Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and opens Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.
We begin today with Śākyamuni explaining in gāthās why it is that he must use expedients:
I am like the father.
I am the Saint of Saints.
I am the father of the world.All living beings are my children.
They are deeply attached
To the pleasures of the world.
They have no wisdom.The triple world is not peaceful.
It is like the burning house.
It is full of sufferings.
It is dreadful.There are always the sufferings
Of birth, old age, disease and death.
They are like flames
Raging endlessly.I have already left
The burning house of the triple world.
I am tranquil and peaceful
In a bower in a forest.This triple world
Is my property.
All living beings therein
Are my children.There are many sufferings
In this world.
Only I can save
[All living beings].I told this to all living beings.
But they did not believe me
Because they were too much attached
To desires and defilements.Therefore, I expediently expounded to them
The teaching of the Three Vehicles,
And caused them to know
The sufferings of the triple world.
I opened, showed, and expounded
The Way out of the world.Those children who were resolute in mind
Were able to obtain
The six supernatural powers
Including the three major supernatural powers,
And to become cause-knowers
Or never-faltering Bodhisattvas.Śāriputra!
With this parable I expounded
The teaching of the One Buddha-Vehicle
To all living beings.
All of you will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
If you believe and receive
These words of mine.
And that’s a promise.
Because everyone is a Bodhisattva:
The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones,
Say only expediently [that some are not Bodhisattvas]
To tell the truth,
All living beings taught by them are Bodhisattvas.[I said:]
“To those who have little wisdom,
And who are deeply attached to sensual desires,
The Buddhas expound the truth that all is suffering.
Those [who hear this truth]
Will have the greatest joy that they have ever had.
The statement of the Buddhas that all is suffering
Is true, not false.
To those who are ignorant
Of the cause of all sufferings,
And who are too deeply attached
To the cause of suffering
To give it up even for a moment,
The Buddhas expound
The [eight right] ways as expedients.The cause of suffering is greed.
When greed is eliminated,
There is nothing to be attached to.The extinction of suffering
Is called the third truth.
In order to attain this extinction,
The [eight right] ways must be practiced.
Freedom from the bonds of suffering[,]
[That is, from illusions] is called emancipation.”From what illusions can one be emancipated, however,
[By the practice of the eight right ways]?
He can be emancipated only from unreal things
[That is, from the five desires] thereby.
He cannot be emancipated from all illusions.
The Buddhas say
That he has not yet attained
The true extinction
Because he has not yet attained
Unsurpassed enlightenment.
I also do not think that I have led him
To the [true] extinction thereby.I am the King of the Dharma.
I expound the Dharma without hindrance.
I appeared in this world
In order to give peace to all living beings.
And no matter how well versed in the teachings of the Buddha:
They will be able to follow this sūtra
Only because they believe my words,
Not because they have wisdom.
On the other hand:
Those who do not believe this sūtra
But slander it,
Will destroy the seeds of Buddhahood
Of all living beings of the world.
While Chapter 3 offers Śākyamuni’s perspective on why expedients are required in order to cause people in this Saha world to seek enlightenment, Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, presents the perspective of “the men living the life of wisdom”:
We were already tired [when we heard of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. 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 Nirvāṇa. Neither did we wish at all to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, 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 Śrāvaka of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. 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.
