some even told me: Master,
do you know what era this is?!
It's the era of looking forward to wealth!
Without money, without wealth,
even though wealth cannot do everything
but without wealth it's a lot of pain.
Some people when they hear this,
it might make sense, without money,
how can you eat?
Without money, how can you pay for
your living expenses, for buying clothes
or building a Dharma Center?
Without funds,
how do you make offerings?
Right? It makes sense
but we need to see it from a point of wisdom,
we need to look at it wisely,
instead of being dragged by it,
being enslaved by the idea because
it will push us towards extremes
in hedonism and all that.
Everything is about money.
It has become extreme now.
So back to Filial Piety,
if you look at the West,
in regards to this idea of Xiao孝,
education is very common, very developed.
It's everywhere. Everyone got educated
but unfortunately,
these kinds of
human values, moral values
about love and respect towards parents,
about how you live with other people
peacefully, harmoniously, are neglected,
moral values are neglected.
They don’t have a concept of Filial Piety.
Most of them only retain the value of
taking care of only your children.
So only take care of your children,
children are the only ones who
need to be taken care of.
Not just the West anymore,
it's already commonplace
throughout the world.
The adults are
only focusing on the youngest,
neglecting their elders.
So as a child, as a son or daughter of the
parents, they focus their gaze towards
the next generation
and very few will look
back at their older generations.
So being an old man or old woman
in this era is very lonely,
the family tie is very loose.
In the Dharma Place I host,
there's a lot of elderly people.
I asked them: Why do you like to come here?
Usually they come by themself.
A lot of these elderly practitioners,
brothers and sisters, told me:
There is no one with me at home,
I feel lonely. When I come to the temple
I have people to talk with.
The temple is good
because I have a social environment,
at home everyone's busy with their own family
and with their work.
I can't find a chance to talk
with them often.
So this is a reality facing a lot of families
nowadays and thinking about ourselves
we'll be old one day.
One type of suffering is loneliness.
Loneliness itself is suffering.
Why do I teach this from this perspective?
I would like to give you an example
so that you have a concept of
why Filial Piety is important.
Then, I will explain how you do it,
how you fulfill Filial Piety
towards your elders.
For example, a new couple focuses on
setting funds away for their youngest
rather than the elders.
Say, a married couple who have children
or when they start having
their own family,
plan very well on giving their children funds,
saving funds for their children's education
and living expenses.
They take great care to make sure
their children are well
taken care of.
Some even do that before they have children
because they need to think about funding
for their children's education,
universities,
projects and all that.
Like my sister, I asked her:
Why do you work so hard making a living
and earning your money?
My sister would reply without thinking:
Without money how can I support my children?
So that's the framework.
The emphasis is heavily on children
and that's the part where
parents are great
because
they all think about
their own children at their own expense.
It's correct to have this planning,
but how many couples think
about their own parents,
say planning a retirement fund
or giving them funds so that
they are settled?
Some are
from a wealthy family
and their parents are very rich.
They don't even need to think about
helping save for emergencies,
in order to help their parents.
So they don't think like that.
There are good people that are not like this,
but very few.
As you can see from the news,
most of the cases are like this.
My parents are wealthy now,
I will wait out my parents so that I can
split the inheritance when they pass away.
So they are
looking at the money
rather than their own parents.
So their eyes are focused,
their whole mental energy is
focused on how to get the money
rather than
taking care of their parents.
Some are even worse,
they think about
how my siblings got more than I have,
that's not fair!
So you plan for your own children
but your children are looking
after your inheritance
rather than
taking care of you.
So we need to know about this.
It sounds like we're sharing the inheritance
from our parents, but most of the time,
the reality is they are fighting in court
or outside the court
over the inheritance.
Being a parent, sometimes it's a hard
thing because without money
you can’t support them
and with too much money
you have this problem,
everyone is fighting for inheritance.
So having a child
who is not filial is a lot of pain
waiting for you.
I myself have witnessed this,
a few years ago, this father
had passed away not long ago,
his children already argued for the money,
the inheritance of their parents,
of their father.
With this kind of attitude, how can
you let your parents pass in peace?
How can their parents pass in peace?
Some don't even wait until their parents
pass away, they already do that
while their parents are still alive.
Some are even worse,
as worse as they fought
so much over the inheritance,
they neglected the funds needed
to help their parents
in the hospital.
When their parents
got ill due to old age,
they even neglected that part.
So if we look at all these cases
that actually happen in society,
read the news, in each society,
not just one part,
you see that happening everywhere.
So I have a friend, when he was rich,
everyone liked to be his friend.
When his company went bankrupt,
everyone disappeared.
People nowadays.
That sort of human love
among each other,
the brotherhood, sisterhood is lost.
Everything is about money,
everything's about
taking advantage over others.
When they eat, they think about money,
when they sleep, they think about money,
when they wake up, they think about money.
Everything is about money, enslaved by money,
losing their humanity in the process
and becoming a goblin basically.
Sometimes among different religions. Some,
their parents are Buddhists and the
children are believing in a different faith.
So they, the children, are even threatening
their own parents, to believe,
to follow their faith.
Threaten them, say:
When you pass away,
I will not take care of your passing,
take care of everything that happens
during your passing including
the grave and all that.
The basic human respect isn’t there,
it should be there, human decency,
that’s what we call it.
Is it because of the era?
Is it very modern to be like that?
Where did we go wrong with human society?
So let's
take a daily scenario
rather than just inheritance.
When they look at good food,
good clothes, good gifts,
daily provisions,
how many people
are thinking about their parents first,
before they think about their children?
Mostly they are like: Oh, my son likes this,
my daughter likes this. How many people
think about their parents?
Hey, I think my Mom likes this,
my Dad likes this,
there are very few.
Back then, I used to bring a lot of young
people to visit another country
and I observed them.
Like other young couples,
they usually think about their babies,
their newborns or their own young children.
Very few of them think about their own parents,
but you can see the way it goes, when their
children grow up, the same thing happens.
This is the consequence of only thinking
downwards without thinking about
what comes before you.
Downwards means children,
upwards means parents.
So I like to continue to say:
Is it wrong to think about
your own children?
Being a parent, is it wrong for me
to think about my children, plan for
my children's well-being? No, it's not.
There's nothing wrong with that.
But respectful practitioners, we must know
that there's a saying in Chinese goes like this:
【A tree has its roots,
water has its sources】
Remember your roots,
where your roots are.
Who gave you a condition to have a life?
Who gave you a condition so that
you can live happily, be able to stand
in society and be able to make a living?
The things you wear, the things you eat,
the things you achieved,
who gave it to you?
Who helped you to kickstart that?
Your own parents, our own parents.
So that's why when I look at some families
who have their own
parents nagging them,
I feel very happy for them.
It's also a joy
in the world to be
nagged by your own parents.
I think this way, because in my case my Mom
passed away when I was studying and
my father passed away not long ago.
So I
became an orphan in a way.
I am an orphan now.
Appreciate the presence of your family,
especially when you're hungry,
someone's cooking for you.
When you're sick,
someone's taking care of you,
finding the best medicine for you.
When I'm sick,
who takes care of me?
No one, it's true.
Sometimes, I think, I live by myself,
when I pass away, no one will know.
That's why I cannot be sick (said jokingly).
Everyday,
the Dharma Protectors,
they call me and say:
Master, please make sure
your phone is on all the time, 24/7,
because if anything happens to you,
when we try to reach you,
we will know
if something's wrong.
If you turn off your phone,
you will not be able to communicate
with us.
It’s a blessing
to have your parents
with you, still with you.
This is why in Chinese ancient wisdom,
the sages kept saying you have to
think about your roots
to remind ourselves
to be a decent human,
to be a proper human.
Once you become a decent human,
only then are you able to actually
achieve happiness.
If you can't even be a good human,
decent human, let's not talk about
going to the Pure Land,
the Three Upper Realms, the Three Good Realms,
the human and heaven realms are
not achievable at all.
So being a decent human is the basic goal
because our parents gave birth to us,
nurtured us and educated us
and because of them we can grow up
as healthy adults, able to make a living
in society, achieve great things in society.
There's a saying as well in Chinese about our
parents' kindness towards us. It's boundless,
as boundless as the sky, as the universe.
Buddha said in the sutra of
Profound Kindness of Parents
and Difficulties in Repaying Them,
as it describes the parents’ kindness
as like the heavens and the sky,
there's no end to it.
No matter how much you do,
no matter what you do,
it's very hard to repay them in full.
In my case
I can't even repay them anymore
when I have the ability.
This is
to remind ourselves
of the importance of Filial Piety.
Also we need to learn to remember their
kindness because if we don't remember their
kindness towards us, how can we repay them?
Also in return, we do our duties to
take care of them and
make them happy.
So that's where the saying of
Remember Your Roots
came from.
However we need to see in modern times,
those who can be filial towards
their parents,
it's not like no one is good,
no one is filial,
no one loves their own parents or elders.
There are people who love and respect their parents,
but it's already considered a rare case.
This human demographic is rare.
Therefore, in Buddhism, when you practice,
it will point out among the
Four Great Bodhisattvas,
you all have to start from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.
The sutra of the Original Vows of Ksitigarbha
Bodhisattva talks about Filial Piety,
about roots and foundation of a human,
of a Buddhist, is Filial Piety and repaying
kindness because if you do that,
you are a good example to the world.
Everyone will feel the importance
of being good,
remembering the goodness,
kindness and repaying the kindness
of their dear parents.
If a person can't even remember and
repay the kindness of others, how can
this person stand their ground in society?
How can this person
survive in this society and
be able to develop in this society?
How can you
have a harmonious
and prosperous life?
This is why this sutra
the Original Vows of Ksitigarbha
Bodhisattva《地藏菩薩本願經》
becomes
a foundation of 49 years
of Shakyamuni Buddha’s Dharma.
It's the groundwork
for Buddhism to grow
and humanity to grow.
It's a necessity
for human beings to learn it.
That's why although
education is very good and
highly developed in the western nations,
this concept of repaying kindness,
Filial Piety is non-existent
or uncommon,
not just in the West, right now,
it's global, universal.
If this world keeps going on like that,
forgetting their roots,
forgetting being kind,
then being a human
in this kind of world is a torture.
It's a lot of suffering.
It will get
more and more torturous,
more and more insufferable.
We are not trying to be pessimistic
or depressing but this is the trend
we're going towards.
For example, a lot of people who are raised
or educated in the West or grown up
in their society are very curious
about the ritual
of Ancestor Remembrance
or what we call Ancestor Worship.
They feel it’s very weird
how some followed their own parents,
Asian parents back in the East,
do this worshiping
to their ancestors.
They feel it’s very weird
because ancestors passed away
centuries, millennia ago,
like thousands of years ago,
why do we remember these people
who we never met?
Why do we remember them at all?
It is because of that kind of view,
they treat it as superstitious.
Say, in Chinese, there's a very important day,
it's called Ching Ming清明 it's a day where
we visit the graves of our ancestors,
passed away family members.
Many people join the family
to sweep the graves.
This is a common thing we do,
we sweep the graves.
They feel that it is weird
and do not understand why we
still visit those who have passed away.
All of these traditions
now stop at the elderly people
because they still have the idea that
I still need to remember my grandparents,
my ancestors,
but nowadays
young people, you see,
have stopped this practice.
Some, even in the temple,
one of the lay Buddhists said to me:
Master,
when I pass away,
please spread my ashes
after my cremation into the sea.
I told him:
You cannot say that because
we never know who will go first.
The world is impermanent,
so you cannot say that.
So we don’t know why a lot of people
treat this kind of ancestor worship
as superstitious, impractical.
It’s normal. Why? No one's saying anything
about why. That's why no one's talking
about why you do that.
Why should we have to remember our ancestors,
worship our ancestors, like the act of
worshiping ancestors, what does it mean?
No one talks about that,
they just follow.
That's it.
In Indonesia, myself,
I promote Ancestor Remembrance
so that they are remembering,
know how to feel gratitude, experience the
gratitude, the feeling of gratitude towards
their parents and ancestors.
That's the point.
However, when Covid happened,
it cut short our activities.
I hope that in the future,
Sydney could do that as well,
celebrate Ancestor Remembrance.
If it's not promoted
that means no one is
explaining why we do that
and what's
the core value behind this ancestor
worshiping, the act of ancestor worshiping.
Then humanity is,
that's it,
it's gone. Humanity's gone.
That's why I felt like I was encouraging
the Sydney temple to celebrate the spirit of
remembrance towards our ancestors.
So that they cultivate a sense of gratefulness,
experience the gratefulness towards their
own parents and their own ancestors.
But in all honesty,
people are not aware of it.
That's why.
Buddha told us
that the Chinese word:
Filial Piety孝 was very well made.
This is one of the examples why Chinese
characters could be regarded
as the best, complete,
is the best
among many words made in the world.
Why is it best?
It is because it has been passed down
for five thousand years
without stopping.
It is because Chinese characters are made
of symbols. Every symbol has meanings,
a lot of meanings.
It can
go everywhere,
carrying wisdom inside.
We must understand these Chinese
characters were made according to the
Six Principles, according to the Six Writings.
Filial Piety is based
on one of the Six Writings,
one of them is called ideographs.
What are ideographs? Ideographs,
when you look at this word, immediately
you experience the meaning it carries.
So the word is supposed to
show you the meaning
straight away.
Like, patience忍, in Chinese, the word is a
combination of symbols, on top is a knife,
at the bottom is a heart.
That means even if the sword is on top of
your heart, you must persevere and
this is the feeling of patience.
You need to let go of
these agitations,
things that agitate you.
So in this society,
it's even more important
to be patient.
So back to the word Filial Piety, we already
mentioned the combination of two other
Chinese characters into this one Filial Piety,
it combines elder and the young.
When two become one,
then it is Filial Piety.
A lot of people, they say Generation Gap.
Oh I don't understand my parents,
okay boomer and all that.
Why does that happen?
We could understand it as
an absence of Filial Piety,
absence of heart to heart, absence of oneness
between the elders and the youngest
because we must understand one reality,
the younger generations will have their
own younger generations, the elders
have their own elder generations.
They are one thing.
The elder was once the younger.
The younger will become the elder.
So they are one.
In Buddhism
what do we learn about
Filial Piety?
In Mahayana Buddhism, Filial Piety,
the whole of the universe is one with ourselves,
like a body, not a family, a body
and this is very profound, straight to the core of it.
It is because when you expand Filial Piety,
love and respect, when you expand it,
you can go
all the way to the end of
the universe which is endless.
Other than Buddhism, Buddhist sutras,
there's no teachings of philosophies that
can expand this to this level,
that can’t
talk about Filial Piety
to this level, to this scale
so without Buddhism we couldn't fully grasp
the profoundness of Filial Piety beyond
just your parents
because it's about one with everyone else,
everything. How can the left hand
work against the right hand?
What I mean is that
they don't oppose each other.
So understanding this,
if you humiliate others,
you are humiliating yourself.
If you're
hurting or harming others,
it equals harming yourself.
If you understand why we need to be
compassionate and filial we will
understand why Buddha told us to be filial,
knowing this relationship we will understand
why Buddha tells us to start
from Filial Piety.
In Buddhism,
there is a sutra:
The Brahma Net Sutra. …
It's about precepts
or conduct of a Bodhisattva.
You have to expand your love and respect
towards your parents i.e Filial Piety
towards your parents,
beyond them, to all beings and this is the standard
set by Shakyamuni in this Brahma Net Sutra
towards all the Bodhisattvas.
To qualify as a Bodhisattva,
you need to have this
kind of heart,
this kind of filial heart towards
not just your parents
but towards everyone,
everyone's my parents,
everyone's my father,
everyone's my mother.
This is because
every single being,
not just sentient beings only,
but all beings,
are future Buddhas and
our parents in the past lives.
This is the foundation of Buddhist Filial Piety,
oneness with the whole universe, love all
because everyone is one with you.
This is a very deep, very,
very profound understanding.
So in daily life, how do we start with this?
How do we achieve
this perfection of Filial Piety?
So the Buddha has already given us
the foundation, the basis, the
theoretical foundation of Filial Piety.
If you can start from your parents, love and
respect your parents and expand this love
and respect towards all beings,
then you are a Bodhisattva.
This is why Amitabha Buddha is great
because he treats everyone like
he treats his own dear parents.
His way to show his love to all beings is
Pure Land. As a human, on our level,
how do we do that?
My Mom has passed away.
Some people might say:
I'm very old. I'm 80 already.
How do I
even be filial at this age,
right? What should I do?
There are three ways in total,
how we perform Filial Piety
in our daily life.
First towards the people, towards any encounter,
towards the material, our environment,
we must be grateful.
Like how we feel from our parents,
their love, from them, we use
that kind of love towards all beings.
It is because in this life,
it's very hard for us to
fully repay our parents’ love,
but the least we can do in our repayment
of this kindness is to expand this love
towards everything you interact with,
the people, the encounters,
the events and the actual
material world.
In Buddhism
we categorize this into four
targets of repayment of kindness.
First is parents,
then is the Triple Gem
which are teachers.
Starting from parents,
by loving and respecting them,
only then can we expand to our teachers.
When you love
your parents you will learn
how to respect the teachers.
Then towards the country that gives you
a safe environment and then
towards all beings
because
think about our position
in this world, are we alone?
Can you survive by only being with
yourself, by being alone? No.
This is why the Triple Gem is precious.
Dharma teachings
are precious
because they teach you about this.
They tell you to open up your mind
towards all beings, be grateful
towards them.
Then we move on to the country.
Without country stability,
how can we prosper,
how can we survive
and continue to
live happily?
And finally,
all beings who give all the services,
all the material resources,
without them,
how can we have an environment
like happiness right now?
When
someone scolds you,
you also need to be grateful.
When people criticize you,
we need to practice gratefulness
towards them.
When we are defamed, slandered or humiliated,
we all need to learn how to even be
grateful towards these people.
It is because no matter
what happens to us in the future,
no matter what happens,
no matter
who does what towards you
or no matter who you are in future,
doctors, teachers, leaders of your own field
or public servants or being parents,
no matter what you are doing,
we must always remember that we cannot
lose our moral compass and virtues,
that means we cannot lose our ground.
We cannot live without this bottom line
because if you always cross the bottom line,
which is against your conscience,
the consequences are not only impacting
your own family, you're impacting
your own next generations
and also your own past generations.
Say, if you always do things
against your conscience,
doing something that's harmful towards
others, how will society look at you,
how will society look at your family
and your own descendants?
This is such
a big transgression.
The point is no matter
how wealthy you will be in future
or how powerful you will be in future,
that's not the main point,
it's just the fruit.The root is
you must not lose your compass,
you must not lose
your virtues as a human.
How can we be a virtuous person?
Start from Buddhism,
start from listening to the Dharma,
listen often to them.
Some examples are like Teacher Chai talks
about starting with Di Zi Gui,
Ven. Chin Kung’s talks on 太上感應篇,
Cause and Effect and
The Sutra of Ten Virtuous Deeds,
all of these are good teachings.
The last one, on the path to being a Bodhisattva,
we need to guide our parents to liberate
them from the sufferings of life and death,
which is to help them
to give rise to the vow
to be reborn in the Pure Land.
Only when they are born in the Pure Land
will they no longer have to
suffer life and death.
When your parents
go to the Pure Land is
when your Filial Piety is completed.
Same for us, when we chant Amituofo,
even though I'm 90 years old,
but if I chant Amituofo earnestly,
when I manage to be born in the Pure Land,
when my time's up, I will not fall into
the Three Lower Realms.
This is the best thing we can do for our parents
because not only are you helping yourself
when you go to the Pure Land,
you're also able to know where
your parents are and help them
to increase their current standards.
In Taiwan, there was a lady, a lay Buddhist,
who accompanied her mother
when chanting Amituofo,
accompanied her Mom
to pray to Amitabha Buddha,
describing how good the Pure Land is
and how there's
no death, no aging, no illness.
How good that place is!
That's the only place
where we can be together forever!
This is how she encouraged
her Mom to chant Amituofo, to be
strong and to vow to be reborn there.
That's how
we fulfill our Filial Piety
towards our parents.
If we go to the Pure Land, if you go to
the Pure land, you are considered
as fully repaying your parents.
If you're able to reach the Pure Land
that means you are able to
repay your parents in full.
So how do we start this journey?
We start from being grateful, being
ready to repay their kindness at any time.
Then move on to increasing our virtues,
our moral conduct and then
in the end we go to the Pure Land.
So in summary,
what's the best way
to practice Filial Piety?
Chanting Amituofo earnestly.
This is the simple explanation on
how we fulfill our duty of Filial Piety.
If I want to go in detail, go in depth,
you cannot finish the concept of
Filial Piety in one day.
What we need to
know is how we practice it.
We start with our attitude, with our conduct.
Parents do not need you
to worship them every day,
like you worship Buddha.
They don't need you to do that. They just
want your attitude, a loving attitude,
good attitude, harmonious attitude.
That can establish a very beautiful,
peaceful relationship between
parents and children
because if we have a very bad temper,
very rebellious temper, that kind of attitude
towards them, it causes them to worry.
So to be filial,
to be loving and respectful
towards them,
we need to use the best condition,
best attitude we have
towards them,
offer them
our best attitude,
our most virtuous conduct.
Filial Piety can be considered
as hard but at the same time,
easy to be achieved,
because towards other people,
we are virtuous.
We can easily be patient and kind,
but towards our family, our parents,
we can't be as gentle and as loving as
we are towards others.
If we can't
do that towards our parents,
be kind to our parents,
then whatever kindness we have
towards others is false.
It's not real.
If our parents
have a very bad temper
or bad habits, we need to be patient,
we need to
use a very good
attitude to melt their shell.
So one day they will be touched
by your change, by your kindness,
by your gentleness.
So this is how we,
as children, as a son
or daughter treat our parents.
Only ask this question:
Is my attitude good
towards my parents?
First, are my words kind towards my parents?
This is something we need to know and
keep asking ourselves every day.
So that's it for today. Next Wednesday,
I would like to continue Understanding
Buddhism, other parts of it,
because we still need
about six or seven more courses
to complete these teachings.
If there's any misunderstanding from
the way I expressed these teachings,
please give me feedback,
because the point is
we know a lot of teachings,
we know a lot of what is right,
but when we
implement it we need to
practice how to implement it.
How we practice being grateful,
being aware of others' kindness and
repaying the kindness towards them.
That's the basics of being a decent human being.
So I wish you all a healthy life,
chant Amituofo earnestly
and that
everything accords to your wishes.
Thank you! Amituofo!
Let us dedicate our merits:
May the merits and virtues
accrued from this work,
repay the karmic
creditors of many lives,
repay the sentient beings of all time
May all the calamities
turn from big to small,
small to nothing.
Repay the Four Kindnesses Above,
relieve the suffering of those
in the Three Paths Below
May those
who see or hear of this
aspire to invoke the Bodhi heart
and cultivate the teachings
for the rest of this life,
then be born together
in the Land of Ultimate Bliss.
Namo Amituofo!
