廬山蓮宗寶鑑 1.59

1.59

念佛乃諸法之要，孝養為百行之先。孝心即是佛心，孝行無非佛行。欲得道同諸佛，先須孝養二親。故𦣱禪師云：「孝之一字，眾妙之門。佛語以孝為宗，佛經以孝為戒。言中不昧，口出戒光；直下分明，頓開心地。」夫孝者有在家之孝、有出家之孝。在家孝者，父母愛之喜而不忘、父母惡之勞而不怨，承順顏色以盡養生。出家孝者，割愛辭親、飡微契本，深入無為之理、上酬罔極之恩，趣解脫之要途、報慈親之捷徑，非但未來獲益，亦於現世成功。所以如來子夜踰城、道圓雪嶺，盧能白金遺母、法繼黃梅。然而以法斷恩，應思報德，是以迦維省父、忉利寧親，至於貧乏無依，理合躬親給侍，是故畢陵迦起盡心之戒、忍大師有養母之堂，陳睦州織屨供親、朗法師荷𭬍遊學。然則出家者以法味為甘旨，不忘返哺之心；以佛事為勤勞，未遺世諦之禮。非但一世父母，而多生父母皆報；不惟一身父母，而法界父母皆度。同登覺岸，豈止周公之配天；普示迷津，故逾考叔之純孝。出家之孝，其利博哉。如或因緣未和，父母不聽，宜盡在家之孝，勸修出世之因。若能即俗而真，亦有成佛之路。覬反嬰兒之行、無虧膝下之嚴，報雙親顧復之勞、致一乘圓滿之地，遂使在家菩薩行解無疑、出俗高人因斯可鑑其有局。於事佛不能盡，於事親覩茲有感，于中可以克全其孝。嗚呼！光陰易往，父母難忘。有親在堂如佛在世，以此報親之德、圓成念佛之功，是知父母喜歡則諸佛喜歡、此心清淨則佛土清淨，可謂野色更無山隔斷，月光直與水相通。

Buddhānusmṛti is the essential of all dharmas, and filial support is the foremost among the hundred conducts. A filial mind is none other than the Buddha's mind; filial practice is nothing other than the Buddha's practice. If you wish to have your way identical to all buddhas, you must first filial-mindedly support your two parents. Therefore, Chan Master Qi said: "The single word 'filial piety' is the door to myriad wonders. The Buddha's words take filial piety as their ancestral principle; the Buddhist scriptures take filial piety as their precept. Being unconfused in speech, from the mouth issues the light of the precepts; directly clear and distinct, one suddenly opens the mind-ground." Now, as for filial piety, there is the filial piety of the householder, and there is the filial piety of the monastic. As for the householder's filial piety: when parents love them, they rejoice and do not forget it; when parents dislike them, they labor and bear no grievance, according with their expressions to exhaust all efforts in nurturing their life. As for the monastic's filial piety: they sever affection and bid farewell to their kin, feeding on the subtle to accord with the origin, penetrating deeply into the principle of unconditioned action, and repaying above the boundless kindness—an essential road toward liberation, a shortcut to repay compassionate parents; not only does it bring benefit in the future, it also achieves success in the present life. Hence, the Tathāgata leaped over the city walls in the middle of the night, perfecting the Way upon the Snowy Mountains; Lu Neng gave white gold to his mother, inheriting the Dharma at Huangmei. However, having severed affections through the Dharma, one should remember to repay virtue. Hence, [the Buddha] visited his father in Kapilavastu and comforted his mother in Trāyastriṃśa; when [parents] are destitute and without support, it is proper to serve and care for them in person. For this reason, Pilindavatsa gave rise to the precept of serving with utmost devotion; Master Ren had a hall for nurturing his mother; Chen Muzhou wove sandals to provide for his mother; and Dharma Master Lang carried his baggage on a pole while traveling to study. Thus, monastics take the flavor of the Dharma as delicious delicacies, not forgetting the mind of feeding in return; they take Buddhist affairs as diligent endeavor, never abandoning the etiquette of conventional truth. They repay not only the parents of a single life, but the parents of many lifetimes; they deliver not merely the parents of one body, but the parents of the entire dharmadhātu. Ascending together to the shore of awakening, how could it be limited to the Duke of Zhou matching Heaven? Universally pointing out the deluded ford, it truly surpasses Kaoshu's pure filial piety. As for the monastic's filial piety, its benefits are vast indeed! If circumstances are not yet harmonious and parents do not consent, one should exhaust the householder's filial piety and encourage them to cultivate the transmundane cause. If one can reach the true through the secular, there is also a path to buddhahood. Aspiring to reverse to the conduct of an infant without failing in veneration before one's parents' knees, repaying both parents' labor of care and protection, and reaching the fully perfected ground of the ekayāna—this enables householder bodhisattvas to have no doubts in practice and understanding, and exalted recluses can also take this as a mirror to reflect their shortcomings. If one is unable to fulfill one's service to the Buddha, upon seeing this regarding service to parents, one will be moved, and within this can completely realize one's filial piety. Alas! Time passes easily; parents are difficult to forget. Having parents present in the hall is like the Buddha being present in the world. Repaying parental virtue with this, and completely fulfilling the merit of buddhānusmṛti, one knows that when parents rejoice, all buddhas rejoice; when this mind is pure, the buddha-land is pure. It can be said: 'Wild scenery is no longer blocked by mountains; moonlight flows directly into union with the water.'