The Buddha, we are told, is like that rich friend [who sews a priceless jewel in a poor man’s clothing]. He reminds us of good roots planted long ago. An arhat is like the poor man. Being satisfied with what little he has already attained, he does not realize that in reality he is a bodhisattva who will attain supreme awakening.

The central lesson of this parable is, of course, that the greatest treasure is never far off, but intimately close to each of us. Though we may not know it, we already have it. That is, each of us has within us abilities, skills, talents, strengths, potentialities, powers, and so forth with which to do the Buddha’s work, abilities that we do not yet know about and have not yet utilized.

The idea that the treasure we seek is very close may seem to conflict with the story of the fantastic castle-city discussed in the previous chapter. In that story, the goal is both very distant and very difficult to reach. But these two stories can be understood to be in harmony: the goal is very distant in one respect and very close in another.