Be Grateful to Your Parents
Respect for Our Father, Mother and Our Other ancestors
We live in a culture that is focused on the individual. We see this theme repeatedly in
the movies. The hero whether cowboy, soldier, detective or any other person who
single-handedly saves his community or even the world is shown standing alone. We are
always thinking about individual rights, our best interests, sometimes even "me
first." This appears in many of the books written about self-improvement. It is good
to try to improve ourselves, but we should not overlook that long unbroken chain of life
that has allowed us to be present on this earth today. We are all descendants in an
unbroken line of life from over a billion years ago. If one step had been missed, we would
not be here.
The intelligence that has been gathered over those billion years of living is part of
the magnificent wisdom that sustains our life. God's wisdom is expressing itself in every
moment of our existence. It is not incorrect to say that we stand on the shoulders of our
forebears and everything that came before is a wonderful gift to us. None is more precious
than the gift of life which was given to us by our parents. However, Dr. Taniguchi wisely
teaches that we are not able to see this unless we are ready to open our minds to the
Truth.
This being the case, we are given eternal life, however, when we cannot solve our
doubts rationally, we must reflect upon ourselves and see if we are grateful to the life
we are living now. It is our mind that decides everything. No one can teach us the truth
by reasoning but we must discover it by opening the inner eye of our mind. No matter how
bright the light is, you cannot convince others by explaining "There is light
here." We have to want to open our eyes to see it for ourselves. As long as we want
to see the system of this world as being imperfect and continue to look for faults,
although there is the perfect system of the world, we will not find it. It is because our
mental attitude is such that we do not want to see the perfection. Henceforth, no matter
how hard we may try to overcome delusion, if we do it with a deluded mind, we will not
succeed in the end. At times such as this, it is important that we open our minds and
become grateful to everything arousing the feeling within of wanting to see the good in
everything. In other words, there is no other way to eradicate darkness but to turn on the
light.
Perhaps, the fundamental misunderstanding is that when we look at the relationship
between ourselves and our parents from a physical point of view. We feel that we are just
the accidental or intentional result of the relationship between our parents and that we
didn't have anything to do with it. This misunderstanding is the basis of the question,
"Why should I be grateful to my parents? I did not ask my parents to bring me into
this world. It was their own selfish decision." Dr. Taniguchi teaches us that this
was not the case. Instead, we were the ones who chose this life.
The home where you were born at the time of your birth is best suited for you to live a
life of your desire. It was your soul who chose your parents and you were born there. This
is what we mean when we say our environment is created by our own mind. An environment
that is not suitable to your mind will not appear to you in this life. Furthermore, your
present environment teaches you many lessons, lets your do what you want to do and will
uplift your soul. Therefore, you must be grateful to your parents and turn your life into
a "masterpiece."
It is easy to understand this, if you have wonderful parents who love you and are able
to give you everything you desire. Yes, these are exactly the parents I would have chosen.
However, often we wish our parents were able to give us everything our friends have or we
wish our home life was as happy and contented as those of our friends. Especially, in the
case where our parents mistreat or abuse us, it is difficult to accept that these are the
parents we chose. Dr. Taniguchi teaches us, however, that it is not necessarily what we
consciously desire but the experience that our soul requires in this life.
Of course, there are some parents who are very abusive to their children in this
phenomenal world. There are also parents who are not respected, not only by their
children, but by others also. However, this is not the evil of the original parents. They
have taken this form to demonstrate before our own eyes the result of the report card of
life from the previous life of a man called I, because the score was very bad. There is a
law called the 'law of attraction' and only that which is similar to our karma (record)
unfolds before our eyes. Therefore, the evil in the life of our parent is none other than
the manifestation of our own evil (mistaken lifestyle) of the past which has unfolded
before our own eyes and is not unrelated to us. A child with a father who likes to gamble
is seeing now his own self of the past who gambled. It may not always be precisely
gambling that he had done in the past, but it could be something similar to it. It is just
that his father is demonstrating to him how bad it is to gamble. When one's parents fight,
it is the reflection of the image of the discord in his own marriage in the previous life
being cast on his present life. It also is the reflection of his disrespect for his
parents. In this respect, our parents are the Goddess of Mercy. Therefore, you must not
think that your parents are bad. On the contrary, you must reflect upon yourself.
Henceforth, you must start by changing yourself. It is very important that you come to
realize what is the way of life of a real man. When you do this, all evil that manifested
in your parents' life up to now will disappear and suddenly a beautiful, ideal world will
unfold.
It is all very simple, like turning on the light; but, at the same time, not
necessarily easy. We must pierce the veil of illusion that is clouding our minds. This is
not the consensus thinking of our culture because our culture has not become aware of this
Truth. However, when we become truly, unreservedly grateful to our parents and all those
who have gone before, this gratitude illuminates our life like a brilliant spotlight and
all darkness is dispelled.
