THE SUTRA ON THE PROFUNDITY OF FILIAL LOVE

Translator’s Introduction The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love (Ch.: Fumu enzhong jing; Jp.: Bumoonjūgyō or Fuboonjūkyō) is an apocryphal Buddhist text originating in China. Many apocryphal texts have appeared during the history of Buddhism, and among them the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love is regarded as the most famous and is widely read in many Asian countries. When Buddhism was first introduced into China from India in the first to second centuries C.E., it was regarded as being the teaching of a god or heavenly being who preached, among other things, how to protect people from evil, how to bring good luck, and how to achieve eternal life. The Chinese thus originally viewed Buddhism as a foreign doctrine that promised to bring people much worldly happiness. As the “foreign doctrine” spread within China it encountered deeply rooted Chinese traditions such as Confucianism and Daoism. While Buddhism teaches that our lives pass through three stages (past, present, and future), these indigenous Chinese traditions focus on the happiness and contentment of one’s present life. This is a major point of difference between traditional Chinese teachings and Buddhist ideas. Buddhism also includes the concept of transmigration, or rebirth from lifetime to lifetime, determined by a person’s actions in his or her previous life. The literal meaning of the Sanskrit term karma is “action.” The sum of all one’s actions is collectively known as karma, and, according to Buddhism, life itself can be seen as a chain of karma. During a person’s lifetime, the amount and type of karma he or she accumulates is directly correlated to his or her actions and behavior. The quality, whether good or bad, of the karma one has accumulated in one’s present life determines their rebirth into one of six existences, or realms: hell, hungry ghosts (pretas), animals, asuras (demigods who are always in hostile conflict), human beings, and devas (gods). Buddhism, in particular early Buddhist teachings, also held renunciation as a spiritual ideal. The serious follower is urged to renounce family ties and.

worldly life in order to become a monastic. The aim of spiritual life is to attain enlightenment and free oneself from all attachment to worldly desires. Home, material wealth, social status, and so on are to be renounced, because they may be hindrances on the path toward enlightenment. In the Buddhist system, one should regard the home simply as the place where one lives and engages in relationships with relatives, friends, and other acquaintances. One should not become attached to worldly life. By contrast, Chinese classical thought, especially Confucianism, teaches that every person’s prime responsibility in life is to maintain their family lineage. One is expected to carry out the three supreme orders: holding services for the departed souls of one’s ancestors, performing filial piety to one’s present parents, and bringing children into the world who will then carry out these three supreme orders in the future. In China, one’s home and family are regarded as the very center of life, to be maintained forever. In the early stages of its adoption by China, Buddhism was thus in uneasy relationship to prevailing Chinese religious, social, and cultural norms. This was further complicated by the political aims of the leaders of the ruling dynasties of the time. In such conditions, where Confucian ideals were widely followed in Chinese daily life, it is intriguing to ponder how Buddhism managed to attract the general public, become a popular practice, and firmly establish itself in Chinese culture. In fact, the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love is an interesting and typical example that actually reveals the synthesis of some Confucian and Buddhist ideals. From this point of view, the text is very important. Yet due to its origins in China, it has always been regarded as a controversial text in Buddhist tradition and history. The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love is known as the Buddhist book of filial piety. It is well known that Confucianism has its own traditional text, the Classic of Filial Piety (Xiaojing). The Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love is believed to have been produced by Chinese Buddhist monks in imitation of this Confucian text, in order to show that Buddhism also teaches the idea of filial piety, though it is to be based on the aspiration to attain enlightenment. The main point of the text deals with our indebtedness to our parents. It teaches that as we grow up, we receive many different kinds of favors and help from our parents, which are compared to the sky’s infinitude in their extent,

their value incalculable. The text preaches that we must return the favors granted us throughout our life by our parents—but how best to repay our filial debt presents a problem. According to the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love, the way to repay our debt to our parents is, first, to be kind to them; then, to practice the ullambana ceremony on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (the origins and practice of this ceremony are described in the Ullambana Sutra, pp. 21–23 in this volume); and finally, to copy the text of the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love, recite it, and transmit it to others. By carrying out these practices, one may be emancipated from the five grave sins and quickly obtain liberation. Eventually one may gain freedom from the suffering of transmigration in the six realms of existence, attain enlightenment, and, in the end, achieve buddhahood—the ultimate goal of the Buddhist path. The earliest record of this text is found in the catalogue of apocrypha in the Zhou Dynasty Catalogue of the Sutras (Dazhoukandingzhongjingmulu) edited in 695 C.E. during the reign of Queen Zetianwuhou. The record of the catalogue, however, appears only in one edition of the Zhou Dynasty Catalogue, i.e., the Tripiṭaka Koreana (Gaolidazangjing) edition, indicating that it was probably added later. At any rate, the apocryphal nature of the original text was clear from the beginning, and it was never regarded as a genuine Buddhist scripture originating in India. Another source, the Record of Śākyamuni’s Teachings Compiled during the Kaiyuan Era (Kaiyuanshijiaolu), compiled in 730 during the Tang dynasty, also records the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love as an apocryphal text produced in China, because of the passages in which appear the names of three Chinese dutiful sons, Dinglan, Dongan, and Guoju. However, once the text was acknowledged as apocrypha, it seems to have been revised, with the Chinese names removed. There have since been several other revisions, including versions in which the content of the text was rewritten completely. A dramatic story in which Śākyamuni Buddha finds some human bones and worships them was introduced, and another story about the growth of an embryo in its mother’s womb was added. The text in its various forms spread throughout Asia, and although the content differs in these variations, all versions of the text follow the same basic outline. During the long history of Buddhism in China, the original text of the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love that included the names of the Chinese dutiful

sons, the revised version without the names, and many other revisions of the text eventually disappeared. In mainland China, Taiwan, and the Chinese communities in Southeast Asia there is extant a revised text, the Fumuenzhongnanbaojing (Sutra on the Difficulty of Repaying the Profundity of Filial Love). In Korea there are two other versions, the Dabaofumuenzhongjing (Sutra on Repaying the Profundity of Filial Love) and the Fumuenzhongtaigujing (Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love and the Process of Growth of an Embryo in Its Mother’s Womb). In Japan there exists not only the Dabaofumuenzhongjing but another revision of the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love which includes some poetry at the end. The original text of the Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love (including the names of the Chinese dutiful sons) and the first revised version (without the names) were both part of the huge library of texts found in cave number seventeen at Dunhuang, in the far west of China, by a Chinese Daoist priest in 1900, and brought to England by the well-known British explorer Sir Aurel Stein in 1907. This momentous discovery was a major event for Buddhists all over the world. In 1932, the abovementioned first revised text was published in Japan in the Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō, which was the source used for this English translation. The original manuscript of this text is part of the collection of the British Museum in London (accession number S 2084).

THE SUTRA ON THE PROFUNDITY OF FILIAL LOVE

Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was staying at Vulture Peak in Rājagṛha, surrounded by a large gathering of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, by monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen as well as by gods, dragons, and all kinds of deities. In one mind they listened to the Buddha preach the Dharma, gazing at the Buddha’s face without blinking. The Buddha said, “Everyone born into this world has a father and mother for his parents. Without a father one cannot be born, without a mother one cannot grow up. First everyone grows in his mother’s womb for ten months. When the time of birth arrives, he comes into the world, dropping onto the grass. Then father and mother bring him up, laying him in a crib and holding him in their arms. When the parents [croon at the child,] saying ‘Hai, hai,’ he smiles, saying nothing. As soon as he becomes hungry he needs to eat, and without his mother he is not fed. As soon as he becomes thirsty he needs to drink, and without his mother he cannot suckle. Even if the mother herself is hungry, she will nurse him, giving him all the sweet things while she herself eats untasty food. At bedtime, she places him in a dry spot while she herself lies in a wet place. Really, I assure you that [the child] is treated with love and brought up receiving manifold favors and care from his parents. Especially the mother fosters him with great affection, and she takes him out of his crib stained by his own filth and cleans him without paying any attention to the dirt under her fingernails which comes from his filth. “I say firmly that the amount of milk a baby sucks from his mother comes to as much as eight koku (hu) and four to (tou) (i.e., approximately one thousand five hundred and twelve liters). This uncomparable affection of the mother can be likened to the endlessness of the sky. Alas! How can we repay our mothers for bringing us up?” Thereupon his disciple Ānanda asked the Buddha, “World-honored One! I sincerely ask you to preach on how one can repay one’s parents’ affection.” The Buddha said to Ānanda, “Listen attentively to my words and think them over carefully. I will explain it to you in great detail. As the parents’ favors are like the vastness of the sky, how can we repay them? If a child full of affection and filial piety toward his parents accumulates pious acts, copies Buddhist sutras, produces an ullambana tray on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and offers it full of food and drink to the Buddha and his

disciples, then he can attain numerous merits and repay his parents’ kindness. Moreover, if someone makes copies of this holy sutra, disseminates it among the people, at the same time keeps it for himself and recites it, then he is a person who repays his parents for their favors. “You must know how to requite the favors of your parents. Every day, the parents go out to work. Usually the mother draws water from the well, cooks for and serves another family, works a mortar for hulling, and operates a stone mill. While doing all this, she constantly worries that perhaps her baby is crying or mewling back home, looking for her. When she returns home, the baby catches sight of his mother, waggles his head in joy in his crib or crawls on his belly while crying for his mother. Bending toward the baby she kneels down, stretches out her hands, and wipes the dust off the child. Then she kisses him and gives him the breast [to suckle]. Seeing her child, the mother is full of delight; seeing his mother, the baby is full of joy. Their mutual affection is merciful and compassionate, and nothing could be more precious than this affection. “In due course, the child grows to be two or three years old. Now he is able to walk, going here and there according to his own will. He does not know when it is time to eat without his mother’s attention. Occasionally the father and mother may be invited to dinner and entertained with [a meal] of biscuits and meat. The parents don’t eat the food but bring it home and give it to their child. Nine times out of ten, the child is very pleased with the food his parents bring home to him. But it may sometimes happen that the parents return home without anything for the child, and then he cries and fusses because he has received no present. Such a troublesome baby is very unfilial and deserves the punishment for rebelliousness (i.e., having his body torn to pieces). On the other hand, a filial child does not cry and fuss upon not receiving a present. He is always obedient to his parents and of gentle nature. “When later on the child grows up and begins to keep company with his own friends, his parents comb his hair and arrange it nicely. If he desires to wear good clothes, the parents will wear inferior clothes in order to furnish him with new and good items. When he finally begins to go out on his own, whether on private or public business, the parents think of him north to south, following him with their hearts east to west, inclining their heads to one side [in concern for him everywhere he goes and whatever he does].

“When the child reaches marriageable age, he marries a woman from another family. After marriage he is very happy with his wife, enjoying pleasures in their private room. While the daily life of the newlyweds is full of sweet talk, he treats his parents coldly. Though both his father and and mother are now old and do not have much energy, he has no wish to see them all day long or have any intimate conversation [with them]. “In due time, one parent dies and [the other now] lives all alone. Lonely after the death of their spouse, the parent may now be compared to a traveler without kin who is staying in another person’s house. Having no warm clothes to protect himself against the cold in winter, he encounters numerous diffi- culties. In addition, an aged and depressed parent may become infected with lice and cannot sleep either day or night. At last he heaves a great sigh of disappointment with life, repines at his own misfortune, and says, ‘What actions in a past life have caused me to have such an unfilial child?’ “When the parents call on their child asking for a favor, he becomes furiously angry [with them]. Not only he but his wife and [their] children abuse his parents, laughing scornfully with their heads down. In this case the wife is unfilial as well, and [such an unfilial child] deserves the punishment of having his body torn to pieces again. Treating one’s aged parents in the way described here is equal to the five grave sins expounded in the Buddhist sutras. “When some urgent problem arises and the parents call on the child for help, he will only respond one time out of ten. Thus he is constantly disobeying his parents, shouting out furiously and full of scorn, ‘You had better die soon! Why are you still in this world?’ Hearing such words from their child, the parents grieve and suffer intense agony. With eyes swollen from weeping, they cry, ‘As a baby you would have been lost without us, you could not have survived. We brought you into this world but perhaps it would have been better if we had never had a child.’” Continuing his sermon, the Buddha told Ānanda, “If any good man or woman, for the sake of their own father and mother, keeps, chants, and copies even one passage or one verse from this sutra, which in its full title is called the ‘Great Perfect Wisdom Great Vehicle Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love,’ if only one passage or one verse reaches their ears and eyes, then the five rebellious sins will be erased completely. Nothing sinful will remain

forever. They will now see the buddhas, hear the Buddhist teachings, and soon be able to attain liberation.” At this time, Ānanda rose from his seat. Wearing the upper robe over his left shoulder to show his respect, he knelt on his right knee, joined his palms, and said, “World-honored One, what is the title of this sutra? How should we receive and keep it?” Thereupon the Buddha told Ānanda, “This sutra is entitled the ‘Sutra on the Profundity of Filial Love.’ Any sentient being can bring blessings to his parents. When he copies this sutra, offers incense, prays to the buddhas, worships them, and makes offerings to the Three Jewels, such as providing almsfood for the community of monks, then it may be known that he indeed repays the kindness of his father and mother.” Having thus heard the Buddha preach this sutra, Indra, Brahma, the gods, human beings, and all other sentient beings present at that time were greatly pleased and awakened the aspiration for enlightenment (bodhicitta). Their joyful cries shook the earth and their tears streamed down like rain. Worshiping the Buddha, they fell prostrate on the ground and bowed to the Buddha’s feet. Thereafter they upheld the Buddha’s teaching and delightedly practiced it.

Abhidharma: A collection of treatises containing detailed analyses of the psychological and spiritual content of the early Buddhist teachings; one of the three divisions of the Tripiṭaka. See also Tripiṭaka. Āgamas: A body of scriptures containing the early teachings of the Buddha. Ānanda: A cousin of the Buddha who was his close disciple and personal attendant. arhat (“one who is worthy”): A saint who has completely eradicated the passions and attained liberation from the cycle of birth and death (samsara); arhatship is the highest of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana. See also fourfold fruits; Hinayana; samsara. asura: A type of supernatural being, demigod; one of the six realms of samsaric existence. See also six realms. bodhi: Enlightenment; the state of the highest perfection of wisdom; the state of undefiled purity and eternal bliss. bodhicitta: Literally, “mind (citta) of enlightenment (bodhi),” the aspiration to attain enlightenment undertaken by a bodhisattva in order to help other sentient beings to liberation. See also bodhisattva. bodhisattva (“enlightenment being”): One who has engendered the profound aspiration to achieve enlightenment (bodhicitta) on behalf of all sentient beings, through the practice of the perfections (pāramitās) and the eventual attainment of ten spiritual stages (bhūmis). The spiritual ideal of the Mahayana. See also bodhicitta; Mahayana; perfections; stage. buddhahood: The state of becoming or being a buddha. buddha land: A cosmic world or realm in which a particular buddha dwells. Chan (Japan: Zen): A major Mahayana Buddhist school that emphasizes the practice of meditation as its soteriological path; the word chan is a transliteration of the Sanskrit dhyāna (meditation). See also dhyāna; Mahayana. dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda): The basic Buddhist doctrine that all phenomena (dharmas) arise in relation to causes and conditions and in turn are the causes and conditions for the arising of other phenomena. Nothing exists independently of its causes and conditions. See also dharma; emptiness.

deva: A type of supernatural being; a god, a divine being; one of the six realms of samsaric existence. See also six realms. dhāraṇī: Generally, a powerful verbal incantation or mantra; also, “to hold,” as a container for good spiritual qualities. dharma: Any phenomenon, thing, or element; the elements that make up the perceived phenomenal world. Dharma: The truth, law; the teachings of the Buddha. Dharma body (dharmakāya): The manifestation of the Buddha as ultimate reality or suchness. See also suchness. dharmadhātu: Literally, “realm (dhātu) of Dharma,” ultimate reality. Dharma-nature: The essential nature of all that exists, same as true suchness and the Dharma body. See also Dharma body; suchness. dhyāna: Meditation; a state of meditative concentration and absorption; also sometimes referred to as a trance. emptiness (śūnyatā): The absence of substantiality or inherent existence of the self and all phenomena (dharmas); all dharmas arise only through dependent origination. Direct insight into emptiness is the attainment of prajñā (transcendental wisdom). See also dependent origination; dharma; prajñā. enlightenment. See bodhi. four elements: The four physical elements that constitute material things (dharmas)— earth, fire, water, and wind. fourfold fruits: The four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana—1) stream-enterer, 2) once-returner, 3) non-returner, and 4) arhat. See also arhat; Hinayana; nonreturner; once-returner; stream-enterer. Four Noble Truths: The basic doctrine of Buddhism: 1) the truth of suffering, 2) the truth of the cause of suffering, 3) the truth of the cessation of suffering, and 4) the truth of the path that leads to nirvana. See also nirvana. hell (naraka): The lowest of the six realms of samsaric existence, where those who have committed grave offenses are reborn and suffer torment for many eons; along with the realms of animals and hungry ghosts, one of the three lower realms of samsaric existence. See also samsara; six realms. Hinayana (“Small Vehicle”): A term applied by Mahayana Buddhists to various early schools of Buddhism whose primary soteriological aim is individual salvation. Hinayana followers are grouped into the two categories of śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas and there are four stages of spiritual attainment collectively known as the fourfold fruits. See also arhat; fourfold fruits; Mahayana; pratyekabuddha; śrāvaka

Huayan: An important Mahayana Buddhist school based on the teachings of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra (Flower Ornament Sutra; Huayanjing), which developed in China in the sixth to eighth centuries. hungry ghost (preta): Beings who suffer the torment of insatiable hunger; along with the realms of hell and animals, one of the three lower of the six realms of samsaric existence. See also samsara; six realms. kalpa: An eon, an immensely long period of time. Mahayana: (“Great Vehicle”): A form of Buddhism that developed in India around 100 B.C.E. and which exalts as its religious ideal the bodhisattva, great beings who aspire to enlightenment on behalf of all sentient beings. See also bodhisattva. Maitreya: The future buddha, currently still a bodhisattva. See also bodhisattva. Mañjuśrī: The bodhisattva who represents wisdom. See also bodhisattva. Mount Sumeru: In Buddhist cosmology, the highest mountain rising from the center of the world. nirvana: Liberation from samsara, a state in which all passions are extinguished and the highest wisdom attained; bodhi, enlightenment. See also bodhi; samsara. non-returner (anāgāmin): The third of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana; one who has attained this stage is no longer subject to rebirth in the world of desire. See also fourfold fruits; Hinayana; three worlds. once-returner (sakṛdāgāmin): The second of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana; one who has attained this state is subject to rebirth only once in each of the three worlds before attaining nirvana. See also fourfold fruits; Hinayana; nirvana; three worlds. pāramitā. See perfections. parinirvāṇa: Complete nirvana, commonly used to describe the death of the Buddha. See also nirvana. perfections (pāramitās): Six qualities to be perfected by bodhisattvas on their way to complete enlightenment—1) giving (dāna), 2) moral conduct (śīla), 3) forbearance (kṣānti), 4) energy (vīrya), 5) meditation (dhyāna), and 6) wisdom (prajñā). See also bodhisattva. prajñā: Transcendental, liberative wisdom; one of the perfections. See also perfections. prātimokṣa: A part of the Vinaya which contains the disciplinary rules for monastics. See also Vinaya. pratyekabuddha (“solitary enlightened one”): One of the two kinds of Hinayana sages, along with śrāvakas, who seek to reach the stage of arhat and attain nirvana. A pratyekabuddha attains liberation through direct observation and understanding of

the principle of dependent origination without the guidance of a teacher, and does not teach others. See also arhat; dependent origination; Hinayana; nirvana; śrāvaka. Śākyamuni: The historical Buddha, who lived in India in the fifth century B.C.E. and whose life and teachings form the basis for Buddhism. samādhi: A mental state of concentration, focusing the mind on one point; also a transcendent mental state attained by the repeated practice of concentration. samsara: The cycle of existence, the continuous round of birth and death through which beings transmigrate; the world of suffering, contrasted with the bliss of nirvana. See also nirvana. sense elements (dhātus): The six sense organs, their objects, and their resulting consciousnesses, totaling eighteen. See also sense objects; sense organs; senses. sense objects: The objects of perception associated with each of the six sense organs— 1) form, 2) sound, 3) smell, 4) taste, 5) tangible objects, and 6) mental objects. See also sense organs. sense organs: The six sense organs of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. See also senses. senses: The sense perceptions that correspond to the six sense organs—visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, and mental perceptions. See also sense organs. sense spheres (āyatanas): The six sense organs and their six corresponding objects, totaling twelve. See also sense objects; sense organs; senses. six realms: The six realms of samsaric existence—the three higher realms of devas, asuras, and human beings; and the three lower realms of animals, hungry ghosts, and hell. See also asura; deva; hell; hungry ghost; samsara. śrāvaka: Literally, “word-hearer”; originally, a disciple of the Buddha, one of those who directly heard him expound the teachings; later, the term came to refer to one of the two kinds of Hinayana followers, along with pratyekabuddhas, to distinguish them from followers of the Mahayana. See also Hinayana; Mahayana; pratyekabuddha. stage (bhūmi): Ten stages of spiritual attainment to be accomplished by a bodhisattva on the way to perfect enlightenment. See also bodhisattva. stream-enterer (srota-āpanna): The first of the four stages of spiritual attainment in the Hinayana; one who has entered the stream of the Dharma by destroying various wrong views. See also fourfold fruits; Hinayana. stupa: A monument, usually in the form of a conical mound or structure, containing the relics of the Buddha or marking the site of an important event in the Buddha’s life and which serves as a site for worship and veneration.

suchness: Ultimate reality; the state of things as they really are. Insight into the suchness of all phenomena, i.e., as empty of inherent self-existence, arising only through dependent origination, is perfect wisdom (prajñā). See also dependent origination; emptiness; prajñā. sutra: A Buddhist scripture, a discourse of the Buddha. Capitalized, the term refers to one of the three divisions of the Tripiṭaka. See also Tripiṭaka. Tathāgata: An epithet for a Buddha, meaning one who has gone to (gata) and come from (āgata) suchness (tathā), i.e., the embodiment of the truth of suchness. See also suchness. tathāgatagarbha: Literally, the “womb (garbha) of the Tathāgata,” the inherent capacity for buddhahood within all sentient beings. See also buddhahood. three worlds: The three classifications of samsaric states of existence: the world of desire (kāmadhātu), i.e., the world of everyday consciousness accompanied by desires; the world of form (rūpadhātu), in which desires have been eliminated but the physical body remains; and the formless world (ārūpyadhātu), in which the physical body no longer exists. See also samsara. Tripiṭaka: The three divisions or “baskets” (piṭakas) of the Buddhist canon: the Sutras, discourses and teachings of the Buddha; the Vinaya, codes of monastic discipline; and the Abhidharma, scholastic treatises on the Buddhist teachings. vehicle (yāna): The various Buddhist paths of practice. The Hinayana comprises the two vehicles of the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas, contrasted with the bodhisattva vehicle of the Mahayana. See also Hinayana; Mahayana; pratyekabuddha; śrāvaka. Vinaya: Precepts and rules of conduct for monastics; along with the Abhidharma and the Sutras, one of the three divisions of the Tripiṭaka. See also Tripiṭaka.