“The Great Maudgalyayana Rescues His Mother from Hell” stresses filial piety’s importance and the karmic implications of rebirth. Living a righteous life is essential to avoid the suffering that sinners like Maudgalyayana’s mother bear in purgatory. The myth reconciles traditional Chinese and Confucian values that emphasize ancestor worship with values of Buddhism.
The lives and following lives of Maudgalyayana’s parents are opposites. His father accumulates good karma by following the Five Prohibitions and the Ten Commandments, so he goes to heaven. His mother “committed numerous sins; so when she died, she dropped down to hell” (Reader 118). Rebirth is cosmically determined, and those who sin in one life will suffer in the next. Having a
The lives and following lives of Maudgalyayana’s parents are opposites. His father accumulates good karma by following the Five Prohibitions and the Ten Commandments, so he goes to heaven. His mother “committed numerous sins; so when she died, she dropped down to hell” (Reader 118). Rebirth is cosmically determined, and those who sin in one life will suffer in the next. Having a