《太上老君說報父母恩重經》

The vernacular interpretation of The Supreme Lord Lao's Scripture on Repaying the Deep Kindness of Parents:

This scripture records the scene where the Supreme Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun) expounded the Dao at Mount Yuli in the Western Han Jade Kingdom. Among the fifty thousand followers listening to the Dharma, a Perfected Being named Haikong Zhicang asked Laojun: "Every strand of our hair and skin comes from our parents. Their kindness is as deep as the ocean yet difficult to repay. We humbly request your teachings on this matter."

After deep contemplation, the Supreme Lord Lao responded: "This question touches profound truth! Just as an upright object casts a straight shadow while a tilted one casts a crooked shadow; or as clear sounds produce pure echoes while muddy sounds create chaotic reverberations—so too does the principle of filial piety manifest accordingly."

Families practicing filial piety will receive:

1. Peace and joy for all members, young and old

2. Respect from celestial beings and divine protection

3. Descendants who continue the tradition of filial devotion across generations

4. The blessing of filial children in return

Conversely, unfilial families will experience:

1. Generations locked in bitter enmity

2. Father-child relationships worse than between enemies

3. Rebellious and disobedient offspring

4. Family members eating from separate stoves despite sharing the same garden

5. Hoarding delicacies like thieves hiding loot

6. Divine abandonment and social contempt

7. After death, suffering in hell realms

8. Subsequent rebirth as the Hundred Hardship Bird (legendary species that pecks at its mother)

9. After a hundred kalpas (eons), even human rebirth will reunite unfilial karmic ties

10. Endless cycles of mutual harm between parents and children

The Supreme Lord Lao emphasized: "In human life, parents represent our closest bonds. Without fathers we wouldn't be born; without mothers we couldn't grow—this mirrors the nurturing virtue of Heaven and Earth toward all creation."

(Note: The "Hundred Hardship Bird" symbolizes filial impiety in Daoist scriptures; "kalpa" refers to Buddhist cosmological time cycles; the "Five Heinous Crimes" include patricide and matricide among other grave offenses.)

This scripture vividly depicts the arduous process of a mother carrying and nurturing her child, expressing profound gratitude for maternal love:

Within the womb, the fetus relies entirely on the mother's Qi and blood for nourishment throughout the ten months of pregnancy. As birth approaches, the mother faces life-and-death risks while enduring constant fear and anxiety. During delivery, she suffers excruciating internal and external pain, crying out in agony. After the child's birth, the mother personally catches the newborn and places it upon straw bedding. When the baby wails, she remains ever vigilant against harmful influences.

For the first three months after birth, only the mother can satisfy the infant's hunger and quench its thirst with her milk. Records show a baby consumes approximately eight hu and four sheng of breast milk (about 500 liters). For a thousand days without respite, the mother cleanses the child's filth, endures dampness herself, and saves all delicacies for her offspring. No one but a mother would nurture with such selfless devotion.

As the child grows slightly older, whenever the mother works outside, the sound of her baby's crying disturbs her spirit and causes her breasts to swell, compelling her immediate return. Whether the child is in its cradle, bed, or on the ground—whether crying or quiet—the mere sight of its mother turns tears into smiles. The mother constantly bends to care for it, wiping away filth, blowing on food to cool it, and exchanging joyful gazes during nursing—no bond compares to this depth of maternal love.

At two or three years old when the child begins walking, the mother still tends to its warmth, cleanliness, and toilet needs. When parents obtain fine food elsewhere, they invariably bring it home for their child. Even if the child rejects their offerings nine times out of ten, the parents never cease their devotion. Yet the scripture warns that excessive indulgence may ironically cultivate unfilial behavior.

(Note: Through detailed life scenarios, the text emphasizes parental—especially maternal—sacrifice, while cautioning that overindulgence may breed ingratitude in children.)

The Scripture on Repaying the Heavy Debt of Parental Kindness Spoken by the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun Shuo Bao Fumu Enzhong Jing) vividly depicts the hardships parents endure in raising children and enumerates various forms of filial ingratitude. Using stark contrasts, the scripture first describes parents' selfless devotion:

Parents lavish endless care upon their children, clothing themselves in coarse rags while providing fine garments for their offspring. Yet when the children grow up, they become absorbed in frivolous pleasures, and after taking wives, they distance themselves from their parents. The aged mother and father are left alone in empty rooms, lacking food and clothing, their bodies weakened and covered with lice, lying awake through the night with nothing but sighs, wondering why they ever bore such unfilial sons. When the parents lean on their canes, hoping to speak with their children, they are met with harsh words and can only beat their chests in anguish.

The scripture pays particular attention to the suffering of mothers during pregnancy and childbirth: Ten months of carrying the child is like bearing a heavy burden, with labored breathing, alternating chills and fever, and no peace whether sitting or lying down. At the moment of delivery, the pain is unbearable—as if cut by knives or torn by hooks—with life hanging by a thread. After the child is born, the parents devote themselves day and night for three years, unable to eat when the child falls ill. They spare no expense, using gold and silver to buy clothes and toys, and in the child’s earliest years, the parents never let them stray far from their side.

Through these vivid and concrete descriptions, the scripture admonishes people to remember the profound kindness of their parents and never become unfilial children.

This scripture recounts how the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun, the supreme deity of Daoism) expounds on the vital importance of filial piety toward parents, illustrating the law of karma through vivid contrasts between hell and paradise.

The text depicts how infants cannot survive without their parents, crying day and night without rest. Yet when grown, people often forget parental kindness—some even mistreat their elders. At this point, Lord Lao manifests his divine power, causing the earth to tremble as he reveals the horrific scenes of hell: sinners tread on mountains of blades, their hands pierced by sword-trees, tongues ripped out by iron hooks, bodies festering and bleeding. These torments represent the karmic retribution for those who in life were unfilial to parents, slandered the Three Jewels of Buddhism (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), or insulted monastic practitioners.

Then Lord Lao displays the splendors of paradise: virtuous beings radiate dignified grace, enjoying boundless delicacies and jewels in effortless joy. These blessings stem from lifetimes of sincere filial devotion, reverence toward the Three Jewels, and practices of charity and moral discipline (Buddhist cultivation methods).

The teaching concludes with a gatha (verse summary): Those who practiced filial piety and respect in life naturally attain celestial bliss after death, while those who were unfilial and wicked inevitably suffer infernal punishments. Unless encountering the rare Three Amnesty Days (special Daoist occasions for karmic pardon), liberation from such retribution remains exceedingly difficult.

(Note: The "Three Amnesty Days" refer to specific auspicious dates in Daoism designated for the remission of sins.)

This scripture expounds the teachings of Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun, one of the highest deities in Daoism) on repaying the profound kindness of one's parents.

After delivering this teaching, Lord Lao sighed deeply and addressed the Perfected Haikong Zhizang: "A parent's kindness towers higher than heaven, but how can we ever repay a mother's boundless compassion? I recall my previous incarnation in the womb of the Hong family, where I dwelled in the sacred uterine palace for thirty-seven hundred years, followed by another eighty-one years in the womb of Mother Li. Even after such prolonged repayment of maternal grace, I still feel it insufficient—how much more should ordinary people like you feel this way?"

Lord Lao sternly criticized those who fail in filial piety: "Those who neglect basic reverence, even daring to contradict their parents, violate the precepts of all religious traditions. Though the thirty-six divisions of Daoist scriptures (the principal canon of Daoism) may not explicitly record this, which sage throughout history has not upheld filial devotion? You who study the Dao must particularly remember this duty of gratitude."

The methods for repaying this kindness include:

1. Copying and reciting this scripture for one's parents

2. During the Zhongyuan Festival (the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, a major Daoist observance), performing zhaijiao (purification rituals) with precious incense, mountain flowers as offerings, and maintaining sincere devotions day and night

3. Observing purification at noon on the first day of each month, offering incense, performing prostrations, and chanting scriptures

4. Inviting virtuous masters to expound this scripture and inspire filial sentiments in others

Such practices generate supreme merit, capable of eradicating the "five rebellious acts and ten evils" (the gravest karmic offenses), bringing salvation to ancestors. Those who hear this scripture will awaken filial hearts—such blessings move celestial deities and beings of the underworld, while also benefiting descendants for generations.

Finally, all present including the Perfected Haikong Zhizang were moved to tears, vowing to eternally uphold filial piety before respectfully withdrawing to practice these teachings in their respective abodes.