Deep kindness of Parents and the Difficulty of Repaying it.
Thus I have heard, at on time the Buddha dwelt at Shravasti, in the Jeta Grove, in the Garden of the Benefactor of Orphans and the Solitary, together with gathering og great Bhikshus, twelve thousands in all.
At that time the world Honored One led the great assembly on a walk toward the south. Suddenly they came upon a pile of bones besides the road. The world Honored one turned to face them,placed his five limbs on the ground, and bowed respectfully.
Ananda put his palms together and asked the world Honored One, " The Tathagatha is the great teacher of the Triple Realm and the compassionate father of beings of the four kinds of births. He has the respect and reverence of the entire assembly. What is the reason that he now bows to pile of dried bones ?"
The Buddha told Ananda," Although all of you are my foremost disciples and have been members of the Sangha for a long time, you still have not achieved far-reaching understanding. This pile of bones could have belonged to my ancestors from former lives. That is the reason I now bow to them." The Buddha continued speaking to Ananda. " These bones we are looking at can be divided into two groups. One group is composed of the bones of men, which are heavy and white in color. The other group is composed of the bones of women, which are light and black in color."
Ananda said to the Budhha," World Honored One, When Men are alive in the world they adorn their bodies with robs,shoes,hats,and other fine attire so that they clearly assume a male appearance. When women are alive, they put on cosmetics,perfumed,powders,and elegants fragrances to adorn their bodies so that they clearly assume a female appearance. Yet once men & women die, all that is left are their bones. How does one tell them apart? please teach us how you were able to distinguish them."
The Buddha answered Anananda," It when men are in the world,they enter temples,listen to explanations of sutras,make obrisance to the triple jewel,then when they die,their bones will be heavy and white in colour. Most women in the world have a little wisdom and are saturated with emotion. They give birth to and raise children,feeling that this is their duty. Each child relies on its mother's milk for life and nourishment and that milk is transformation of the mother's BLOOD. Each child drinks SEVEN THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED FIFTY GALLONS of it's mother's milk. Because of this drain on the mother's body whereby the child takes milk for its nourishment,the mother becomes worn and hagged and so her bones turn black in colour and are light in weight."
The Buddha told," Listen well and I will explain it for you in detail. The fetus grown in its mother's womb for ten lunar months. What bitterness she goes through while it dwells there !! ...
* In the first month of pregnancy the life of the fetus is as precious as a dew drop on grass:how likly that it will not last from morning to evening but will evaporate by mid-day!!
** During the second lunar month the embryo congeals like curds.
*** In the third month it is like coagulated blood.
**** During the fourth month of oregnancy the fetus begins to assume a slightly human form.
***** During the fifth month in the womb, the child's five limbs-two legs,two arms.and a head starts to take shape.
****** In the six lunar month of the pregnency , the child begins to develop the essences of the six sense faculties: the eyes,ears,nose,tongue,body and mind.
******* During the seventh month,the tree hundred sixty bones and joints pores are also complete.
******** In the eight linar month of the prgnancy the intellect and the nine apertues are formed.
********* By the ninth month the fetus has learned to assimilate food in accord with its own disposition. For example,it can assimilate the essence of peaches,pears,certain plants roots,and the five kinds of grain.
********** During the tenth month of pregnancy,the body of the fetus is completed and ready to be born.if the child is extremely filial,it will emerge with palms placed torether in respect and the birth will be peaceful and auspicious. The mother will remain uninjured by the birth and will not suffer pain. However,if the child is extremly rebellious acts,then it will injure its mother's womb,rip aoart its mother's heart and liver, and/or get entangled in its mother's bones. The birth will feel like the slice of a thousand knives or like the thousand sharp sword stabbing her heart. Those are the agonies involoved in the birth of a defiant and rebelious child.
To explain more clearly, there are ten types of kindness bestword by the mother on the child...
1) The kindness of providing pritection and care while the child is in the womb.
2) the kindness of bearing suffering during the birt.
3) the kindness of forgetting all the pain once the child has been born.
4) the kindness of eating the bitter herself and saving the sweet for the child.
5)The kindness of moving the child to a dry place and lying in the wet herself.
6)the kindness of sucking the child at her breast and nourishing and bring up the child
7) the kindness of washing away the unclean.
8) the kindness of always thinking of the child when it has travelled far.
9) the kindness of deep care and devotion.
10)the kindness of ultimate pity and sympathy.
For ten months while the mother is with child,she feels discomfort each time she rises,as if she were lifting a heavy burden. Like a chronic invalid,she is unable to keep her food and drink down. When the ten months have passed and the time comes for the birth,she undergoes all kinds of pain and suffering so that the mortality,like a pig or lamb waiting to be slaughtered. Then the blood flows all over the ground. These are the suffering she undergoes.
Once the child is born,she saves what sweet for him and swallows what bitter herself.
Parents continually instuct and guid thier children in the way of popriety and morality as the youngsters mature into adults. They arrange marriages for them and provide them with property and wealth or devise ways to get it for them.They take this responsibility and trouble upon themselves with tremendous zeal and toil,never speaking about their care and kindness.
The virtue of one's parants kindness is boundless and limitless. If one has made the mistakes of being unfilial, how dificult it is to repay that kindness!!!!!!
The Buddha told Ananda," This sutra is called The Sutra about the Deep Kindness of Parants and the Diffculty of Repaying it. Use this name when you accord with it uphold it."
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