Why should someone
practice filial purity?

Jay Bemis
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The Ullambana Sutra was spoken by Buddha for the benefit of Mahamuagalyayana in particular and all beings from the six worlds in general. In Buddhism the main point is to become a Buddha, but cannot be done if you do not end all karma (cause and effect). 

If one does not respect their parents then how can one be respected by others. Parents give us this life so we can breathe, eat, drink, sleep and do all the other thing we love to do so much; how is it that some people can turn their backs on their own parents? Even if your parents are or were mean to you and abused you in every way thinkable, it still does not justify doing one bad thing to them, or saying one bad word to them, even a negative thought cannot be tolerated by God, the angels or even by those of higher wisdom in the human plain. 

A parent's kindness is above all, they give birth to us, but before that there is a pregnancy of about nine months; when you see the suffering of a pregnant woman is above any other kinds of sicknesses imaginable but she would not want to change a thing and is even more happy than any other healthy woman. There is nothing more painful than having a baby, but she still does not complain. After the birth the real work begins, feeding, clothing, education for the next eighteen to thirty years; how much time, money, effort and blood is spent on a child? How many children think about these things? And how many parents even care if their own son or daughter think about these things or not? They do not care, they are just happy to have an offspring. 

The Ullambana Sutra was spoken to repay the kindness of our parent, but not just our parents but also our grandparents for without them how would we have parents to repay? 

In fact the Ullambana Sutra will save the parents of seven generations past. And why should we care about seven generations of people past? 

The answer is in genetic research. It is because our ancestors controlled their anger, lust and ignorance that we can read the Ullambana Sutra now. If they did not control their anger, lust and ignorance they would have broken the very genetic code that keeps us healthy, both physically and mentally. We would be too stupid and sick to take care of ourselves not to talk about picking up a book or turning on a computer if these people would not have taken care of themselves. We think that our science is higher than our ancestors but in the days of Buddha the average person could live to the age of one hundred. The Buddha had said that as we get closer to the Buddhist ending age the people will have shorter lives and there will be eighteen new kinds of sicknesses that at that time did not exist. He had said that each generation would lose one year, so if the parent could live to 75 years of age the child will only live to 74. But this is not fixed, so if you do not engage in anger, lust and ignorance your children will reap the benefit. 

Being kind to your parents is good but how do you be kind to parents, grandparents and parents for seven generations who are no longer with us? That is where the Ullambana Sutra comes in, here the method for getting not only your ancestors out of suffering but also relatives can be saved by the same way; that is by making an offering to Buddhist monks and nuns on the 15th day of the 7th month of the lunar calendar. That day will come again on August 25,1999. It is my sincere hope that all who read this will prepare an offering to be given next year on that date. 

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