As the ancients said, "Filial piety comes first", and the most important of all good deeds is filial piety to parents! But there is a very strange phenomenon among the lay people who study Buddhism: he can be very respectful and grateful to the teacher who is studying Buddhism, but he will not be equally grateful and take care of his parents. In some places, the monks think that being a monk means that they must stay away from their parents, leave their hometown, and cannot go back, let alone be filial to their parents. Therefore, the parents of these people are very sad and sad when they hear that their children are going to leave the house, as if they are forever missing a son or daughter. Of course, at the beginning of your monastic practice, you do have to concentrate on your practice in the process of studying, but that doesn't mean that you don't want to stop stepping into the house for the rest of your life, or see going home as a daunting path, or think that "going back to visit your parents will increase the obstacles, so it's better not to go home."

In our Tibetan areas, when we were monks, our parents happily sent us there. After we became monks, our parents often came to take care of us, taking food and clothing, and thought that letting our children become monks was the best arrangement for our children in this life and the next life. Tibetans generally believe in the cycle of cause and effect and believe that studying the Dharma is the best way to achieve liberation; If this monastic child can benefit sentient beings, it will make the parents even happier. When our parents are older, it is natural for us to go home to visit them, and the family will leave the best room in the house for us to live in. When we left, our older relatives and friends would go to the temple to practice when they had time, and the lamas would take care of us outside, and we wouldn't worry too much about it outside. These ideas make for a good social structure.

In fact, according to the Buddha's teachings, if your parents don't agree, you can't leave your home. Why? The reason is very simple: because we want to study Buddhism, the physical body of practice comes from our parents! Without this physical body, let's not say that we are studying Buddhism and practicing, and there is no way to even pursue fame and wealth, eat, drink and have fun in the world! Some people say that the world is too painful, complaining about why his parents gave birth to him (her), and when he (she) can't stand the setbacks in life, he will do things that hurt him or her in various ways. This is all very inappropriate and unreasonable, and in Buddhism, if you commit suicide, you will also fall into bad taste!

For a person who studies Buddhism, although the path to liberation in life comes from the guru, Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha, the body that relies on the practice comes from his parents. If in the reincarnation of our lifetimes, we all have karma and good fortune to practice, it is all because our parents who have been born and raised us in lifetimes have given birth to us! Therefore, if we do not have the heart of gratitude and gratitude at the most fundamental level, we will not achieve great things in the practice of life liberation! This is because the driving force for attaining spiritual attainment is to develop bodhichitta in the vast number of boundless sentient beings to practice the bodhichitta path, and the most basic object of developing bodhichitta is to start with one's own parents. Without bodhichitta, there will be short-term good fortune and a little achievement, but it will be difficult to achieve perfection!

Since bodhichitta starts with one's own parents and family, some students of Buddhism often want to enlighten their parents, so they force their parents to come with them to listen to the Dharma, worship the Buddha, retreat, and so on. In fact, for children, it is of course best for parents to take refuge in the Three Jewels, get close to the Dharma, and understand the principles of karmic reincarnation and the way of practice. But to be filial to your parents, you don't have to force them to practice, but you must first deeply understand the kindness of your parents to us, so that we know not to disobey our parents, and we will not blame our parents for not giving you a lot of property or anything. Next, they will naturally "obey" their parents, please their parents with good language, and then take care of their bodies, make them happy, and let them rely on them, which is the filial piety that children should fulfill; When these filial pieties have been fulfilled and the karma is ripe, your parents will naturally learn Buddhism and practice, and even more diligent than you!

Let's think about it: how can a person who does not know how to be grateful to his parents be able to appreciate the kindness of the Buddha and the kindness of sentient beings? In the classics, it is often said that "report the four graces, and the three hardships of the lower aids", and the parents' grace is one of them! Modern people often have their own small families, so they leave their parents aside, and in turn become "filial sons and daughters" and "filial" to their own children; They didn't think that a person who was not filial to his parents, and his children were not taught in this regard, and when their children grew up, they certainly didn't know how to repay him! Therefore, human society has been turned upside down in this way!

Parents are as kind as a mountain. When we are children, it is difficult to understand how much kindness our parents have; When we become parents ourselves, we will know how much we have to give to our children, and then we will think about how much love and compassion our parents have given us. To develop bodhichitta and compassion, we have to start with the filial piety to our parents, and then expand our whole love to our relatives and friends, to the communities, cities, and countries where we live, and then to all the people in the world and all the sentient beings of the six realms. It's easier to do this with gradual expansion. Otherwise, it would be inappropriate and impractical to ignore the suffering people around us in the first place, but instead speak very magnificently about a vast bodhichitta and start from the vast number of beings in the distance.

Otherwise, if you don't really feel these kindnesses from your heart, then all your practice will be limited to your appearance, and there will be no way to produce real benefits. Therefore, we should not ignore that filial piety to one's parents is the beginning of making offerings to the Three Jewels, good death, and good knowledge (the Guru), and we should keep it firmly in mind whether you are studying Buddhism at home or as a monk. Starting from oneself and striving to be a role model for others, we can lead and influence the social atmosphere in a way that leads to and affects the social atmosphere.

We often say that it is rare to have a full human life, and such an opportunity to have the blessing of hearing about the Dharma is the manifestation of the cause and effect of the ripening of good karma for many lifetimes. The only thing we can rely on if we want to liberate ourselves from the suffering of samsara is this body, so that we can have the medium and channel to receive the Dharma, and through diligent efforts, we can think and establish correct knowledge and correct views, so as to initiate supreme bodhichitta that benefits sentient beings and can be free from suffering and attain happiness. Then again, without the nurturing grace of our parents, how can we have so many corresponding bearers of our good karma that can mature? Therefore, no matter how lofty the goals and ideals in our hearts are, if we do not remember the kindness of our parents, then no matter how big our wishes are, they are empty talk.