The “Salvation” of the Buddha

  In Chapter 3’s parable, for his many children who refuse to come out of the burning house, the father doesn’t offer sack cloth and ashes, nor great sacrifices for them to be saved, but a distinctly different kind of salvation. The children in the burning house do not apprehend nor perceive, nor are they even aware of the suffering that will accrue by remaining in the burning house; neither alarmed nor afraid that their “greed for gain” will never be satisfied. Nor are they distressed that they are in danger of separating themselves from loved ones, “never seeking to escape but in the burning house of the triple world running about thither and thither, and although they will meet with great suffering, count it not a cause for anxiety.”

  How then shall father save them? How shall he motivate them to escape? He offers them splendid bejeweled carts for them to play with, promising far greater rewards than are ever to be found in the burning house.

  How different this “salvation” is from other religious teachings in today’s world. In the parable, the father easily could round all his children up in a cage and drag them unwillingly from the burning house, insisting on rigid obedience, and that they blindly follow his precepts if they wish to be saved. Rather he uses the tactful method of promising pleasures far exceeding what’s to be found in the burning house, if only they will come out.

  The Buddha asks Shariputra if this method is deceitful, if the elder in giving great carts of precious substances to his children equally, has been somewhat guilty of falsehood? Shariputra answers with a resounding NO! – recalling the impact his answer had when I first read it.

  “No, World-honored One! that elder only caused his children to escape the disaster of fire and preserved their bodies alive—he committed no falsity. Why? He has in such a manner preserved their bodies and also they have obtained those playthings; how much more by tactful means has he saved them from that burning house! World-honored One! even if that elder did not give them one of the smallest carts, still he is not false. . . That elder from the first formed this intention: I will by tactful means cause my children to escape.’ For this reason he is not false. How much less seeing that this elder, knowing his own boundless wealth and desiring to benefit his children, gives them great carts equally!”

  The Buddha replies, "Good! Good! it is even as you say. Shariputra! the Tathagata is also like this, for he is the father of all worlds, who has forever entirely ended all fear, despondency, distress, ignorance, and umbrageous darkness and has perfected boundless knowledge, powers, and fearlessness; is possessed of great spiritual power and wisdom; has completely attained the paramitas of tactfulness and wisdom; who is the greatly merciful and greatly compassionate, ever tireless, ever seeking the good, and benefiting all beings. And he is born in this triple world, the old decayed burning house, to save all living creatures from the fires of birth, old age, disease, death, grief, suffering, foolishness, darkness, and the three poisons, and teaches them to obtain Perfect Enlightenment.

  The Buddha doesn’t force the children to come out of the burning house, he motivates them to come out of their own free will—not to depend upon gods or enlightened ones to deliver them. Salvation is achieved through self-motivation and personal practice, and the ultimate goal of such practice is to go beyond the little self—the ego (in the parable, the one door open for escape), and become obedient only to the universal truth, one with the great life-force of the universe. Faith comes from the power within—our own will and effort taking refuge in that absolute power that causes us to live.

Discarding ego-centered actions

  His house is spacious and large, having only one door – later described as only one narrow, small gate, symbolizing how difficult it is to escape a dominating egoistic self. Discarding the ego, releasing it, is the great revolution of mind and heart. Paraphrasing Nikkyo Niwano: “The first stage of releasing the illusory power of the ego is awakening to the simple truth that human suffering is brought about by collection of greeds and wants—desires, all graphically described in the parable. But this is not enough.

  “At the second stage, we realize that in accordance with the Law of Causation, all that we so urgently desire and are attached to is a temporary appearance brought about by coming together of primary and secondary causes. The origin of these desires is ignorance, a basic misapprehension that the flesh is oneself. What we cling to has no real substance. Realizing this, automatically removes us from self-centered thinking and suffering.”

  The Buddha describes the treasures received by the children for coming out of the house for the sake of the goat and deer carts—although he has surprised them by giving all of them the great bullock cart:

  “If there are living beings who, following the Buddha, the World-honored One, hear the Law, receive it in faith, diligently practice, and zealously advance, seeking the complete wisdom, the wisdom of the Buddha, the natural wisdom, the wisdom without a teacher, and the knowledge, powers, and fearlessness of the Tathagata, who take pity on and comfort innumerable creatures, benefit gods and living beings, and save all beings, these will have the vehicle named the Great-vehicle. Because the bodhisattvas seek the vehicle, they are named mahasattvas. They are like those children who come out of the burning house for the sake of a bullock cart.”

from Chapter 3, A Parable:

  “Shariputra! just as that elder seeing his children get out of the burning house safely to a place free from fear, and pondering on his immeasurable wealth, gives each of his children a great cart, so also is it with the Tathagata. Being the father of all living creatures, if he sees infinite thousands of countless creatures by the teaching of the Buddha escape from the suffering of the triple world, from fearful and perilous paths, and gain the joys of nirvana, the Tathagata then reflects thus: ‘I possess infinite, boundless wisdom, power, fearlessness, and other law-treasuries of buddhas.

  “’All these living creatures are my sons and daughters to whom I will equally give the Great-vehicle, so that there will be no one who will gain nirvana alone but all gain nirvana by the same nirvana as the Tathagata. All these living creatures who escape the triple world are given the playthings of enlightened ones, the buddhas—concentrations, emancipations, and other playthings, all of one form and one kind, praised by sages and able to produce pure, supreme pleasure.’

  “Shariputra! even as that elder at first attracted his children by the three carts and afterward gave them only a great cart magnificently adorned with precious things and supremely restful, yet that elder is not guilty of falsehood, so also is it with the Tathagata; there is no falsehood in first preaching three vehicles to attract all living creatures and afterward saving by the Great-vehicle only. Wherefore? Because the Tathagata possesses infinite wisdom, power, fearlessness, and the treasury of the laws and is able to give all living creatures the Great-Buddha-vehicle, but not all are able to receive it. Shariputra! for this reason know that the enlightened ones, by their tactful powers, in the One Buddha-vehicle discriminate and expound the three.” / / /

  This, the first of seven parables of the Lotus Sutra, is a significant one, for it explains the value of practicing in the realms of the three vehicles—learning, becoming self-enlightened, reaching toward the world of the universally compassionate ones. However, the ultimate reward for escaping from distresses of the burning house is the attainment of absolute awareness—peace of mind even in the midst of illusion and suffering—ultimately, Perfect Enlightenment; to realize that since all living beings, including human beings, are manifestations of the great life-force of the universe, all are equal in terms of the fundamental value of their existence.

  Thus a sense of unity arises—all equally may partake of the great life-force of the universe which causes us to live. When one has come this far, the self vanishes.

  The Buddha desired that all equally attain that which he possesses—infinite wisdom, power, fearlessness, and the treasury of the law. These, he proclaims are accessible to everyone.

  From Zen Master Hui-neng: This remarkable doctrine of self-salvation centers on the identity of one's own nature with the Buddha. It is the Buddha (or the Tathagata) in the minds of the aspirants who save themselves. From this insight a charity and a morality arise, because the individual and the totality are one ecological organism, mutually dependent.