Chapter 4. Belief and Understanding
During the assembly, after the Buddha finished speaking, several of his great disciples—such as the Elder Subhuti, Mahakatyayana, Mahakasyapa, and Mahamaudgalyayana—were filled with incomparable joy. They said to the Buddha: “O Buddha, let us also tell a parable so that the assembly may understand the meaning of the Dharma you have taught.” These great disciples told a parable called the “Parable of the Wealthy Man and his Poor Son.”
The Parable of the Wealthy Man and his Poor Son
Once there was a man who was very wealthy, but his son had gone missing when he was very young. To find his son, the father moved frequently, settling wherever he heard news of him. He searched for over fifty years without finding him, finally settling in a certain place. After the child was lost, he lived as a beggar, wandering from place to place, sometimes doing hard labor for others. He drifted about for fifty years, destitute and miserable.
One day, he happened to wander to the place where his father had settled. By chance, he stood outside the gate of his father’s manor and saw his father through the gate. However, after so many years, he no longer recognized him. The wealthy elder was sitting on a high and magnificent throne, surrounded by many dignitaries. The entire manor was splendid and grand, with treasures scattered everywhere. The poor son thought to himself: “This manor must belong to a prince or a king, someone very wealthy. A place like this would surely not hire someone as ragged, poor, and lowly as me for labor. I had better leave quickly.” He felt afraid in his heart; seeing such wealth and splendor, he was struck with fear and left.
Inside the manor, the father recognized his son at a single glance and immediately sent his attendants to pursue him. When the son saw people chasing him, he ran even faster, thinking: “This is the end. If they catch me, I’ll surely be killed or forced into slavery.” The two attendants who were chasing him did not know why their master wanted this man; they only knew they had to catch him to fulfill their duty, so they seized him and tried to drag him back. The son, overwhelmed by fear, anxiety, and hunger, fainted. When the elder saw this from the manor, he suddenly understood: “This son has surely been poor and wandering for many years, and he is terrified of wealthy people.” In the depths of his heart, the son still felt a sense of inequality; he thought he was being arrested rather than being invited back as an equal. The elder told the attendants to let him go after he woke up and say nothing more.
The poor man was very happy and fled as fast as his legs would carry him, going to poor areas to find odd jobs to support himself. But his father never stopped thinking of his son. He sent two of the lowliest workers from his manor to tell the poor son: “The master needs someone to clean excrement at his manor. The wages are double what you get elsewhere. Will you come? We are going too; the three of us can clean excrement together.” The poor son was very happy to hear this, and he returned to the manor with the two workers to perform the daily task of cleaning excrement. Every day, the elder watched from his window as his son, dressed in filthy rags and carrying a basket, cleaned the grounds. It pained his heart. He took off his own magnificent robes and put on ragged clothes like a servant’s. To get close to the child, he went among the workers and acted as a foreman, saying: “You are working very hard; I will not mistreat you.”
The poor son worked very hard and diligently. After some time, the elder called the poor son over and said: “I have noticed that you are honest and kind. Your work is different from the others; no matter how hard or tiring it is, you never complain. I admire this quality. I am getting old now and have no son of my own. I like you very much; may I adopt you as my son?” The poor son was, of course, very happy. The elder even gave him a name. But he could do nothing else; he could only go back to cleaning excrement. The elder did not ask him to do anything else and let him continue his work, but he had recognized him as his son. This is like when we are given a Dharma name or recognized as a Dharma heir by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! It is just like this: first being recognized as a son and given a Dharma name, and then we become the “poor children” of the Buddha. That is why your root teacher is Shakyamuni. Shakyamuni Buddha gave you those Dharma names merely as titles; in reality, you are still clearing away dung.
After some time, the father saw that although the child was still clearing away dung, he no longer feared wealth and status. When entering or leaving the estate, his demeanor was no longer lowly or shrinking; he had gained confidence. After all, he was the master’s adopted son. Though he performed filthy work, his self-confidence had arrived. He would walk with his head held high, happily performing his task of clearing away dung. It is just like how you might happily accumulate merit, no longer feeling that cleaning a toilet is a dirty job, but doing it with joy! This is merit; this is practicing the Bodhisattva path.
The poor son felt the same. He felt that although he performed a lowly job, he was the master’s child and wished to repay his kindness by keeping the estate clean and being good to the master. He was happy, and his confidence emerged. After another period, the master called him to his room and said, “I am now ill and very tired. I do not have the energy to manage the estate’s wealth and clients. I want you to manage the storehouses and all the incoming and outgoing funds on my behalf.” The poor son was, of course, very happy. He felt he should share the master’s burdens as an adopted son; it was his duty. He began to manage the internal and external affairs of the estate, essentially becoming the chief steward overnight. Although the poor son managed the wealth, he remained upright. In his heart, he always knew he was a “poor son”—this wealth belonged to the master. He believed the master merely appreciated and valued him, and his work was an act of gratitude. He never once thought of taking these things for his own. He still lived in the servants’ quarters and performed his duties with great sincerity.
The elder observed him every day and saw that his abilities, his speech, his presence, his perspective, and his ambitions were gradually maturing. Furthermore, as he entered and left the estate, the guests he encountered were different, and he began to open himself up. His Buddha-nature was beginning to reveal itself. He frequently practiced the Bodhisattva path—this is a metaphor, meaning he began to grow. Although the wealth was not yet his, he began to have his own ambitions and ideas. He felt he was capable and no longer believed he was only fit for sweeping dung. He could now negotiate freely with high officials and noblemen; projects worth tens or hundreds of millions passed through his hands. With an open and magnanimous heart, he could enter and leave the estate with self- assurance, no longer considering himself poor or lowly. At this point, his lowly mind had vanished, replaced by grand aspirations.
As the elder neared death—a metaphor for the Buddha entering Nirvana—he called the poor son before him. He also gathered all his relatives and friends and declared to them: “This man is my son. We were separated for decades, and today I have found him. All my property now belongs to him.” Hearing his father’s words, the poor son was overjoyed. He said, “I originally had no intention of seeking these things, yet now these treasures have come to me naturally.”
What does this story illustrate?
This was spoken by the Buddha’s great disciples. They were saying that they initially had lowly minds and did not think to seek Unsurpassed, Complete, and Perfect Enlightenment. Just as many people today seek a teacher to study the Dharma, but when asked what they seek, they say, “I seek to lower my blood pressure or manage my ‘three highs’ (hypertension, hyperglycemia, and hyperlipidemia).” This means that when we practice the Buddha- Dharma, we fail to give rise to the mind that seeks Unsurpassed, Complete, and Perfect Enlightenment—the desire for liberation and great mastery! We do not yet understand it, so we cannot give rise to it; we have lowly minds. We only seek satisfaction in this lifetime— small pleasures, the joys of the five desires. We often do things only for immediate happiness. This is what it means to have a lowly mind. Like the poor son, we are satisfied just to solve the problems of food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. Achieving the fruit of Arhatship makes such a person happy; he feels he has solved his own problem of reincarnation. Having secured his basic needs, he no longer aspires to the great wealth and state of the elder.
These disciples reflected on their own lowly minds, admitting that they initially lacked the grand ambition to seek the fruit of Buddhahood. Now, the Buddha, in his great compassion and like a father, has told us the teaching of the One Vehicle. He has told us that we are all originally Buddhas and possess Buddha-nature. Like that treasure, it has come unbidden. We did not seek it, yet it was given directly to us. Because the Sravaka disciples initially practiced austerities—which is like clearing away dung—they only wanted to clear away their own greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance, and doubt to realize the joy of cessation. They did not give rise to the ambition to seek Unsurpassed, Complete, and Perfect Enlightenment. This is the fourth chapter.
In the third chapter, before the Buddha spoke the “Parable of the Burning House and the Three Carts,” he had already bestowed a prediction of Buddhahood upon Sariputra. He told him when he would become a Buddha in the future, the nature of his Buddha-land, the lifespan of its people, how many eons would pass, and how long the True Dharma and the Semblance Dharma would endure. Sariputra is one of the ten great disciples. When the prediction for Sariputra was completed, the assembly was filled with joy. All the heavenly beings and Sravaka disciples were happy, feeling that if Sariputra could become a Buddha, then they too had hope. They felt they were similar to Sariputra, all being Sravaka disciples. Many Brahma Kings took off their celestial robes, which swirled through the sky, and millions of heavenly musical pieces echoed in the air. Heavenly beings play music not with instruments, but through the joy in their hearts. Then those heavenly beings said, “From this day forward, everything I do, now or in the future, is for the purpose of dedicating the merit toward the Buddha’s virtues—dedicating it all toward the Way of the Buddha.”
We all seek Unsurpassed, Complete, and Perfect Enlightenment because that is what we originally are; therefore, there is hope for us all to become Buddhas. This is the prediction mentioned in the third chapter. A prediction is the Buddha’s guarantee—a guarantee of achieving Buddhahood. Therefore, in the fourth chapter, after hearing the prediction for Sariputra, the other disciples stood up and told the Buddha this “Parable of the Wealthy Man and the Poor Son,” saying that they too seek Unsurpassed, Complete, and Perfect Enlightenment. The elder is a metaphor for the Buddha, and they likened the Buddha to their father, while they were the children who had wandered for forty or fifty years. Why?
Because when Sariputra and other great disciples, including Maudgalyayana, met the Buddha, they were already advanced in age. They were forty or fifty years old when they encountered the Buddha and began to follow his teachings. When the Buddha was about to enter Nirvana, some of these disciples were older than the Buddha, already in their eighties. Thus, they said they had wandered outside for fifty years before coming to sweep dung for this father, and only now have they received the unsurpassed treasure from him. This is a metaphor for their relationship with the Buddha.