People is inately filial

Dear classmates,

I want to share with you my experience in a funeral ceremony. Last night my grandma (wai po) passed away. I was there chanting 'amituofo' whole night with 2 hours break in between. It wasn't a tiring process because i am used to sleep late. What intrigue me was everybody was crying, some was crying more than others. Then I remember the teaching in LuJiang 'people is inately filial'. It is very true. I say it is true because my relatives are mostly over 50 yrs olf of age. Btw; my grandma was over 90 yrs old. My relatives comes from all walk of life; farmers, fisheries, businessman, livestock breader, contractors, and housewifes. Each of my relatives are successful in their own field and therefore have strong personal habits and personalities. Therefore without the filial piety root strongly rooted in their mind, they would never would have the same feeling (deep sadness) at the same time. Then i started thinking what made them filial. Most of the relatives are of close relationship to my grandma; mother to daughter or mother to son. Therefore, i think the relationship creates a strong bondage between them. I also believe my grandma taught filiel to her children.
I refected back to myself how i can relate to my grandma which i am not so closed with. Before learning at LuJiang Cultural Education Centre, I was taught to be self full filling and be independent. After LuJiang training, I added Dizigui into my repository thinking. I realize without my grandma, I will not have my mom and no me born today. I will not have a chance to live the life of me today. Further reflecting, i realized the moral values and the compassion that my mom taught me was passed down from her mom and therefore the value of my grandma was the same as my mom. I started becoming as one the close relatives after that.

However there is no second generation crowd there besides me and my sister. I concluded because probably they need to work during the day therefore are unable to attend. I remember LuJiang teaching that emphasized practice practice and practice. I started wondering when my relatives passed away, will their children have the same filial as my relatives to my grandma. Tonight (and the next couple of sleepless night) I am going to continue to observe and to participate in the funeral event. I think this is a great way to educate myself in my ancentor's culture while practicing LuJiang's teaching in filial piety. [bow]