Selected Discourses from The Sutra of the Father and Son Compendium

Your Majesty, you should think thus: How should I become the eyes for gods and humans, the illumination in the long night, the raft on the river of craving, the guide in perilous places, and the sovereign for those without refuge? Having crossed over myself, I shall help others cross over. Having attained liberation myself, I shall liberate others. Having achieved peace myself, I shall bring peace to others. Having realized nirvana myself, I shall enable others to realize it. Your Majesty, you should not observe the present worldly wealth, pleasures, and freedom in the five desires. All faculties are like illusions; all realms are like dreams. Do not let your mind generate greedy attachment toward form, sound, scent, taste, and touch, for such craving knows no satisfaction.

The nirvana realized by arhats occurs after the complete extinction of the five aggregates of the physical body, where the body is extinguished and wisdom is annihilated. They neither continue to study the Dharma nor bring benefit and joy to sentient beings. Their compassion is meager; they have no aspiration to attain buddhahood themselves, nor can they guide sentient beings to achieve buddhahood together. Therefore, the nirvana without remainder attained by arhats is not ultimate. The most perfect nirvana is the non-abiding nirvana realized by buddhas, who never abandon any sentient being. The conduct of bodhisattvas differs from that of arhats. Though capable of entering nirvana without remainder, they choose not to enter it. Life after life, they cultivate and realize the Dharma within the three realms, continuously benefiting themselves while also guiding and benefiting sentient beings. Thus, bodhisattvas are more noble, more compassionate, wiser, and possess greater supernatural powers than arhats.

The Buddha earnestly advised his father: Do not observe the present worldly wealth, pleasures, and freedom in the five desires, nor generate insatiable greedy attachment toward form, sound, scent, taste, and touch. Do not cling to those realms of form, sound, scent, taste, touch, and dharmas. When the mind clings to the five desires and six dusts, it is difficult to find satisfaction. The Buddha’s father had been a king for decades, indulging in worldly pleasures of the five desires, yet remained unaware of their suffering and ignorant of liberation. The Buddha thus exhorted him: You should no longer cling to the wealth and pleasures of this world, for all faculties are like illusions, and all realms are like dreams. The six faculties are all illusory. Do not let the eye faculty cling to form, nor the ear faculty cling to sound. Do not become lost in the pleasures of the five desires, indulging in a life of sensual excess. All these are illusory; the realms of the six dusts are like dreams—unreal and destined to vanish at any moment.

Why did the Buddha repeatedly advise his father? Because the wealthy and powerful are difficult to guide. Long immersed in the pleasures of the five desires, they find it hard to free themselves. In contrast, the poor endure lives of hardship, deeply aware of the world’s suffering. When they encounter the Buddha’s teachings, they spontaneously strive diligently to study and practice Buddhism—unless their merit is too meager, forcing them to toil in worldly affairs for survival, leaving no opportunity for Buddhist practice.