The Parable of the Phantom City
[Imagine]
a road, five hundred yojanas long, steep, dangerous and bad, an
uninhabited and terrifying place. A large group of people wish to travel this
road to reach a cache of precious jewels. Among them, there is a guide,
intelligent, wise and clear-headed, who knows the road well, both its passable
and impassable features, and who wishes to lead the group through this
hardship.
Midway,
the group he is leading grows weary and wishes to turn back. They say to the
guide, “We are exhausted and afraid. We cannot go forward. It’s too far. We
want to turn back now.”
Their
leader, who has many expedients, has this thought; “How pitiful they are. How
can they renounce the great and precious treasure and wish to turn back?”
Having had this thought, through the power of his expedient devices, he
transforms a city in the center of the dangerous road, three hundred yojanas
in extent, and says to them, “Do not be afraid. Do not turn back. Stay here now
in this great city I have created just for you. If you go into this city, you
will be happy and at peace. If you then wish to proceed to the jewel cache, you
may do so.”
Then
the exhausted group rejoices greatly, having gained what they had never had.
“We have now escaped this bad road and gained happiness and peace.” Then the
group goes forward and enters the transformed city; thinking that they have
already been saved, they feel happy and at peace.
At
that time, the guide, knowing that they are rested and no longer weary, makes
the city disappear, saying to them, “All of you, come, let us go. The jewel
cache is near. The great city was merely something I created from
transformation to give you a rest.”
Lotus
Sutra, Chapter 7 (Buddhist
Text Translation Society translation) |