2) Sutta Selections

1. Pubbakārī
   1. AN 2.119 Hard to Find
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      “Monks, these two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? The one who is first to do a kindness, and the one who is grateful for a kindness done and feels obligated to repay it. These two people are hard to find in the world.”
   2. AN 2.32 Not Easy to Repay
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      “I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother and father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder and your father on the other shoulder for 100 years … you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. If you were to establish your mother and father in absolute sovereignty over this great earth, abounding in the seven treasures, you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. Why is that? Mother and father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world. But anyone who rouses his unbelieving mother and father, settles and establishes them in conviction; rouses his unvirtuous mother and father, settles and establishes them in virtue; rouses his stingy mother and father, settles and establishes them in generosity; rouses his foolish mother and father, settles and establishes them in discernment: To this extent one pays and repays one’s mother and father.”
   3. AN 4.63 “First Teachers”
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      “‘Brahmā’ is a term for your parents. First teachers’ is a term for your parents. Old deities’ is a term for your parents. ‘Worthy of an offering dedicated to the gods’ is a term for your parents. Why is that? Parents are very helpful to their children, they raise them, nurture them, and show them the world.”
2. Kataññūkatavedī
   1. Sn 2.4 The Highest Blessings
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      “Providing for mother and father’s support, and cherishing family … offering help to relatives and kin … respectfulness, and being of humble ways, contentment and gratitude: These are the highest blessings.”
   2. AN 2.31 Gratitude
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      “Now what is the level of a person of no integrity? A person of no integrity is ungrateful and unthankful. This ingratitude, this lack of thankfulness, is advocated by rude people. It is entirely on the level of people of no integrity. A person of integrity is grateful and thankful. This gratitude, this thankfulness, is advocated by civil people. It is entirely on the level of people of integrity.”

Review (Click text for answer)

• According to AN 2.119, what two types of people are hard to find in the world?
  “Two people are hard to find in the world. Which two? (1) The one who is first to do a kindness, and (2) the one who is grateful for a kindness done and feels obligated to repay it.”
• According to AN 2.32, what two people are not easy to repay?
  “I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother and father.”
• But, according to AN 2.32, what are four ways that it is possible to repay those two people who are not easy to repay?
  “Anyone who (1) rouses his unbelieving mother and father, settles and establishes them in conviction; (2) rouses his unvirtuous mother and father, settles and establishes them in virtue; (3) rouses his stingy mother and father, settles and establishes them in generosity; (4) rouses his foolish mother and father, settles and establishes them in discernment: To this extent one pays and repays one’s mother and father.”
• Name two of the various ways of expressing gratitude listed in the Discourse on the Highest Blessings?
  ”Providing for mother and father’s support, and cherishing family … offering help to relatives and kin … respectfulness, and being of humble ways, contentment and gratitude: These are the highest blessings.”
• What are two features of a person on the ‘level of people of integrity’ listed at AN 2.31?
  ”A person of integrity is (1) grateful and (2) thankful. This gratitude, this thankfulness, is advocated by civil people. It is entirely on the level of people of integrity.”

3) Ancient Commentary

1. Pubbakārī
   1. AN-a 2.120
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      “Pubbakārī means: the doer of service/support first”
2. Kataññūkatavedī
   1. KN-a 5 Maṅgalasuttavaṇṇanā
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      “Gratitude is recognizing, and repeatedly recollecting, the help given by anyone, whether little or much … Hence gratitude should also be understood as recollection of the helpfulness of merits. This is called a blessing because it is a cause for such excellent achievements as being considered praiseworthy by good people.” (Bodhi)
   2. AN-a 2.120
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      “One is called ‘grateful and appreciative (Kataññūkatavedī)’ because, having understood that which has been done (for him), one is a doer thereafter. The original giver acts perceiving ‘I give a debt.’ Afterward, the doer acts perceiving ‘I am causing the debt to wear away.’”

Review (Click text for answer)

• According AN-a 2.120, what is the definition of pubbakārī?
  “the doer of service/support first”
• Based on your own reasoning, what might that definition of pubbakārī at AN-a 2.120 actually mean?
  Suggestion: Definitions of terms from the Pali Canonical literature are often terse and, more often than not, play on the component sounds of words in suggesting their meaning and in deriving their etymology. This is the case here as well. Both the word “doer” (kāraka) and “service/support” (upakāra) play on the latter part of the original word “doer” (kārī). What is implied by this definition is a person who does a good deed unprovoked. That is, someone who does a generous act without first having been the recipient of any specific gain.
• What is the definition of gratitude (kataññū) given at Maṅgalasuttavaṇṇanā?
  “Gratitude is recognizing, and repeatedly recollecting, the help given by anyone, whether little or much … Hence gratitude should also be understood as recollection of the helpfulness of merits. This is called a blessing because it is a cause for such excellent achievements as being considered praiseworthy by good people.”

4) Modern Commentary

1. Pubbakārī
   1. Ajahn Sumedho “Gratitude to Parents”
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      “’In five ways one should minister to one’s parents: (thingking:) Having supported me, (1) I shall support them; (2) I shall do their duties; (3) I shall keep up the honour and the traditions of my family; (4) I shall make myself worthy of my heritage; (5) I shall make offerings dedicating the goodness of my practice to my parents after their death.’ (DN 31) These words of the Buddha give expression in terms of observance to the feeling of loyalty and gratitude that a clear-minded person may have with regards to their parents. That this is not necessarily the case is a sad reflection on either the quality of our parents or the attitude of neglect that the society or the individual has towards these powerfully influential people. Even as adults we often respond to situations in ways that are attributable to parental influence – for good or for ill. It is an area to acknowledge and explore.”
   2. Ajahn Amaro “Who Will Feed the Mice”
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      “And now my mother is 82 years old and her body seems to be reaching its limit. How does one hold that? How does one use the practice to relate to the situation — to bring balance to the heart and to be of benefit to her and to others?”
2. Kataññūkatavedī
   1. Compiled Talks “Gratitude”
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      “We all survive and find comfort in life with the support of the knowledge and skills, mindfulness and wisdom, of countless others. Without their help we would all perish as soon as we leave our mother’s womb. We’d have no food to eat, clothes to wear or house to live in. Our parents, whose faces we have never even seen before, give us life and all the things we need to make us healthy and strong. For our clothes and living places, and all the various skills we learn, we are entirely indebted to others. From the first moments in our mothers womb, all of us have a debt of gratitude owed to innumerable others – no need to mention our parents and all our teachers, to whom the sense of gratitude we should feel is incalculable.” (Ajahn Liam Thitadhammo)
   2. Ajahn Thanissaro “The Lessons of Gratitude”
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      “Kindness and gratitude are virtues you can cultivate, but they have to be cultivated together. Each needs the other to be genuine — a point that becomes obvious when you think about the three things most likely to make gratitude heartfelt: (1) You’ve actually benefitted from another person’s actions.(2) You trust the motives behind those actions. (3) You sense that the other person had to go out of his or her way to provide that benefit.”

Review (Click text for answer)

• Why does Ajahn Sumedho quote DN 31 with its list of the five ways one should ‘minister to one’s parents’?
  Ajahn Sumedho says this list represents the ‘observance to the feeling of loyalty and gratitude that a clear-minded person may have with regards to their parents.’
• In his article ‘Who Will Feed the Mice’, what are the underlying questions Ajahn Amaro asks himself regarding a child’s relationship with their parents?
  Suggestion: Ajahn Amaro asks himself: “How does one hold [the condition of having aging parents]? How does one use the practice to relate to the situation — to bring balance to the heart and to be of benefit to her and to others?”
• Along with the broad gratitude Ajahn Liam suggests we should engender towards ‘countless others’, what are the two groups of people singled out for special focus to whom “the sense of gratitude we should feel is incalculable’?
  Ajahn Liam suggests we have especial gratitude for (1) our parents, and (2) our teachers.
• What does Ajahn Thanissaro say are the ‘three things most likely to make gratitude heartfelt’?
  Ajahn Thanissaro says “the three things most likely to make gratitude heartfelt: (1) You’ve actually benefitted from another person’s actions.(2) You trust the motives behind those actions. (3) You sense that the other person had to go out of his or her way to provide that benefit.”

5) Relevant Dhamma Talks

1. Pubbakārī
   1. Ajahn Cattamalo “Gratitude to Parents”
   2. Ajahn Nissarano “Gratitude to Our Parents”
2. Kataññūkatavedī
   1. Ajahn Brahm “Thanks a Lot for Gratitude”
   2. Bhante Buddharakkhita “Giving and Gratitude”

6) External Links

1. Pubbakārī
   1. Wikipedia – Filial Piety in Buddhism
2. Kataññūkatavedī/Gratitude (trigger warning: non-Buddhist content)
   
   1. Wikipedia – Gratitude
   2. Wikiversity – Gratitude