諸經要集 19.55

19.55

The commentary states: Once one knows this, when various monastics and laity see the funeral bier of a master, monk, or parent, and outsiders come to offer condolences, if they are junior to the deceased, after arriving at the place of the corpse and performing the ordinary rites, they should first go to the grieving son and offer quiet condolences, and afterwards go to the Venerable, fully expressing their mournful sentiments and bowing in condolence. One also sees ignorant white-robed laity falsely practicing religious teachings, successively teaching others not to allow paying respects to the deceased spirits of parents, uncles, and venerable kin, claiming: 'Since I have received the precepts, and they are ghosts and spirits, it is not fitting to pay homage to them, lest the precepts be broken.' This does not accord with the sage's intention, and instead incurs the sin of ignorance. I humbly consider that masters and monks nurture our dharmakāya, while parents and uncles nurture our physical body. Relying on their nursing, we grow up to become adults; contemplating this kindness and virtue, it is difficult to repay even as vast as the boundless heavens. Repaying this kindness across kalpas, how could a single lifetime suffice to show gratitude? If one does not maintain reverence and gratitude, but instead gives rise to pride and laxity, following in the footsteps of vulgar persons, how could one be an obedient child? Thus, the Bhagavat, the supreme sage, still personally helped carry the corpse of his deceased father to send him off; how much less should low and ignorant ordinary mortals casually give rise to negligence and disrespect? Therefore, the Nirvāṇa Sūtra says: 'Knowing kindness is the root of great compassion; not knowing kindness makes one worse than a beast.'