"All sentient beings who hear my teaching
Dwell in various stages.
Those living among humans,
Devas, noble emperors, Śakra, and Brahma kings
Are like the small herbs.
Those who know the incorruptible Dharma,
Who are able to attain nirvana,
Have the six transcendent powers, and
Have attained the three sciences.
Those who live alone in mountain forests
Always practicing meditation, and
Who attain the enlightenment of the pratyekabuddhas
Are like the medium-sized herbs.
Those who seek the stage
Of the Bhagavat, thinking that
They will become buddhas,
And practice persistence and meditation,
Are like the large herbs.
The heirs of the buddhas
Who concentrate on the path of the Buddha,
Who always cultivate compassion within themselves
And know definitely without a doubt
That they will become buddhas,
Are like the small trees.
Those who are comfortable with transcendent powers,
Who turn the irreversible wheel [of the Dharma]
And save innumerable hundreds
Of thousands of koṭis of sentient beings,
Are the bodhisattvas
Who are like the large trees.
The Buddha’s equal teaching
Is like the rain of one flavor.
The sentient beings accept it
According to their different capacities,
Just as the grasses and trees
Each differently absorb the rain.
The Buddha reveals the single teaching
With illustrations, using skillful means
And explains it with various explanations,
And yet it is just a drop in the ocean
Compared to the Buddha’s wisdom.
I pour down the rain of the Dharma,
Fulfilling the world,
And the sentient beings
Practice the Dharma of one flavor
According to their capacities.
Just as the shrubs, herbs, and trees
Flourish in accordance with their capacities,
Reaching either a greater or lesser size,
The teaching of the buddhas
Is always of one flavor
And fulfills the entire world.
Anyone who practices it little by little
Obtains the fruit of the path.
The śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas
Living in mountain forests,
Who, in their last bodies,
Hear the Dharma and attain its fruit,
Are just like the flourishing herbs.
The bodhisattvas who are firm in wisdom,
Who completely understand the triple world,
And seek the highest vehicle,
Are just like the flourishing small trees.
Those who abide in meditation,
Attain transcendent powers,
Listen to the teaching regarding the emptiness
Of every existence with great joy,
And save sentient beings
By emitting innumerable rays of light,
Are just like the flourishing large trees.
In this way, O Kāśyapa,
The Dharma that the Buddha teaches
Is just like the great cloud that enriches human flowers
With the rain of one flavor,
So that each attains its fruits.
O Kāśyapa!
You should know that I reveal the buddha path
Using various explanations and illustrations
And that this is my skillful means.
All of the buddhas are just like this.
I will now teach the highest truth for your sake:
There are no śrāvakas who attain nirvana.
What you practice is the bodhisattva path;
And if you practice step by step,
You will all become buddhas."
Read this passage today, cool synch with this post:
