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云何念父母恩。哀哀父母。生我劬勞。十月三年。懷胎乳哺。推乾去溼。嚥苦吐甘。才得成人。指望紹繼門風。供承祭祀。今我等既已出家。濫稱釋子。忝號沙門。甘旨不供。祭掃不給。生不能養其口體。死不能導其神靈。於世間則為大損。於出世又無實益。兩途既失。重罪難逃。如是思惟。惟有百劫千生。常行佛道。十方三世。普度眾生。則不惟一生父母。乃至生生父母。俱蒙拔濟。不惟一人父母。乃至人人父母。盡可超升。是為發菩提心第二因緣也。
「云何念父母恩」：我快點給你們講，你們也坐了很久了，我也沒有什麼太多時間。前邊已經提出那個提綱了，現在這是解釋。
「哀哀父母」：說我對父母常常要很哀念。「生我劬勞」：這是《詩經》上的字句，說「哀哀父母。生我劬勞。欲報之德。昊天罔極。」
「十月三年」：十月懷胎；三年乳哺，所以說「懷胎乳哺」。「十月懷胎，三年乳哺」，這好像沒有那麼好念，所以就說「十月三年，懷胎乳哺」。
「推乾去溼」：從溼的地方推到乾的地方去。不是推開這乾的地方去到那濕的地方，而是從那溼的地方去了，推到那個乾的地方去。這個很簡單，沒有什麼特別的講法。母親帶小孩子就是這種的情形。
美國這兒小孩子和媽媽都分開房住，沒有這些個麻煩。尤其有那種紙的墊子，用完可以換了那個衛生巾。普通以前這個媽媽都要小孩子睡到一起，那小孩子把床尿了，這個媽媽把小孩子挪到乾的地方去，自己睡那個溼的地方，你看！
「嚥苦吐甘」：「嚥苦」就是有什麼苦，有什麼困難，這母親把它吃下去；「吐甘」，把有什麼甜的都給小孩子。「才得成人」：因為這樣子盡心竭力來培植灌溉這個小孩子，栽培他，所以小孩才長大成人 。「指望紹繼門風」：生兒育女就是為著能傳宗接代 ，不斷香煙。指望就是用手指頭指著，用眼睛看著。幹什麼呢？「紹繼」：紹就是接續的意思；「繼」就是把它接下去，不斷；「門風」就是家庭好的這種風範，這種法財。「供承祭祀」：將來子女好祭祀祖先。指望紹繼門風，就是希望他接續這個香煙。西方不講這個；西方的人也不供祖先。中國人供上一個祖先，在祖先上燒香。這個作爸爸、作媽媽的，或者作爺爺作奶奶的，就希望死了之後，這個子或者孫，給他燒燒香。這叫繼續香煙，繼門風。這是誰的兒子，誰的孫子，誰的什麼什麼。「供承祭祀」：等他死的時候去給叩個頭，拜一拜。在西方也沒有這個，這更談不到囉。
「今我等既已出家」：可是現在我們已經出家了。「濫稱釋子」：就是也不管夠不夠佛子的資格，就濫芋充數說：「啊！我們也是個釋迦牟尼佛的弟子。」「忝號沙門」：忝就是不知慚愧不知羞恥。忝列門牆就是我很不夠這個資格，很不配做這個沙門，可是我也濫芋充數就也算是個沙門。沙門就是「勤修戒定慧；息滅貪瞋癡。」「甘旨不供」：對父母，我們一點也沒有什麼供養，沒有拿出自己的力量來供養。「祭掃不給」：等到父母死了之後，也不去掃墓，也不到墳上去拜一拜，也不祭。
「生不能養其口體」：父母活著我不能來奉養他的口體。「死不能導其神靈」：父母死了我也不能把他的神靈引導到一個安樂的處所去。「於世間則為大損」：對於世間法來講，就是對社會，這是一個大損失。「於出世又無實益」：我們出世也沒有修行，也沒有成功，對父母沒有什麼幫助。
「兩途既失」：兩途就是「生」和「死」。活著我也沒有奉養；死了我又沒有祭祀。我出家了也不管在家的父母了，這是兩途既失，兩方面都有大損失。「重罪難逃」：這種很重的罪很不容易逃避的。
「如是思惟」：像這樣想一想。「惟有百劫千生，常行佛道」：我就怎麼樣呢？我要百劫千生，都要修行佛道，常常依照佛法來修行，常常行佛道。
「十方三世，普度眾生」：我到十方去，到過去世、現在世、未來世，我普度一切眾生，所以這叫報父母恩。「則不惟一生父母」：這兒應該加一個「乃至」，「乃至生生父母」：生生世世的父母。「俱蒙拔濟」：都得到度脫了。「不惟一人父母，乃至人人父母」：乃至生生世世的父母。「盡可超升」：都可以升天去了。我們要是真修行，「一子得道，九祖升天。」所以我們要好好用功修行，那我們過去生生世世的父母，乃至於所有人的父母，我們都可以令他超升去了。
「是為發菩提心第二因緣也」：發菩提心第二種的因緣是這樣的。
這個文沒有什麼很深奧的，都是很淺顯的。不要看得有什麼不明白，有什麼困難，沒有什麼困難的。
待續
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Text:
What is mindfulness of our parents' kindness? Alas for my parents! I was born through much toil. I was nurtured ten months in the womb and was suckled three years at the breast. My bottom was dried and my diapers were changed. I was fed delicacies while they toiled bitterly. Only then was I able to grow up. They expressed their hopes that I might glorify and carry on the family name and continue the ritual offerings to our ancestors. Since leaving home, however, I have shamelessly called myself a disciple of ya and have dared to assume the title of Shramana. Thus, I neither offer delicacies to my parents nor sweep the ancestral graves. While they live, I cannot take care of their physical needs; after they depart, I cannot guide their souls. Thus, in the mundane world, I have hurt them greatly, and in world-transcending matters, I can offer no real benefits. To cause them such a double loss is a serious offense. How can I possibly avoid the consequences!
I contemplate thus: I must always cultivate the
Buddhas' Way through hundreds of
kalpas and in thousands of lives and save living beings everywhere throughout the ten directions and the three periods of time. I will rescue not only my parents in this life but my parents in every life. I will take across not only one person's parents but everyone's parents. This is the second cause and condition for resolving the mind upon
Bodhi.
Commentary:
What is mindfulness of our parents' kindness? I will explain this quickly, for you have been sitting for a long while and I don't have that much time either. The general overview was given earlier, and this is now the explanation of each aspect.
Alas for my parents! I should often think of my parents with sorrow.
I was born through much toil. This is a line from the Book of Odes. The whole line says:
Alas for my parents! I was born through much toil.
How can I repay their kindness,
which is as vast as the boundless sky?
I was nurtured ten months in the womb and was suckled three years at the breast. We stayed ten months in our mothers' wombs before we were born. We drank our mothers' milk for three years. We were raised by our parents who toiled bitterly to bring us up.
My bottom was dried and my diapers were changed. When our bottoms were wet, they changed our diapers. This was how our mothers took care of us.
I was fed delicacies while they toiled bitterly. Our mothers fed us all the good and sweet things, and they endured all the sufferings.
Only then was I able to grow up. Our parents toiled bitterly and took care of us so that we could grow up and become adults.
They expressed their hopes that I might glorify and carry on the family name and continue the ritual offerings to our ancestors. Our parents hoped that we would grow up and carry on the family name and become successful in our lives. They hoped that we would remember and honor them after their deaths.
Since leaving home, however, I have shamelessly called myself a disciple of Shakya and have dared to assume the title of Shramana. We should be ashamed and remorseful, as we shouldn't really be called disciples of Shakya or assume the title of Shramana. "Shramana" is the title given to all left-home people; it means "to diligently cultivate precepts, samadhi, and wisdom and to put to rest greed, hatred, and stupidity."
Thus, I neither offer delicacies to my parents nor sweep the ancestral graves. We neither offered delicacies to our parents when they were alive nor swept their graves after they were dead. We didn't go to their graves and pay our respects.
While they live, I cannot take care of their physical needs; after they depart, I cannot guide their souls. Thus, in the mundane world, I have hurt them greatly, and in world-transcending matters, I can offer no real benefits. To cause them such a double loss is a serious offense. How can I possibly avoid the consequences! Thus, in the mundane world we didn't take care of their physical needs and hurt them greatly. When they passed away, we didn't give them any benefits. When we left home, we neglected them. We caused them to suffer a double loss. This is a serious offense; how can we avoid the consequences?
I contemplate thus: We should think about it.
I must always cultivate the Buddhas' Way through hundreds of kalpas and in thousands of lives: What must we do? We should always cultivate the Buddhas' Way, always cultivate in accord with the Buddhadharma.
Save living beings everywhere throughout the ten directions and the three periods of time: We should think about saving living beings throughout the ten directions and the ghree periods of time -- the past, present, and future. Only then we can say that we have repaid our parents' kindness.
I will rescue not only my parents in this life but my parents in every life. I will take across not only one person's parents but everyone's parents, so that all can ascend. There is a saying:
When a child accomplishes the Way,
His ancestors of nine generations
are born in the heavens.
This is the second cause and condition for resolving the mind upon Bodhi.
Basically this essay is very simple, not that profound or esoteric. You shouldn't regard it as being hard to understand or complicated. It's not all that difficult.
To be continued
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