Śāriputra!
With this parable I expounded
The teaching of the One Buddha-Vehicle
To all living beings.
All of you will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
If you believe and receive
These words of mine.

When a statement is lofty [in nature], as a rule, those who follow it are few. li is so deep that certainly very few believe in it. It has been said earlier of the path (tao) of the One Vehicle that its purport is very profound, far-reaching, dark, and signless. It will be pretty difficult for those with a shallow consciousness to have faith in it. The next [verses] illustrate that [the Buddha] cannot commit falsehood by saying, for the sake of men, encouraging words, and by offering rewards. Thus, how could those who are inclined to the [right] direction not drive themselves to believe in and understand them?

He was a very rich man.
He had many storehouses.
He made many large carts
Adorned with treasures,
Such as gold, silver,
Lapis lazuli, shell and agate.

The li of the Greater Vehicle is not “made.” But the sons did not know about it earlier; [the Buddha] made them know of it: therefore it was “made.”

At that time the house-owner
Was standing outside the gate [door].
He heard a man say to him:
“Some time ago
Your children entered this house to play.
They are young and ignorant.
They are engrossed in playing.”
Hearing this,
The rich man was frightened.
He rushed into the burning house.

The next three verses are the chant of the third paragraph, concerning the saving of beings by the Buddha out of [his] great compassion. The Thus Come One has transcended the three spheres: he is “standing outside the door.”

[They] were born out of the transformative teaching they had received previously; they are “sons.” The li of the transformative teaching is outside the three spheres; later they themselves chose to deviate from the transformative teaching to immerse themselves again in the five desires: they were “in play.” Because of them (desires), they were reincarnated, they entered this house.” “The householder” having come, the previous conditions also have been reactivated. The subtle triggering mechanism has temporarily become “human speech”; (“someone say”) in order to actively stimulate the Sage. The Sage, able to respond [to the beings] and thoroughly propagate [the transformative teaching], is obliged to listen to them.

Shortly after he went out [The man had gone a short distance from the house]
To a place in the neighborhood,
Fires broke out suddenly
In the house.

The purpose of the statement that “[the man] had gone a short distance” is to show, by pointing out that it was after he was gone that the fire broke out, that the outbreak [of calamity or suffering] comes from the multitudinous beings themselves and is not of the Buddha’s making. The fact that the Sage’s state of being, stimulated (kan) [in the previous encounter,] shortly disappeared is implied in the statement that “[the man] had gone a short distance.” The effect of the transformative teaching in the past was that the superficial and a nascent beings chose themselves to go astray from the transformative teaching. By going astray from li, they were led into mistake and sufferings; that is what suddenly a fire broke out means.

I will tell you a parable.
A rich man had a manor house.
It was old, rotten,
Broken and ruined.

The subtle triggering-mechanism [of beings] in the previous transformative teaching has actively stimulated the Sage, who then condescends to respond to them. [The process of] condescending to respond is represented in this [phrase], which means thus that “the decayed house belonged to” the Buddha.

Thereupon the Buddha, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

From this onward is a chant consisting of a double set of the preceding seven similes. The first thirty-seven gāthās chant the first paragraph of the parable, regarding calamities in the house. Omitted and not chanted in the gāthās is the second [paragraph], regarding “the doorway,” [symbolizing] the Buddha’s enlightenment to the various sufferings because its meaning is easy to perceive.

The Buddha said to Śāriputra: “So it is, so it is. It is just as you say. Śāriputra! The same can be said of me.

[The rest of the chapter up to the gāthās] following this sentence likewise can be divided into seven segments and it is conjoined by the preceding parable. The first four paragraphs deal directly with the internal meaning, so that they are conjoined by the preceding parable. The latter three paragraphs first speak of the parable externally, later to be conjoined by the internal sense. Why? The latter three first discuss the three carriages; next, the giving of a great carriage; and finally, the fact that it is not false. [The Buddha] set up this discourse for the purpose of putting forth the One Vehicle, of course. This intent regarding the One Vehicle is manifested in the latter three [paragraphs]. That is the reason why I have said that [the latter three] first speak of [the external], then conjoin it with [the internal sense]. The first four paragraphs are designed to complete the latter three and, therefore, are directly connected with the preceding parable.

World-Honored One! Even if he had not given them the smallest cart, he should not have been accused of falsehood because he thought at first, ‘I will cause them to get out with an expedient.’

And how much the more would it be true when [the elder] did not think of giving one big carriage in the beginning! The fact that now he has not given it is not contradictory to his earlier promise; how can it be false! How much the more would it be true when he gives them a great carriage! Thus what they have gained is great.

Śāriputra said: “No, World-Honored One! He saved his children from the fire and caused them to survive. [Even if he had not given them anything,] he should not have been accused of falsehood because the children should be considered to have already been given the toys [they had wished to have] when they survived. He saved them from the burning house with the expedient.

The reason why it is not false is explained here. [Even] if [the Buddha] from the beginning really wanted to give them the three vehicles, but did not give them, he would still not [be guilty of] falsehood. “For what reason is that so?” [The Buddha] “has enabled them to preserve wholly” the wisdom-“life.” Such munificence [shown by the Buddha] is very great, sufficient to make up for and neutralize what would otherwise be false. So, how can there be any falsehood?

Śāriputra! What do you think of this? Do you think that the rich man was guilty of falsehood when he gave his children the large carts of treasures?

This is the seventh segment. He promised earlier to give them three carriages; now he gives them one [big carriage]. What has turned out is contradictory to the earlier promise, making it look like a false [promise]. Thus, conversely, [the Buddha] asks Body-son [Śāriputra] indicating that it is not false.