HOW SHOULD BUDDHIST PRACTITIONERS MANAGE RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE ELDERS?
Caller: Filial piety and respecting the elders are traditional virtues of the Chinese. Many Buddhist friends know about these morals. However, in real life, it is hard to maintain a harmonious relationship with the elders at all times. May Master teach us how Buddhist practitioners should manage their relationships with the elders?
Master Jun Hong Lu: First of all, you should have pity on sentient beings. Always think about how hard it has been for your parents to raise you. Your parents are not on the spiritual cultivation path, hence, they do have their share of deep-seated bad habits. Some parents are not well-educated, some have many bad habits for instance, they are bad tempered and their children may find their shortcomings a little annoying.
However, we should view this from the lens of compassion and filial piety. Regardless of their shortcomings, we must learn to tolerate and accept. After all, they are our parents; they have educated, nurtured and raised us. As Buddhist practitioners, we must have compassion, we must take pity on them. Whenever you start to hate them, contemplate, at the end of the day, your parents wouldn’t be able to outlive you, would they?
If they pass away in the next couple of years, you would surely feel sad. By harbouring such thoughts, you will gradually comprehend the impermanence of life. Your parents, on the other hand, are pathetic because by the time they reach the tail-end of their life and time is running out, they still do not know what Buddhism is all about, let alone the meaning of spiritual cultivation. As for you, you have managed to grasp all these ideas at such a young age.
Why would you, as a well-cultivated Bodhisattva, be bothered by people who will soon leave this world with no knowledge of Buddhism and have so little blessing? Why would you still want to quarrel with them? Does this not reflect poorly on your spiritual cultivation?
Caller: That’s true.
Master Jun Hong Lu: OK. Do you understand what I’m saying?
Caller: Yes. Thank you, Master.
Source: Wenda20170818 01:02:21, Master Jun Hong Lu’s call-in radio program
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