This post continues the “missing” portion of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs. This is from Leon Hurvitz’s Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, which was published in 2009. I used this version of the Lotus Sutra for two cycles through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra starting on April 18, 2019.

When this had been said, the long-lived Kāśyapa said to the Blessed One: “But if, O Blessed One, the beings who have extricated themselves from the triple sphere are of assorted predispositions, is their nirvāṇa one, or two, or three?”

The Blessed One said: “Nirvāṇa, you see, Kāśyapa, comes from an understanding of the sameness of all dharmas. And it is one, not two and not three. For this reason, you see, Kāśyapa, I will fashion a parable for you. By a single parable men of discernment understand the meaning of what is said.

“Suppose, O Kāśyapa, that there is a man born blind. He speaks as follows: ‘There are no sightly or unsightly shapes, nor are there any viewers of sightly or unsightly shapes. There are no sun and moon, there are no stars, there are no planets, nor are there any viewers of planets.’

“Then other men speak as follows in the presence of that congenitally blind man: ‘There are sightly and unsightly shapes, there are viewers of sightly and unsightly shapes, there are sun and moon, there are stars, there are planets, there are viewers of planets.’ But the man born blind does not believe those men, nor does he accept what they say.

“Now there is a certain physician, who knows all ailments. He sees that man born blind. The following occurs to him: ‘This man has fallen victim to an ailment thanks to a former evil deed. Whatever ailments arise, they are all of four kinds: rheumatic, bilious, phlegmatic, or due to a derangement of the humors.’ Then the physician thinks again and again of a means to put an end to that ailment. The following occurs to him: ‘Whatever drugs are current, with them this ailment cannot be treated. But on the Snowy King of Mountains there are four herbs. Which four? The first is named The One Possessed of All Colors, Flavors, and States of Being [?] (sarvavarṇarasasthānānugatā); the second is named The One That Brings Release from All Ailments; the third is named One That Destroys All Poisons; the fourth is named The One That Confers Happiness on Those Standing in the Right Place: these four herbs.’ Then the physician, showing compassion for that man born blind, thinks of a device by means of which he is able to go to the Snowy King of Mountains and, having gone, ascend it, then descend it, and also search through it thoroughly. Searching in this way, he finds the four herbs. And, having found them, he gives the blind man one chewed with his teeth, one he gives him pounded, one he gives him cooked in a mixture with other things, one he gives him mixed with other things raw, one he gives him after piercing his body with a lancet, one he gives him after burning it in fire, one he gives him mixed with a variety of things, including even such things as food, drink, and the like.

“Then that man born blind, through the application of those devices, regains his sight. Having regained his sight, he sees externally and internally, far and near, the light of the sun and the moon, the stars, the planets, and all shapes. And he speaks as follows: ‘Oh, what a fool I was in not believing those who spoke to me earlier, in not accepting what they said! I now see everything. I am released from blindness! I have regained my sight! There is now no one superior to me.’

“Then at that time there are seers endowed with the five kinds of superknowledge, skilled in the heavenly eye, in the heavenly ear, in the knowledge of the thoughts of others, in the knowledge consisting of recollection of former states of being, in supernatural power, and in the achievement of deliverance. They address that man as follows: ‘Sir, you have merely regained your sight, but you do not know anything. Whence comes your arrogance? For you have no wisdom, and you are not learned.’ They speak to him in this way: ‘When you, Sir, seated in your inner house, neither see nor know other forms outside, nor which beings are well disposed to you, nor which ill disposed; and when you cannot discern, or understand, or hear the sound of a man standing five leagues away and talking, or of a drum, or of a conch shell, or the like; and when you cannot go more than a league without lifting your feet; and when you were born and grew in your mother’s womb, and remember none of these acts: in what sense are you wise? And how can you say, “I see everything!”? Very well, Sir! Take darkness for light and light for darkness, if that is what you wish!’

“Then that man addresses those seers as follows: ‘By resort to what device, by doing what good deed, may I acquire such wisdom, by your favor acquire these qualities?’

“Then those seers tell the man the following: ‘If you wish them, live in the forest; or think of the dharma, seated in mountain caves! And your defilements are to be forsaken. In that way, endowed with pure qualities, you shall acquire the various kinds of superknowledge.’

“Then that man, having received that meaning, goes forth. Dwelling in the forest, his mind concentrated on a single object, and forsaking his worldly cravings, he gains the five kinds of superknowledge. And, having acquired the various kinds of superknowledge, he thinks: ‘Whatever other deed I might have done formerly, no good quality ever accrued to me because of it. Now I go wherever I think to go, whereas formerly I was a person of slight wisdom and slight experience, a blind man.'[?] pūrvaṃcāham alpaprajño ‘lpapratisaṃvedi andhabhūto ‘smy āsīt)

“This parable has been fashioned thus, O Kāśyapa, in order to set forth the following meaning; this, moreover, is the point to be seen in it: by those ‘born blind,’ O Kāśyapa, are meant the beings dwelling in the round of the six destinies, who do not know the true dharma and who augment the darkness of their own impurities. For they are blind with ignorance, and, being blind with ignorance, heap up predispositions (saṃskāra) and, going back to predispositions, name and form, and so on until this whole great mass of suffering has taken shape. In this way the beings, blinded by ignorance, stand in the round of transmigration. But the Thus Gone One, having himself escaped the triple sphere, generates compassion, showing compassion as would a father for a dear and only son; and as he leaves the triple sphere he beholds the beings tumbling about in the round of transmigration. Nor are they aware of an exit from the round. Then the Blessed One sees them with the eye of wisdom. And, seeing them, he knows: ‘These beings, having formerly done some good, are of slight hatred and of strong lust, or of slight lust and of strong hatred, some wise, some mature in purity, some of wrong views.’ To these beings the Thus Gone One, through his skill in devising expedients, demonstrates the three vehicles. Thereupon, as did those seers with the five kinds of superknowledge and the pure vision, so, too, the bodhisattvas intuit with the intuition of unexcelled and proper enlightenment, producing thoughts of enlightened intuition and accepting [the doctrine of] unproduced dharmas.

“Therein, just as that great physician was, so is the Thus Gone One to be viewed. Just as was that congenitally blind man, so are the beings, blinded by delusion, to be viewed. Just as were wind, bile, and phlegm, so are lust, hatred, and delusion, as well as the products of the sixty-two views, to be regarded. As were the four herbs, so is the gateway to nirvāṇa, that of the empty, the signless, and the wishless, to be viewed. Whenever medicines are applied, then are the ailments assuaged. In the same way, by realizing the entries into deliverance of emptiness, signlessness, and wishlessness, do the beings suppress ignorance. From the suppression of ignorance comes the suppression of predispositions, and so on until the suppression of this whole great mass of suffering is achieved. And in this way the thought of the practitioner stands neither in good nor in evil.

“As the blind man who regained his vision was viewed, so should be the person in the vehicle of the auditor or of the individually enlightened. He severs the bonds of the defilements of the round of transmigration. Released from the bond of defilement, he is freed from the triple sphere with its six destinies. In this way the person in the vehicle of the auditor knows and voices the following: ‘There are no more dharmas to be intuited! I have attained extinction!’

“Then, indeed, the Thus Gone One demonstrates the dharma to him: ‘Since you have not attained to all the dharmas, whence comes your extinction?’ The Blessed One encourages him toward enlightened intuition. The thought of enlightened intuition having been excited within him, he neither stands in the round of transmigration nor attains to extinction. Having understood, he sees the world of the triple sphere in its ten directions as empty, a fabrication, a mock creation, a dream, a mirage, an echo. He sees all dharmas as unoriginated, unsuppressed, unbound, unreleased, not dark, not bright. Whoever sees the profound dharmas in this way, he, with nonvision, sees the whole triple sphere as full, assigned as an abode to a variety of beings.”[?]

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p103-107

And in gāthās:

Out of ignorance of the wheel of transmigration they do not understand the blessed rest.
However, he who understands the dharmas as empty, as devoid of self,
He understands in its very essence the intuition of the fully enlightened Blessed Ones.
The individually victorious is so called because of his middle position in wisdom,
While the auditor is so called because he lacks knowledge of emptiness.
The perfectly enlightened, however, is so called because of his understanding of all dharmas;
Thanks to it, and by resort to hundreds of means, he constantly demonstrates the dharma to the beings.

For, just as a certain man, born blind and thus of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets
Having no vision, might say, “There are no shapes at all!”;
And as, a great physician, taking pity on that congenitally blind man
And going across, up, and down the Snowy Range,
Might take herbs from the mountain, The One Possessed of All Colors, Flavors, and States of Being
And other such, four in all, and put them to use;
As, chewing one with his teeth, pounding another, then yet another,
Inserting them into a limb on the point of a needle, he might apply them to the man born blind;
And as the latter, regaining his sight, might see the sun, the moon, the stars, and the planets,
And this might occur to him: “Formerly, I uttered that out of ignorance!”

Just so do the beings, greatly ignorant and congenitally blind, wander about,
Trapped in woe by their ignorance of the wheel of conditioned production;
Just so, in a world deluded by ignorance, has the supreme all-knower,
The Thus Gone One, the great physician, arisen, he of compassionate nature.

A teacher skilled in means, he demonstrates the true dharma,
He demonstrates the buddha’s unexcelled enlightened intuition to those in the supreme vehicle.
The Leader reveals the middle [intuition] to the one of middle wisdom,
While to the one who fears transmigration he describes yet another enlightened intuition.
To the discerning auditor, [who has] escaped from the triple sphere,
The following occurs: “I have attained spotless, auspicious extinction!”
Thereupon, it is to them that I declare: “This is not the thing called extinction,
Rather from the understanding of all dharmas is immortal extinction attained!”

Just as the great seers, evincing compassion for him,
Say to him, “You are a fool! Do not think, ‘I am wise.’
When you are within your house,
You cannot know what happens outside with your slight intelligence.
What is to be known without, whether done or not done, he who is within
To this day does not know. Whence can you know it, O you of slight intelligence?
Whatever sound may be produced about five leagues from here,
That you are unable to hear, to say nothing of one from far off!
Which men are ill disposed to you, which ones well disposed,
These it is impossible for you to know. Whence comes your overweening pride?
When but one league is to be walked, there can be no walking without a beaten track.
Whatever happened in your mother’s womb has been forgotten by you, every bit of it.
He who has the five kinds of superknowledge, he is called ‘all-knowing,’ Yet you, ignorant as you are from delusion, say, ‘I am all-knowing!’

If you seek all-knowledge, you should achieve superknowledge.
Think on this achievement as a forest-dweller.
You shall gain pure dharma and, through it, the various kinds of superknowledge”;
And just as he, grasping the meaning and going, quite collected, to the forest, reflects,
Then, having gained the five kinds of superknowledge, is in no great time endowed with superior qualities:
Just so are all the auditors possessed of the notion that they have attained extinction,
And then the victorious one tells such persons that this is mere repose, not blessed rest.

It is an expedient device of the buddhas that they speak in this manner,
For, apart from all-knowledge, there is no extinction. Undertake it!
The infinite knowledge of the three periods, and the six pure perfections,
And emptiness and the signless, and that devoid of plans,
And the thought of enlightened intuition, and what other dharmas lead to extinction,
Dharmas both with outflows and without, tranquil, all resembling open space,
The four kinds of brahman conduct, and what has been much bruited as methods of attraction:
For the guidance of the beings these have been proclaimed by the supreme seers.
And he who discerns the dharmas as similar in nature to dreams and illusions,
As being as devoid of a core as a bunch of plantains, as being similar to an echo,
And he who knows that that, too, without exception, is the nature of the triple sphere,
And who discerns the Blessed Rest as being neither bound nor free,
And by whom all dharmas, being the same, and being devoid of a variety of appearances and natures,
Are not looked to, nor is any dharma perceived,
He, in his great wisdom, sees the whole dharma body,
For there is no triad of vehicles, but only the one vehicle.

“All dharmas are the same, all the same, ever quite the same.”
Knowing this, one understands auspicious and immortal extinction.

Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma, p108-110