Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Having last month discussed the the assurance of future Buddhahood given by Sakyamuni to Subhuti, Great Katyayana, Great Maudgalyayana, I get to start over with Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City.

At the conclusion of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, the Buddha sets the stage for what is to come next:

Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

Chapter 7 opens with a description of a “countless, limitless, inconceivable, asamkhya number of
kalpas ago” when a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence lived. But more important than the distance backward in time is this:

Yet I remember [the extinction of] that Buddha by my power of insight as vividly as if he had passed away today.”

And in gathas:

I remember the extinction of that Buddha
As vividly as if he had passed away just now,
By my unhindered wisdom; I also remember
The Sravakas and Bodhisattvas who lived [with him].

Bhiksus, know this!
My wisdom is pure, wonderful,
Free from asravas and from hindrance.
I know those who lived innumerable kalpas ago.

Rereading this again and again I’m still excited about the promise that I’m to learn about the Buddha’s previous existence and mine with details as fresh as if it all occurred today.

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Yesterday the “men living the life of wisdom” offered their understanding of how it was that they didn’t appreciate the expedients taught by the Buddha with the Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son.

Today, the Buddha offers the Simile of the Herbs to illustrate why it is that the fruits of the rain of the Dharma are different.

Kasyapa, know this! I, the Tathagata, am like the cloud. I appeared in this world just as the large cloud rose. I expounded the Dharma to gods, men and asuras of the world with a loud voice just as the large cloud covered all the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds. I said to the great multitude, ‘I am the Tathagata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. I will cause all living beings to cross [the ocean of birth and death] if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to emancipate themselves [from suffering] if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to have peace of mind if they have not yet done so. I will cause them to attain Nirvana if they have not yet done so. I know their present lives as they are, and also their future lives as they will be. I know all. I see all. I know the Way. I have opened the Way. I will expound the Way. Gods, men and asuras! Come and hear the Dharma!’

Thereupon many thousands of billions of people came to hear the Dharma from me. Having seen them, I knew which were clever, which were dull, which were diligent, and which were lazy. Therefore, I expounded to them an innumerable variety of teachings according to their capacities in order to cause them to rejoice and receive benefits with pleasure. Having heard these teachings, they became peaceful in their present lives. In their future lives, they will have rebirths in good places, enjoy pleasures by practicing the Way, and hear these teachings again. After hearing these teachings again, they will emancipate themselves from all hindrances, practice the teachings according to their capacities, and finally enter the Way, just as the grasses and trees in the thickets and forests, which were watered by the rain from the same large cloud, grew differently according to their species.

Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

The title of this chapter is Understanding by Faith. The word “faith” does not appear in the chapter outside the title. Nor does the concept of faith. Instead we hear from the Sravakas, self-identified senior leaders among the disciples of the Buddha. They are self-satisfied. They see themselves as having worked hard for their reward.

You told us
To purify the world of the Buddha
And teach all living beings.
We heard this, but did not wish to do so
Because we had already attained the truth:
“All things are void and tranquil.
Nothing appears or disappears.
Nothing is larger or smaller.
Nothing has asravas.
Nothing is subject to cause and effect.”
Having thought this, we did not wish
To do [the Bodhisattva practices].

In the long night
We did not care
For the wisdom of the Buddha.
We did not wish to have it.
We thought:
“The Dharma we attained is perfect.”

Having studied the truth of the Void in the long night,
We emancipated ourselves
From the sufferings of the triple world,
Attained the Nirvana-with-remainder,
And reached the final stage
Of our physical existence.

The Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son is the Sravakas’ attempt to explain why they didn’t notice that what they were teaching the Bodhisattvas could be applicable to themselves.

Although we expounded to the sons of the Buddha
The teachings for Bodhisattvas in order to cause them
To seek the enlightenment of the Buddha,
We did not wish to attain
The same enlightenment for ourselves.

You, our Leader, left us alone because you knew this.
You did not persuade us
To seek the enlightenment of the Buddha.
You did not say
That we should be able to have real benefits.

The rich man knew
That his son was base and mean.
Therefore, he made him nobler
With expedients,
And then gave him
All his treasures.

In the same manner,
You knew that we wished
To hear the Lesser Vehicle.
Therefore, you did a rare thing.
You prepared us with expedients,
And then taught us the great wisdom.

Today we are not what we were then.
We have obtained
What we did not expect
To obtain
Just as the poor son obtained
The innumerable treasures.

Convinced they’ve learned something new, the Sravakas missed the point: Understanding by Faith.

Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

The last three months – June 2, May 1, March 30 – have focused on the conclusion of Chapter 3, A Parable. It’s time to take care of the opening of Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

I have certain affinity for the men living the life of wisdom – Subhuti, Maha­Katyayana, Maha-Kasyapa, and Maha-Maudgalyayana – and their reaction to their colleague Sariputra’s assurance of future Buddhahood.

We elders of the Sarngha were already old and decrepit [when we heard of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi]. We did not seek Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi because we thought that we had already attained Nirvana, and also because we thought that we were too old and decrepit to do so You have been expounding the Dharma for a long time. We have been in your congregation all the while. We were already tired [when we heard of Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi]. Therefore, we just cherished the truth that nothing is substantial, the truth that nothing is different from any other thing, and the truth that nothing more is to be sought. We did not wish to perform the Bodhisattva practices, that is, to purify the world of the Buddha and to lead all living beings [to Buddhahood] by displaying supernatural powers because you had already led us out of the triple world and caused us to attain Nirvana. Neither did we wish at all to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, which you were teaching to Bodhisattvas, because we were already too old and decrepit to do so. But now we are very glad to hear that you have assured a Sravaka of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi. We have the greatest joy that we have ever had. We have never expected to hear such a rare teaching all of a sudden. How glad we are! We have obtained great benefits. We have obtained innumerable treasures although we did not seek them.

Old and tired, one doesn’t expect many surprises. Obtaining great benefits that were not sought can make even a surprised old man dance with joy.

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Last month, I focused on why, before he came up with his expedient, the Buddha’s efforts to convince his children to leave the burning house failed.

This time through The Parable of the Burning House expediently:

The Buddha said to Sariputra:

So it is, so it is. It is just as you say. Sariputra! The same can be said of me. [I thought, ‘] I am the father of the world. I eliminated fear, despondency, grief, ignorance and darkness. I obtained immeasurable insight, powers and fearlessness. I have great supernatural powers, the power of wisdom, the paramita of expedients, the paramita of wisdom, great compassion, and great loving-kindness. I am not tired of seeking good things or of benefiting all living beings. I have appeared in the triple world, which can be likened to the rotten and burning house, in order to save all living beings from the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering, lamentation, stupidity, darkness, and the three poisons, to teach all living beings, and to cause them to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. I see that all living beings are burned by the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation. They undergo various sufferings because they have the five desires and the desire for gain. Because they have attachments and pursuits, they have many sufferings in their present existence, and will suffer in hell or in the world of animals or in the world of hungry spirits in their future lives. Even when they are reborn in heaven or in the world of humans, they will still have many sufferings such as poverty or parting from their beloved ones or meeting with those whom they hate. Notwithstanding all this, however, they are playing joyfully. They are not conscious of the sufferings. They are not frightened at the sufferings or afraid of them. They do not dislike them or try to get rid of them. They are running about this burning house of the triple world, and do not mind even when they undergo great sufferings.[‘]

Sariputra! Seeing all this, I [also] thought, ‘I am the father of all living beings. I will eliminate their sufferings, give them the pleasure of the immeasurable wisdom of the Buddha, and cause them to enjoy it.’

Sariputra! I also thought, ‘If I extol my insight, powers, and fearlessness in the presence of those living beings only by my supernatural powers and by the power of my wisdom, that is to say, without any expedient, they will not be saved because they have not yet been saved from birth, old age, disease, death, grief, sorrow, suffering and lamentation, but are burning up in the burning house of the triple world. How can they understand the wisdom of the Buddha?’

Sariputra! The rich man did not save his children by his muscular power although he was strong enough. He saved them from the burning house with a skilful expedient and later gave them each a large cart of treasures.

I want to underline this need for expedients with something from Rev. Ryusho Jeffus‘ Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

In every expedient presented in the Lotus Sutra, the expedient is also useful and a necessary step along the way to the ultimate teaching. Nothing the Sravakas or Pratyekabuddhas were taught was useless or of no value. Everything they were taught is necessary to their practice and to our practice even today. The Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Twelve Link Chain of Causation are all important and necessary teachings to enable us to fully understand and practice the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

We must get out of the burning house before we can ride in the bullock cart.