佛說盂蘭盆經疏 2.15

2.15

'To deliver' means deliverance and liberation. However, the two words 'repay kindness' merely indicate an empty role in a general way; deliverance and liberation are precisely the actual repayment. 'Nursing' refers to mother's milk; 'feeding' is chewing food and feeding it. Now, parents may be distant or near, kindness may be light or heavy, and repayment may be partial or complete. 'Distant' refers to seven lifetimes and even many lifetimes; 'near' refers to this very body in the present life. As for 'seven lifetimes', this is upheld by non-Buddhist teachings. They take the physical form as the root, transmitting the bodily substance in continuity; taking the father, grandfather, and so forth upward as the seven generations, they therefore give special reverence to the father. What Buddhist teaching upholds is that human beings take the spiritual consciousness as the root, and the physical form of the four great elements is that upon which the spiritual consciousness relies. In lifetime after lifetime and birth after birth, there are always parents; taking the parents who gave birth to and raised this body backward up to the parents who gave birth to one in seven lifetimes constitutes the 'seven lifetimes'. However, the place of entrustment is solely within the mother's womb, and from birth onward, nursing, feeding, and cradling in the bosom are also mostly done by the mother; hence, special weight is given to the mother. For this reason, the sūtra only speaks of 'repaying the kindness of nursing and feeding'. As for 'even many lifetimes', among them it specifically takes all the physical parents who gave birth to one since taking refuge in the Buddha, because they were able to give birth to my body as a vessel for cultivating the path. When all Buddhas attain the path, their parents over many lifetimes all meet together, hear the Dharma, and obtain benefit. As for 'kindness may be light or heavy': the parents of this life are the weightiest, and the rest are progressively lighter. As for 'repayment may be partial or complete': serving and nurturing them for one lifetime is partial; delivering and liberating them across many lifetimes is complete. Therefore, a sūtra says: 'Even if one carried one's father on the left shoulder and one's mother on the right shoulder and walked all over the great earth, one still could not repay their kindness.' Thus we know that what is repaid in this life is partial; even if one were like the likes of Meng Zong, Dong An, or Dong Yong, it would still be partial. Now this sūtra says: 'He wished to deliver his parents'—the intention is to cause them to attain the path, making clear that it is complete. If one does not repay it at all, one is simply an unfilial sinner, not to mention committing rebellious acts. Furthermore, speaking broadly of kindness from all people, the Avataṃsaka Sūtra says: 'Those who do not recognize kindness often suffer untimely deaths.' The Sūtra on the Ocean of the Samādhi of the Visualization of the Buddha says: 'Having received kindness and not repaying it is a cause for Avīci.' If other kinds of kindness are still like this, how much more so with parents? The kindness of parents is beyond measure. Therefore, the Book of Odes says: 'Long and large grows the artemisia, / Yet it is not artemisia, but southernwood. / Alas, alas, my parents! / With what toil they gave me birth!' And further: 'Fatherless, whom can I rely on? / Motherless, whom can I depend on? / When I go out, I carry sorrow; / When I come in, there is nowhere to go. / Father, you gave me birth; / Mother, you nurtured me, / Caressed me and fed me, / Reared me and educated me, / Looked after me and sheltered me, / Going out and coming in, holding me in your bosom. / Wishing to repay this virtue, / It is like vast Heaven, boundless!' Therefore, the Tripiṭaka Master says: 'The righteousness of parents is as high as heaven and earth, their kindness as deep as the great ocean; for this reason, one binds one's thoughts to and looks up to the kindness of their looking after and holding one to their bosom, and thinks of responding to the virtue of their toilsome labor.' The Sūtra on the Heavy Kindness of Parents says: 'In the bosom of the parents, smiling without yet speaking, making harmonious babbling sounds; when hungry, needing food, without mother one is not fed; when thirsty, needing drink, without mother one is not suckled (and so forth). Considering and assessing the mother's kindness, it is like vast Heaven, boundless. Alas, kind mother, how can it ever be repaid? (and so forth). As for her walking back and forth to east and west, among neighbors, by the well, stove, mortar, and mill, not returning home on time: the mother's heart suddenly trembles and milk flows from both her breasts, and she immediately knows: "My child at home is longing for me." She then returns home at once.'