[The Story of Guoju]
earth store sutra is about filial piety, the following story is told by venerable Hsuan Hua:
There is a "Guoju Burying His Baby" story in China that goes like this:
Guoju was a very poor man—the poorest of the poor. He had a wife and a baby son. He also had a very old mother. His mom had lost all her teeth and could not eat any solid food. So she would take the milk of her daughter-in-law—that is, up until the baby came along. Now with two mouths to feed, there was not enough milk to go around, and both grandma and the baby were left hungry.
If the milk were to go to feed grandma, the baby would starve to death; if the milk were allotted to the baby, grandma would die. So it was up to Guoju to come up with a solution.
Guoju talked it over with his wife and, being the most filial person, presented this rationale: Since they both were still young, they could have many more children in their long, married life ahead, but mom was very old and her days were numbered. So they should dispose of the baby for now to focus on keeping mom alive.
Tough as it was for his wife to give up the baby, in order to fulfill their filial duties she relented in the end.
After reaching a decision in their family meeting and with the baby in tow, the couple headed out to the wilderness. What had been their pride and joy they were now going to bury in the ground. No sooner had they begun digging than they hit the jackpot—a huge trove of gold and silver ingots, all with the wording "Heaven's Gift to Filial Son Guoju" inscribed on them! The idea to bury the baby came about because they were poor. Now that they had struck it rich, they could afford to scrap that plan.
This public record is well known to every Chinese person. Many Chinese willingly follow filiality, not out of greed for riches but because they recognize the importance of filial piety
earth store sutra is about filial piety, the following story is told by venerable Hsuan Hua:
There is a "Guoju Burying His Baby" story in China that goes like this:
Guoju was a very poor man—the poorest of the poor. He had a wife and a baby son. He also had a very old mother. His mom had lost all her teeth and could not eat any solid food. So she would take the milk of her daughter-in-law—that is, up until the baby came along. Now with two mouths to feed, there was not enough milk to go around, and both grandma and the baby were left hungry.
If the milk were to go to feed grandma, the baby would starve to death; if the milk were allotted to the baby, grandma would die. So it was up to Guoju to come up with a solution.
Guoju talked it over with his wife and, being the most filial person, presented this rationale: Since they both were still young, they could have many more children in their long, married life ahead, but mom was very old and her days were numbered. So they should dispose of the baby for now to focus on keeping mom alive.
Tough as it was for his wife to give up the baby, in order to fulfill their filial duties she relented in the end.
After reaching a decision in their family meeting and with the baby in tow, the couple headed out to the wilderness. What had been their pride and joy they were now going to bury in the ground. No sooner had they begun digging than they hit the jackpot—a huge trove of gold and silver ingots, all with the wording "Heaven's Gift to Filial Son Guoju" inscribed on them! The idea to bury the baby came about because they were poor. Now that they had struck it rich, they could afford to scrap that plan.
This public record is well known to every Chinese person. Many Chinese willingly follow filiality, not out of greed for riches but because they recognize the importance of filial piety
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