The Kindness of Mothers: Ideals and Practice of Buddhist Filial Piety

This article introduces a Buddhist Sutra about filial piety. The Sutra has been widely recited, upheld, and endeared by East Asian people for centuries. It teaches the importance of understanding parents' kindnesses, particularly the mother's, and repaying their kindnesses. It explains the difficulty of repaying parents' kindnesses, unfilial behaviors of children, the mystical hell into which unfilial children are doomed to fall, and the way in which they can repay their parents' kindnesses. The mother (woman), aging, and related issues in Buddhism are discussed.