Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month heard Śāriputra’s reaction to the Dharma he had never heard before, we repeat in gāthās his understanding that the Buddha expounds the Dharma according to the capacities of all living beings.
Thereupon Śāriputra, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Hearing this truthful voice,
I have the greatest joy
That I have ever had.
I have removed all the mesh of doubts.You have taught us the Great Vehicle without a break from of old.
Your voice is rare to hear.
It dispels the sufferings of all living beings.
I once eliminated āsravas.
Hearing this voice of yours,
I have now removed all sorrows.I walked about mountains and valleys,
Or sat under a tree in a forest, thinking this over.
I reproached myself with a deep sigh:
“Why was I deceived?
We also are sons of the Buddha
[Just as the Bodhisattvas are].
We entered the same [ world]
[Of the] Dharma-without-āsravas.
But we shall not be able to expound
Unsurpassed enlightenment in the future.
We are in the same [ world of the] Dharma.
But we shall not be given
The golden body with the thirty-two marks,
The ten powers, and the emancipations [of the Buddha].
We are deprived of the hope
To have the eighty wonderful marks,
The eighteen unique properties
And the other merits [of the Buddha].”[Sitting] in the midst of the great multitude,
You benefited all living beings.
Your fame extended over the worlds of the ten quarters.
When I was walking alone,
I saw all this, and thought:
“I am not given this benefit. I have been deceived.”I thought this over day and night,
And wished to ask you,
“Am I disqualified
[From having this benefit] or not?”I always saw you praising the Bodhisattvas.
Therefore, I thought this over day and night.
Now hearing from you,
I understand that you expound the Dharma
According to the capacities of all living beings.
You lead all living beings
To the place of enlightenment
By the Dharma-without-āsravas, difficult to understand.I once was attached to wrong views,
And became a teacher of the aspirants for the teaching of Brahman.
You expounded to me the teaching of Nirvāṇa,
And removed my wrong views because you understood me.
I gave up all those wrong views,
And attained the truth that nothing is substantial.At that time I thought
That I had attained extinction.’
But now I know
That the extinction I attained is not the true one.
When I become a Buddha in the future,
I shall be adorned with the thirty-two marks,
And respected
By gods, men, yakṣas, and dragons.
Only then I shall be able to say
That I have eliminated all [illusions].