1uddhist teachings are recorded in a vast body of texts called sutras. For Nichiren Buddhists, the Lotus Sutra is considered Shakyamuni's highest teaching, revealing that all people possess the potential to attain enlightenment. However, this revolutionary teaching was not conveyed in the form of a dense theoretical doctrine. Rather, the sutra overflows with fantastic imagery and grand descriptions of the Buddha's enlightened state of life. The parables it contains—the three carts and the burning house; the wealthy man and his poor son; the three kinds of medicinal herbs and two kinds of trees; the phantom city and the treasure land; the gem in the robe; the priceless gem in the topknot; and the excellent physician and his sick children—play a key role in conveying the various aspects of the Buddha's profound realization."The infinitely profound Law [dharma] to which the Buddha has awakened is very difficult to put into words," SGI President Daisaku Ikeda explains. "Yet if that enlightenment remained locked in the Buddha's heart, the road to Buddhahood for all living beings would stay closed." These parables are an ingenious educational tool and embody the Buddha's wisdom, vast compassion and desire to relieve people of suffering and awaken them to the great potential of their Buddha nature. As we can observe in cultures throughout the world, storytelling is one of humanity's most beloved pastimes. It is also one of the most accessible means of teaching and communicating ideas that can transcend age, status or education. In such stories we recognize aspects of our own hopes, desires, fears and struggles. When listeners are able to personally relate to a story, they are also then able to easily recall the story and share it with others.Being able to utilize our imagination is vital in order to expand our often limited perception of reality and begin imagining greater possibilities. The narrative form of parables stimulates listeners with vivid fantasy-like images that stretch their imagination and enables them to actively process profound concepts. As SGI President Ikeda points out, when Shakyamuni Buddha was describing the fact that he had been enlightened since the infinitely distant past, if he had simply said, "I became a Buddha ten-to-the-x-hundredth-power years ago," the weight of this unfathomable span of time would just remain a number. In contrast, when this span of time is expressed as a narrative—five hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a million, a hundred billion worlds are pulverized to dust, and then, traveling through the universe, one speck of the dust is dropped every five hundred, thousand, ten thousand, million, hundred billion worlds—the listeners are invited to actively participate in creating a visual image and develop their own understanding as they assimilate this information. True understanding is more than being able to grasp a concept intellectually. When the Buddha's disciples genuinely understood these parables, they did not say, "Yes, I understand," but instead responded with their own parables to demonstrate their realization. Many educators, including founding Soka Gakkai president Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, have concluded that memorizing facts and having knowledge alone does not constitute genuine learning or understanding. Genuine understanding is developed through a learning process that relates to one's own personal experience and is expressed through an inner transformation of one's life. For SGI members around the world today, sharing their own personal histories of transforming negative situations in their lives through their Buddhist practice is an expression of their understanding of the Buddhist Law and a vital component of their practice. Makiguchi, who started the Soka Gakkai's discussion meeting movement in a form that centers on members sharing their testimonies with others, believed that Buddhism should not be taught in the form of abstract theories. When people hear real stories of their peers triumphing over hardships and succeeding in life, this can empower them to imagine greater possibilities and help them break free of the often self-imposed limitations of their reality.❖From the October 2013 issue, the SGI Quarterly will begin a series introducing the seven parables of the Lotus Sutra
https://lse.sg/the-lotus-sutra/7-parables/
