..續本文上一頁ld bring disgrace to the parents of our wisdom-life, that is, the Buddha. Is that all we have to do to be filial to the Buddhas
If you still don”t change your old habits of arrogance, contention, greed, and other faults, you will cause the Buddhas to worry about you, and how can that be considered filial piety
孝順是一切佛經道理的本源，地藏王菩薩往昔就是一個孝順的婆羅門女；目連尊者爲救生母離餓鬼道，請佛救度，而有盂蘭盆法會。在佛教中，殺父殺母，和出佛身血一樣，是屬于五逆重罪，要墮無間地獄。
Filial piety is the source of all the Buddha”s Sutras. In a former life, Earth Store Bodhisattva was a filial Brahman woman. Venerable Maudgalyayana, wishing to free his mother from the path of hungry ghosts, went to ask the Buddha to rescue her, an thus the Ullambana Ceremony came about. In Buddhism, killing one”s father and killing one”s mother, along with shedding the Buddha”s blood, are classified among the Five Rebellious Offenses that merit falling into the Unintermittent Hells.
一個不孝事父母的人，想要祈福，是無有是處的。
If a person who is not filial to his parents prays for blessings, there is no way he or she will obtain them.
佛陀時代，在羅閱祇園有一個人，爲人凶惡愚昧，不孝父母，欺壓善良，不敬尊長，家道衰落，多不如意事，因此，便去事奉火神，希望求得火神的褔佑。
In the Buddha”s time, there was an evil and foolish person in Rajagriha who was unfilial to his parents, cheated good people, did not respect his elders, caused his family to fall into ruin, and had all kinds of bad luck. He decided to go worship the fire spirit in order to seek its protection.
事奉「火神」的方法，就是當太陽剛剛要落山時，點燃一堆大火，向火光跪拜，直到深更半夜火熄爲止。他這樣拜火拜了叁年，生活還是沒有什麼改善，又改變信仰去事奉「日月」之神。
The method of worshipping the fire spirit involved lighting a big fire at the time of sunset and making prostrations to it until midnight, when the fire was extinguished. He worshipped in this way for three years, but there was no improvement in his lifestyle, so then he began to worship the sun-moon spirit instead to go worship the fire spirit in order to seek its protection.
事奉「日月」之神方法是﹕白天太陽出來向太陽膜拜，夜裏月亮升空向月亮膜拜；直到太陽落山，月亮西沈爲止。他這樣也拜了叁年，仍然得不到褔佑，就又再改事天神，每天燒香對著天空跪拜，同時擺上香花美酒、臘肉、豬羊牛只，想要獲福。這樣經年累月，終于耗盡家財，弄得貧窮不堪，當然也沒得到什麼好處。他爲了拜天，弄得辛苦憔悴，病得不能出門。他聽說舍衛國有一位佛陀，是所有天神所崇敬的，想想應該去事奉他，這樣一定會獲得褔佑。
The method of worship involved making prostrations to the sun at sunrise, and making prostrations to the moon when it ascends into the sky at night, bowing continuously until the sun sets behind the mountains, and the moon sets in the west. He bowed like this for three years, but still didn”t receive any blessings or protection, so he changed to worshipping the heaven spirit. Every day he lit incense and made prostrations to the heavens, making offerings of fresh flowers, fine wine, and dried pork, mutton, and beef, hoping to obtain blessings. In bowing to the heavens, he wore himself out until he was too sick to leave his house. Then he heard that there was someone known as the Buddha in Shravasti, whom all the heaven spirits worshipped. He thought he ought to go worship Him as well, for it would certainly bring him blessings.
他便來到舍衛國，見到了佛陀，他便訴說自己九年來的經過，如今皈依佛，希望佛陀賜福給他。
He went to Shravasti and met the Buddha, and told the Buddha what he had been doing for the past nine years, saying that now that he had met the Buddha, he hoped the Buddha could bestow blessings upon him.
佛陀告訴他說﹕「祭神求褔報，日後觀收獲，四分不得一，不如敬賢善。能爲善謙誠，常敬長和上，四褔自增多，健康長壽安。」──《法句譬喻經‧述千品十七》
The Buddha told him, "If you worship spirits hoping for blessings, you will find that you will not gain even a quarter of what you put in. It would be better to venerate good and worthy people. If you can be virtuous, humble, and sincere, always respecting your elders and seniors, the four blessings will naturally increase and you will enjoy health, longevity, and peace." (Chapter 17 of the Dharmapada Sutra)
一個不孝父母，不敬長老的人，是不可能獲得褔佑的。佛教把一切衆生看作是過去世的父母。「是男子皆是我父，是女子皆是我母。」將孝道擴大了，這是一種平等的孝順，不只孝順自己的父母，更達到叁世一切父母，以一種平等心，這可以說是孝道最極致的境界了。
A person who is unfilial to his parents and disrespectful to his elders cannot possibly attain blessings and protection. In Buddhism, we consider all living beings to be our parents from past lives. " All men have been my fathers. All women have been my mothers." The scope of filial piety is expanded and becomes an impartial filial piety directed not only towards our own parents in this life, but towards all our parents in the past, present, and future. This kind of impartial spirit could be said to be the utmost state of filial piety.
《弟子規淺釋 Standards for Students 第五章﹕信 Chapter Five: LEARNING TO BE TRUSTWORTHY - 5》全文閱讀結束。