Lecture Notes on the Sūtra of the Collection of the Father and Son (Pitāputrasamāgamasūtra) (214)

The World-Honored One's earnest guidance and admonition to King Śuddhodana

Original text: 大王。应作是念。我当云何。于人天中。得为眼目。于长夜中。得为照明。于爱河中。得为船筏。于险难处。得为导师。无依怙者。为作主宰。自得度已。复能度他。自解脱已。令他解脱。自得安隐。令他安隐。自证涅槃。复令他证。大王。不应观彼。现在世间。所受富乐。五欲自在。诸根如幻。境界如梦。谓于色境。声香味触。心生贪着。无满足时。

Explanation: The Buddha said: Great King, you should always harbor such a thought in your mind: How shall I become the eye for sentient beings among humans and devas, serve as a great illumination for all sentient beings in the long night of birth and death, and guide sentient beings' course; how shall I serve as a boat and raft for sentient beings in the river of love of the three realms' birth and death, pulling sentient beings across the river of craving; how shall I serve as a guide for sentient beings in the perilous and difficult places of birth and death, leading sentient beings out of dangerous terrain; how shall I serve as a protector for those who have no refuge, so that sentient beings have something to entrust their hearts to; how shall I first seek my own deliverance and then come to deliver others, first liberate myself and afterward go on to liberate others, first attain peace and tranquility myself and then bring peace and tranquility to others, first realize nirvāṇa myself and then enable others to realize it as well. Great King, you should not look only at the wealth, happiness, and the free indulgence in the five desires of wealth, sex, fame, food, and sleep that one experiences in the present world; in fact, the six faculties are all like illusions, and all realms are like dreams—do not let your mind give rise to craving and attachment toward form, sound, smell, taste, and touch, never knowing contentment.

This passage is the World-Honored One's earnest, heartfelt guidance and admonition to King Śuddhodana, urging his father to give rise to the great bodhi mind, make great vows, attain deliverance from birth and death, benefit himself and benefit others, and realize the great nirvāṇa soon. He exhorted him to vow to become the eye of humans and devas, guiding them toward liberation. Sentient beings have not yet opened their eyes and are deluded and confused in the cycle of birth and death. If they can receive guidance, they will never again be deluded and confused, and from then on they will walk out of the wrong path of false views (mithyā-dṛṣṭi) and move toward the light. When a bodhisattva makes this vow, when will he be able to fulfill it? One who has the ability to serve as the eye of humans and devas must at the very least be a bodhisattva of the first bhūmi. A first-bhūmi bodhisattva can serve as a teacher of humans and devas—a guide among humans and a guide among devas—leading sentient beings onto the path to buddhahood. A teacher of humans and devas is the eye of sentient beings. When a bodhisattva attains the fruit of the first bhūmi and enters the Tathāgata's family, he has already gained an initial thorough understanding of the Buddha-dharma. Only by thoroughly understanding the Buddha-dharma can one lead sentient beings in cultivation and serve as the eye of sentient beings.