Suppose there lived a man [in a certain country]. When he was a little boy, he ran away from his father.

The first paragraph, which explains what father and son stand for. Formerly when they as bodhisattvas received the transformative teaching, the li of teaching was the One. The One came from the Buddha; it was the “son,” and the Buddha is identical with the “father.” The process of teaching began like that: it was “young in years.”

The process of the transformative teaching began very early, not yet bearing fruit. He returned to the depth of worldly delusion, and delusion rode [over] the right path. All [the achievements of] the transformative teaching also were gone. This is the implication of “forsaking his father and running off.”

[The boy] lived in another country for a long time, say, for ten, twenty or fifty years.

The self-soness (tzu-jan) of the transformation of sphere is “native land.” The perversion of the [cycle of] birth and death (saṃsāra) is “another country.” It was a long period of departure from the transformative teaching and he stayed there as a human [in saṃsāra]”: he “dwelt” [there].

[The word] five [of fifty or five tens] refers to the five forms of existence. [The word] ten means “dwelling long.” It is not definite; hence, or.

As time passed by, he became poorer [reduced to destitution]. He wandered about all [four] directions, seeking food and clothing.

It is a long time since he abandoned the transformative teaching; he “grew old.” He stumbled in [the cycle of] birth and death”; he was “reduced to destitution.”

He wandered through all the five forms of existence; no place was left unvisited: he “ran about in all four directions.” Growing old, he sought after the joy of the Greater [Vehicle] and that of [the] parables; being in the state of destitution, he sought after the joy of the Lesser [Vehicle].

“While wandering here and there, he happened [gradually] to walk towards his home country.

One does not suddenly receive the retribution of delusion: it is “gradual.” He was advancing gradually toward a nonoriginal place: he was [in the state of] “wandering.” Responding to the force of the transformative teaching, he went back toward enlightenment; he “[happened” to head gradually toward his native land.” He was led by unseen conditions to come [back], but it was not what he intended; hence, happened.

At that time his father stayed [midway] in a city [of that country]. He had been vainly looking for his son ever since.

The second paragraph demonstrates that he (the father) was incarnated as the Buddha in order to preach the doctrine of the three vehicles. The Buddha, having transformed himself and accumulated [meritorious] deeds, had always wanted to seek his sons who might have fallen into [the cycle of] birth and death. This ended badly, as [the Buddha was left] “without finding” them. His sons, having yielded to past conditions (pratyaya) [which were] bound to reach them [soon], had become attached to the pleasure of birth and death and had developed emotional inclinations of a direction different from those they had originally had. Their “father,” in responding to them, condescended to become a Buddha. The trace stopped short of reaching the real: it “stopped midway.” The li of the One Vehicle can ward off what is wrong; it is the “city.” [All beings from] the ten directions have converged on the transformative teaching: [in that sense] they are “one.”

He was now very rich. He had innumerable treasures. His storehouses [treasure houses] were filled [to overflowing] with gold, silver, lapis lazuli, coral, amber and crystal.

Even though he is the Buddha in human form, li encompasses all dharmas. This means that it is rich with the treasure of the dharmas, which is inexhaustible.

The seven sacred treasures cannot be spied on [for stealing]: they are “[in] treasure houses.” li surpasses words: it is “filled to overflowing.”

He had many servants, clerks, and secretaries. He also had countless elephants, horses, carts [carriages], cows, and sheep.

The heretics (tīrthikas) are “attendants”‘ the devils (māras) are “servants.” They are destined to return and follow the transformative teaching: this is what attendants and servants imply. The bodhisattvas are “assistants,” helping spread the right transformative teaching. The voice hearers are “officers,” warding off and restricting the false and wrong. The multitudinous beings in the three spheres are “vassals”; the Buddha is the king who controls them. Elephants and horses, oxen and sheep refer to the meritorious virtues of the three vehicles and “five supernatural powers.” As for carriage, it means that li penetrates everywhere.

He invested his money [profits that flowed in and out] in all the other countries, and earned interest. He dealt with many merchants [and traders] and customers.

The transformative teaching is what “out” refers to. Out of the transformative teaching they went: hence, “the profits that flowed.” “The profits,” belonging to the transformed throughout the five forms of existence, “filled other countries.”

The bodhisattvas received the Dharma to transform [all beings in] the ten directions: they are “merchants and traders.”