Chapter 7
The Parable of the Magic City
SUMMARY
Chapter 7 reveals that the teachings of the Lotus Sutra are always the same in any era; that all Buddhas attained enlightenment through the doctrines of the Lotus Sutra. However, a process is used to lead all living beings to the Lotus Sutra. This is referred to as the method of ho-ben, which in this chapter takes the form of a parable about a magic city.
A very long time ago, there was a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom Tathagata. This Buddha had formerly been a king of a country and had 16 princes. When their father attained Buddhahood, the sixteen sons also wished to become Buddhas and renounced their royal titles. Later, they all became Buddhas under the guidance of the Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha through the Lotus Sutra. Among them, the 13th prince became Amitābha Buddha and the 16th was Sakyamuni Buddha.
When the king became Great-Universally-Excelling-Wisdom Buddha, he preached the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve Causes and Causation.
However, these teachings are intended only for individual salvation and the doctrines are for people of the realms of shomon and engaku. They are not the teachings for Bodhisattvas. When a congregation was not ready to comprehend the Lotus Sutra, the Buddhas taught the lesser vehicle teachings, however as a method to lead them to the way of Mahayana. To illustrate this process, Sakyamuni Buddha revealed this chapter.
THE PARABLE OF THE MAGIC CITY
(P. 144, 3rd Paragraph - P. 145.)
Once upon a time there was a dangerous, long and bad road. It was so fearful that only one man lived in the vicinity. Now many people wished to pass through this road in order to reach a place of treasures. They were led by a man who was clever, wise, and well informed of the conditions of the dangerous road.
Halfway through their journey, the people got tired of walking and said to the leader, "We are tired out. We are also afraid of the danger on this road. We cannot go a step further. Our destination is still far off. We wish to go back."
The leader, who knew many expedients, thought, "What a pity! They wish to go back without getting great treasures." Having thought this, he expediently made a city appear by magic in the distance. He said to them, "Do not go back! You can stay in that great city, and do anything you like. If you enter that city, you will be peaceful. If you go on afterwards and reach the place of treasures, then you can go home."
Thereupon the worn-out people had great joy. They said, "We have never had such joy as this before. Now we shall be able to get off this bad road and become peaceful." They entered the magic city and felt peaceful.
Seeing that they had already rested and were now relieved from their fatigue, the leader caused the city to disappear and said to them, "Now the place of treasures is near. Let us go further to get the treasures. I made this city by magic in order to enable you to rest."
EXPLANATION:
The Buddha is like the leader of the treasure hunt. He knows the bad road that is comprised of birth, death and illusion. Those who are satisfied with the magic city are the people of the shomon and engaku. Although they may think that they have reached enlightenment, they have not reached it yet. It is similar to their satisfaction with the magic city. Real Enlightenment is farther away and obtained by practicing the way of Bodhisattva.
This parable also teaches that we sometimes need expedients. Kito or special blessing or prayers in Nichiren Sect is one of those expedients. Prayers for material satisfaction are necessary for some people, but the final the goal is to reach the treasure land which signifies attaining Buddhahood.
This parable also shows us that a part of the Lotus Sutra was composed during the time of the silk road trade. Trade merchants travelled through long and huge deserts and passed through many countries throughout the Silk Road. An oasis along the journey was used to rest for a while before getting the real treasures that existed beyond the oasis.
"It is a very long time since. . ." (P.126, L.12.)
Our solar system consists from ten major planets such as the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. One solar system times 1,000 is called the Small One Thousand Worlds. The small one thousand worlds times 1,000 is called the Medium One Thousand Worlds. The Medium size worlds times 1,000 is called the Large One Thousand Worlds or Sanzen Daisen Sekai. One thousand times one thousand times one thousand makes one billion.
Supposed someone smashed all the earth-articles of one billion worlds into ink-powder, how many particles are there? That huge number of particles times another 1,000 makes a countless number. This depiction is called the "Three Thousand Dust-Atom aeons." The sutra says that the Buddha existed away before the three thousand dust-atom eons ago. So the Buddha is eternal.
"My power of insight as vividly as if he had passed away today." (P.127, L.4.)
This signifies that the insight of the Buddha many aeons ago and today is both the same. Absolute truth does not change, wherever or whenever it is.
"Before he attained Buddhahood, he sat a the place of enlightenment and defeated the army of Mara. He wished to attain Enlightenment, but he could not." (P.128, L.10.)
Generally speaking in our daily lives, when we are so busy and in pressing times, we do not get sick or become involved in mishap. However, when we relax and think everything is all right now, sickness or mishaps often occur. It is the same with the king in this chapter, although he defeated the army of Mara, he still could not attain Buddhahood. He had repeatedly defeated Mara, but the result was no-enlightenment. One's goal is not that easy to reach as he or she may think. We must, however, continue to strive to attain Buddhahood.
"At the end of the period of ten small kalpas, the Dharma of the Buddhas came into the mind of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha." (P.128, L.31-P.33)
The king, the father of the sixteen sons finally reached to Nirvana after practicing for ten small kalpas. All of us who read the Lotus Sutra could be in the process to become a Buddha. Who will be a next person to become a Buddha?
"When the Buddha attained Nirvana, . . .the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds were illumined by the great rays of light." (P.131, L.5-L.10)
The rays of the sun and the moon are often symbolized the truth in not only Buddhism but also other religions. The spiritual world is only described physically by the light. The Buddha Land in the Lotus Sutra is called, "Jo Jakko Do,"or the Land of Eternally Tranquil Light." Tranquil refers to the nature of the truth and the light, to wisdom. Compassion of the Buddhas illuminates even where the rays of the sun and the moon cannot reach. It reaches even to the world of hell.
"My palace has never been illumined so brightly before, Why is that?" (P.131, L.18-P.20.)
The ray of the Buddha's compassion illuminated not only the place where the Buddha resided but also ten directions of the universe. Gods and men throughout the ten quarters of the universe consequently tried to locate the place where the light originated. Eventually they found Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha sitting on the lion-like seat under a Bodhi-tree in the place of enlightenment surrounded by gods, dragon-kings, men and non-human beings.
"May the merits we have accumulated by this offering, Be distributed among all living beings, And may we and all other living beings, attain the enlightenment of the Buddha!" (P.139, L.24 - L.27)
This phrase is very famous. It is rephrased in the Nichiren Shu prayer as follows: "May all beings be blessed with this merit and together with us to attain Buddhahood." I hope you can memorize this phrase and finish your prayer always with this phrase every day. It is a Bodhisattva's spirit. It is the way of faith for Mahayana Buddhists. This spirit is quite different from a religion that claims, "If you do not believe this, you will go to hell."
"Thereupon Tathagata . . . turned the wheel of the teaching of the four truths making twelve proclamations altogether." (P,140, L.9 - L.13.)
As I mentioned before the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths and the Twelve-linked Chain of Dependent Origination are the teachings of Hinayana Buddhism, which is limited salvation on an individual basis. These teachings are steps, which lead all beings to the Lotus Sutra.
The Four Noble Truths:
These truths comprise a basic concept in Buddhism, which explains the cause of suffering and the way of deliverance therefrom. They are as follows:
1. All existence is suffering.
2. The cause of suffering is illusion and desire.
3. Nirvana is the realm free from suffering.
4. The means for the attainment of Nirvana is the practice of the eightfold noble path.
For the more detail explanation, please refer back to Chapter 3.
The Twelve-Linked Chain of Dependent Origination:
1. IGNORANCE or MUMYO, is the cause of all illusion.
2. PREDISPOSITION or GYO, ignorance produces predisposition. Ignorance and predisposition cause one to be born in this word.
3. CONSCIOUSNESS or SHIKI, is the first stage of consciousness after conception that takes place in the womb. It is one's prepossessed character.
4. MENTAL FUNCTIONS & MATTER or MYO-SHIKI is the stage of forming one's body and mind inside a mother's womb. Today we can see inside a mother's womb by x-ray and say, "This is the head, and these are hands and legs." It is a stage of objects and the naming of each of these objects.
5. THE SIX SENSES or ROKUNYU . In this stage, the five organs and the and mind are connected. It still takes place in the mother's womb. Today it is said that education in the womb is very important because it will affect the future of the baby to be born.
6. CONTACT or SOKU. A baby is born in this stage. To be born in this world is a great contact for the new born.
7. PERCEPTION or JU. In this stage, one feels good or bad, has a sense of pleasure or dislike, feels comfortable or uncomfortable and so forth. It is a stage which lasts from the birth of a baby until one's early teens.
8. DESIRE or AI, In this stage one wishes to keep the things and matters that he or she feels good, prefer, comfortable and so forth while keep the negative away from him or her.
9. ATTACHMENT or SHU. In this stage, one creates attachments to things and matters which he or she feels good, pleasing, comfortable, and so forth. One will be happy when he or she is able to keep what he or she likes to keep, but one will hate and suffer when the opposite occurs. It is a stage of adolescents. However this attachment causes one to be born again in the next life.
10. EXISTENCE or U. In this stage, one discriminates against others. Our daily lives are full of discrimination; profit or non-profit, good or bad, "mine" or "others," black or white, long or short, etc. It is our life in this world.
11. BIRTH or SHO Thus, we will be born again in the next life because of suffering in the preceding stage .
12. OLD AGE & DEATH or RO-SHI. One gets old eventually and dies.
Thus we repeat countless lives from the past, present and future.
Ignorance originally creates repetition of birth and death. If you do not want to be born again, you must attain enlightenment or truth. If you would like to be born again, let us try to improve ourselves even a bit day by day, year after year and life after life.
The sixteen princes ... renounced the world and became sramaneras." (P.141, L.11.)
Listening to the Buddha's teachings of lesser vehicle: the Four Noble Truths, the Eight Fold Paths and the Twelve Dependent Causations, The princes were glad to hear them and took ordination to be priests. This stage is not fully priests yet. In Nichiren Shu, we call this stage as "sha-mi." A shami needs a lot of guidance and practice under advise of his master.
"They had already made offerings to hundreds of thousand of billions of Buddhas, performed brahma practices, and sought Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi in their previous existence." (P.141, L.14.)
The relationship of the king and his sixteen sons are not only this world but also in previous existences. They had practiced offerings, keep the Lotus Sutra, memorized the phrases, and also preached other people the sutra. We, must had practiced the Lotus Sutra in our previous lives, therefore, we are able to meet this sangha again in this present life.
"These sixteen Bodhisattvas willingly expounded the Lotus Sutra. Each of them taught living beings as numerous as there are sands in the River Ganges." (P.142, Last Paragraph.)
Listening to Great-Universally-Excelling-Wisdom Buddha who was their father, the sixteen sons renounced the palace , began practicing the Bodhisattva ways and eventually attained Buddhahood. The 13th son was named Amida, and the 16th, Sakyamuni. Therefore Amida and Sakyamuni were brothers in their former lives.
Sakyamuni Buddha possesses the three virtues of Sovereign, Teacher and Parent that was revealed in Chapter 3: "This triple world is my property" signifies the Sovereign. "All living beings therein are my children" signifies the Parent. "Only I can save all living beings" signifies the Teacher. However, Amida Buddha dwells in the west. He is neither our parent, nor Sovereign. In this Saha world we must take Sakyamuni Buddha as our most honored one because he is our Sovereign, Teacher and Parent.
"The Buddhas, the Leaders, expound the teaching of Nirvana in order to give a rest. When they see them having already had a rest, they lead them to the wisdom of the Buddha." (P. 152, Last lines.)
Chapter 7 of the Lotus Sutra is an introduction to Chapter 16 that reveals the existence of the Eternal Buddha. Although the physical body of Sakyamuni Buddha is dead in Nirvana, his teachings remain forever.
~ Namu Myohorengekyo ~
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