Hello, everyone. Welcome to this episode of the podcast provided by the Buddhas’ Practice Incorporated of Australia.
Today, we will explore Chapter 6, “Prediction,” and Chapter 7, “The Apparitional City,” from the Lotus Sutra.
1. Kāśyapa Receives the Buddha’s Prediction
First, in the “Prediction” chapter, the Buddha uses his buddha-eye to see the future of Mahākāśyapa. The Buddha announces to the great assembly: “My disciple, Mahākāśyapa, in the future will become a Buddha in his last body, called Light Bright.”
This prediction is not only a prophecy for Kāśyapa but also a confirmation for all practitioners that the path of the One Buddha Vehicle is authentic and true. Even the disciples who are most attached to the Lesser Vehicle (Śrāvakas) will ultimately achieve Buddhahood if they believe and accept this sutra.
2. Three Disciples Also Receive Predictions
The Buddha then gives predictions to three more disciples in turn:
- Subhūti: He will ultimately achieve Buddhahood, with the Buddha-name Rare Form.
- Mahākātyāyana: He will ultimately achieve Buddhahood, with the Buddha-name Jambunada Gold Light.
- Mahāmaudgalyāyana: He will ultimately achieve Buddhahood, with the Buddha-name Tamalapatra Sandalwood Fragrance.
3. The Ancient Story of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence
Next, in the “Apparitional City” chapter, the Buddha tells us a story about a Buddha from the distant past. He explains that an immeasurable, limitless, and inconceivable number of kalpas ago, there was a Buddha named the Great Universal Wisdom Excellence Tathāgata. The Buddha uses a powerful metaphor to describe this immense duration: Suppose a person grinds all the earth of a great manifold cosmos into fine ink powder. They drop a single particle of this ink for every thousand worlds they pass through until all the ink is gone. Then, suppose all the worlds, whether they had a particle dropped on them or not, are ground into dust, with each speck of dust representing one kalpa. The time that has passed since the parinirvāṇa of the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence is far greater than this number.
However, the Buddha, with his unimpeded wisdom, can perceive this distant past as if it were happening today.
Before his enlightenment, this Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence sat in meditation for ten small kalpas without moving his body or mind, but the Dharma of the buddhas did not yet appear to him. The devas continuously made offerings of flowers and music until the ten small kalpas were complete, at which point the Dharma of the buddhas appeared, and he finally achieved enlightenment. When he became a Buddha, a great light illuminated the ten directions, the worlds quaked in six ways, and countless beings and Brahma kings came to make offerings, praise him, and request him to turn the wheel of the Dharma.
4. The Parable of the Apparitional City: Expediency and the Ultimate
After the Buddha Great Universal Wisdom Excellence achieved the Way, sixteen princes and eighty thousand million people renounced their household life and became novices, vowing to seek Anuttarā Samyaksaṃbodhi. The Buddha taught them the Mahayana sutra called the Lotus Sutra. After the sixteen novices heard it, they completely believed and accepted it, and the Buddha then entered a quiet room to abide in meditation. During the Buddha’s meditation, these sixteen novices each ascended their seats to extensively preach the Lotus Sutra to the assembly.
The Buddha uses this ancient story to introduce the most crucial parable: the Apparitional City.
The Buddha says it is like a vast and treacherous road, five hundred yojanas long, uninhabited and filled with poisonous beasts and dangers. A large group of people wants to travel this road to find treasures. After walking halfway, they become extremely exhausted and fearful, and want to turn back.
At this time, a wise and insightful guide, to prevent them from giving up, uses his transcendent powers to miraculously create a magnificent city in the middle of the road. He tells them: “Look, this city will allow you to rest and find peace here.” The exhausted people enter the city, overjoyed, believing they have reached their destination and have been delivered.
When the guide sees that everyone is well-rested and their fatigue is gone, he makes the apparitional city disappear and tells the crowd: “Everyone, the treasure is close by! The city you just saw was created by my expedient power, just for you to rest temporarily.”
5. The Nirvana of the Lesser Vehicle is the Apparitional City
Friends, the Buddha then reveals the profound meaning of this parable:
The guide is the Tathāgata (the Buddha).
The treacherous road is the cycle of birth and death (saṃsāra).
The apparitional city is the nirvana of the Lesser Vehicle (the fruits of the Śrāvaka and Pratyekabuddha paths).
And the ultimate treasure is the supreme Buddha-Way of the One Buddha Vehicle.
The Buddha knows that if he were to directly tell sentient beings that the path to Buddhahood is long and requires eons of diligent practice, many would become discouraged and lose their resolve. Therefore, the Buddha, with his expedient wisdom, created the “Lesser Vehicle nirvana” as a resting stop in the middle of the journey. This allows sentient beings to believe they have been liberated and have reached the final destination, thus experiencing temporary joy and peace.
However, the Buddha makes it clear: “You have not yet completed your task! The nirvana you have attained is not the true one!”
6. Conclusion
“In the world, there are no two vehicles; there is only the one Buddha Vehicle.” This is the most central declaration of the Lotus Sutra. It tells us that all the achievements of the Lesser Vehicle are merely temporary apparitional cities, created by the Buddha as an expedient means to prevent sentient beings from turning back. The ultimate goal of all this practice points to one thing—the ultimate Buddha-Way of the One Buddha Vehicle.
Thank you.
