Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable.

Sariputra feels like dancing for joy at the news that sravakas like himself will be able to attain Buddhahood.

“World-Honored One! I reproached myself day and night [after I saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood]. Now I have heard from you the Dharma that I had never heard before. I have removed all my doubts. I am now calm and peaceful in body and mind. Today I have realized that I am your son, that I was born from your mouth, that I was born in [the world of] the Dharma, and that I have obtained the Dharma of the Buddha.”

And in gathas:

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.

Now Sariputra isn’t the only one who feels like dancing at the news:

At that time the great multitude included bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas and upāsikās, that is, the four kinds of devotees; and gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras and mahoragas. When they saw that Śāriputra was assured of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi by the Buddha, they danced with great joy. They took off their garments and offered them to the Buddha. Śakra-Devānām-Indra, the Brahman Heavenly-King, and innumerable other gods also offered their wonderful heavenly garments and the heavenly flowers of mandāravas and mahā-mandāravas 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 Vārāṇasī a long time ago. Now he turns the wheel of the unsurpassed and greatest Dharma.”

I’m having fun with the vision of “heavenly garments, which had been released from the hands of the gods, whirl[ing] in the sky” as the aforementioned gods – now sans garments – make music and cause heavenly flowers to rain down on the gathering. Heavenly bodies in the sky, indeed.

The parable from which the chapter takes its name is set up by a question put to the Buddha by Sariputra:

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!”

I’m ending Day 5 here. It’s possible the Romanized text includes some of the parable, but for my study it makes more sense to break here and continue with the parable in Day 6.

Day 4 conludes Chapter 2, Expedients.

There is just so much here but one thing stands out for me, and that is the promise that all Buddhas make:

Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

And speaking of future Buddhas:

Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”

(See this blog post for discussion of Buddhism’s unique focus.)

The Buddha promises:

Any Śrāvaka or Bodhisattva
Who hears even a gāthā
Of this sūtra which I am to expound
Will undoubtedly become a Buddha.

The Buddha is not stingy:

I attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
The Great Vehicle, the Truth of Equality.
If I lead even a single man
By the Lesser Vehicle,
I shall be accused of stinginess.
It is not good at all to do this.

Third day starts Chapter 2, Expedients. Even a novice can see why this is one of two chapters that are considered essential.

In this verse section …

The Saintly Masters, the Lion-like Ones,
Who are expounding
The most wonderful sūtra
With their pure and gentle voices,
And teaching Many billions of Bodhisattvas.
The brahma voices of the Buddhas
Are deep and wonderful,
Causing people to wish to hear them.

… I just love the image of “pure and gentle voices” of Buddhas.

And in this section …

The Dharma cannot be shown.
It is inexplicable by words.
No one can understand it
Except the Buddhas
And the Bodhisattvas
Who are strong in the power of faith.

… the fact that “the power of faith” allows Bodhisattvas to understand the Dharma.

And I love this reaction …

“You asked me three times with enthusiasm. How can I leave the Dharma unexpounded?”

… when Śāriputra won’t take “no” for an answer.

There’s just no way to imagine the level of arrogance when the 5,000 people walk out …

When he had said this, five thousand people among the bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, and upāsikās of this congregation rose from their seats, bowed to the Buddha, and retired because they were so sinful and arrogant that they thought that they had already obtained what they had not yet, and that they had already understood what they had not yet. Because of these faults, they did not stay. The World-Honored One kept silence and did not check them. Thereupon the World-Honored One said to Śāriputra: “Now this congregation has been cleared of twigs and leaves, only sincere people being left.”

The lesson of the chapter …

I expounded the teaching of the Three Vehicles Only as an expedient. All the other World-Honored Ones also Expound the teaching of the One Vehicle [with expedients]. The great multitude present here Shall remove their doubts. The Buddhas do not speak differently. There is only one vehicle, not a second.

… and the value of faith …

“Śāriputra and all of you present here! Understand the Dharma by faith with all your hearts! There is no vehicle other than the One Buddha-Vehicle.”

The second day finishes off Chapter 1, Introductory. On Aug. 14 and again on reading today, I noted three things.

First was the explanation of attaining Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi:

To Bodhisattvas, he expounded the teaching of the six pāramitās, a teaching suitable for them, and caused them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, that is, to obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.

Next is the first mention of the full name of the sutra and the magic of timelessness that comes with listening to the sutra:

“At that time there was a Bodhisattva called Wonderful-Light. He had eight hundred disciples. Sun-Moon-Light Buddha emerged from his samādhi, and expounded the sūtra of the Great Vehicle to Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and others without rising from his seat for sixty small kalpas. It was called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ The hearers in the congregation also sat in the same place for sixty small kalpas, and their bodies and minds were motionless. They thought that they had heard the Buddha expounding the Dharma for only a mealtime. None of them felt tired in body or mind.“