Guanyin to Me
My Mother is Guanyin to me
because she prays to Guanyin for me.
She isn’t really aspiring to embody her virtues.
She isn’t really chanting or meditating.
She just runs through a wishlist
of wanting our family to be well and happy.
She still is Guanyin-ish to me,
because she still embodies compassion to me.
Crossing Together
You know you’re young to your Mother when
she wants to hold your hand to cross the road.
You know your Mother is old to you when
you want to hold her hand to cross the road.
You know it’s not too late when
you can still cross hand in hand.
Is it not time to guide each other
to cross the sea of Samsara together?
Mother’s love knows no age;
Mother’s hand guides us with tenderness.
Guanyin’s compassion knows no bounds;
Guanyin’s (thousand) hands protect us from danger.
Let us love unconditionally like Mothers,
Let us aid unconditionally like Guanyin.
If we see sentient beings in distress, we should still hold his/her hand, mother or not. Sad to say not all mothers’ love are unconditional. It could be another overly overrated label…
Unconditional love is never over-rated. Mother’s love may not be perfect (we are all still floating in the sea of Samsara afterall), but we should remember the debt of gratitude that one owes to one’s parents ( 父æ¯æ© ), that should be repaid by practising filial piety.
Yes unconditional love is not over-rated… it’s the label, if you read carefully…
You may have missed the point here. Unconditional love is never over-rated, whether ‘labelled’ on mothers or elsewhere 😀
Unless you mean the word “mother” = unconditional love, which is not true to some… and which is also what I’m trying to say :p
Some much about mother what about father?
Realistically, it is true that not all mothers’ love is unconditional. However, due to the many rounds of rebirths we have had, it is highly probable, if not inevitable, that each and every being had been our loving mothers at some point in time. These beings would include the not so loving mothers some might have in this lifetime. This is why Vajrayana Buddhism uses the term ‘mother sentient beings’ a lot – to remind us that all beings were once our loving mothers, who are thus currently deserving of our love. It thus makes sense to practise universal filial piety by cultivating equanimous compassion towards as many beings as we can.
Realistically speaking, most motherly love, being worldly in nature, is not 100% unconditional. If a mother really loves her child with zero strings attached, she should be able to love others the same way too – since no conditions (and expectations) are required. However, most mothers love their children deeply because of at least one condition – the very condition that they are their children. This condition is versus the fact that others are not their children.
Why then, does Buddhism use ‘imperfect’ motherly love as a model for unconditional love? The Buddha once defined loving-kindness (Metta) as so in the Metta Sutta – ‘Just as a mother would protect her only child with her life, even so let one cultivate a boundless loving-kindness towards all beings. Let one radiate boundless loving-kindness towards the entire world — above, below, and across — unhindered, without ill will, without enmity.’ If we look at the quote carefully, the Buddha did not say motherly love per se is perfect Metta, but that when it pervades the universe equanimously for all (i.e. not just for one’s only child, whom one might love partially), it would truly be Metta, which is meant to be immeasurable. The Buddha used motherly love as a platform for defining Metta because it is the form of love closest to unconditional love that most of us can encounter in this lifetime. (Just think of who are willing to die in our place to save us since our birth.)
The fact that our present parents were supportive conditions for us to receive this precious human rebirth, which allows us to encounter the Dharma is reason enough to feel compelled to benefit our parents with the Dharma and other appropriate means as acts of filial piety. With so much focus on motherly love, what about fatherly love? Like all other genuine forms of love, it is of course also precious. Usually, motherly love resonates more readily with their offsprings because most mothers spend more time and effort in nurturing them since young. This is of course not always so, especially in the case of single-parent families without mothers. Even when fathers spend less time and effort in expressing their love, they are also ‘mother sentient beings’!
:heart:
“Family isn’t about whose blood you have. It’s about who you care about.” – Trey Parker & Matt Stone
That’s why I felt the used of the word “mother” is rather unnecessary and over-rated, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand why it’s often use as analogy… :silly:
Thanks for sharing!
well this is a mother’s day tribute after all