4Ven Master XueWu 20220223 《Anything that happens in the world arises from this Body of the Truth》

Talking about filial piety, what does it look like in Chinese? In Chinese characters filial piety or Xiao(孝) in pronunciation, is a symbol. So every Chinese character is a symbol. What does this symbol comprise of? The symbol of elder on the top and symbol of young on the bottom, elder and young when you combine them, means elder generation and younger generation are one. It's what we call filial piety. The elder is above, on top. We're not talking about Laozi in Taoism. We're talking about a combination of these two words. It's called filial piety and this is where this word Xiao孝 in Chinese came from. If we want to go further with the meaning: Elder generations and younger generations, together they are one, one entity. They cannot be separated. You cannot be separated from your own parents, you cannot separate (yourself) from your own ancestors. That's the original meaning of filial piety, Xiao孝.
3043 That's why the patriarchs of Buddhism told us that the elder generations have their own elder generations, that means the past has no beginning, there's no origin, there's endless beginnings; the younger generations have their own younger generations, there is no end for the next generation, it will be infinite. So how can it be separated? The beginning and end are one.3110
So no matter what the situation is, the relationship between you and your elders, your parents, the relationship is there, you cannot be separated no matter good or bad.
3126 For example, when I met someone in the past, he told me he hated his father. He said: I really hate him. But I told him: “No matter how much you hate him, the fact is: he is your father.”
For example, on the other hand, your children, no matter how much you dislike your children or because maybe they are not being good or something like that, they are still your children. This relationship cannot be separated.
3211 In Buddhism, filial piety has another word for it, if you perfect filial piety, it becomes Dharmakaya or the Body of the Truth. What does it mean for us? You want to be born in the Pure Land, you want to be liberated from sufferings, you want to sever the cause of life, reincarnation. Anything that happens in the world born from DharmaKaya, arises from this Body of the Truth. What does this Dharmakaya (break down to)? It’s called filial piety.
3307 For example, Buddhas of the past, present and future, of the ten directions, have attained Buddhahood that means perfection of virtues. Some haven't reached it yet, future Buddhas, but each of them, no matter where they are, when they want to begin this journey towards Buddhahood, they begin with filial piety, Xiao(孝).
Why? It is because Buddha will always want to help all beings, just like being filial towards all beings, treating everyone like their parents, this is the heart of Buddha. If you are not filial, could you even get anywhere in Buddhism?
3403 Say Amitabha Buddha, he is now already a Buddha, even when he's a Buddha, he is still continuing the practice of filial piety. To whom? To all of us, to all beings. He keeps giving and helping and taking care of all beings, that's filial piety, love and respect.
So we need to know filial piety is the ship that carries Buddha to Buddhahood.
If you're born into this world with fortunes, into a fortunate family, where did this merit come from? Filial piety.
3448 So if you go back to Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Sutra, what is the special part about his symbol? In the sutra, the most unique part about him, the excellent part about him, is that he started his act of filial piety with his mother. *//
3518 For example, nowadays, we always have Mother's Day. No matter what country you are from, you always have Mother's day. Father's day is relatively not as popular as Mother's day, right? Why? It is because of mother's virtue towards us, the kindness they gave to us is immeasurable, always immeasurable. First thing is the kindness of giving birth to us, carrying us into this world, so if you read the sutra of How Hard It is to Repay the Kindness of the Parents, Buddha has a description: No matter how you repay their kindness, you still cannot reach full repayment to them and that means: a parent, a mother especially, how respected they should be, like how we should be respectful to them because of their kindness, (it will never be enough).
In the Ksitigarbha Sutra, there are two famous stories, tales that represent this value. The first one is Brahman Woman, the second one is Bright Eyes, the woman with bright eyes. These are all about his past life, where he saved his Mom, her Mom, back then he was a lady, her Mom, both of these ladies, their Moms committed negative karma and were born in the Three Lower Realms and when they knew, when *this past life of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva knew that his mother was suffering, (s)he immediately used a lot of energy trying to get them back to the Three higher Realms.
3718 It was very touching and very sincere. Like Brahman Woman, in order to save her Mom to be reborn into the better realms, she was willing to sacrifice her life.
Other than that, she also helped the Triple Gem, built the Buddha tower and helped the poor.
All of these merits were dedicated to her Mom so that her Mom could be reborn into a better realm.
3755 All she could think about was to repay the kindness of her Mom and knowing that her Mom fell into the lower realms, was feeling urgent, like very very desperate to help her.
Same goes for the Bright Eyes. To find people like that right now, in our society, is rare, it's very rare. Therefore, we need to rely on ourselves. It's very rare to find people like this.
3831 In the end, the lesson we need to bring home is that we need to rely on ourselves. Break all the evil deeds and do all the good deeds, so that at the very least, even if you do not manage to go to the Pure Land, you're not falling into the three lower realms. Who wants to go there, who wants to be an animal, a ghost or a hell being?
3859 Let's not talk about the three lower realms, even now, here, who wants to go and who wants to take suffering upon themselves?