Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Last month I puzzled over the Buddha’s promise that Sariputra will become a Buddha who teaches the Three Vehicles in a world where Bodhisattvas are prized.

But all of these promises of Buddhahood set up a glorious celebration.

At that time the great multitude included bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas and upasikas, that is, the four kinds of devotees; and gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras and mahoragas. When they saw that Sariputra was assured of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi by the Buddha, they danced with great joy. They took off their garments and offered them to the Buddha. Sakra-Devanam-Indra, the Brahman Heavenly­King, and innumerable other gods also offered their wonderful heavenly garments and the heavenly flowers of mandaravas and maha-mandaravas to the Buddha. The heavenly garments, which had been released from the hands of the gods, whirled in the sky. The gods simultaneously made many thousands of millions of kinds of music in the sky, and caused many heavenly flowers to rain down.

They said, “The Buddha turned the first wheel of the Dharma at Varanasi a long time ago. Now he turns the wheel of the unsurpassed and greatest Dharma.”

Thereupon the gods, wishing to repeat what they had said, sang in gathas:

The Buddha turned the wheel of the teaching
of the Four Truths
At Varanasi a long time ago.
He taught that all things are composed of the five aggregates
And that they are subject to rise and extinction.

Now he turns the wheel of the Dharma,
The most wonderful, unsurpassed, and greatest.
The Dharma is profound.
Few believe it.
So far we have heard
Many teachings of the World-Honored One.
But we have never heard
Such a profound, wonderful, and excellent teaching as this.
We are very glad to hear this
From the World-Honored One.

Sariputra, a man of great wisdom,
Was assured of his future Buddhahood.
We also shall be able
To become Buddhas,
And to receive
The highest and unsurpassed honor in the world.

The Buddha expounds his enlightenment, difficult to understand,
With expedients according to the capacities of all living beings.
We obtained merits by the good karmas which we did
In this life of ours and in our previous existence.
We also obtained merits by seeing the Buddha.
May we attain the enlightenment of the Buddha by these merits!