Chapter 86 Filial piety

Li Shutong lost his father at the age of five, and has lived with his mother ever since.At the age of nineteen, he moved to Shanghai with his mother and wife to settle down.Li and his mother have a very good relationship. He said to Feng Zikai: "The five or six years between the ages of 20 and 26 were the happiest in my life. After that, there were constant sorrows and worries until I became a monk (Note : he will be considered a freshman)." Li Shutong's mother, Mrs. Wang Tai, was Li's father's concubine and had a low status in the family. Li had mentioned to others more than once that "birth mother is very bitter".

In 1905, Mrs. Wang Tai died of illness in thatched cottage in the south of Shanghai.When his mother passed away, Li Zheng went out to set up a birthday tree for his mother, and he regretted that he was not with her.He said to his friends many times: "When my mother was away, I was buying a coffin, but I didn't give it to me personally. When I came back, I was no longer here!" , behind closed doors, mourning, lamenting that "the era of happiness has passed." In June of that year, Li Shutong carried the coffin to the north. When he arrived in Tianjin, his second brother Li Wenxi disagreed with Mrs. Wang Tai's coffin mansion according to the old system of "no entry into the funeral". The two brothers had a quarrel over this.Regarding this matter, Li Duan, Li Shutong's third son, recorded: "After my grandmother's coffin was transported back to Tianjin, my second uncle excused my grandmother's 'outside mourning' and could not enter the gate of the old house. For this reason, my father refused, and My second uncle had a fight. This was the first time that their brothers had a public conflict. After mediation by relatives and friends, my grandmother’s coffin was allowed to enter the old house. Afterwards, the funeral was held at a certain date and buried in Xinkaihe Inside the ancestral tomb of the Li clan, north of Bianzhang Xingzhuang."

Li Shutong hated the old system and decided to hold a memorial service for his mother with Western-style funeral rites.He wrote in the "Apocalypse" that he told his relatives and friends: "Our country's funeral ceremonies are full of red tape and slang. "The text states that all funeral gifts are exempted, such as satin scrolls, cartons, silver and foreign coins, etc., and only poetry, couplets, wreaths, flower cards, etc.; There are several processes in Yiyouwei, such as holding a meeting, delivering a mourning speech, singing dirges, presenting flowers, and bowing.The whole family wore black mourning clothes, and when they sang dirges, Li Shutong himself played the piano accompaniment.The Li family also prepares western food for mourning guests.Everyone in Tianjin said: "Mr. Li has done a miracle!"

Tianjin's "Ta Kung Pao" made a series of reports on Li's mother's "farewell meeting", and also published a special article "A Study of the Western Country's Funeral Dress System".According to the newspaper, more than 200 elegiac couplets were collected at the memorial service for Mother Li, and more than 400 Chinese and foreign guests attended the memorial service, most of whom were prominent celebrities from all walks of life in Tianjin, teachers, friends, relatives and friends, and foreign envoys stationed in China. , such as the officials of the Austrian Ministry of Industry Ashi and the medical officer Kerry, the Japanese scholars Miyafuji and Matsucho, and the principals of various universities in Tianjin.

After Li Shutong became a monk, he cut off all love in the world, except for his mother.He said in an article that he converted to Buddhism on the 15th day of the first lunar month in 1918, "On the first day of February, it was my mother's death day, so I went to Hupao two days before, and recited the "Ksitigarbha Sutra" for three days there. 》, for my mother.” Since then, every important birthday of his late mother, he wrote the “Ksitigarbha Sutra” or the Ksitigarbha Repentance Ritual, and used this merit to dedicate to his late mother. On his mother's 70th birthday, Hongyi collected Huayan verses into couplets in Wanqing Shanfang by the Baima Lake, and handwritten them into "Three Hundred Couplets of Huayan Collection" to commemorate his mother.

Master Hongyi once listened to Master Jingquan lecture on the "Ksitigarbha Sutra". Master Jingquan connected the scriptures and righteousness with Chinese filial piety, and reminded those who listened to the Dharma. The kindness should be deeply engraved in my heart.Master Yihuan recalled: "On October 15th of that year (1930), Venerable Tiantai Jingquan came to Jinxian Temple to preach the Ksitigarbha Sutra, and Amitabha wanted to explain it. When Master Quan deduced from the classics and righteousness to the importance of filial piety in Chinese ethics, Master Yiheng choked up tears and wept like rain in front of the audience, and all the audience were shocked. The lecturers were also stunned and dared not speak Go on. Later I realized that the hot tears were his natural outpouring of missing his mother's love, and it was not someone who offended him." Yi Huan was deeply shocked. Asking questions, feeling ashamed, and then began to take care of my mother's later life.

In 1935, Master Hongyi preached the Dharma in Hui'an. On April 21st, for his mother's birthday, the master gave a lecture on "The Huayan Sutra and the Vows of Samantabhadra".