The virtue of "no mind," the representative  virtue of Heaven
and Earth  for Sot'aesan, can  found  in both  Confucian  and
Buddhist traditions. The Chin-kang ching(ap) (Diamond Sutra),
counsels  " [o] ne should develop a mind which does not abide
in anything,"(36) in  the  same  work  man  is advised  to do
charitable works without harboring any idea of having done so
in  mind.  The  Confucian  Ch'eng-i(aq)  (1033-1107)  taught:
"Heaven  and Earth create  and transform  without  having any
mind of their  own.  The sage  has a mind of his own but does
not  take  any (unnatural) action."(37) The moral  virtue  in
question  can  thus  be  found  in  the  allegedly   opposing
traditions.
　　 Another  tenet  of Confucianistic  morality  round in the
moral system  of Won Buddhism  is filial piety.  Filial piety
was the weapon used by the Neo-Confucianists to criticize the
Buddhist monks who had left their parents for the monastery
life.(38) In the Confucian  tradition, filial  duty  was  the
fundamental  principle  of  morality.  For  Confucius, filial
piety  was  the  foundation  of all  virtue  and the root  of
civilization.(39)  When  Teng  Tzu(ar) asked  what  surpassed
filial piety as the virtue of a sage, Confucius replied,

　　 [M] an excels all the beings in Heaven and Earth. Of man's
　　 acts none is greater than filial piety. In the practice of
　　 filial

P.440

piety, nothing is greater than to reverence one's father.(40)

　　 For Sot'aesan, filial piety was the requital of the grace
of Parents  and needed to be expanded.  One had to discipline
oneself to become a morally respectable  person following the
great moral way.  One had to faithfully support one's parents
as much as one could when the parents  lacked the ability  to
help themselves;one  had to help them have spiritual comfort.
Further, as part  of the requital  of the  grace, one had, in
accordance  with  one's  ability,  to  protect  the  helpless
parents of others even as one's own during and after the life
of  one's  parents.  This  recalls  one  of Chang  Tsai's(as)
(1020-1077)  moral  tenets   that  "...even   those  who  are
tired,infirm, crippled, or sick;  those  who have no brothers
or children, wives  or husbands, are all my brothers  who are
in distress  and  have  no  one  to turn  to."(41) Sot'aesan,
however, left it open so that, as long as the motive  was not
selfish, one  could  sacrifice  the material  expressions  of
filial piety so that one could contribute  to a greater cause
for the public well-being.
　　 The idea that one is indebted to Brethren, fellow humans,
animals, and plants, for life itself  needs  no argument.  In
Sot'aesan's  view humans were capable  of harming or blessing
others; without the help of others, life would be impossible.
Even though humans are potential  Buddhas, they can harm each
other as long as they are moved  by the three evils of greed,
anger, and  foolishness.  At the  final  analysis, all  human
sufferings  are based on these three evils.  Sot'aesan  set a
simple norm which should, be followed in all walks of life in
order to ameliorate the human predicament.  He suggested as a
way  of requiting  the  grace  of Brethren, that  man had  to
conform to "the principle  of fairness and mutual benefit" as
a moral norm when exchanging goods (K.36).
　　 When Sot'aesan talked about the grace of Law, he meant by
the term "law" the religious and moral teachings of all sages
as well as the penal  and civil  laws  to which  one owed a
great deal for one's life. The concept of the grace of dharma
could be found in the traditional  Buddhist (42) By including
in it the civil and penal laws of the state, Sot'aesan texts.
prescribed one's duties to the state.  He suggested, as a way
of requiting  the grace of Law, one ought  to do what the law
encouraged one to do and

P.441

to abstain from doing what the law prohibited (K.40).  This