EACH SOUL CHOOSES HIS PARENTS BEFORE INCARNATING
We must always be grateful to our father and mother. An old picture showing Grandmaster Wong with his father, mother and sister.
Question
Some people believe that each soul chooses their parents before incarnating into this life. Is there any validity to this belief?
Sifu Kevin Barry
Answer
This is a popular belief held by many people both in the East and the West. Personally I think there is some validity in this belief, though it may be difficult to prove it scientifically.
It is also believed that the person chose his parents for some specific reasons, like learning some important lessons in life. This is especially significance for people who have an impact on the world. Nui Leng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen, for example, was born to an illiterate family so that he too was illiterate. In this way it was better for him to understand and practice Zen, which was beyond intellectualization.
Whatever its validity, we must be very grateful to ur parents. The Buddha says that if a person carries his invalid father or mother everyday on his shoulder for 50 years, not in one lifetime but in 500 life-times, he would not have repaid the debt he owes his father or mother.
The father and mother provided the first energy for being a person. According to chi kung philosophy, this energy is stored in the kidneys and becomes the pre-natal energy. One could not change his pre-natal energy. Chi kung training can change the post-natal energy, like making him healthier than other people, but not the pre-natal energy.
For example, if a personis born with black skiln, which is due to his pre-natal energy, no matter what he does he cannot change his skin to white. Nevertheless, every person uses only a portion of his pre-natal energy, which means he can improve it. For example, a person uses only about 10% of his intelligence. By increasing the use of his intelligence, like by training in our school, for example, he can become an intelligent person from a normal person.
The questions and answers are reproduced from the thread 10 Questions on Happy Family Life in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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