..续本文上一页and forgiving of those in the world, setting free all the prisoners in the jails who are chained and locked up. And then afterwards, he abandons his life. The Tathagata now also should thus free the sentient beings who are all chained and locked up by the lack of knowledge and wisdom, so that they will be led to liberation after your Nirvana. We now ourselves have yet to be freed. How can the Tathagata so easily wish to go and leave us to enter into Nirvana

　　"World Honored One, it is just as a person who is possessed by a spirit meets up with a skilled dharani master, who by using the power of a dharani thereupon exorcises him. The Tathagata is also so. He rids the sravakas of the spirit of ignorance, so that they may rest peacefully in the Dharmas of the Great Wisdom and liberation, like that worldly character ii.

　　"World Honored One, it is just like an elephant that has been tethered by someone and, while having an excellent trainer, cannot be restrained, governed, immediately brought to a halt, or chained. Not caring for it, he turns it loose. We have yet to thus be freed from the fifty-seven bonds of affliction. How can the Tathagata so easily wish to go and leave us to enter into Nirvana

　　"World Honored One, it is like someone who is feverishly ill and encounters a physician who can remove his suffering. We are also so. Many are our troubles, afflictions, wrong livelihoods, and feverish illnesses. While we have met the Tathagata, our ills have yet to be removed and cured. We have yet to attain unsurpassed peace and eternal happiness. How can the Tathagata so easily wish to go and leave us to enter into Nirvana

　　"World Honored One, it is just as a drunken person who is not himself enlightened, not familiar with his parents, and is estranged from his mother, daughter, elder and younger sisters. Confused, reckless, lustful, and disturbed, he goes to extremes in speech and lies down in the impure. Then there is an excellent teacher who administers a medicine, directing him to drink it. Once he drinks it, he then spits it up and goes back to what is familiar to him. At heart he is ashamed deeply at his having defeated the correction [of his behavior]. Wine is unwholesome, the root of many evils. If one is able to be rid of it, then one will be distanced from many evil deeds.

　　"World Honored One, we are also so. Having travelled from the distant past on the turning wheel of birth and death (samsara), and being drunken on sensations and forms, we have craved the five desires. We have no mother or concept of a mother, no elder sister or concept of a sister, no daughter or concept of a daughter, and no sentient beings or concept of sentient beings. This is why the wheel turns and brings the afflictions of birth and death, like that drunken person who lies within the impure. The Tathagata now must give us the Dharma medicine and direct us to spit out the wine of affliction and evil. But we have not yet attained the mind of awakening. How can the Tathagata so easily wish to go and leave us to enter into Nirvana

　　"World Honored One, it is just as a person who admires the plantain tree with the solid trunk, but has not place for it. World Honored One, sentient beings are also so. If they admire us humans, the sentient beings” throughout their lifespans nuture the perception of the actor, the giver, and real one, but they have no place for them. We thus cultivate the idea of selflessness.

　　"World Honored One, it is just like a thick mud that hasn”t any use anywhere. This body is also so. It is selfless and masterless. World Honored One, like a seven-petalled flower lacking any perfume is this body. It is selfless and masterless. With this thought, we always cultivate this idea of selflessness, as the Buddha has said, “All things (dharm…

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