Selected Lectures on the Sutra of the Meeting of Father and Son

Volume Sixteen  The Chapter on the Distinctions of the Six Elements, Twenty-Six, Part One

The six elements are the six great elements of earth, water, fire, wind, space, and consciousness; "distinctions" means that each of the six elements has its own boundaries, with different functions and roles, and there are definite differences among them. The Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra) mainly recounts how Buddha Śākyamuni delivered His father, King Śuddhodana. When Buddha Śākyamuni first attained the Way, He wished to deliver His father King Śuddhodana, so He sent someone to persuade King Śuddhodana to come see Buddha Śākyamuni. When King Śuddhodana saw Buddha Śākyamuni, he beheld the World-Honored One bestowing predictions of future buddhahood upon countless assemblies of humans and devas, and was deeply moved. The World-Honored One then took this opportunity to exhort King Śuddhodana to diligently cultivate the Buddha-Dharma and not to crave the royal throne or the five desires and six sense objects of the mundane world.

The World-Honored One used various dream states as metaphors to reveal the illusory nature and emptiness (śūnyatā) of all dharmas, thereby exhorting King Śuddhodana, so that King Śuddhodana would understand that the five desires and six sense objects are as illusory and unreal as dreams, that he should no longer cling to them infatuatedly, and that he should cultivate the Path as soon as possible to attain liberation. After King Śuddhodana understood these principles, he no longer craved the five desires and six sense objects, devoted himself to studying and cultivating the Buddha-Dharma, and at the end of his life was reborn in the land of bliss (sukhāvatī). That King Śuddhodana, while occupying the royal throne, could refrain from craving the five desires and six sense objects is extremely rare; it was all the result of the Buddha's deliverance through skillful means.