I will tell you a parable. There was once an excellent and wise physician. He was good at dispensing medicines and curing diseases. He had many sons, numbering ten, twenty, or a hundred.

This example symbolizes the Buddha who exists [forever] in reality but who says he will soon be extinguished. Living beings formerly received [from him] transformative teaching; they are “sons” born of the bodhisattva. Twenty refers to the two vehicles. Hundred or more indicates “many.” He who cures diseases on the basis of the [sufferer’s] present [condition) is a “physician.”

[One day] he went to a remote country on business.

Having transformed this [realm], he must also transform that [realm], without taking any rest.

After he left home, the sons took poison. The poison passed into their bodies, and the sons writhed in agony, rolling on the ground.

Their understanding is small and they suffer from delusion; they are likened to those who “drink poisonous medicines.” “Going astray from li,” they belong to the “other.” The condition (pratyaya) of delusion arises: “The medicines start becoming effective.” Having received consciousness of death and birth, they are likened to being in “agonized pain and confusion.” [Being in the cycle of] birth and death, they are “rolling about on the earth.”

At that time the father returned home.

The li underlying the former transformative teaching is true; it is “home.” The condition for receiving teaching overcomes them and they return to the city of Gayā and recognize it; they “return.”

Some sons had already lost their right minds while the others still had not.

Ever since they received the teaching, [some of] them have practiced the right path all the time: they “have not lost their sanity.” Going astray from it, [some of] them “have lost [their sanity].”

All the sons saw their father in the distance and had great joy.

Conditions develop in such a way that they overcome their ignorance, on a shallow level, and approach li, gradually, little by little: They “see from afar.” But as they see that form [incarnated] in response [to the different needs of individual beings] they are all “[over]joyed,” and there is no one who does not offer alms to him and praise him.

They begged him on their knees, saying, ‘You came back safely. We were ignorant. We took poison by mistake.

The process of overcoming [ignorance] having been started, the true reveals the erroneous. What is said here is an unreal, tentative statement.

Cure us, and give us back our lives!’

They have appealed to him to heal them; he “heals” them, that is, he revives their wisdom-life. This also is an unreal, tentative statement.

Seeing his sons suffering so much, the father consulted books of prescriptions, and collected good herbs. having a good color, smell and taste. He compounded a medicine by pounding and sieving the herbs, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is a very good medicine. It has good color, smell and taste.’

All that the Buddha has preached about the Dharma, in accordance with the way [beings] respond, has the same goal: it is “tasty.” The words describe their external joy: they are “colorful.” They have had their thought rectified inside and outside: it is “fragrant.” The [Buddha’s] teaching manifests the ultimate consequence, unity in the markless (wu-hsiang/animitta): he “pounded, sifted, and blended them.”

Take it! It will remove the pain at once and you will not suffer any more.’

He meant “to order them to take.” This also is an unreal, tentative statement.

The sons who had not lost their right minds saw that this good medicine had a good color and smell, took it at once, and were cured completely.

They apprehended [the Buddha’s] purport: they “took it.” They had their delusions removed: they were “healed.”

But the sons who had already lost their right minds did not consent to take the medicine given to them, although they rejoiced at seeing their father come home and asked him to cure them, because they were so perverted that they did not believe that this medicine having a good color and smell had a good taste.

Although they knew that it was a medicine, they remained ignorant of its purpose; thus it was “no good.”

He said to them, ‘Know this! Now I am old and decrepit. I shall die soon.

Likewise, the Buddha’s age was eighty; his form was like a worn-out vehicle. He was just about to enter parinirvāṇa.

I am leaving this good medicine here. Take it! Do not be afraid that you will not be cured!

If the Great Dharma of the six pāramitās is not kept, it will disappear. li is not subject to destruction; when practiced, it will remain.

Having thus advised them, he went to a [remote] country again. Then he sent home a messenger to tell them, ‘Your father has just died.’

[The Buddha] carried out again [his mission] to convert the rest; he “went again to another realm,” He entered nirvāṇa under the twin trees; his words and traces were completely extinguished: he “sent a messenger back to declare, ‘Your father is dead.’ ”

Having heard that their father had passed away from this world, leaving them behind, they felt extremely sorry. They thought, ‘If our father were alive, he would love and protect us. Now he has deserted us and died in a remote country.’

They felt lonely and helpless because they thought that they were parentless and shelterless. Their constant sadness finally caused them to recover their right minds. They realized that the medicine had a good color, smell and taste. They took it and were completely cured of the poison.

Seeing the Buddha entering nirvāṇa, they were awakened to the fact that [the Buddha] did not exist eternally. They began to realize what the Buddha had said: it turned out to be “tasty.” They apprehended the purport: they “took it.”

On hearing that they had recovered their health, the father returned home, and showed himself to them.

They comprehended the profound meaning. They were beginning to see the Buddha, [yet] there were those who had not seen the Buddha in corporeal form. To them he also “came back.”

Good men! What do you think of this? Do you think that anyone can accuse this excellent physician of falsehood?

The [Buddha’s] intention was to make beings gain consciousness [of reality], and the result was that he saved beings. Even though the [Buddha’s] words are lacking in consistency, [the underlying] li does not contradict the truth. Although [the Buddha] preached all day long, by preaching he did not commit “the sin of willfully false speech.”

The duration of my life, which I obtained by the practice of the way of Bodhisattvas, has not yet expired.

When he was treading the bodhisattva path in the past, his lifespan “was twice the preceding [number].” It should be known, therefore, that though [his life-span] was compared to the number of grains of sand, the tiniest part of it has not yet been exhausted. Now the Buddha is described by way of a bodhisattva; the Buddha’s life-span is long [in comparison with the bodhisattva’s].

All that I say is true, not false, because I see the triple world as it is.

He who has seen Reality never again sees what is not real. [The Buddha’s] original intention was to ferry them over to Reality and awaken them to it. Thus, in accordance with the way they responded he devised expedients. Even though these are not identical their imports are not different. However, it is said here that [the Thus Come One] sees only “[the marks of] the triple sphere.” He has already seen something more than that. Because [everything] he says contains his original [intention] he seeks to find the words and expressions in various forms [that would suit the existential situations of beings].

Thereupon the Buddha aid to the great multitude including Bodhisattvas and others, “Good men! Understand my sincere and infallible words by faith!” {the true speech of the Thus Come One}.

They beg for it three times, also expressing how intense is their aspiration.

The gods, men and asuras in the world think that I, Śākyamuni Buddha, left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gayā, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [forty and odd years ago].

Here is the point of which many are doubtful. Thus, he points it out to dispel the doubts. This day [the Buddha] proves that his long life-span is real, thereby showing that [his enlightenment at] Gayā is unreal. If one perceives that Gayā is untrue, one also knows that [a] long or short [life-span] applies to beings, whereas the Sage is ever in the unconditioned state (wu-wei, asaṃskṛta).

The profound mirror is void and clear. It is outside the realm of phenomena. How can any being with a distinct form do away with lifespan, long or short? However, the proposition that there is nothing that is with form and enjoys [a long] life-span stems from various delusions. There is no way that the Sage can be in that category. Only the deluded would count the actual lifespan of the Buddha as a hundred years. Now such a [mental] impediment is driven out. [The Buddha] relies on [the theory of] longevity to dispel it. Thus this chapter is titled “Life-Span.” Life-span is none other than that which prompted the Buddhas [to achieve) spiritual insight in the earlier chapters and is none other than the ultimate effect. Because the ultimate fruit has been shown, is it not true that they abide eternally? Furthermore, they tend to have an affinity for life and distaste for death. What is now said about longevity must invigorate them greatly.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva and the [other] Bodhisattvas [who had already been present in the congregation before the arrival of the Bodhisattvas from underground], eight thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges in number, thought: ‘We have never before seen these great Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground, stood before [Śākyamuni,] the World-Honored One, joined their hands together towards him, and made offerings to him. [Now we see that their leaders] inquire after him.’

It is said that [even] Maitreya did not recognize a single person because the [endowment] is such that [as an object of] enlightenment it cannot be empirically experienced [even by one who is] in the tenth stage. That what welled up was not Buddhas but bodhisattvas means that this endowment for enlightenment has necessarily to be studied accumulatively until there is nothing left to learn.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva, seeing what the Bodhisattvas numbering eight thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges had in their minds, and also wishing to remove his own doubts, joined his hands together towards the Buddha

Riding on the thought of the multitude, [Maitreya] harbors doubts regarding [how] the Buddha since his attainment of Buddhahood could accomplish so many things [in such a short time], [Maitreya] begs [the Buddha] to resolve these doubts for the multitude, showing them the ultimate within themselves. The ever-abiding, subtle meaning is gradually revealing itself in this way.

When he had said this, the ground of the Sahā-World, which was composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, quaked and cracked, and many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sprang up from underground simultaneously.

That the earth split and [the bodhisattvas] welled up suggests that living beings inherently possess an endowment for enlightenment, and it cannot remain concealed; they are bound to break the earth of defilements and emerge to safeguard the Dharma.

This chapter introduces an integral part of the next [chapter], concerning the life-span [of the Thus Come One], and is designed to demonstrate that the effect of the three becomes that of the One. Earlier there was an introduction regarding the cause; in accord with that speech, flowers [rained down] and the earth trembled (Chapter 1). This chapter introduces the effect; in accord with this speech, a great number of bodhisattvas well up out of the earth. Here Maitreya harbors doubts, as he did before. It [the chapter] also manifests the ever-abiding meaning.

“No, good men! I do not want you to protect or keep this sūtra

The reason for saying stop is to initiate the entrance of the bodhisattvas [equal in number to the sands of] sixty thousand Ganges

because there are Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sixty thousand times as many as the sands of the River Ganges in this Sahā-World.

The teaching of the Sage has its rise and fall; its deep purport is not fathomable. However, as it has widely prevailed throughout times earlier and later, the meaning can be grasped. In the preceding [the Buddha] urged them to protect the Dharma, but now he says “[there is] no need.” [Why the discrepancy?] They are both [valid statements] each with its own purpose. The Dharma by which living beings emerge from delusion and are led to Buddhahood and nirvāṇa is designed to extinguish itself completely; they [beings] must volunteer to protect it. Hence, the words of exhortation, so that they may strengthen their will [to protect it]. However, living beings all are endowed with [the faculty of] great enlightenment; all are without exception potential bodhisattvas. [In this respect] there is no time when it [the sūtra] is not protected. Then why does he have to rely on bodhisattvas from other regions [for protection]? Reliance on [bodhisattvas from] other regions makes it appear that the li of the transformative teaching is insufficient. Thus, [the Buddha] shows the rising-up [of the bodhisattva mahāsattvas] in order to express this idea. Six [of sixty thousand or six ten-thousands (wan)] refers to the six states of existence (gati). The sands of the Ganges Rivers mean “a lot.” The earth refers to the bonds and the instigators of depravites. And the living being’s endowment for enlightenment lies under these instigators of depravities. [They all had been] under [this Sahā world-sphere], in an open space indicates that [beings] are in void-li [or li of emptiness (śūnyatā), the state of li devoid of instigators].