- Chapter Sixteen
- The Life Span of the Tathagata
At that time the Buddha spoke to the Bodhisattvas and all the great
assembly: "Good men, you must believe and understand the truthful words of the Thus
Come One." And again he said to the great assembly: You must believe and understand
the truthful words of the Thus Come One." And once more he said to the great
assembly: "You must believe and understand the truthful words of the Thus Come
One."
At that time the bodhisattvas and the great assembly, with Maitreya as
their leader, pressed their palms together and addressed the Buddha, saying:
"World-Honored One, we beg you to explain. We will believe and accept the Buddha's
words." They spoke in this manner three times, and then said once more: "We beg
you to explain it. We will believe and accept the Buddha's words."
At that time the World-Honored One, seeing that the bodhisattvas
repeated their request three times and more, spoke to them, saying: "You must listen
carefully and hear of the Thus Come One's secret and his transcendental powers. In all the
worlds the heavenly and human beings and asuras all believe that the present Shakyamuni
Buddha, after leaving the palace of the Shakyas, seated himself in the place of practice
not far from the city of Gaya and there attained annuttara-samyak-sambodhi. But good men,
it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of
nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood.
"Suppose a person were to take five hundred, a thousand, ten
thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya thousand-million-fold worlds and grind them to dust.
Then, moving eastward, each time he passes five hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a
million nayuta asamkhya worlds he drops a particle of dust. He continues eastward in this
way until he has finished dropping all the particles. Good men, what is your opinion? Can
the total number of all these worlds be imagined or calculated?"
The bodhisattva Maitreya and the others said to the Buddha:
"World-Honored One, these worlds are immeasurable, boundless--one cannot calculate
their number, nor does the mind have the power to encompass them. Even all the
voice-hearers and pratyekabuddhas with their wisdom free of outflows could not imagine or
understand how many there are. Although we abide in the stage of avivartika, we cannot
comprehend such a matter. World-Honored One, these worlds are immeasurable and
boundless."
At that time the Buddha said to the multitude of great bodhisattvas:
"Good men, now I will state this to you clearly. Suppose all these worlds, whether
they received a particle of dust or not, are once more reduced to dust. Let one particle
represent one kalpa. The time that has passed since I attained Buddhahood surpasses this
by a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million nayuta asamkhya kalpas.
"Ever since then I have been constantly in this saha world,
preaching the Law, teaching and converting, and elsewhere I have led and benefited living
beings in hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas and asamkhyas of lands.
"Good men, during that time I have spoken about the Buddha Burning
Torch and others, and described how they entered nirvana. All this I employed as an
expedient means to make distinctions.
"Good men, if there are living beings who come to me, I employ my
Buddha eye to observe their faith and to see if their other faculties are keen or dull,
and then depending upon how receptive they are to salvation, I appear in different places
and preach to them under different names, and describe the length of time during which my
teachings will be effective. Sometimes when I make my appearance I say that I am about to
enter nirvana, and also employ different expedient means to preach the subtle and
wonderful Law, thus causing living beings to awaken joyful minds.
"Good men, the Thus Come One observes how among living beings
there are those who delight in a little Law, meager in virtue and heavy with defilement.
For such persons I describe how in my youth I left my household and attained
anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. But in truth the time since I attained Buddhahood is extremely
long, as I have told you. It is simply that I use this expedient means to teach and
convert living beings and cause them to enter the Buddha way. That is why I speak in this
manner.
"Good men, the scriptures expounded by the Thus Come One are all
for the purpose of saving and emancipating living beings. Sometimes I speak of myself,
sometimes of others: sometimes I present myself, sometimes others; sometimes I show my own
actions, sometimes those of others. All that I preach is true and not false.
Why do I do this? The Thus Come One perceives the true aspect of the
threefold world exactly as it is. There is no ebb or flow of birth and death, and there is
no existing in this world and later entering extinction. It is neither substantial nor
empty, neither consistent nor diverse. Nor is it what those who dwell in the threefold
world perceive it to be. All such things the Thus Come One sees clearly and without error.
"Because living beings have different natures, different desires,
different actions, and different ways of thinking and making distinctions, and because I
want to enable them to put down good roots, I employ a variety of causes and conditions,
similes, parables, and phrases and preach different doctrines. This, the Buddha's work, I
have never for a moment neglected.
"Thus, since I attained Buddhahood, an extremely long period of
time has passed. My life span is an immeasurable number of asamkhya kalpas, and during
that time I have constantly abided here without ever entering extinction. Good men,
originally I practiced the bodhisattva way, and the life span that I acquired then has yet
to come to an end but will last twice the number of years that have already passed. Now,
however, although in fact I do not actually enter extinction, I announce that I am going
to adopt the course of extinction. This is an expedient means which the Thus Come One uses
to teach and convert living beings.
"Why do I do this? Because if the Buddha remains in the world for
a long time, those persons with shallow virtue will fail to plant good roots but, living
in poverty and lowliness, will become attached to the five desires and be caught in the
net of deluded thoughts and imaginings. If they see that the Thus Come One is constantly
in the world and never enters extinction, they will grow arrogant and selfish, or become
discouraged and neglectful. They will fail to realize how difficult it is to encounter the
Buddha and will not approach him with a respectful and reverent mind.
"Therefore as an expedient means the Thus Come One says: 'Monks,
you should know that it is a rare thing to live at a time when one of the Buddhas appears
in the world.' Why does he do this? Because persons of shallow virtue may pass
immeasurable hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of kalpas with some of them
chancing to see a Buddha and others never seeing one at all. For this reason I say to
them: 'Monks, the Thus Come One is hard to get to see.' When living beings hear these
words, they are certain to realize how difficult it is to encounter the Buddha. In their
minds they will harbor a longing and will thirst to gaze upon the Buddha, and then they
will work to plant good roots. Therefore the Thus Come One, though in truth he does not
enter extinction, speaks of passing into extinction.
"Good men, the Buddhas and Thus Come Ones all preach a Law such as
this. They act in order to save all living beings, so what they do is true and not false.
"Suppose, for example, that there is a skilled physician who is
wise and understanding and knows how to compound medicines to effectively cure all kinds
of diseases. He has many sons, perhaps ten, twenty, or even a hundred. He goes off to some
other land far away to see about a certain affair. After he has gone, the children drink
some kind of poison that make them distraught with pain and they fall writhing to the
ground.
"At that time the father returns to his home and finds that his
children have drunk poison. Some are completely out of their minds, while others are not.
Seeing their father from far off, all are overjoyed and kneel down and entreat him,
saying: 'How fine that you have returned safely. We were stupid and by mistake drank some
poison. We beg you to cure us and let us live out our lives!'
"The father, seeing his children suffering like this, follows
various prescriptions. Gathering fine medicinal herbs that meet all the requirements of
color, fragrance and flavor, he grinds, sifts and mixes them together. Giving a dose of
these to his children, he tells them: 'This is a highly effective medicine, meeting all
the requirements of color, fragrance and flavor. Take it and you will quickly be relieved
of your sufferings and will be free of all illness.'
"Those children who have not lost their senses can see that this
is good medicine, outstanding in both color and fragrance, so they take it immediately and
are completely cured of their sickness. Those who are out of their minds are equally
delighted to see their father return and beg him to cure their sickness, but when they are
given the medicine, they refuse to take it. Why? Because the poison has penetrated deeply
and their minds no longer function as before. So although the medicine is of excellent
color and fragrance, they do not perceive it as good.
"The father thinks to himself: My poor children! Because of the
poison in them, their minds are completely befuddled. Although they are happy to see me
and ask me to cure them, they refuse to take this excellent medicine. I must now resort to
some expedient means to induce them to take the medicine. So he says to them: 'You should
know that I am now old and worn out, and the time of my death has come. I will leave this
good medicine here. You should take it and not worry that it will not cure you.' Having
given these instructions, he then goes off to another land where he sends a messenger home
to announce, 'Your father is dead.'
"At that time the children, hearing that their father has deserted
them and died, are filled with great grief and consternation and think to themselves: If
our father were alive he would have pity on us and see that we are protected. But now he
has abandoned us and died in some other country far away. We are shelter-less orphans with
no one to rely on!
"Constantly harboring such feelings of grief, they at last come to
their senses and realize that the medicine is in fact excellent in color and fragrance and
flavor, and so they take it and are healed of all the effects of the poison. The father,
hearing that his children are all cured, immediately returns home and appears to them all
once more.
"Good men, what is your opinion? Can anyone say that this skilled
physician is guilty of lying?"
"No, World-Honored One."
The Buddha said: "It is the same with me. It has been
immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayuta and
asamkhya kalpas since I attained Buddhahood. But for the sake of living beings I employ
the power of expedient means and say that I am about to pass into extinction. In view of
the circumstances, however, no one can say that I have been guilty of lies or
falsehoods."
At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to state his meaning once
more, spoke in verse form, saying: