Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (II)

King Śuddhodana Praises the Rare and Hard-to-Encounter Buddha-Dharma

Original text: 尔时净饭王。并诸营从眷属等。见诸阿修罗王。乃至外道婆罗门。蒙佛授记。发希有心。叹未曾有。世尊言音。美妙清澈。一切世间。闻者忻悦。时净饭王。始见如来。以爱恋故。情意殷勤。

尔时世尊。知彼父王。心之所念。而告之曰：大王。我所说法。初中后善。其义巧妙。清净一相。梵行圆满。今正说者。所谓分别。六界差别。分位法门。王当谛听。善思念之。时净饭王。即白佛言。善哉世尊。愿乐欲闻。为我宣说。忆持信受。

Explanation: King Śuddhodana, together with his family relatives, close ministers, and other attendants, at this Dharma assembly, saw that the World-Honored One had given predictions of future buddhahood to the asura kings and even to some non-Buddhist brahmins, so they gave rise to a sense of rarity and marveled that they had never encountered such a magnificent assembly. When the World-Honored One taught the Dharma, His voice was so beautiful and clear that everyone in the world who heard it felt happy and joyful. Because King Śuddhodana had just seen the World-Honored One, he still cherished loving affection in his heart for his former son, and his feelings remained very deep.

At that time, the World-Honored One knew the longing feelings in the heart of the father king facing Him, and said to King Śuddhodana: Great King, the Dharma I teach is wholesome at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end; its meaning is ingenious, and through all kinds of analogies sentient beings are able to understand, believe, and accept it. It is entirely of pure mark, with the pure practice brought to perfection. What I am now teaching is the so-called dharma gate of discriminating the distinctions and stages of the six elements. Great King, you should listen carefully and be good at contemplating these dharma meanings. At that time, King Śuddhodana said to the World-Honored One: Excellent, World-Honored One! I earnestly wish to hear the World-Honored One proclaim it for me; I will keep it in memory, believe, accept, and practice it.

At this great assembly, the six heavens of the desire realm, the eighteen heavens of the form realm, and the four heavens of the formless realm—twenty-eight heavens in total—the heavenly lords of these heavens as well as the non-humans all received predictions from the Buddha. King Śuddhodana saw that the Buddha had given predictions of future buddhahood to so many humans and non-humans, and even to non-Buddhists; he had never heard of or witnessed such a scene, and he marveled at how rare and hard to encounter it was.