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The Lotus Sutra contains seven
parables, of varying profundity. They were related to help its listeners -
both of and within the text - understand the various principles the Buddha is
expounding.
Parable of The Three Carts and
The Burning House (from Chapter Three - ‘Simile and Parable’)
A fire breaks out in the
spacious but decaying mansion of a wealthy man. His children are playing inside
and, absorbed in their games, they refuse to leave, despite his warning cries.
To tempt them out he shouts that there are three beautiful carts waiting for
them, driven by a sheep, a deer and an ox. The children rush out of the
house to find, for each of them, a cart covered in jewels and far superior to
what they were expecting, drawn by a great white ox.
The burning house
represents this world, consumed in the sufferings of birth and death; the
children represent all living beings, absorbed in worldly pleasures; and the
rich man represents the Buddha. The three carts stand for the teachings of
the three vehicles, while the great white ox cart symbolises the supreme vehicle
of Buddhahood.
The parable thus represents
‘the replacement of the three vehicles with one vehicle’; the notion that
the Buddha’s earlier teachings, designed to lead people to the status of
voice-hearer, pratyekabuddha and bodhisattva, are merely expedient means to
prepare them for the ultimate goal of Buddhahood.
Parable of the Wealthy Man and
His Poor Son (from Chapter Four - ‘Belief and Understanding’)
The son of a wealthy man son
runs away from his father as a child. For many years he wanders from place to
place in abject poverty, finally reaching his father’s estate. The father
recognises him at once, but the son does not remember him and runs off,
overwhelmed by his riches. The father, not wanting to lose him again and
wishing to pass on his wealth, sends his servants to offer him a job as a
cleaner. The son takes the job and for twenty years works for him, still
not knowing his true identity, until eventually he is entrusted with the
management of the estate. When the wealthy man is near to death, he acknowledges
the poor man as his son in front of his relatives, the king and ministers, and
declares him to be his true heir.
The wealthy man represents the
Buddha, the son ordinary people who do not know that they are the Buddha’s
children and wander about in misery. The Buddha’s sole desire is for all
people to enjoy the same life state as his - ‘to inherit his estate’ - but
he has to raise them gradually until they can accept this. The son working
as a cleaner and then administering the estate represents people being developed
through the pre-Lotus Sutra teachings, which prepare them for the revelation of
the one Buddha vehicle in the Lotus Sutra.
Parable of the Three Kinds of
Medicinal Herbs and Two Kinds of Trees (from Chapter Five - ‘Parable of the
Medicinal Herbs’)
The same rain falls equally upon
the earth, but the grass and trees that receive the rain are all different, and
all grow differently according to their nature. Similarly, the Buddha
impartially expounds only the one vehicle of Buddhahood to all people, but their
understanding and the benefit they receive differ according to their respective
capacities.
The three kinds of herbs are of
lesser, intermediate or superior medicinal quality; and there are small or large
trees. There are several views as to what they represent. T’ien‑t’ai
interprets the lesser medicinal herbs as the worlds of Humanity and Heaven, the
intermediate medicinal herbs as people of the two vehicles (voice-hearers and
pratyekabuddhas), and the superior medicinal herbs and small and great trees as
bodhisattvas.
Parable of the Phantom City and
the Treasure Land (from Chapter Seven - ‘Parable of the Phantom City’)
A group of travellers are making
a journey of five hundred yojana to reach a remote place where there is
treasure. Midway, they are too exhausted and disheartened to carry on. Seeing
this, their guide uses his mystic powers to make a phantom city appear at three
hundred yojana. Encouraged to continue, the travellers reach the city and
recover from their fatigue and low spirits. The guide then tells them that the
city is simply a mirage. Promising them that the treasure land, their true
destination, is now near, he makes the city disappear.
The phantom city represents the
three vehicles or expedient means, by which the Buddha leads people to the
treasure land of Buddhahood.
Parable of the Gem in the Robe
(from Chapter Eight - ‘Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples’
A man visits his wealthy friend
where he is warmly welcomed with wine. He gets drunk and falls asleep. The
friend has to go out and sews a priceless gem into the lining of the sleeping
man’s robe. When the man awakes, he is not aware of the gem and wanders
through many countries in poverty. Finally, he happens to meet his friend again,
who is surprised to see the man so poor and points out the presence of the gem
in his robe. The poor man searches his robe and, astonished, finds the gem in
the lining.
This parable can be interpreted
in various ways. The five hundred arhats who relate the story in the Lotus
Sutra explain that, just as the man was ignorant of the treasure he possessed,
so the Buddha’s voice-hearer disciples were unaware that they had received the
seed of Buddhahood from Shakyamuni - the wealthy man - in the remote past, and
were satisfied with provisional teachings. From another viewpoint, the gem in
the robe represents the Buddha nature that all living beings possess, while the
poor man represents ordinary people who are unaware of it.
Parable of the Priceless Gem in
the Topknot (from Chapter Fourteen - ‘Peaceful Practices’)
A wheel‑turning king
rewards his distinguished warriors with castles, robes, gold, silver and other
treasures - except the priceless gem that he keeps hidden in the topknot of his
head gear. Finally, he presents the gem to the warrior who has fought most
valiantly. Shakyamuni compares the gem to the Lotus Sutra, which he keeps
concealed while expounding the provisional teachings, but which he finally
reveals when he thinks his followers are ready.
Parable of the Excellent
Physician (from Chapter Sixteen - ‘The Life Span of the Thus Come One’)
An excellent physician who had
cured many illnesses has a great number of children. When he is away one day,
his children take poison by accident, which causes them to writhe on the ground
in agony. When their father comes home he quickly prepares excellent
medicine for them to take. Some do and are cured, but those who have lost their
minds refuse to take it, even though they are in great pain.
Then the physician has an idea.
Telling them ‘I will leave this good medicine here. You should take it
and not worry that it will not cure you’,[1]
he sets off for another country. Once abroad, he sends his children a
messenger to say that their father has died. The children are so shocked
with grief that they come to their senses, take the medicine and are cured.
Hearing this news, the father returns home.
Shakyamuni explains that the excellent physician represents the Buddha, and the
children represent ordinary people. The poison the children drink stands for
mistaken teachings or views of life, which cause people to suffer; and the
excellent medicine stands for the Buddha’s doctrines, which bring true peace
and comfort. Fundamentally, the parable teaches that if the Buddha were
always in the world people would begin to take him for granted and no longer
seek his teaching. Therefore, although his life is eternal, he uses his
death as a means to make people aspire for enlightenment.
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