I will tell you a parable. Once upon a time there was a dangerous, bad road five hundred yojanas long.

After [having given to them] the feeling of approximation and a low level of knowledge [about his meaning], [the Buddha now] intends to show that when he previously preached the doctrine of the three vehicles [it] was designed to manifest the One. [However], beings seek to hold on to the three. Because of this he again points them to their past conditions, improvising the parable of the conjured city. This parable suggests that the two vehicles are not real, eventually returning to the Path of the One. The Path of the One is very difficult to get to because of the workings of illusion. However, the three spheres are muddy and hilly, and the road of the two vehicles is dangerous. This [road], five hundred [yojanas long], is the path that bodhisattvas are required to take and [is] very hard to traverse.

It was so fearful {a frightful place} that no men lived in the neighborhood.

Five hundred [yojanas] represent a very great distance: thus, “empty.” They are determined to work out their solitary enlighteninent [just for their own sake]: [thus], “devoid of human beings”. They have long endured hardships and suffering, subject to dangers that may come from anywhere, anytime: it is “a frightful place.”

Now many people wished to pass through this road in order to reach a place of treasures.

The endowment of great enlightenment [innate in every being] issues forth: they “wish to traverse” the steep “road.” [Those who] wish to traverse are not few; thus, “a great multitude.” Traversing it, they will obtain all kinds of pleasure; thus, “a cache of precious jewels.”

They were led by a man, clever, wise, and well informed of the conditions of the dangerous road.

Meeting with li is what is meant by passable; going astray from it is what is meant by impassable. When it comes to “knowing well” the “features,” there is just one person [who does]. By teaching the multitude to follow the “passable,” [the Buddha] makes [himself] the master “who leads” them.

He took them along this dangerous road, but halfway the people got tired of walking {get disgusted}. They said to him, ‘We are tired out. We are also afraid of the danger of this road. We cannot go a step farther. Our destination is still far off. We wish to go back.’

They are confused about where they are heading, obviously far away from the Path of the Buddha. They have long endured hardships and suffering, suffering [the cycle of] birth and death. Those of the Lesser Vehicle tend to be content with substitutes [for suffering] and easily fall prey to being pleased with them: they “get disgusted.” Despite this delusion, however, the original understanding is never lost: they “wish to turn back.” They turn back to the Dharma of the “guide,” which means that they proceed with the “guide,” but they obtain no “comfort” from him. They then intend to make an “entreaty” to convey this [need].

The leader, who knew many expedients, thought, ‘What a pity! They wish to go back without getting great treasures.’ Having thought this, he expediently made a city by magic {conjures up} at a distance of three hundred yojanas from the starting-point of this dangerous road.

Proceeding with him but finding no comfort as they follow the “guide,” they make their entreaty. The “guide,” listening to their entreaty, sympathetically realizes that they are in a pitiful state. Thus, as a device, he invents the transformative teaching of the two vehicles, telling them that they will attain nirvāṇa. A city is originally designed to protect [its people] from evils; [likewise] only in nirvāṇa is there no calamity. This [nature of nirvāṇa] is analogized in the designation [i.e., “city”]. What [the Buddha] exigently shows is unreal: he “conjures up.”

He said to them, ‘Do not be afraid! Do not go back! You can stay in that great city, and do anything you like. If you enter that city, you will be peaceful.

The teaching of the two vehicles is the meaning implied here. [The Buddha] talks of it through a made-up story.

If you go on afterwards and reach the place of treasures, then you can go home.’

The intent here is the teaching of the two vehicles, designed to enable them to obtain Buddhahood; but [the Buddha] does not reveal this, showing this also by way of a made-up story.

They felt peaceful, thinking that they had already passed [through the bad road].

They have advanced to attain the result; that is, what they say to themselves [they have obtained], nirvāṇa.

Seeing that they had already had a rest and relieved their fatigue, the leader caused the city to disappear, and said to them, ‘Now the place of treasures is near. I made this city by magic in order to give you a rest.’

This again refers to nirvāṇa, which they say they have obtained: they “stop.” They prepare themselves to advance further: they “rest.” Because they have realized it, [the Buddha] preaches that the three are [in reality] the One: thus “dissolves the conjured city.” And he says that [the two vehicles] are made-up statements.

The sixteen princes were young boys at that time. They renounced the world and became śramaṇeras.

Until now he has preached the doctrine of the two vehicles. Now for the princes he preaches the Dharma Blossom.

The Buddha assented to the appeal of the śramaṇeras, but it was twenty thousand kalpas afterwards that he expounded to the four kinds of devotees the sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

This illustrates that li is so deep and the Tao is so recondite that they require meticulous scrutiny. This also makes beings admire and respect them.

Having completed the expounding of this sūtra, the Buddha entered a quiet room and practiced dhyāna-concentration for eighty-four thousand kalpas.

[By this the Buddha] wishes to manifest the virtues of the śramaṇeras.

Then he expounded the teaching of the twelve causes

Ignorance (avidyā): There are one hundred and eight kinds of depravities (kleśa), becoming numerous, [so to speak,] when they are applied to the various affairs. In reality, however, it can be said that there is no more than one kind of delusion. Ignorance represents all delusions. It is shown in desire (or “greed”) and attachment (or “seizure”). Desire for and attachment to that which is useless and has been valued from the past, all this we call “ignorance.”

Karmic legacy {predisposition} (saṃskāras): When karma committed through body, mouth, and mind appears in the present, it means that [a karmic legacy] exists, which causes a future effect to exist. When retribution is drawn to the background, the process is then completed and phenomena come into existence. When the creation of phenomena is passed, [what is left] we call karmic legacy. Karmic legacy has to do with transmigration in the realm of birth and death.

Cognition {consciousness} (vijñāna): Cognition is the beginning of the present body, which means that the phenomenon of life comes into being

Name and visible form (nāmarūpa): As cognition becomes a seed, it can give rise to “name and visible form.” The four aggregates (skandhas) are referred to as name; the fifth [aggregate, which is] consciousness (vijñāna), accounts for “visible form.” They also are said to be in the womb, in an obscure and dark state. There is little consciousness of suffering and pleasure; there is no more than just “name.”

The six sense organs (saḍāyatana): The six sensations arise to appropriately match the six qualities (gums).

Contact {Impression} (sparśa): Once sensations and qualities appear, the consciousness of body comes into existence. The body consciousness is delicate and subtle. The three things join together. “To join together” is what is meant by contact.

Perception {feeling} (vedanā): Once sensations and qualities join together, there is [the process of deciding] whether it is agreeable or not. Next the three states of perception arise.

Craving (tṛṣṇā): Pleasure conditions perception. To follow one’s will is called craving. With craving one is attached to something. He who is attached to something is one whose root of birth and death (saṃsāra) is deep. Hence, stretching everywhere are the branches of [birth and death].

Grasping (upādāna): Because of the obstruction caused by craving, the four categories of grasping arise. By “grasping” one is able to grasp birth and death (saṃsāra).

Becoming {Existence} (bhava): Because of the four kinds of grasping, the three kinds of karma are produced. They are referred to as becoming, in the sense that they can bring about “becoming.”

Birth (jāti): Because of the three kinds of karma, the shoots [of life] crave and grasp water and moisture, duly developing into birth.

Aging and dying (jarāmarana): As birth secures one in the state of undyingness, this is the residence of craving and compassion.

The twelve causes and conditions involve all the three periods of past, present, and future [lives]. However, the names [of the three] are invisibly revealed in accordance with the trace of transformation. How? Two are present in the past, eight in the present, and two in the future. Because of ignorance and karmic legacy, suffering in this life is induced; thus, if one intends to cut it off right now, then consequently [upon cutting it off] there will be no more birth and death. Birth and death are the locus of the various calamities. How can one not fear it? Thus these two beginnings are shown. Many made inquiries into the meaning of the words, but men drift in the three worlds because of the twelve [causes and] conditions; so if [causes and] conditions are destroyed, it means that stupidity and ignorance are cut dead by the knife of wisdom, and that the water of craving is scorched and dried off by the fire of knowledge. The lofty net [of knowledge] opens up over the four corners all over the six forms of existence. Nonrebirth (anutpatti or ajāti) surpasses the eight apexes [of suffering?].

“Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathāgata, having assented to the appeals made by the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the words of the ten quarters and also by the sixteen princes, turned the wheel of the teaching [of the four truths] three times, making twelve proclamations altogether.

[The Buddha] depicted [what happened in] the past to compare it with the present; this idea becomes evident here. [The Thus Come One] Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge preached the teaching of the three vehicles in the past for the Brahma kings, and preached the scripture of the Dharma Blossom for the sixteen princes. That the youngest of the princes was Śākyamuni means that for contemporary people he already had preached this Dharma. Now as he ascends a [Dharma] throne, he revives the past transformative teaching, preaching again the path of the One preceded by the three. “The three turns of the Dharma wheel” are as follows:

The first [turn] was made for when the Buddha proclaimed to Kauṇḍinya [and four other mendicants, to the effect that] “[what constitutes the self or] body is suffering. You should know it, then you will attain the four ‘spokes’ of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. This forms the root of what you have not yet known.”

The second was made for when the Buddha proclaimed to the five men, [to the effect that] “you have known about suffering, and also obtained the four ‘spokes’ of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. This forms the root of what you have already known.”

The third. was made for when the Buddha proclaimed to the five men, [to the effect that] “you have known about suffering. You don’t have to know again. You have also attained the four ‘spokes’ of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. This forms the root of what you had no knowledge of.”

There are four courses and three turnings in one proclamation; hence, there are twelve (in total). In this way, one who does not yet know should know: one who does not yet know the cause [of suffering] should know it; one who does not yet know the extinction [of suffering] should know it; and one who does not yet know the path [to extinction] should know it. In this way in each truth [of the four noble truths] there are the four courses of seeing, knowing, understanding, and awakening. One proclamation encompasses the four truths. The three proclamations contain the Dharma wheel of forty-eight “spokes.” “Twelve” is the outcome of [the four truths applied to] the three proclamations. The “forty-eight,” when we speak of them in terms of the [four] truths, are “the twelve causes and conditions” (pratītya-samutpāda) [multiplied by] the four truths. “The four truths” spell out the facts involved (shih) in detail, whereas the terms [of the process] are made brief. “The twelve causes and conditions” spell out the terms in detail, whereas the facts involved are made brief. As their faculties were sharp, when [the Buddha] preached merely the arising and destruction of the twelve [causes and conditions], they immediately comprehended for themselves, coming up with the Dharma medicine that would free them from suffering without fail, which means that they had reached the end of the path (tao).

The palaces of the Brahman-heavenly[-kings] of the five hundred billion worlds in the east were illumined {aglow} twice as brightly as ever.

The fact that nothing was left not covered by the first illumination implies that there is nothing that the Tao does not mirror. That the Brahma god [kings] from [all] the ten directions went far in search of this portent shows that, once [the Sage] is stimulated (kan), [beings] are certain to reach [the goal], regardless of the distance. That they did not recognize the portent of the glow tells that li is outside the reach of the senses. Their gift of the palaces [to the Buddha] expresses again their infinitely [sincere, grateful] minds. They abandoned the joy of abstruse meditation and visited the Buddha, coming a long way, and because their sentiment had remained on the wondrous Dharma, they begged the Buddha to turn the Dharma wheel.

He sat cross-legged without moving his mind and body for one to ten small kalpas. During all that time the Dharma of the Buddhas did not come into his mind.

By stating that the Buddha-dharmas did not yet appear before him for ten minor kalpas, [the Buddha] means to show that the ultimate li is dark and remote, and difficult to size up at once. Also expressed here is that the will of [the Buddha] Great Penetration was very strong and that his decisive mind could not be blocked, thus encouraging beings to cherish a longing for [complete enlightenment].

When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat.

The fact that men and gods congregate there, making offerings, [in multitudes] like forests, shows that the utmost virtue is so dignified and weighty that li has moved [even] the gods. The Brahmā kings are the lords of living beings, and yet they are among those who have come to pay reverence [to this Buddha]. Would it not be even more so for the rest [of the beings]?

Before [Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha] left home, he had sixteen sons.

Things caused in the past are depicted here.

Underlying the depiction of [the Buddha named] Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge (Mahābhijnā-jnānābhibhū) is a threefold meaning. First, because Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge also preached the three and the One, in that order, it lends support to and completes the present preaching. Second, the five hundred disciples and the great multitude were previously in the place of Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge and were converted by Śākyamuni. The story of what happened to Śākyamuni [in the past] is certain to lead beings to believe that [achievements made] in earlier times help one to accomplish awakening now. Third, it means that the boundary of [the realm of] birth and death is so remote, and the Great Path (Tao) is so dark and distant, that [the Buddha] urgently devised the two vehicles, which are symbolized in the parable of the conjured city.

“A countless, limitless, inconceivable, asaṃkhya number of kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence {Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge}

[What the Buddha] said here, that [that] Buddha passed into extinction a long time ago, is intended to express that Śākyamuni reflects on the remote past as if he had thought of it today, in order to prove that the li he is now preaching is deep and proper.

As regards this topic, as the task is achieved, then its effect is completed; this is the calendrical order [li-shu] of self-soness [tzu-jan]. That the four great voice hearers already had their roots planted in the distant past is shown in the present prophecy. What the Buddha has stated so far completes his preaching. What he has preached must be in compliance with li. When li is complied with, the [natural] factors, as they converge, come to bear fruits. Therefore, the Buddha arranged for them (the disciples) to receive his prophecy. This bestowal of prophecy [is like] the blossom of the Dharma. Fetters cause the creation of all things and images [or phenomena], but when the Sage is united with li, these fetters are completely destroyed. These fetters having been destroyed, it is illogical to claim the existence of a “land.” Whereas it can be said that there is no “land,” this does not [necessarily] imply the nonexistence of a “land.” [For, although] there is neither body nor name, yet body and name both exist more really than ever (before). Therefore it should be understood that what the “lands,” the titles, and the bestowal of prophecy mean is that [the Buddha] merely devised such things as a way of responding to beings, in order to guide them to [feeling] unsatisfied [with themselves].

Thereupon Great Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti and Mahā-Kātyāyana {all greatly agitated,} trembled, joined their hands together with all their hearts, looked up at the World-Honored One with unblenching eyes, and sang in gāthās in unison:

The way these men sought the prophecy [as it is described here] suggests that they entertained inwardly a wondrous understanding of Ii, making them deserve to receive the prophecy, with the result that they came to the point of seeking it themselves. [The Buddha] secretly guided those unawakened, urging them [to drive themselves] toward awakening and understanding. Because their will to acquire understanding was so intense, [their will] to obtain the prophecy was also the same.

His right teachings will be preserved for twenty small kalpas. The counterfeit of his right teachings will be preserved also for twenty small kalpas.

It is shown that there is [a distinction between] superior and inferior realms, and that there is [a difference] between long life and short life. Why is this? The Sage certainly has not made this so. [The difference in individuals of] the subtle triggering-mechanism accounts for it. Hence, [the Buddha] explains the difference.

My sons [, that is, the Bodhisattvas]
Who seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha exclusively,
Who believe that they will become Buddhas definitely,
And who have compassion towards others,
May be likened to the short {small} trees.

By this [the Buddha] intends to explain that the bodhisattva path is the superior one, comparing it again to trees. “Trees” are meant for shade and covering. The Greater Vehicle has the connotation of “covering [in this sense] it is similar to trees. [Those who are in] the seventh stage (bhūmi) and [those who are] below are referred to as small trees whereas [those who are in] the eighth or above are spoken of as great trees.

The cloud covered the sun,
And cooled the earth.
It hung down
As low as if we could reach it.

This symbolizes that through the transformation body (nirmāṇakāya) [the Buddha] makes contact with beings, so that he appears approachable [to them] step by step.
Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p245