A Parable

Chapter 3

 

Sutra:

“Shariputra, if there are living beings who inwardly posses the wisdom-nature, and hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, the World Honored One, believed and accepted it, diligently making progress, wishing quickly to escape the Three Realms and seeking Nirvana for themselves, they are called those of the Hearer Vehicle. They are like the children who sought the sheep carts and thereby escaped from the burning house.”

“If there are living beings who hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, the World Honored One, believed and accepted it, diligently making progress, and who seek for themselves Spontaneous Wisdom, delighting in solitude and fond of stillness, deeply understanding the causal conditions of all dharmas; they are called those of the Pratyeka Buddha Vehicle. They are like the children who sought the deer carts and so escaped from the burning house.”

“If there are living beings who hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, the World Honored One, believed and accepted it, earnestly cultivating with vigor, seeking All-wisdom, Buddha-wisdom, Spontaneous Wisdom, Untutored Wisdom, the Knowledge and Vision of the Thus Come One, his Powers and Fearlessnesses, pitying and comforting limitless living beings, benefitting gods and humans, saving all, they are called those of the Great Vehicle. Because the Bodhisattvas seek this vehicle, they are called Mahasattvas. They are like the children who sought the ox carts and so escaped from the burning house.”

Outline:

N3. Correlation of granting the children their wishes.

Commentary:

Shariputra, now I will tell you if there are living beings who inwardly possess the wisdom-nature: This means that in past lives they heard the Buddha speak the Dharma, and therefore they have the seeds of wisdom within them. Formerly, they followed the Buddha and studied the Dharma-doors of the Three Vehicles, so now they have the wisdom-nature within them.

And hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, the World Honored One: In former lives they listened to the Buddha teach the Dharma. This represents the first of the three types of wisdom, the wisdom of hearing. If you just hear it but do not believe or accept it, you cannot attain benefit. Once you have heard it, you must deeply believe it without having doubts. So the text says believed and accepted it. You must believe and uphold it. If you can believe and accept and uphold it, you can be assured of diligently making progress. Diligent refers to the second kind of the three wisdoms: the wisdom of consideration. You diligently consider the Dharma and are vigorous. This vigorous progress represents the third of the three types of wisdom, the wisdom of cultivation.

Wishing quickly to escape the Three Realms: If you can be diligent and make progress, you can quickly escape the desire, form, and formless realms.

And seeking Nirvana for themselves: They pay no attention to anyone else. They just want to succeed in their own cultivation and forget it. They are called those of the Hearer Vehicle. Because they only wish to enlighten and benefit themselves, they are called Hearers. They are like the children who sought the sheep carts and thereby escaped from the Burning house. Hearing that there were sheep carts outside the door, they ran from the burning house and were saved.

The Hearers are compared to sheep, because they just care about themselves. They are only interested in their own welfare. They end birth and death for themselves and pay no attention to others. They do not worry about the rest of the flock. They just run right ahead. That is the Hearer Vehicle.

If there are living beings who hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, the World Honored One, believed and accepted it: Someone asked me if the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas could give us faith. Does our faith come from ourselves or do the Buddhas give it to us? There are many ways to look at this question. However, we will say that faith arises from yourself. It definitely is not something given to you from the outside. It is not like those of non-Buddhist religions who say that God gives you faith. Faith arises only from within you. Others cannot give it to you. If others could give you faith, that would be like someone else eating lunch for you and you getting full. It does not work that way. In the same way faith cannot be gotten from the outside. If you have faith, you will get the food of Dharma and be filled with it. If you do not have faith, and others try to give you faith, well, it is not your own faith! You would not get “full.” Principles must be explained clearly. For example, one might ask it others can cultivate on your behalf. No. It is said,

Eat your own food, fill yourself;
End your own birth and death.

Faith works the same way. You have to give rise to it yourself. No one can do it for you.

Diligently making progress, and who seek for themselves Spontaneous Wisdom: This means very spontaneously and naturally giving rise to wisdom. How do they give rise to it? Delighting in solitude and fond of stillness. They cultivate by themselves in solitude; they are fond of stillness and are very pure. They do not like a lot of noise and commotion. Deeply understanding the causal conditions of all dharmas. They have profound understanding of the causes and condtions behind the production and extinction of all dharmas. They cultivate the Twelve Causal-conditions and by means of complete understanding of them, they gain attainment.

They are called those of the Pratyeka Buddha Vehicle. They are like the children who sought the Deer carts and thereby escaped from the burning house. They are like the kids who thought the deer carts the Elder offered were the most fun. Deer are independent. They do not need anyone to help them. Pratyeka Buddhas are independent, too. When a Buddha is in the world, they are called Conditioned-enlightened Ones. When there is no Buddha in the world they are called Solitary-enlightened Ones. They like to be alone. They like things quiet. They profoundly understand the causes and conditions underlying all dharmas. Pratyeka Buddhas cultivate and certify on their own. The Hearers and Pratyeka Buddhas are known as the Two Vehicles.

If there are living beings who hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, the World Honored One, who follow the Buddha and cultivate the Way, believed and accepted it, earnestly cultivating with vigor, seeking All-wisdom. All-wisdom means they want the wisdom regarding all transcendental and worldly dharmas. The Buddha-wisdom, this wisdom of the Buddha which those of the Two Vehicles do not possess.

Spontaneous Wisdom was explained previously as also sought by the Pratyeka Buddhas. Untutored Wisdom. Most people take this as wisdom which is gained without a teacher, but that is wrong. Untutuored Wisdom is something only the Buddha has, because the Buddha is the leader of gods and humans and no one acts as his teacher. Therefore his wisdom is untutored. This is the Buddha-wisdom. All-wisdom, Buddha-wisdom, Spontaneous Wisdom, and Untutored Wisdom are terms used to describe the Buddha’s wisdom. Although four types of wisdom are named, in reality, they are all the great, perfectly enlightened wisdom of the Buddha.

The Knowledge and Vision of the Thus Come One: Seeking the knowledge of the Thus Come One refers to the Wisdom of All Modes, and the vision of the Thus Come One refers to the Buddha-eye. His Powers and Fearlessnesses refers to the Buddha’s Ten Wisdom Powers and Four Fearlessnesses. Pitying and comforting limitless living beings: They have pity on all living beings and make them happy. They bring forth hearts of great compassion pitying and comforting all creatures benefitting gods and humans. They benefit gods in the heavens and humans below.

Saving all: They want to deliver all beings. They are called those of the Great Vehicle, Great Vehicle Bodhisattvas. Because the Bodhisattvas seek this Vehicle, they are called Mahasattvas, Great Bodhisattvas. They are like the children who sought the ox carts and thereby escaped from the burning house. They sought the great ox carts and so got out of the burning house.

Sutra:

“Shariputra, just as that Elder, seeing all his children safely escape the burning house to a place of fearlessness, and considering his own unlimited wealth, give to all of his children great carts.”

Outline:

L3. Correlation of the giving of a great cart.
M1. Correlation of avoiding disaster and giving of a great cart.

Commentary:

Shariputra, just as that Elder, seeing all his children safely escape the burning house to a place of fearlessness: This refers to the thirty sons talked about earlier as well as the five hundred people. And considering his own unlimited wealth, gives to all of his children great carts.

Sutra:

“The Thus Come One, in the same way, is the father of all living beings. When he sees limitless kotis of living beings using the gateway of the Buddha’s teaching to get off the fearsome and dangerous path of the sufferings of the Three Realms and attain the bliss of Nirvana, he has this thought, ‘I have limitless and boundless wisdom, powers, fearlessnesses and so on--the complete storehouse of the Buddhadharma.

All of these living beings are my children. I should give to all of them great carts, not allowing them to gain individual Quiescence, but crossing them over to Quiescence by means of the Thus Come One’s Quiescence. Having escaped the Three Realms, all these living beings are given as playthings the Buddha’s Dhyana Samadhis, Liberations, and so forth, all of one mark and one kind, praised by the sages and productive of pure, wondrous, and foremost bliss.’”

Outline:

M2. Giving of the Great Vehicle.

Commentary:

The Thus Come One, in the same way, is the father of all living beings. When he sees limitless kotis of living beings using the gateway of the Buddha’s teaching to get off the fearsome and dangerous path of the sufferings of the Three Realms and attain the bliss of Nirvana, he has this thought: The Three Realms are the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the formless realm. After you get out of the world of desire, you have no more desire. Once you transcend the world of form, there is no more form. Once you get beyond the formless realm, then there is no thought either.

Everything in the Three Realms is suffering. Here, the text says that it is not only suffering, but it is also very dangerous. Why is it dangerous? It is like a place that is overrun with thieves. The thieves are the Six Senses: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. These six thieves rob you of the precious treasure of your own original wisdom. But if you can turn them around, the Six Senses can act as Dharma protectors, too. I will give you a simple analogy:

For example, say there were some thieves who got tired of being thieves and decided to join the police force. Because they used to be thieves, they know very well where to go to look for thieves, and they make very good policemen. They know all the sneaky thief tricks and can arrive at the scene of a crime before the criminals even get there! So it is with the Six Senses if they are turned around. The eyes that once ran after beautiful forms no longer are fooled by them. The ears quit running after fine sounds; the nose does not seek fragrances; the tongue does not crave fine flavors; the body does not run after things to touch; and the mind is not preoccupied with dharmas. In this way, they stand guard over the treasure of your original wisdom, and they have become Dharma protectors.

Now, in the Three Realms there are many thieves. They are sneaking up the alleys, coming up the main highways, crawling into the windows, and leaping over the back fence. Would you say this is dangerous or not? The Three Realms are indeed fearful and dangerous, in addition to being places of great suffering and misery. The Buddha sees all the living beings using the teachings of the Buddha to walk right out this suffering, dangerous world. He thinks, ‘I have limitless and boundless wisdom, powers, fearlessnesses, and so on--the complete storehouse of the Buddhadharma. All of these living beings are my children. I should give to all of them great carts, not allowing them to gain individual Quiescence, but crossing them over to Quiescence by means of the Thus Come One’s Quiescence.’

In the Three Realms there is no real happiness; there is nothing but suffering, and it is very dangerous. It is like standing on the edge of a deep abyss or walking on thin ice. What is meant by standing on the edge of a deep abyss? It is like standing on a cliff which hangs a hundred thousand feet right over the ocean. It is very easy to fall over the edge and lose your life. It is also like walking across some very thin ice--easy to fall right through into the water and lose your life. That is what being in the Three Realms is like. It is like being in a burning house.

The Buddha leads us out of danger to the joy of Nirvana, to the happiness of Nirvana--unproduced, undestroyed, not defiled, not pure, permanence, bliss, true self, and purity. Quite an advantage! The Buddha thinks, “Now that I have become a Buddha, my wisdom is limitless and boundless. It is endless for the taking and inexhaustible in its use. I also have Ten Powers, and Four Fearlessnesses.” The phrase, “and so on” refers to the Dharma-treasury of the Buddhas, that is, the Four Truths, the Six Perfections, the Twelve Conditioned Causes, and the Thirty-seven Wings of Enlightenment. Since the Buddha has the complete storehouse of the Dharma, he decides to give to all his children great carts, the Great Vehicle.

“I should not let them gain individual Nirvana,” he thinks. “I should lead them all to attain the Thus Come One’s Nirvana so they can be just like the Thus Come One. I should not allow them to attain simply doctrine of one-sided emptiness. I should make sure that they all attain the perfect, supreme doctrine of true emptiness.

Having escaped the Three Realms, all these living beings are given as playthings the Buddha’s Dhyana Samadhis, Liberations, and so forth, all of one mark and one kind, praised by the sages and productive of pure wondrous and foremost bliss. When all of these living beings get out of the Three Realms, they all get the Dhyana Concentrations of the Buddhas and the Liberations--the very finest toys. You have not attained that happy state of Dhyana Concentration yet, but once you do--ah!--then you will be like children playing with new toys. Lots of fun! Lots of fun!

What is “one mark?” It is the Real Mark. The Real Mark represents the first of the Three Virtues, the Virtue of the Dharma-body. Above, much principle has been discussed--the Thirty-seven Wings, the Six Perfections, the Four Truths, the Twelve Conditioned Causes. Now, the Parable chapter is about to be finished and the Three Virtues are used to cap it off. So the text says, “all of one mark.” They are all the Real Mark. The Real Mark is without a mark. However, there is nothing which it does not mark. All marks arise out of the Real Mark. This is to say that within true emptiness, wonderful existence arises. Wonderful existence--you cannot see it. That is why it is called “wonderful.” You cannot hear it, smell it, taste or touch it, either. Your mind’s thoughts cannot know of it. It is the Real Mark, the Virtue of the Dharma-body.

“One kind” refers to the Wisdom of All Modes, a kind of wisdom, and represents the second of the Three Virtues, the Virtue of Prajna.

“Praised by the sages and productive of pure, wondrous and foremost bliss” refers to the third of the Three Virtues, the Virtue of Liberation. This Dharma is praised by the Buddhas throughout the ten directions. It gives rise to a clear, pure, subtle, fine happiness, which knows no suffering. The absence of suffering is just liberation, the Virtue of Liberation. Such is the inconceivable storehouse of the Three Virtues.

Sutra:

“Shariputra, just as that Elder first having used the three carts to entice his children and then later having given them great carts adorned with jewels and supremely comfortable, is not guilty of falsehood…”

Outline:

L4. Correlation of “no falseness.”
M1. The parable.

Commentary:

The greatly wise Shariputra is told that he should know that the Buddha is just like a great Elder. Shariputra, just as that Elder first having used the three carts to entice his children: At the very beginning, he used expedients saying that outside there were three kinds of carts: sheep carts, deer carts, and ox carts. Basically the children were playing in the hosue and were totally unaware of the situation. They were not frightened or afraid at all. When they heard there were such beautiful toy-carts, they were enticed out. He cheated the children saying there were carts outside the door. The children were just on the verge of being burned in the fire and so even though there were no carts outside the door, the Elder told them there were. Since the toys he promised were more fun than the ones the children were playing with, they ran outside the door to safety.

And then later having given them great carts: The Elder got them safely out of the house and then, because his own wealth was without limit--he could give to the entire country and not diminish his wealth--everyone got a great cart. Adorned with jewels and supremely comfortable. The carts were very comfortable. Is not guilty of falsehood. You cannot rightfully say that the Elder lied to the children. He is without error.

Sutra:

“…just so is the Thus Come One likewise not guilty of falsehood in first speaking of the Three Vehicles to entice living beings and then afterwards delivering them only by means of the Great Vehicle. What is the reason? The Thus Come One has limitless wisdom, powers and fearlessnesses, a storehouse of Dharmas, and is able to give to all living beings the Great Vehicle Dharma. Not all living beings, however, are able to accept it. Shariputra, because of these causes and conditions, you should know that the Buddhas, using the power of expedient devices, in the One Buddha Vehicle, discriminate and speak of three.”

Outline:

M2. The correlation.

Commentary:

The Elder used expedient methods to get the children safely out of the burning house, and he said there were carts when there really was none. Later, he gave all of them great carts and so he was not guilty of telling lies. Just so is the Thus Come One likewise not guilty of falsehood in first speaking of the Three Vehicles to entice living beings. The Buddha, the World Honored One, is just like the Elder. He did not lie. He used clever expedients to help living beings. He first spoke the Hearer Vehicle. Then he spoke the Conditioned Enlightened Vehicle. Then, he spoke the Bodhisattva Vehicle--the Three Vehicles. He did this to entice and lead all living beings. The Hearer Vehicle was taught the Storehouse Teaching. The Conditioned Enlightened Ones were taught the Pervasive Teaching. The Bodhisattvas were taught the Separate Teaching. Then, lastly, he taught the Great Vehicle, the wonderful principle of the Real Mark, the perfect-sudden Dharma-door, the Great Vehicle’s wonderful Dharma found in this Sutra.

And then afterwards delivering them only by means of the Great Vehicle. What is the reason? Why does the Buddha do this? The Thus Come One has limitless wisdom: The Buddha basically has limitless and boundless wisdom. He has All-wisdom, Wisdom in the Way, and the Wisdom of All Modes. With such boundless wisdom, he also has Ten Wisdom Powers, as well as Four Fearlessnesses--a storehouse of Dharmas. He has all the Dharma-doors and is able to give to all living beings the Great Vehicle Dharma. Not all living beings, however, are able to accept it. If you tell them about the Great Vehicle Dharma-door right off, since they have never heard of such a thing, not all will be able to accept it. For example, the Buddha first spoke The Avatamsaka Sutra, and those of the Small Vehicle.

Had eyes, but did not see Nishyanda Buddha;
Had ears, but did not hear the perfect-sudden teaching.

They looked, but did not see, listened but did not hear. They were as if deaf, dumb, and blind. So not only were they unable to accept it, they could not even understand it!

A layperson once asked me, “If those of the Two Vehicles could not even understand The Avatamsaka Sutra, how can we, who are not even as high as those of the Two Vehicles, possibly understand it?”

This is a good question. But right after the Buddha realized Buddhahood, no one at all understood the Buddhadharma. There was no any Buddhadharma. So if you spoke any profound principle to them, they would not be able to understand them. Now, we know about the Buddhadharma and it is possible for us to understand it, and to understand its various levels, the Great and Small Vehicles and the profound and less profound teachings. Although we have not certified to the fruit, and cannot compare ourselves with those of the Two Vehicles, still, our dispositions towards the Great Vehicle have been firmly established, and we have a chance to hear the Great Vehicle Buddhadharma.

The text tells us that living beings are unable to accept the Great Vehicle Dharma and so Shariputra, because of these causes and conditions, you should know that the Buddhas, using the power of expedient devices, in the One Buddha Vehicle, discriminate and speak of three. Originally, there are not Three Vehicles. There is only the Buddha Vehicle. Living beings’ dispositions are such that they cannot accept it completely and so the Buddha teaches the three for the sake of the one. The ultimate aim is for all living beings to become Buddhas through the cultivation of the Buddha Vehicle.

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