Family Lessons

[Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva,] touches upon many important problems of actual life. We should take the various characters in the story as models, appreciating their attitudes according to their positions. The attitude of King Resplendent is an example of that which a person engaged in politics or national leadership should take toward the truth; the deeds of the two royal sons, Pure Treasury and Pure-Eyed, show how children may open their parents’ eyes to faith (this also applies to a wife’s opening her husband’s eyes to it); Queen Pure Virtue is a model of the attitude a mother ought to take in mediating between progressive sons and a conservative father in order to promote the truth. 403-404