| Thank
Your In-Laws for Giving You a Good Husband |
 |
Speech by Master Cheng Yen
Object: the public
Translator: Sonyuan Lin/Han Chuang, Boston, MA |
|
The Buddha came to this world in order to teach
us how to behave. Children should be grateful to their parents.
Daughters- or sons-in-law should be grateful to their parents-in-law.
A wife should be grateful to her parents-in-law for raising and
giving her a good husband. In returning their husbands' affection,
some women only love their husbands but not their mothers-in-law
because they talk too much. At the Abode of Still Thoughts, a
visitor told me that she had a good husband but complained about
her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law disliked her and she in turn
resented her mother-in-law.
I asked how she felt about her husband. She
answered, "He's really great, couldn't be better." Then
I asked, "Do you know who gave birth to your husband?"
She replied, "Of course my mother-in-law did!"
"That's right," I said. "She
gave birth to such a wonderful husband for you, so how could you
not be grateful to her?" It was as if she suddenly awoke
from a dream and realized that it was actually her mother-in-law
who had given her happiness. Ever since then they have been getting
along very well.
This is called "wonderful dharma"
or "convenient dharma," in which one talks about events
that happen in the world so that the listener can absorb the Buddha's
teachings and then go out again and put them into practice in
daily life. Therefore, I always say that we are most blessed to
be born human and thus to be able to hear and practice the dharma.
Don't you think so too?
