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A Symbolic Exposition of Time and Being in the Lotus Sutra
Understanding the Non-Dual Nature of Reality Through Poetic Symbols
The Lotus Sutra, a seminal text in Mahayana Buddhism, is renowned for its profound teachings and the use of parables to convey deep philosophical and spiritual truths.
Imagine a lotus pond, its surface adorned with countless blooms in various stages of development. Some are mere buds, tightly closed and full of potential, while others have blossomed into magnificent flowers, their petals open wide to receive the sun’s light. Like these lotus flowers, the Lotus Sutra’s parables unfold, revealing layer upon layer of wisdom to those who approach with an open heart and mind.
In the seventh chapter of the Lotus Sutra, entitled “The Parable of the Phantom City,” the Buddha presents a story rich with symbolism to illustrate the nature of reality and the path to enlightenment.
This parable is a foundation for understanding key Buddhist concepts, such as the cyclical nature of existence, the illusory nature of time, and the non-dual perspective that transcends the apparent contradictions of reality.
The setting of the seventh chapter is a discourse given by the Buddha to a large assembly of monks, nuns, laypeople, and bodhisattvas. In this context, the Buddha employs the parable of the phantom city to elucidate the deeper truths that lie beyond the veil of ordinary perception.
The story opens with the metaphorical grinding of “all the earth particles in the thousand-millionfold world” into dust and the subsequent dropping of ink powder across the thousand lands of the East. These symbolic actions represent the fundamental processes of creation and destruction that underlie all phenomena.
By examining the symbolic meaning of the ink blots and dust particles, their paradoxical nature as both self-same and different, and the Buddha’s enlightened perspective that transcends the boundaries of time and space, we will gain a deeper understanding of the non-dual reality that the Lotus Sutra seeks to convey in all of its parables.
