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盂蘭盆經或許是佛教中將孝道詮釋得最好的一部。這部極短的經典，講述目連尊者在證果後思報母恩的故事。回憶地藏菩薩往昔生中的幾段插曲，目連尊者用其天眼，見到母親報在地獄受餓鬼苦。但他欲救不能，只好求救於佛，佛陀於是召集僧團，宣佈於七月十五日舉行休夏自恣時，在這期間居士供僧以資紀念過往雙親和祖先。而出家僧尼則報以祝願咒語迴向亡者。即刻見效的結果不僅慰籍了目連尊者，也免卻了他母親地獄的苦痛。佛陀於是在會向弟子們宣佈，凡欲報答親恩的人，皆可用此方法超度親人。與會僧眾聽了之後皆「歡喜奉行」。
孝道既然可以延伸到如此多的層面，因此值得我們深入探討。這部經典不僅是從一個報答親恩的小孩身上開始的（如釋迦牟尼佛，地藏菩薩），它同時更把孝道向下推展到地獄去。生為人子的目連救母失敗後，他就向有大威神力的佛陀求救。佛陀除了集合僧團的力量以外，他更指示目連尊者要親身參予儀式，這不單是為了他自己的母親，更是為了過去七世的父母，以及所有人的父母。當這些亡魂都得到超脫後，受到感動的目連尊者於是問佛，未來的弟子是否也可依此方法救拔亡人，釋迦牟尼佛宣佈這是整個法界都能用的。他甚至更詳細指示儀式的細節，比如說該如何發願，以及希望祖先們得到什麼樣的利益。我認為這是這部經典最重要的部分，因為它實際將佛教的修行和孝道結合在一起。佛陀說：
「諸佛子們欲行孝道，在設供時要一心繫念現世和過去七世的父母。每一年在七月十五日這一天，都應誠心緬懷現世和過去七世生育他們的父母。」我們可否把中國這種追思祖先的傳統視為佛教的「聯合祈願」這個問題其實無關緊要，重要的是，藉著經文和儀式，佛教徒擴大其心量並有效地將孝道轉換成救濟全宇宙的方法。
最後，我們要討論一個一開始就提出的問題，佛教在效法典型的儒家模式之外，有其自家的人物角色，足供後代子孫效法。這當然包括我們以前已討論過的人物，還有釋迦牟尼佛他自己。但更重要的是，這些活生生的歷史人物以佛教徒的姿態，將孝道的精神具體融入日常生活當中。我們的空間有限，只能再提一位禪宗祖師圭峰宗密 (780-841C.E.)。僅管身為唐代佛教之一盞明燈，宗密祖師卻是道地的儒學份子。他所受的是正統儒家教育，卻在二十歲不到的年紀，唯獨接受了佛教信仰，這個轉變大概是在他三年的悼父期間所發生的。縱觀他一生的學術生涯，我們仍舊感受得到他對儒家道德的狂熱，尤其是孝道。我們甚至可以說「孝」這個一再出現的主題把他定位成「智慧型的孝子」，是歸因於他孩提時代所受的教育。他的一生是他盡孝的具體寫照，他聽從家人的安排成為學者，在他父親往生後又為其舉行合法的葬禮，甚至退隱到故居四川，畢生都思念著他的雙親。
在他眾多著作中之一的「原人論」，是許多佛教判教書籍當中，說明儒、道二教終究導歸佛教的最傑出的一部。有一點很特別的，是他將老子、孔子與佛並列為聖人。宗密祖師對所有的法師都很孝順。甚至他的老師澄觀大師，對於以佛教來挽回儒家道德也感到興趣。他以本身的聰明才智和宗教背景，復甦儒家道統的作風，不僅大大地影響了宗密祖師的一生，並以極微妙又高超的方式將孝道展現出來。
不過宗密推崇孝道最有力的證明，是他所註解的，我們以前討論過的盂蘭盆經。這部淺釋在唐代社會廣泛地流通著，還激起了在家居士對這部經典和節日的喜愛。宗密祖師在淺釋中寫著，那個在混亂初期興起，如今已參天入地，人神合一，無處不在，儒佛同尊的，不是別的，就是孝道。「對宗密祖師而言，孝道同時存在於儒、佛弟子的心中，又與宇宙結為一體。」正如 Kenneth Ch'en 所 說的。
整體來講，宗密祖師的淺釋最能代表一個佛教出家人義正嚴辭地說服儒學人士，佛教徒其實是同他們一樣地孝順。因此除了他在文學和哲學上的成就之外，宗密祖師還是佛教孝道中最偉大的歷史人物之一，一個活生生的菩薩行者。他所在意的不僅是孝道的實現，他更將之涵蓋到整個宇宙。
總而言之，佛教明顯的不是一個自私、不孝的宗教。我們在經典中找到的理論和實例，以及廣泛流傳的僧、俗孝蹟，都足以推翻那些心狹氣窄的儒士所下的謬論。還有，從菩薩戒和地藏菩薩所樹立的風範、目連尊者、佛教知識分子宗密祖師的例子中，可以看到佛教徒尋求將孝道精神，從鄉黨的小範圍，擴張到一切眾生身上的努力。從這些方面來看，佛教，尤其在中國，深入孝道的程度，已超過凡情所能理解的程度的這種說法，一點也不誇張。由於這一點，促使我們這些既無中國背景，又無佛教背景，卻對修行有著熱忱的人來說，不得不將我們對父母的態度和與家庭的關係、自我修行以及對真理的研究，重新做一番評估。佛教徒處在一種牽絆不能擺脫的地位––一面要修行出世的覺道，一面又要不忘對父母家人盡孝，更要將這種精神貫徹到全宇宙。這樣的修行是為了要回歸到根本，回到我們這些生靈的本源。這真是一項既深遠又鼓舞人心的責任。在這個令人迷惑、茫然又失根的世界，它正透露著有待超越它原始文化風貌的訊息。
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Perhaps the best Buddhist expression of filial piety and devotion, though, can be found in the Ullambana Sutra (Yulanpen jing). This relatively short text tells the story of the Venerable monk Maudgalyayana (Mulian), who wishes to repay his parents’ kindness upon his enlightenment. In a scene reminiscent of episodes from the lives of Earth Store Bodhisattva, Venerable Maudgalyayana uses his “divine eye” and sees his mother reborn in hell as a preta. When his own attempt to aid her fails, he turns to the Buddha who enlists the support of the entire Sangha. Sakyamuni Buddha declares the Pravarana festival to be held on the fifteenth day of the seventh (lunar) month, during which the laity offer food to the monks and nuns in remembrance of their parents and ancestors. The monks and nuns, in turn, recite prayers and mantras for the deceased. This proves immediately successful in that not only is Venerable Maudgalyayana comforted, but his mother is spared her hellish plight. At this point the Buddha then extends the festival beyond the immediate context to all sincere disciples who wish to repay their parents and ancestors. The assembled Sangha hears and, it is said, “practices it with delight”.
The extension of filial piety operates here on so many levels that it warrants our taking a closer look. Not only does the Sutra begin with a filial child seeking to repay his parents (cf. Sakyamuni Buddha, Earth Store Bodhisattva), it also extends this devotion literally down into the hells. When this action fails, the son tries again, this time going to one who can surely help, the Buddha.
The Buddha not only enlists the entire Sangha, he explicitly charges Venerable Maudgalyayana to engage in the ritual for the sake not just of his own mother, but “for the sake of fathers and mothers of seven generations past, as well as fathers and mothers of the present who are in distress”. When this proves successful, Venerable Maudgalyayana asks if this will work for future disciples as well, at which time Sakyamuni Buddha proclaims the festival to be universally effective. He even goes on to give detailed instructions on the performance of the ceremony, what vows to make and what benefits to wish for one's ancestors. This is, I take it, a crucial part of the Sutra, for it effectively melds Buddhist practices of metta and mindfulness with filial respect and reverence. The Buddha says, “ Those disciples of the Buddha who cultivate filial conduct should, in thought after thought, constantly recall their present fathers and mothers when making offerings, as well as the fathers and mothers of seven lives past.”
Every year, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, they should always, out of filial compassion, recall their parents who bore them and those of seven lives past.
Whether we see this as Buddhist “co-optation” of traditional Chinese (or Vedic) ancestor veneration matters little. What is obvious is that Buddhists, with this text and the rituals it enjoins, have enlarged filial respect and effectively transformed it into a means of universal salvation.
As a final consideration, we noted earlier that Chinese Buddhism, following the typical “Confucian” pattern, has its own figures who exemplify filiality for later generations to imitate. This includes, of course, those characters in the Sutras we have discussed as well as Sakyamuni Buddha himself. But even more importantly, it includes historical persons who, as practicing Buddhists, sought to embody filial respect in their everyday lives. We have space only to mention one, the Hua-yen/Chan patriarch Guifeng Zongmi
(780-841 C.E.). Although one of the “great lights” of Tang Buddhism, Master Zongmi was always preoccupied with Confucian values. He was raised with a proper Confucian education, apparently only turning to Buddhism in his late teens, probably during the three year's mourning of his father's death. Throughout his scholarly career, we can trace his keen interest in propounding Confucian morality, particularly filiality. We might even say that this recurring theme marks his own “intellectual filiality” to the originial teachings he learned as a child. His own life concretely demonstrates his filiality in that he trained as a scholar in deference to his family's wishes, observed the proper mourning rituals at his father's death, constantly remembered his parents during his career, and even “retired” to his native land (Sichuan province).
Among Master Zongmi's many writings is the “Essay on the Origin of Humanity” (Yuan ren lun), perhaps the most famous of the many Buddhist panjiao schemes to explicitly include Confucianism and Taoism as teachings which lead to the Dharma. It is especially interesting that Master Zongmi speaks of Laozi and Confucius as being, along with the Buddha, perfect sages. Master Zongmi here is being filial to all of his “Dharma masters”, perhaps even his personal mentor, Master Chengguan, who also was interested in the Buddhist reclamation of Confucian values. Such reclamation of his own “native” intellectual and religious traditions formed an important aspect of Master Zongmi's career, and demonstrates filiality on a subtle but highly significant level. In a sense, through his filiality, he became (or remained) both Confucian and Buddhist.
However, the strongest evidence of Master Zongmi's abiding Buddhist filiality is his commentary on the Yulanpen jing, one of the Sutras discussed above. This commentary circulated widely in Tang society and greatly broadened the appeal of both the Sutra and festival to the laity. In his commentary Master Zongmi writes, “That which began during the primal chaos and now saturates heaven and earth, unites man and deity, connects the high and the low, and is revered alike by the Confucians and Buddhists is none other than filial piety.” For Master Zongmi, filial respect lies at the heart of both Confucianism and Buddhism, uniting them together with the cosmos itself. As Kenneth Ch'en observes, “All in all, we may say that this commentary by [Master]Tsung-mi represents the most serious effort by a Buddhist monk to convince the Confucians that the Buddhists were just as filial as they.” Thus on top of his many literary and philosophical achievements, Master Zongmi serves as one of the great historical exemplars of Buddhist filiality, a true Bodhisattva interested not just in traditional filial practices but expanding them to embrace the entire universe.
In sum, then, Buddhism is not a religion of selfish, “unfilial” pursuits. The stock criticism leveled at it by a few narrow-minded, sectarian Confucians (or Brahmins, for that matter) is belied by the teachings and examples found in many texts and in the widespread devotion of laity, monks, and nuns to their parents and ancestors. Moreover, the Bodhisattva precepts and the examples set by Earth Store Bodhisattva, the Venerable monk Maudgalyayana, even the “Buddhist literatus” Master Zongmi, demonstrate that Buddhism seeks to expand the notion of filiality beyond clan level to include all sentient beings. From these considerations it is no exaggeration to say that Buddhism, particularly in China, extends the practices of filial respect to levels beyond our ordinary lives and conceptions. This, in turn, forces those of us who were not raised in either a Chinese or Buddhist context but who are nonetheless interested in these traditions and our own self-cultivation to face certain crucial questions: What exactly is the relationship between gratitude towards one's parents and family, and one's own spiritual path? What do we as “good sons and daughters” owe, and to whom? How are such matters related to the nature of ultimate Reality itself? The Buddhist answer is that these concerns are inextricably intertwined--to cultivate the path of realization includes constant gratitude and service to one's parents and family, which must be extended throughout the universe. Ultimately, after all, such cultivation is the return to the root (ben), the source of our being. This is a profound and moving charge. In a world characterized by confusion, wandering, and rootlessness, though, it may be a message which needs to be voiced beyond its original cultural context.
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