The Lotus Sutra

The Lotus Sūtra

Sutra of the White Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma

Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra

妙法蓮華經

Miàofǎ liánhuá jīng

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 7

化城喻品第七 “The Parable of the Phantom City”

Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sūtra is called “The Parable of the Phantom City” and is one of seven parables found in the Lotus. What brings our attention to this chapter here is the dazzling portrayal of TIME offered by the Buddha.

In this chapter the Buddha Śākyamuni describes the career of a buddha who lived “immeasurable, limitless, inconceivable, incalculable kalpas ago” and that the kalpa during which he lived had a name (Mahārūpa-’Great Form’). The Buddha continues with an explanation of how incredibly long ago it was that this buddha had lived.

“O monks, it has been an extremely long time since this buddha entered nirvana. Suppose there were a man who ground the earth particles of the thousand-millionfold cosmos into ink powder, and he were to then pass through a thousand worlds to the east, where he let fall a single particle of ink, the size of a speck of dust. After passing through another thousand worlds, he let fall another particle; and he continued in this way until he had completely used up all the ink.

“What do you think about this? Do you think that a mathematician or a mathematician’s pupil would be able to count those worlds to the last particle or not?”

“O Bhagavat! No, they could not.”

“O monks! Suppose that all the worlds this man passed through, whether letting fall a particle or not, were all ground into dust, and one speck of this dust were equal to one kalpa. The time since the parinirvāṇa of this buddha surpasses this number by immeasurable, limitless, incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of kalpas; and through the power of the Tathāgata’s wisdom and insight, I can see his distant past, as if it were today.”

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Lotus Sutra, Chapter 3

譬喻品第三 “Simile and Parable”

The parable of the burning house is presented in the Lotus Sutra and other sutras as a metaphor to illustrate how the three vehicles of the Sravakayana, Pretyakabuddhayana and Bodhisattvayana are in reality different skillful means within the one vehicle of the Mahayana.

As presented in the Lotus Sutra, the parable tells the story of a wealthy man with many children who are playing inside of his house. The house catches on fire, but the children are distracted by their games and they are unaware that the house is burning. In fact, they do not understand what fire is or even what a house is. Thus, in order to lure his children from the house, the wealthy man promises his children that he has three different types of carts waiting for them outside of the house for them to play in: a goat-cart, a deer-cart, and a bullock-cart. When the children rush out of the house to play with their new carts, the three different carts promised by their father are not there. Instead, their father presents them with a single jeweled carraige drawn by a pure white ox.

In this parable, the three carts that were promised were skillful means to lure the children out of the house.

The goat-cart represents the Sravaka vehicle
The deer-cart represents the Pratyekabuddha vehicle
The bullock-cart represents the Bodhisattva vehicle

The jeweled carriage represents the one vehicle of the Mahayana.

This summary can be found HERE along with an excerpt from the text itself.

Burton Watson Lotus Sutra

LINK HERE to a freely available Burton Watson Translation of the Lotus Sutra

序品第一

方便品第二

譬喻品第三

信解品第四

藥草喻品第五

授記品第六

化城喻品第七

五百弟子受記品第八

授學無學人記品第九

法師品第十

見寶塔品第十一

提婆達多品第十二

勸持品第十三

安樂行品第十四

從地湧出品第十五

如來壽量品第十六

分別功德品 第十七

隨喜功德品 第十八

法師功德品 第十九

常不輕菩薩品第二十

如來神力品第二十一

囑累品第二十二

藥王菩薩本事品第二十三

妙音菩薩品第二十四

觀世音菩薩普門品第二十五

陀羅尼品第二十六

妙莊嚴王本事品第二十七

普賢菩薩勸發品第二十八

Go to single .DOC file HERE

[One] - Introduction

[Two] - Expedient Means

[Three] - Simile and Parable

[Four] - Belief and Understanding

[Five] - The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs

[Six] - Bestowal of Prophecy

[Seven] - The Parable of the Phantom City

[Eight] - Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples

[Nine] - Prophecies Conferred on Learners and Adepts

[Ten] - The Teacher of the Law

[Eleven] - The Emergence of the Treasure Tower

[Twelve] - Devadatta

[Thirteen] - Admonition to Embrace the Sutra

[Fourteen] - Peaceful Practices

[Fifteen] - Emerging from the Earth

[Sixteen] - The Life Span of the Tathagata

[Seventeen] - Distinctions in Benefits

[Eighteen] - The Benefits of Responding with Joy

[Nineteen] - The Benefits of the Teacher of the Law

[Twenty] - Bodhisattva Never Disparaging

[Twenty One] - The Mystic Powers of the Tathagata

[Twenty Two] - Entrustment

[Twenty Three] - The Former Deeds of Bodhisattva Medicine King

[Twenty Four] - Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound

[Twenty Five] - The Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds

[Twenty Six] - Dharani

[Twenty Seven] - The Former Deeds of King Wondrous Splendor

[Twenty Eight] - The Encouragement of Bodhisattva Universally Worthy

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 17,

“Discrimination of Merits” (excerpt)

分別功德品

Click HERE for single .DOC File

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