The11th Step: Cherishing One's Parents
A tree that is nourished with water, fertilizer, and air to fully mature, but is unable to flower or bear fruit, will eventually have to be disposed of. In the same manner, a scholar who is full of knowledge and ability but does nothing beneficial for himself and society is a worthless and unwelcome individual.
A good starting point for doing good deeds begins with our parents. An ancient proverb says that in order to prove whether something is pure gold or not is to burn it with fire or put it in acid. In the same way, when observing whether an individual is genuinely good or not, one finds the answer in how grateful the individual is towards their parents and how well they look after their parents. If they are ungrateful, they can be compared to false gold. In short, if a person is genuinely good, he or she will look after his or her parents.
Why should our parents be the first subject for performing good deeds before others? The Lord Buddha stated that parents provided us with a physical existence and therefore we are overwhelmingly indebted to them throughout the whole of our life. To repay them with care and kindness is our never ceasing responsibility. An illustrative example can be found in the proverb:
"Even if we were to carry our parents, one on each shoulder, for a hundred years, feeding and also allowing them to excrete on our shoulders, it would still be insufficient to repay our debt of gratitude to them."
Thus, we have to learn how we can do our best to cherish our parents and actively display our gratitude towards them. The best way to do this lies in the teachings of the Lord Buddha.
