ལས་རྣམ་པར་འབྱད་པ 21

21

and for this reason such people should be shunned.²¹³

“How, then, are one’s parents, one’s preceptor, and one’s teacher equal?²¹⁴ In this regard, the Bhagavān has said, ‘Parents love their children from the depths of their hearts.’²¹⁵ Therefore, when parents do not give their permission, one should not accept someone into the novitiate. Take, for example, the noble Rāṣṭrapāla,²¹⁶ among others.²¹⁷ When his parents did not let him go, the Bhagavān did not accept him as a novice.²¹⁸ Still today²¹⁹ ordination is not given without parents’ consent.²²⁰ Or, for example, it is said that when the Bhagavān himself adopted the life of a mendicant, his parents went blind out of grief for the loss of King Śuddhodana’s son,²²¹ because they had wished for the birth of a son who would uphold their legacy in these five areas: ‘This son of ours that we will give birth to, after being born, will support us;²²² he will continue to perform our duties; he will become the inheritor of our wealth;²²³ when we die, he will perform the ancestral food offerings; and he will continue the family lineage.’²²⁴

“The preceptor and the teacher, however, have compassion as their priority. Their sole concern is this: ‘So long as he cannot adopt the life of a mendicant because his parents do not give their permission, how will this one who has been wandering in saṃsāra since time immemorial reach the end of it?’²²⁵ For example, the Bhagavān says the following in the Vinaya:

“ ‘The preceptor regards the pupil as a son. The pupil regards the preceptor as a father. Thus, they consider each other parent and child.’²²⁶

“In this regard, the preceptor and the teacher are equal to the parents. Furthermore, the Bhagavān says in the Cakravartisūtra:²²⁷

“ ‘Which action leads to the karmic result of the wheel-turning monarch obtaining the precious elephant and the precious horse?²²⁸ Carrying one’s parents around on one’s shoulders, or having them mount a carriage drawn by a horse or by an elephant, and carrying one’s preceptor and one’s teacher oneself.²²⁹