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The Tathāgata is equal and not unequal towards all beings, when it is the question to convert them: "He is, Oh Kassapa, as the rays of the sun and moon, which shine alike upon the virtuous and the wicked, the high and the low; on those who have a good odor, and those who have a bad; on all these the rays fall equally and not unequally at one and the same time. So, Oh Kassapa, the rays of intelligence, endowed with the knowledge of omnipotence, make the Tathāgatas venerable.
Complete instruction in the good law is equally necessary for all beings, for those who have entered into the five roads of existence, for those, who according to their inclination have taken the great vehicle, or the vehicle of the Pratyekabuddha, or that of the auditors (voice-hearer students). And there is neither diminution or augmentation of absolute wisdom in such or such a Tathāgata. On the contrary, all equally exist, and all are equally born to unite science and virtue. There are not, Oh Kassapa three vehicles; there are only beings who act differently from each other; it is on account of that that we discriminate three vehicles."
This said, the respectable Kassapa spoke thus to Bhagavat (Bhagavat means "one who is perfect in virtue and happiness.") "If there are not, Oh Bhagavat three different vehicles, why employ in the present world the distinct denominations of auditors, Pratyekabuddhas and Bodhisattvas?"
This said, Bhagavat spoke thus to the respectable Kassapa: "It is, Oh Kassapa, as when a potter makes different pots of the same clay. Some become vases to contain molasses; others are for clarified butter, others for milk, others for curds, and others inferior and impure vases. The variety does not belong to the clay; it is only the difference of the substance that we put in them, whence comes the diversity of the vases. So there is really only one vehicle, which is the vehicle of the Buddha; there is no second or third vehicle."
This said, the respectable Kassapa spoke thus to Bhagavat: "If beings, arising from this union of three worlds, have different inclinations, is there for them a single annihilation, or two, or three?" Bhagavat said, "Annihilation, Oh Kassapa, results from the comprehension of the equality of all laws; there is only one and not two or three. Therefore, Oh Kassapa, I will purpose to thee a parable; for penetrating men know through parables the sense of what is said."
"It is as if, Oh Kassapa, a man born blind should say, ‘there are no forms, of which some have beautiful and some ugly colors; no spectators of these different forms; there is no sun, no moon, no constellations, no stars; and no spectators who see stars.’ And when other men reply to the man born blind, there are diversities of color and spectators of these diverse colors; there is a sun and a moon, and constellations and stars, and spectators who see the stars, the man born blind believes them not, and wishes to have no relations with them.
Then there comes a physician who knows all maladies; he looks on this man born blind, and this reflection comes into his mind; it is for the guilty conduct of this man in an anterior life, that he is born blind. All the maladies, which appear in this world, whatever they are, are in four classes; those produced by wind, those produced by bile, those produced by phlegm, and those which come from the morbid state of the three principles united. This physician reflected much upon the means of curing this malady, and this reflection came into his mind: the substances which are in use here, are not capable of destroying this evil; but there exists in Himavat, king of mountains, four medicinal plants, and what are they?
The first is named that which possess all savors and all colors; the second, that which delivers from all maladies; the third, that which neutralizes all poisons; the fourth, that which procures well-being in whatsoever situation it may be. These are the four medicinal plants.
Then the physician, feeling touched by compassion for the man born blind, thought on the means of going to Himavat, king of mountains, and having gone thither, he mounted to the summit, he descended into the valley, he traversed the mountain in his search, and having sought he discovered these four medicinal plants, and having discovered them, he gave them to the blind man to take, one after having masticated it with the teeth, another after having pounded it, this after cooked it with other substances, that after mingling it with other raw substances, another by introducing it into a given part of the body with a needle, another after having consumed it in the fire, the last, after having employed it, mingled with other substances as food or drink.
Then the man born blind, in consequence of having employed these means, recovered his sight, and having recovered it he looked above, below, far and near; he saw the rays of the sun, and moon, the constellations, the stars, and all forms; and thus he spoke: ‘Certainly I was a fool in that I never would believe those who saw and reported to me these things. Now I see everything, I am delivered from my blindness; I have recovered sight, and there is no one in the world who is in anything above me."
But at this moment the sages endowed with the five kinds of supernatural knowledge present themselves; these sages who had divine sight, divine hearing, knowledge of the thoughts of others, the memory of their anterior existences, and of a supernatural power, speak thus to this man: "Thou hast only recovered sight, Oh man, and still you know nothing. Whence comes this pride? Thou hast not wisdom and thou art not instructed." Then they speak to him thus: "When thou art seated in the interiors of thy house, Oh man, you see not, you know not other forms which are without; you distinguish not in beings whether their thoughts are benevolent or hostile to you; you perceive not, you understand not at the distance of five yojanas [A yojana is said to be the distance the Royal army could march in a single day—the modern equivalent would be seven kilometers.] the sound of a conch, of the tambour, and of the distance of a kroca, without making use of your feet ; you have been engendered and developed in the body of your mother, and you do not even remember that. How then are you learned, and how do you know everything, and how can you say, ‘I see everything?’ Know, Oh man, that that which is clearness is obscurity; know also that that which is obscurity is clearness."
Then this man speaks thus to the sages: "What means must I employ, or what good work must I do to acquire an equal wisdom? I can by your favor obtain these qualities." Then these sages say thus to the man: If you desire wisdom, contemplate the law, seated in the desert, or in the forest, or in the caverns of the mountains, and free yourself from the corruption of evil. Then this man, endowed with purified qualities, you shall obtain supernatural knowledge. Then this man, following this counsel, entering into the religious life, living in the desert, his thought fixed upon a single object, was freed from that of the world, and acquired these five kinds of supernatural knowledge; and having acquired them, he reflected thus; The conduct which I pursued before put me in possession of no law, and of no quality. Now, on the contrary, I go wherever my thought goes; before I had only little wisdom, little judgment, I was blind.
Behold, Oh Kassapa! The parable that I would propose to you to make you comprehend the sense of my discourse. See now what is in it. The man blind from his birth, Oh Kassapa! Designates those beings who are shut up in the revolution of the world, into which is entrance by five roads; they are those who know not the excellent law, and who accumulate upon themselves the obscurity and the thick darkness of the corruption of evil. They are blinded by ignorance, and in this state of blindness they collect the conceptions, under the name and the form, which are the effect of the conceptions, until, at last there takes place the production of what is a great mass of miseries. Thus are blind beings shut up by ignorance in the revolution of the world.
But that Tathāgata, who is placed beyond the union of the three worlds, feeling compassion for them, moved with pity, as is a father for his only beloved son, having descended into the union of the three worlds, contemplates beings revolving in the circle of transmigration, and beings who know not the true means of escaping from the world. Then Bhagavat looked upon them with the eyes of wisdom, and having seen them, he knew them. "These beings," said he, "After having accomplished, in the first place, the principle of virtue, have feeble hatreds and vivid attachments, or feeble attachments and vivid hatreds and errors. Some have little intelligence; others are wise; these have come to maturity and are pure; those follow false doctrines. Bhagavat, by employing the means he has at his disposal, teaches these beings three vehicles. Then the Bodhisattvas, like the sages endowed with the five kinds of supernatural knowledge, and who have perfectly clear sight, the Bodhisattvas, I say, having conceived the thought of the state of Buddha, having acquired a miraculous patience in the law, are raised to the supreme state of Buddha, perfectly developed. In this comparison, the Tathāgata must be regarded as a great physician; and all beings must be regarded as blinded by error, like the man born blind. Affection, hatred, error, and the sixty-two false doctrines are wind, bile, and phlegm. The four medicinal plants these four truths; namely, the state of void, the absence of a cause, the absence of an object, and the entrance into exemption, they arrest the action of ignorance; from the annihilation of ignorance comes that of the conceptions, until at last comes the annihilation of that which is only a great mass of evils. Then the thought of a man is neither in virtue nor in sin.
The man who makes use of the vehicle of the auditors or the Pratyekabuddhas must be regarded as the blind man who recovers sight. He breaks the chain of miseries of transmigration; disembarrassed from the chains of these miseries, he is delivered from the union of the three worlds, which are entered by five ways. This is why he who makes of the vehicle of auditors knows what follows, and pronounces these words—there are no more laws henceforth to be known by a Buddha perfectly developed; I have attained annihilation! But Bhagavat shows to him the law. How, said he, shall not he who has obtained all the laws attain annihilation? The Bhagavat introduces him into the state of Buddha. Having conceived that thought of this state, the auditor is no longer in the revolution of the world, and he has not yet attained annihilation. Forming to himself an exact idea of the reunion of the three worlds, he sees the world void in the ten points of space, like a magical apparition, an illusion, like a dream, a mirage, an echo. He sees all laws, those of the cessation of birth, as well as those, which are contrary to annihilation; those, which do not belong to darkness and obscurity, as well as those, which are contrary to clearness. He who thus sees into profound laws, he sees, like the blind man, the differing thoughts and dispositions of all the beings who make up the reunion of the three worlds.
I who am the king of the law, I who am born in the world, and who govern existence, I explain the law to creatures, after having recognized their inclinations. Great heroes, whose intelligence is firm, preserve for a long time my word; they guard also my secret, and do not reveal it to creatures. Indeed, from the moment that the ignorant hear this science so difficult to comprehend, immediately conceiving doubts in their madness, they will fall from it, and fall into error. I proportion my language to the subject and strength of each; and I correct a doctrine by contrary explication (clarification). It is, Oh Kassapa, as if a cloud, raising itself above the universe, covered it entirely, hiding all the earth. Full of water, surrounded with a garland of lightning, this great cloud, which resounds with the noise of thunder, spreads joy over all creatures. Arresting the rays of the sun, refreshing the sphere of the world, descending so near the earth as to be touched with a hand. It pours our water on every side. Spreading in a uniform manner an immense mass of water, and resplendent with the lightnings which escape from its sides, it makes the earth rejoice. And the medicinal plants which have burst from the surface of this earth, the herbs, the bushes, the kings of the forest, little and great trees; the different seeds, and everything which makes verdure (greenness); all the vegetables which are found it the mountains, in the caverns, and in the groves; the herbs, the bushes, the trees, this cloud fills them with joy, it spreads joy upon the dry earth, and it moistens the medicinal plants; and this homogeneous (uniform) water of the cloud, the herbs and the bushes plump up, every one according to its force and its object. And the different kinds of trees, the great as well as the small, and the middle sized trees, all drink this water, each one according to its age and its strength; they drink it and grow, each one according to its need. Absorbing the water of the cloud by their trunks, their twigs, their bark, their branches, their boughs, their leaves, the great medicinal plants put forth flowers and fruits. Each one according to its strength, according to its destination, and conformably to the nature of the germ whence it springs, produces a distinct fruit, and nevertheless there is one homogeneous water like that which fell from the cloud. So, Oh Kassapa, the Buddha comes into the world, like a cloud that covers the universe, and hardly is the chief of the world born, then he speaks and teaches the true doctrine to creatures.
And thus, says the great sage, honored in the world, in union with gods. I am Tathāgata, the conqueror, the best of men; I have appeared in the world like a cloud. I will overflow with joy all beings whose limbs are dry, and who are attached to the triple condition of existence. I will establish in happiness those who are consumed with pain, and give to them pleasures and annihilation. Listen to me, oh ye troops of gods and men! Approach and look upon me. I am Tathāgata the blessed, the being without a superior, who is born here in the world to save it. And I preach to thousands of millions of living beings, the pure and very beautiful law; its nature is one and homogeneous; it is deliverance and annihilation. With one and the same voice, I explain the law, taking incessantly for my subject the state of Buddha for this law is uniform; in equality has no place in it, no more than affection or hatred.
You may be converted; there is never in me any preference or aversion for any, who so ever he may be. It is the same law that I explain to all beings, the same for one as for another.
Exclusively occupied with this work, I explain the law; whether I rest, or remain standing, whether I lie upon my bed or am seated upon my seat, I never experience fatigue. I fill the whole universe with joy, like a cloud which pours everywhere a homogeneous water, always equally well disposed towards respectable men, as towards the lowest, towards virtuous men as towards the wicked; towards abandoned men as towards those who have conducted most regularly; towards those who follow heterodox (contrary to accepted belief) doctrines and false opinions as towards those whose doctrines are sound and perfect.
Finally, I explain to little as well as to great minds, and to those whose organs have a supernatural power; inaccessible to fatigue, I spread everywhere, in a suitable manner, the rain of the law.
After having heard my voice, according to the measure of their strength, beings are established in different situations, among the gods, among men, in beautiful bodies, among the Cakras, the Brahmas, and the Tchakravartins.
Listen. I am going to explain to you what the humble and small plants are, which are found in the world; what the plants of middle size are; and what the trees of great height. Those men who live with a knowledge of the law exempt from imperfections, who have obtained annihilation, who have the six kinds of supernatural knowledge, and the three sciences, these men are named the small plants. The men who live in the caverns of the mountains, and who aspire to the state of Pratyekabuddha, men whose minds are half purified, are the plants of middle size. Those who solicit the rank of heroes, saying, I will be a Buddha, I will be the chief of gods and men, and who cultivate energy and contemplation, these are the most elevated plants. And the suns of Buddha, who quietly, and full of reserve, cultivate charity, and conceive no doubt concerning the rank of heroes among men, these are named trees. Those who turn the wheel of the law and look not backward, the strong men who possess the power of supernatural faculties, and who deliver millions of living beings, these are named great trees.
It is, however, one and the same law which is preached by the conqueror, even as it is one homogeneous water which is poured out by the cloud, those men who posses as I have just said, the different faculties, are as the different plants which burst from the surface of the earth.
You may know by this example and this explanation the means of which the Tathāgata makes use; you know how he preaches a single law, whose different developments resemble drops of rain. As to me, I will pour out the rain of the law and the whole world shall be filled with satisfaction, and men shall meditate, each one according to his strength, upon this homogeneous law, which I explain. So that while the rain falls, the herbs and the bushes, as well as the plants of middle size, the trees of all sizes, shall shine in the ten points of space.
This instruction, which exists always for the happiness of the world, gives joy by different laws to the whole universe; the whole world is overflowed with joy as plants are covered with flowers. The plants of middle size, which grow upon the earth, and the venerable sages, who are firm in the destruction of faults, and running over immense forests, show the well taught law to the bodhisattvas. The numerous Bodhisattvas, endowed with memory and fortitude, who having an exact idea of the three worlds, seeking the supreme state of Buddha, eminently grow like the trees. Those who possess supernatural faculties, and the four contemplations, who having heard of void, experience joy therein, and who emit from their bodies millions of rays, are called great trees.
This teaching of the law, Oh Kassapa, is like the water which the cloud pours out over all, and by whose action the great plants produce in abundance mortal flowers. I explain the law, which is the cause of itself; I tried, in its time, the state of Buddha, which belongs to the great sage; behold my skillfulness in the use of means; it is that of all the guides of the world.
What I have said is the supreme truth; may my auditors arrive at complete annihilation; may they follow the excellent way, which conducts to the state of Buddha; may all the auditors, who hear me, become Buddhas.