Gemini Thinking
The illustration represents the specific paradox described by Maitreya Bodhisattva in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. At the top, Śākyamuni Buddha is seated on a lotus throne, teaching. The visualization in the lower foreground depicts the two aspects of the difficult-to-believe scenario: on the left, four 100-year-old men are shown, and on the right, a 25-year-old black-haired man is pointing toward them. This image captures the essence of Maitreya’s question about how a young teacher (the Buddha, shortly after enlightenment) could have taught students who appear much older (the Bodhisattvas from the Earth).
The Kanji text includes the following translations:
百歳老人称少父: 100-year-old elders calling [the youth] their father.
二十五歳男子称百歳子: 25-year-old man calling [the elders] his sons.
The signature in the bottom right includes the Kanji 双子座 (Gemini) and a red hanko seal reading ジェミニ (Gemini).
World-Honored One! It is difficult for anyone in the world to believe this. It is as difficult as to believe a handsome, black-haired man twenty-five years old who points to men a hundred years old and says, ‘They are my sons,’ or as to believe men a hundred years old who point to a young man and say, ‘This is our father. He brought us up.’
Maitreya Bodhisattva explains his perplexity to Śākyamuni Buddha in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. The Buddha has just revealed that all of the Bodhisattvas who have appeared from underground to continue teaching the Wonderful Dharma after the extinction of the Buddha have been taught by the Buddha in the time since he became enlightened. Maitreya realizes that his doubts are no different from the doubts of those gathered to hear the Buddha teach and asks the Buddha to explain. The Buddha says later that he sees the world differently than other living beings. But this does not mean that when our experience does not match what the Buddha teaches, we must keep silence and just accept what he tells us. It is only through sincere questioning that we find the Buddha’s mind and make it our own.
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