Is 'be thankful to your parents, for they brought you life' incongruent with Buddhist thought?
From the Anguttara Nikaya 2.32

&quot;I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother &amp; father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder &amp; your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, &amp; rubbing their limbs, and they were to defecate &amp; urinate right there [on your shoulders], you would not in that way pay or repay your parents. If you were to establish your mother &amp; 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 &amp; father do much for their children. They care for them, they nourish them, they introduce them to this world.
&quot;But anyone who rouses his unbelieving mother &amp; father, settles &amp; establishes them in conviction; rouses his unvirtuous mother &amp; father, settles &amp; establishes them in virtue; rouses his stingy mother &amp; father, settles &amp; establishes them in generosity; rouses his foolish mother &amp; father, settles &amp; establishes them in discernment: To this extent one pays &amp; repays one's mother &amp; father.&quot;

Gratitude is a Buddhist concept. Below is an essay on Gratitude in Buddhism by Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Anguttara Nikaya The Further-factored Discourses