鐔津文集 3.6

3.6

二三子祝髮方事於吾道。逮其父母命之。以佛子辭而不往。吾嘗語之曰。佛子情可正。而親不可遺也。子亦聞吾先聖人其始振也。為大戒即曰。孝名為戒。蓋以孝而為戒之端也。子與戒而欲亡孝。非戒也。夫孝也者大戒之所先也。戒也者眾善之所以生也。為善微戒善何生邪。為戒微孝戒何自邪。故經曰。使我疾成於無上正真之道者由孝德也。

When some disciples shave their hair and begin to serve our Way, if their parents summon them, they decline as 'disciples of the Buddha' and do not go. I once told them: 'A disciple of the Buddha must rectify sentiment, but must never abandon parents. Have you not heard that when our former Sage first arose, in formulating the great precepts, he declared: "Filial piety is called the precepts"? This is taking filial piety as the outset of the precepts. If you take the precepts while wishing to discard filial piety, they are not the precepts. Filial piety is what precedes the great precepts; the precepts are that from which all wholesome deeds arise. In doing good, without the precepts, from where could goodness arise? In observing the precepts, without filial piety, from where would the precepts originate? Thus the sutra says: "That which enabled me swiftly to accomplish the unexcelled, correct, and true Way was the virtue of filial piety."'