The Parable of the Conjured City
The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wondrous Dharma,
Chapter 7: The Parable of the Conjured City
There was a long and steep road in a remote region. A large group of people were walking the road, seeking some rare treasures. There was a leader among them who had extensive knowledge and superior wisdom, and he was very familiar with the road ahead.
Having traveled a long distance, the people had become tired on the way and said to the leader, “We are completely worn out and can’t go any further. We want to turn back.” The leader felt pity for them and used his power of skillful means to conjure a large city at a point just beyond the halfway point of their journey.
The exhausted people were overjoyed, and they proceeded to enter the conjured city and rest themselves. When the leader saw that all people in the party had completely recovered from their fatigue, he said, “Come on, all of you, let’s go; the location of the treasure is close at hand. This city is actually just something I created for the time being so that you could rest.” Everyone in the party was encouraged by the leader’s words and started to move forward toward the treasures.
Commentary
The long and steep road indicates our lives, which are filled with suffering. We human beings continue our journey, seeking for true happiness in our lives―attaining the Buddha’s wisdom―which is symbolized by the rare treasures in this story. The leader who guides us symbolizes the Buddha.
Although we are seeking for happiness and practicing the Buddha’s teachings, we get tired, since our lives do not usually develop as we wish. Suffering in our lives occurs over and over again, with no end, and this makes us become weary of practicing the Way, lose courage, and feel like turning back.
It is then that the Buddha conjures a city at a point a little further than the half way. The conjured city symbolizes the teachings for the two vehicles of the shravaka and the pratyekabuddha, which the Buddha expounded as skillful means to remove worldly sufferings. The true happiness that we are seeking for, which is symbolized by the rare treasures in the story, is actually the wisdom of the Buddha, but many people do not realize it. They are desperate only to escape daily suffering and are dreaming of indefinite happiness. So the Buddha first explained to them the doctrine of interdependent origination, which teaches that everything that is occurring before our eyes is not a permanent existence, but only a provisional appearance that arises interdependently. That means we will be able to achieve peace of mind if we release our mind from attachment to various things and occurrences. People who practice this teaching attain spiritual freedom and peace of mind, just as the travelers in the story who rested in the conjured city.
When the party found comfort in that state of the mind and regained vigor, however, the leader made the conjured city disappear, and said, “You will be able to find the true happiness a little further ahead.” The true happiness of human beings is not found in resting in comfort for oneself but in living to make others happy. Setting aside our own happiness, we continue bodhisattva practice and use our potential to the fullest for the happiness of the whole world, and eventually obtain the Buddha’s wisdom (the truth of the One Vehicle). That is nothing other than the way that will bring us to the true happiness and make our life worth living.
As soon as we leave the conjured city, we will meet with suffering again. But it is not the type of suffering that we have tried to avoid before. The new suffering accompanies the effort that we voluntarily make for the happiness of others, and it will bring joy back to us. Just as the travelers in the story, we are walking toward the happiness together with all people. Moreover, the Buddha is always walking with us, close by each and every one of us.
Editorial supervision by the Chuo Academic
Research Institute
*Commentary is based on Buddhism for Today and The Threefold Lotus Sutra: A Modern Commentary, both by Nikkyo Niwano.