鐔津文集 3.4

3.4

Preface: Filial piety is revered by all teachings, but the Buddhist teaching reveres it with particular distinction. Nevertheless, its doctrine has not been made clearly known throughout the realm, largely because our fellow monks have been unable to propagate it, a fact that has often caused me deep sighing and profound shame. Recalling when I was seven years of age, just as my late father was about to pass away, he instructed me to leave household life. As I grew slightly older, my brothers considered that as a promising child I could be educated and sought to alter that intention. My mother alone said: 'This was his father’s command; it must not be changed.' When I took up my robes to travel in search of the Way in all directions, my kinsmen tried to detain me. Again it was my mother who said: 'You have already followed the Buddha; you should dedicate yourself to his Way. How could I restrain you with affection? You must go.' Alas, it was my parents who gave me life; it was my parents who nurtured me; and it was my mother who also brought my Way to fulfillment! Vast Heaven, boundless and unending—how can I repay such great virtue? Since leaving my hometown, twenty-seven years have passed. Never was there a time when I did not wish to return south to the ancestral graves to perform Dharma rites as an invisible assistance for my parents, yet it has not come to pass. In the xinmao year (1051), I encountered adversity on account of propagating the Dharma; the following year my home district was also afflicted by great bandits. Could my parents’ tombs and cottage have escaped being plundered and ruined? Looking toward them, my tears streamed down. The next year, events brought even deeper feelings, and so I composed this Treatise on Filial Piety in twelve chapters to demonstrate my intent. It brings to light the profound principles and hidden intentions of our sage’s great filial piety, harmonizing them with the doctrines of the Confucians almost exhaustively. Those of our school who study in the future may also look upon it.