The Father and the Son - Master Zhenlin

There is a parable in the Lotus Sutra. Shakyamuni Buddha compared Himself to a rich father, while His disciples to the son who had ran away from home for fifty years. One day, they chanced to meet up with each other. The impoverished son stood by the side of the gate, gazing far away at his father. He was filled with fear to see the man so rich and powerful, and did not recognize that was his father. The rich man, however, recognized his son immediately. The father then sent a bystander to ask him in. However, the impoverished son thought the servant had been dispatched to kill him, as he was so poor, and the man so rich, and therefore raced away from the spot out of fear.



The father did not want to freak the son out, and therefore told his groom not to force him to return. Later, he decided to employ an expedient means and sent two men as secret messengers, men who were lean and haggard and had no imposing appearance, and asked them to tell the son that he could earn twice the regular wage clearing away excrement for him. Well, the impoverished son did return after being told of it.



Observing his son suffering like that, the father felt pitied on him. One day, he took off his fine garments, put on clothes that were ragged and soiled, and accompanied his son in removing the excrement. Gradually, the son got closer and closer to him. He then showed the son his treasures. The son, though fond of them, knew they did not belong to him. As he was honest and modest, he did not ask the rich man for any. He thus cleared away the excrement for the rich man, his father, for twenty years. Over the time, he got to know the treasures and the rich man very well. One day, the rich man told him that they were in truth father and son, and all his wealth and possessions should entirely belong to him. The boy originally had no mind to covert the treasures, but the stores of treasures came to him of their own accord.

The parable is meant to remind us that getting lost and the reunited is analogous to turning on the Wheel. A Buddha is born in about every five billion years among humans. In the story, the father is like the Buddha, clearing away excrement like the lesser doctrines of the Buddha Dharma, while the stores of treasures are the Great Vehicle. The impoverished son’s failing to recognize his father is like our not knowing we are the true Buddha disciples.