Filial piety is filial piety to one’s parents. Among the Four Graces, filial piety is the highest, but to fulfill filial piety, people must know how to repay their parents, who are grateful for giving us life and nurturing us, while we were still children and needed the care and protection of our parents. But the word filial piety has a deeper meaning than just being grateful to your parents, but also being grateful to your grandparents, the people who gave birth to your parents.
Loyalty means being loyal to the king, the country and the land. Thanks to the protection of the nation and the fatherland, we can have a secure life, our territory is strong and we can be warm. If we want to repay the king and the land, we must know the religion of being a citizen of a country, contribute to the work of protecting the land when the country is in danger, must worship Bright King who represents the soul of the country to preserve the traditions of a sovereign country, with the right to choose its leader. Today, the monarchy only exists in very few countries, most of which have changed to a monarchy, so the concept of patriotic centralism here has changed a lot. Neutrality in today’s sense is first of all not to do anything that does not adversely affect the reputation or interests of the country, such as supporting the enemy, or disrupting the national economy, or destroying security and order without a legitimate reason, such as demanding the basic rights of the people or human rights.
Throughout the Master’s sermons, He unceasingly reminded his disciples to fulfill their duty of the four debts of gratitude, of which the two greatest ones are Filial piety or Central Filial piety. During the time of its birth, the country of Vietnam was being colonized by foreign invaders, so the two words “Chinese Army Patriotic” were often applied to people who had to worry about their economic life. Paying the country’s debt by joining the insurgent army was also a problem that had to be raised, but the beloved Master said that we should fight according to our ability, depending on our strength, and respond according to the circumstances, so we should not be so impatient that we will harm ourselves in vain.
“Take care of your duty completely,
As long as I’m established,
I won’t be ashamed of my body.”
(Vong Bac Hoa Nam)
With the two filial pieties always remembered, practice is an indispensable condition because without wisdom, repaying gratitude will not take place completely. Our hearts are still confused, easily susceptible to wrong views that interfere with our chaotic mind, otherwise we can’t help people effectively. Therefore, the Master advocates Studying Buddhism and Cultivating Humanity, one side is self-cultivation and self-discipline, the other side is doing good deeds, helping the world, both complement each other, then the path of practice can be complete. Those who do their best and are loyal will one day be rewarded by heaven.
“If you are loyal, don’t forget too quickly,
Live, take care of the Tao, dead, go to the celestial palace”
(Khuyen Thien, Exhortation Oracle: Vol. 5)
« Back to Glossary Index