Buddhist scholars like Kenneth Ch'en thought that filial piety was a special feature of Chinese Buddhism. Later, John Strong employed "popular Buddhist stories" to show that filial piety was also important in Indian Buddhism, but he asserted that it was "a Buddhist compromise with the Brāhmanical ethics of filiality operating at the popular level." On the other hand, Gregory Schopen, who mainly used Indian Buddhist epigraphical material in his research, pointed out the same idea but he could not find definitive support from the early Buddhist textual sources. My investigation of the early Buddhist texts and analysis of the relevant passages clearly shows that filial piety is one of the important aspects of the early Buddhist ethical teachings. Filial piety was practiced by the early Indian Buddhists (1) as a way of requiting the debt to one's parents; (2) as a chief ethical good action; and (3) as Dharma, the social order. And on this basis it also shows that the early Indian Buddhists practiced filial piety not as a "compromise with the Brāhmanical ethics of filiality" but as an important teaching taught by the master.
目次
Filial Piety as a Way of Requiting the Debt to One’s Parents 85 The duty of supporting one’s parents 88 Example of filial piety 89 Filial Piety as a Chief Ethical Good Action 90 Filial Piety as Dharma, the Social Order 92 Filial Piety in Mahayana Buddhism 94 Notes 97 Abbreviations 104 Bibliography 104 Primary with English and Chinese translations 104 Secondary 105
