Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month witnessed the reaction of the great multitude to the news that Śāriputra was assured of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, we conclude Day 5 with Śāriputra’s plea of behalf of others for the Buddha to explain this Dharma that they had never heard before.

Thereupon Śāriputra said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! Now my doubts are gone. You assured me of my future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. These twelve hundred people now have freedom of mind. When they had something more to learn, [that is to say, when they had not yet completed their study for Arhatship,] you taught them, saying, ‘My teaching is for the purpose of causing you to emancipate yourselves from birth, old age, disease, and death, and to attain Nirvāṇa.’ The [two thousand] people, including those who have something more to learn and those who have nothing more to learn, also think that they attained Nirvāṇa because they emancipated themselves from such a view as ‘I exist,’ or ‘I shall exist forever,’ or ‘I shall cease to exist.’ But [both the twelve hundred people and the two thousand people] are now quite perplexed because they have heard from you [the Dharma] which they had never heard before. World-Honored One! In order to cause the four kinds of devotees to remove their doubts, explain why you said all this to them!”

It’s a measure of Śāriputra wisdom that even before Śākyamuni explicitly said he would become a Buddha he understood the meaning of Śākyamuni’s explanation of his use of expedients. It’s a measure of the remaining Śrāvakas that they remain in a web of doubts. They don’t smell the smoke or fear the beasts with them in the house.