Before getting into what I consider the meat of Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City, I want first to explore the idea of faith and its role in overcoming obstacles. Consider Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha’s trouble attaining Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi – unexcelled perfect enlightenment.
“The duration of the life of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha was five hundred and forty billion nayuta kalpas. [Before he attained Buddhahood,] he sat at the place of enlightenment and defeated the army of Mara. He wished to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, but could not because the Dharma of the Buddhas had not yet come into his mind. 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.”
Now, 10 small kalpas is a tiny fraction of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha’s lifespan of five hundred and forty billion nayuta kalpas, but it still represents a long time to remain “cross-legged without moving his mind.” Why was so much time required?
Consider the tale published in 2007 by Paulo Coelho that he adapted from a story sent to him by Sonaira D’Avila.
“A man spent hours watching a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. It managed to make a small hole, but its body was too large to get through it. After a long struggle, it appeared to be exhausted and remained absolutely still.
“The man decided to help the butterfly and, with a pair of scissors, he cut open the cocoon, thus releasing the butterfly. However, the butterfly’s body was very small and wrinkled and its wings were all crumpled.
“The man continued to watch, hoping that, at any moment, the butterfly would open its wings and fly away. Nothing happened; in fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its brief life dragging around its shrunken body and shriveled wings, incapable of flight.
“What the man – out of kindness and his eagerness to help – had failed to understand was that the tight cocoon and the efforts that the butterfly had to make in order to squeeze out of that tiny hole were Nature’s way of training the butterfly and of strengthening its wings.
“Sometimes, a little extra effort is precisely what prepares us for the next obstacle to be faced. Anyone who refuses to make that effort, or gets the wrong sort of help, is left unprepared to fight the next battle and never manages to fly off to their destiny.”
In the Parable of the Burning House in Chapter 3, the Buddha explains:
“Śāriputra! The rich man did not save his children by his muscular power although he was strong enough. He saved them from the burning house with a skillful expedient and later gave them each a large cart of treasures.
“In the same manner, I save all living beings from the burning house of the triple world, not by my powers or fearlessness, but with a skillful expedient.”
Faith sets us on the path. With our struggles we grow stronger.
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