LS32, WONS

Day 5

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Day 5 Text with annotationsPlay MP3

Having last month heard Śāriputra’s dancing joy in gāthās, we consider Śāriputra’s fear that he was listening to Mara in the form of a Buddha.

In the midst of the great multitude,
You said to me, “You will become a Buddha.”
Hearing this truthful voice,
All my doubts are gone.

When I had heard this from you,
I was much frightened and perplexed; I thought:
“The Buddha troubles me.
Isn’t he Mara in the form of a Buddha?”

You skillfully expound the Dharma with various parables and similes,
And with various stories of previous lives.
Now my mind is as peaceful as the sea.
Hearing you, I have removed the mesh of doubts.

You said:
“The innumerable Buddhas in the past
Expounded the Dharma with expedients.
The numberless Buddhas at present
Also expound the Dharma
With expedients.
So will the countless Buddhas
In the future.”

You appeared in this world,
Left your home, attained enlightenment,
And now turn the wheel of the Dharma,
Also with expedients.

You expound the true teaching;
Papiyas does not.
Therefore, I know
That you are not a transformation of Mara.
I thought that the Dharma was expounded by Mara
Because I was in the mesh of doubts.

I hear your gentle voice.
Your voice is deep and wonderful.
You expound the Pure Dharma.
My heart is filled with great joy.
All my doubts are gone.
I have obtained true wisdom.

I shall become a Buddha without fail.
I shall be respected by gods and men.
I will turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma,
And teach Bodhisattvas.

This expedient lesson is discussed by Nichiren in his letter on Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods:

When Śāripūtra, a man of the Two Vehicle considered unable to attain Buddhahood in the pre-Lotus sūtras, was guaranteed future Buddhahood, he expressed his astonishment in the third chapter, “A Parable,” “Is this not a devil pretending to be the Buddha, trying to trouble and confuse my mind?” The Buddha preaches in the fifth chapter, “The Simile of Herbs,” “Regarding this essential doctrine, I kept silent for a long time without revealing it at once.” These make clear that the sūtras preached before the Lotus Sūtra are all expedient; only the Lotus Sūtra is the True Dharma.

Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 243