Sacred Texts: Buddhism

Buddhism in Translations - § 97. "And Hate Not His Father and Mother."

Henry Clarke WarrenPali Canon TranslationsTheravada Buddhism

Summary only - full text stays on its own separately-gated source. Read the full text at the source »

This is an excerpt from the Visuddhi-Magga (Path of Purification), a foundational Theravada Buddhist treatise, presented here as a narrative illustration of a doctrinal point about non-attachment. The passage tells the story of a young monk who, through circumstance, spends three months begging alms daily at his own parents' home without revealing his identity — his parents do not recognize him, and he does not tell them who he is. The central argument is that a monk sufficiently advanced in renunciation can pass through even the closest family bonds without being ensnared by them: "for such a one mother and father are no hindrances." What makes the passage distinctive is its framing of this radical emotional detachment not as coldness or cruelty but as spiritual achievement worthy of reverence — it is the monk's own mother who delivers the closing tribute, praising her unrecognized son as the ideal the Buddha had in mind when teaching the highest codes of monastic conduct. The text thus uses an emotionally charged scenario (a mother weeping, believing her son dead) to make a pointed point about liberation from familial love as a mark of genuine sainthood, positioning parental attachment alongside worldly distractions as an obstacle on the path.

Buddhism in Translations - § 97. "And Hate Not His Father and Mother."

Related pages View as graph →