So today, I would like to get into the topic of how we fulfill our
filial duty to our parents
because last time we
learned about Buddhism,
when we start learning Buddhism,
we need to learn
how to be a decent human.
That means how to be a decent human being.
This 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 ...
If you want to
list them out one by one,
they are endless.
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 the best part of
Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings,
straightforward.
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
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 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, 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 do 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,
to look at this part.
So how do we do that?
How do we actually fulfill
our Filial Piety 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 Filial Piety?
No. A lot of people are 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 would be saying:
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. Time is money.
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, is 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 (view) 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 help
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 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 think 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 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,
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,
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 bankrupted,
everyone disappeared.
People nowadays.
That sort of human love among each other,
brotherhood, sisterhood,
are loosened.
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
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 like 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 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 how 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 in society?
The thing you wear, the thing you eat,
the thing 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 people. 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.
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 know 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, human,
heaven realms are not achievable at all.
So being a decent human is the basic (goal)
because our parents give birth to us,
nurture us and educate us
and because of them we can grow up
as a healthy adult, 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 are loving
and respect their parents, but it's
already considered a rare case.
This human demographic
is rare.
Therefore, in Buddhism, when you practice,
they will point out among
the Four Great Bodhisattvas,
you all have to start from
Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva,
Dizang.
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 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 suffering.
We are not trying to make it 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 we call ancestor worship.
They feel it’s very weird.
Like some followed their own parents,
Asian parents back in the East,
do this worshiping to the ancestor.
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 period,
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
when 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 ancestor,
worship our ancestor, 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?
Ideograph, 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 becomes one,
then it is Filial Piety.
A lot of people, they say Generation Gap代溝.
Oh I don't understand my parents,
okay boomer and all that.
Why does that happen?
We could understand it as
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 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 Buddha 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 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 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,
being 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?
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.
Defamation, slander, humiliation,
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 a bottom line
because if you always cross the bottom line,
which is against your conscience,
the consequences are not impacting
your own family, you're impacting
your own next generations
and also
your own past generations.
Say, if you always
do things against 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 like Teacher Chai talk
about start with Di Zi Gui, Venerable
Chin Kung’s talks on 太上感應篇,
Cause and Effect and
the Sutra of Ten Virtuous Deeds,
all of these good teachings.
The last one, on the path of 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 you are 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,
virtuous conduct.
Filial Piety also
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 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
what do we practice being grateful,
aware of others kindness,
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!
****
Ven Master Xue Wu 2022 03 02
Understanding Buddhism
So today, I would like to get into the topic of how we fulfill our filial duty to our parents because last time we learned about Buddhism, when we start learning Buddhism, we need to learn how to be a decent human. That means how to be a decent human being. This 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 endless. 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 the best part of Shakyamuni Buddha’s teachings, straightforward.
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 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 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, 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?
605 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 do 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, to look at this part. So how do we do that? How do we actually fulfill our Filial Piety 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 Filial Piety? No. A lot of people are 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 would be saying: 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. Time is money.
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?1002 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, is neglected, moral values are neglected. They don’t have a concept of Filial Piety.
1128 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.
1431 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 help 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?
1545 Some 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 think 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 even worse, they think about how my siblings got more than I have, that's not fair!
1653 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, 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.
1739 I myself have witnessed, 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.
1833 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.
1912 So I have a friend, when he was rich, everyone liked to be his friend. When his company bankrupted, everyone disappeared. People nowadays. That sort of human love among each other, brotherhood, sisterhood, are loosened.
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 the grave and all that.
2039 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 like 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 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.
2218 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 in society? The thing you wear, the thing you eat, the thing 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.
2432 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 people. 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 (laughter).
2515 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 know 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.
2625 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, human, heaven realms are not achievable at all. So being a decent human is the basic (goal) because our parents give birth to us, nurture us and educate us and because of them we can grow up as a healthy adult, 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.
2715 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.
2808 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 are loving and respect their parents, but it's already considered a rare case. This human demographic is rare.
Therefore, in Buddhism, when you practice, they will point out among the Four Great Bodhisattvas, you all have to start from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, Dizang. 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.
3012 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.
3118 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 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 suffering. We are not trying to make it pessimistic or depressing but this is the trend we're going towards.
3212 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 we call ancestor worship. They feel it’s very weird. Like some followed their own parents, Asian parents back in the East, do this worshiping to the ancestor. 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 period, it's called Ching Ming清明 it's a day where we visit the graves of our ancestors, passed away family members.
3322 Many people join the family to sweep the graves. This is a common thing we do when 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 ancestor, worship our ancestor, 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.
3618 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.
3731 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? Ideograph, 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 hold on to these agitations, things that agitate you. So in this society, it's even more important to be patient.
3850 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 becomes one, then it is Filial Piety.
A lot of people, they say Generation Gap代溝. Oh I don't understand my parents, okay boomer and all that. Why does that happen? We could understand it as 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.
3718 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 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 Buddha in this Brahma Net Sutra towards all the Bodhisattvas.
4233 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?
4414 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 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.
4520 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 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, being 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?
4646 When someone scolds you, you also need to be grateful. When people criticize you, we need to practice gratefulness towards them. Defamation, slander, humiliation, 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 a bottom line because if you always cross the bottom line, which is against your conscience, the consequences are not impacting your own family, you're impacting your own next generations and also your own past generations. Say, if you always do things against 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.
4830 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 like Teacher Chai talk about start with Di Zi Gui, Venerable Chin Kung’s talks on 太上感應篇, Cause and Effect and The Sutra of Ten Virtuous Deeds, all of these good teachings.
The last one, on the path of 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.
5020 This is the best thing we can do for our parents because not only you are 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.
5201 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.
5300 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, virtuous conduct. Filial Piety also 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.
5441 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 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.
5536 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. what do we practice being grateful, aware of others kindness, 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,
repaying 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!
