Four debts of gratitude
four debts of gratitude
[四恩] (Jpn shi-on )
The debts owed to one's parents, to all living beings, to one's sovereign, and to the three treasures of Buddhism. These four are set forth in the Contemplation on the Mind-Ground Sutra. The definition of the four debts of gratitude varies some-what according to the source. The Meditation on the Correct Teaching Sutra defines them as the debts owed to one's father, to one's mother, to the Thus Come One or Buddha, and to the teacher of the Law. In his work The Four Debts of Gratitude, Nichiren (1222-1282) refers to the four debts of gratitude described in the Contemplation on the Mind-Ground Sutra. In On Repaying Debts of Gratitude, he lists the four debts of gratitude as the debts owed to one's father and mother, to one's teacher, to the three treasures, and to one's sovereign.
