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當我們更深入研究其他戒律時，就可明白這個道理。比如說，第一重戒，不殺生，是基於「一切眾生皆是我父母」的動機下制定的。第二重戒，不偷盜，這需要用順承的心來守持。更發人深省的，是第二十輕戒，不行放救戒。在一段與第一重戒相應的句子中，這部經典指示一切菩薩，一切的眾生從無始以來就是我們的父母，所以我們應該竭盡所能救護他們。此外，這部經典又教示菩薩，應以講說、讀誦此經典，來救度新亡之父母眷屬。很明顯地，梵網經將孝道與佛教戒律縱橫交織在一塊。
另一部以孝為中心的經典是地藏菩薩本願經。它是東亞一帶最著名的經典之一，內容敘述佛陀如何將救度末法眾生的重責大任託付地藏菩薩。孝道在這部經典中份外地受到重視。如同梵網經一樣，這部經一開始就說出佛陀的孝心：「佛陀在仞利天為母說法」。因為佛母在佛陀一出生時就死了，沒有機會在人間聆聽佛法。又一次地，佛教的教義，從聖人的行儀當中，找到了線索。
這部經典之所以受到矚目，是因為地藏菩薩。這位十地大菩薩的過去幾生，都可做為孝悌楷模。好比在第一品中，地藏菩薩前生是個不知名的「婆羅門」女。由於她母親生前譭謗佛法，她對母親殷重的孝心，令她到各地去禮拜塔廟，渴望打聽到她母親身後的下落，好施計救援。這樣的孝心，感動了無毒鬼王和過去覺華定自在王佛，將她母親於同淪地獄受苦的眾生當中救拔出來。她為了報答慈恩，就立下大願，依著願力逐步修行，終究成為大慈大悲的地藏王菩薩。以後我們又聽到光目女的故事，這是地藏菩薩另一段本生的事蹟，她藉著供養一位阿羅漢和清淨蓮華目如來的功德，把她那嗜食海鮮的母親從地獄裏解救出來。正如先前婆羅門女所做的一樣，為使母親永不生貧賤家，她立下大願，盡未來際行菩薩道。這兩則都是盡大孝的故事。
然而地藏經並未就此結束。這部經典還提到許多祥瑞感應（此乃大乘經典慣有的特色），來說明盡孝的功德利益。舉例來說，我們聽說誦經可以超拔雙親、眷屬和祖先離開惡道。經文中就不斷強調我們要恭敬、景仰地藏菩薩。在幾則實例中，可以看到因恭敬地藏菩薩而得的功德利益。因此我們知道，如果一位孤兒，禮敬地藏菩薩，可以幫忙他將已逝的親人從惡道中解救出來，速證聖果，甚至可隨意親往探視。因為孝順的力量是這麼的大，仰仗大孝地藏菩薩的幫忙，就可以救拔亡故或惡道受苦的眾生。
待續 |
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We can see this when we look closely at the precepts themselves. For instance, the first major precept, the prohibition of killing, bases its motivation on the practice of regarding all beings as one's parents. The second major precept, the prohibition of stealing, explicitly says that in following this one must give rise to the mind of "filial compliance". Perhaps even more enlightening, though, is the twentieth minor precept regarding the liberation of all beings. In a passage echoing the first major precept, the Sutra instructs Bodhisattvas to reflect upon the fact that all beings over endless time have been their parents so that it is imperative that Bodhisattvas strive to protect and liberate them. Furthermore, the Sutra stipulates that the Bodhisattva should extend this practice to include liberating newly deceased parents and relatives by means of Dharma talks, recitations, etc. Clearly the Brahma Net Sutra weaves filial respect into the very warp and woof of Buddhist moral practice.
Another Sutra which shows the centrality of filiality to Buddhism is the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva (Dizang pusa ben yuan jing). One of the most popular devotional texts in East Asia, the Sutra narrates the Buddha's entrusting to Earth Store Bodhisattva the responsibility of "bringing over" all sentient beings. Filial respect and devotion are emphasized in this Sutra to an astounding degree. First of all, as with the Brahma Net Sutra, so this Sutra, too, is spoken out of the Buddha's own filiality: Sakyamuni Buddha preaches it in the Trayastrimsha Heaven for the benefit of his mother, who died in childbirth and so never had the chance on earth to receive the Dharma. Once more, an important teaching takes its cue from the Buddha's own devotion.
What sets this Sutra apart, though, is the focus on Earth Store Bodhisattva, a Mahasattva Bodhisattva of the tenth bhumi whose previous lives become prime examples of filial respect. In the first section, for instance, we are told the story of Earth Store Bod-hisattva's previous life as a nameless "brahman woman". Her intense devotion to her dead mother, a woman who had ridiculed and slandered the Dharma, motivates this brahman woman to worship at various temples and stupas with great intensity in order to learn of her mother's fate, and so help her. Such worship and devotion prompts the Ghost King "Poisonless" and the Buddha "Past Enlightenment Flower Samadhi Self-mastery King" to save the woman's mother from the hell in which she had fallen along with all other people destined for the same fate. In response to this saving grace, the woman takes the vow which enables her to eventually be-come the compassionate Earth Store Bodhisattva. Later in the same Sutra we hear the tale of Bright Eyes, another previous existence of Earth Store Bod-hisattva, who through offerings to an arhat and Pure-Lotus Eyes Buddha rescues her seafood-loving mother from hell. Bright Eyes then, like the earlier brahman woman, makes a Bodhisattva vow on the condition that her mother will never have low birth again. Both of these stories show filial devotion on a truly grand scale.
The Earth Store Sutra does not stop there, however. In many places it also comments upon its own effec-tiveness as a devotional text (a common characteristic of Mahayana Sutras), speaking of the benefits of such religious practices in filial terms. We hear, for exam-ple, that recitation of the text will help one's dead parents, relatives, and ancestors by "lifting" them from their "evil paths". Worship and reverence of Earth Store Bodhisattva is continually recommended in the text, and always such worship and the benefits derived therefrom are described in filial terms. So we learn that if an orphan reveres Earth Store Bod-hisattva, she/he will be able to liberate deceased rela-tives from evil destinies, help them attain sagehood quickly, or even visit them personally wherever they are. So powerful, then, is filial devotion in this text that, with the aid of the greatly filial Earth Store Bodhisattva, even death and abandonment constitute no final barriers.
To be continued |
