Because of Inner Non-Seeking, Wealth Can Come Effortlessly
This is the core teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Why is the poor son able to "integrate the Provisional Teachings into the Ultimate Truth" and inherit all the wealth of the wealthy elder? The key lies in "attaining without seeking" — this i...
This is the core teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Why is the poor son able to "integrate the Provisional Teachings into the Ultimate Truth" and inherit all the wealth of the wealthy elder? The key lies in "attaining without seeking" — this is crucially important.
Friends! When we first begin practicing the Dharma, our minds are fixed on "gaining something." We must take that first step on the path. When we face afflictions and karmic forces, we start by pursuing a satisfactory result from the standpoint of "seeking liberation" — for example, being reborn in the Sukhavati Pure Land, or attaining the one-sided emptiness nirvana of the Hinayana path.
In other words, if you wish to leave the three realms of samsara, you need to find a reason meaningful enough to convince yourself to take that step. If you claim you have no reason to leave the three realms, you will never leave. For as ordinary beings, we must first have a desired goal to spark the aspiration to practice in our minds.
But when you advance from liberation to full buddhahood, you can no longer seek awakening externally. Instead, the focus shifts to "abiding in a pure mind." Put another way, the poor son who now oversees all the wealth of the elder's household has two options. If he still wants to keep drawing a salary, he will be a "hired hand" for his entire life. Even if he rises to become the estate manager or head of household affairs, as long as he receives a salary, he is not the elder's son.
So "attaining without seeking" means the poor son originally came to the household because he had something he wanted. Later, he finally realized that "non-seeking" is the most perfect state. Since he no longer clings to seeking, he also lets go of his attachment to nirvana, and the innate meritorious power of his "true suchness nature" fully manifests.
There was once a Chan master who asked another Chan patriarch: "What is the intent of the Patriarchs' coming from the West?" In other words, what is the core practice method of Chan Buddhism? The patriarch replied: "That which interacts with you is it!" What a wonderful statement! It is the very essence of "attaining without seeking." For example, when you recite the Buddha's name, the Buddha's name arises in your mind. Friends! Who is interacting with the Buddha's name? It is not your mouth reciting the name — it is a single thought of your mind interacting with the Buddha's name.
The same logic applies when you recite mantras: "That which interacts with you is it." You may say you are creating a mantra in your mind, but who is interacting with the mantra? It is the mind that recites, your own mind interacting with the mantra. So why do arhats "attain without seeking"? Arhats delight in the serenity of the one-sided emptiness nirvana of the Hinayana path. "That which interacts with you is it" — so who is interacting with the "serenity of nirvana"? It is the arhat's present mind-nature, and this is precisely where the "immeasurable treasures" reside.
Of course, on the path to full buddhahood, we still need a phase of "aspirational seeking." When we ordinary beings first encounter suffering, we rely on the practice of "aspirational seeking" to free ourselves from suffering — this is called the path of liberation. The path of liberation relies on this aspirational seeking to provide the motivation for practice. But when you advance from the path of liberation to the bodhi path, if you still hold onto seeking, you cannot attain full buddhahood.
For example, we initially use the splendors of Sukhavati's environment and its inhabitants to inspire our Buddha-recitation practice, so we can leave the three realms and be reborn in the Western Pure Land. But I can assure you, your mindset will change once you arrive in Sukhavati. You are reborn there because of your aspirational seeking, but only by letting go of all seeking once you are there can you attain full buddhahood. This is why the wonderful One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sutra emphasizes the wonder of both Provisional Teachings and Ultimate Truth. As an ordinary being still caught in samsara, you still need to engage in aspirational seeking right now, since your immediate goal is liberation.
Both the Parable Chapter and the Faith and Understanding Chapter follow the sequence of "Provisional Teachings first, Ultimate Truth later" — first "aspirational seeking," then "attaining without seeking." The content of the Parable of the Medicinal Herbs Chapter is different: it is at a higher level, as it is the Buddha's concluding summary. Having worked through the "integration of Provisional Teachings into the Ultimate Truth" presented in the Parable Chapter and the Faith and Understanding Chapter, we first practice the Provisional Teachings to attain liberation, then integrate the provisional into the ultimate to advance toward the bodhi path — this constitutes the two-stage path of practice.
The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs Chapter instead emphasizes the simultaneous practice of both contemplative insight into ultimate truth and practical cultivation, so that in the very moment of practice, "provisional teachings and ultimate truth are non-dual." It unifies the "subduing of afflictions" from the path of liberation and the "abiding in a pure mind" from the bodhi path into a single, integrated practice. So what we covered earlier is called "integrating the provisional into the ultimate," while the Parable of the Medicinal Herbs Chapter teaches "the non-duality of Provisional Teachings and Ultimate Truth." For us practitioners, the key to studying and practicing these two teachings of provisional and ultimate truth comes down to their proportion: how you balance the provisional method of aspirational seeking with the abiding in a pure mind that arises from inner contemplation of true suchness and non-seeking — this balance is something each practitioner must work out for themselves.
In short, the key to the poor son rising from an outsider hired hand to the highest position of "estate manager and head of household affairs" — and finally becoming the "heir" to all the family wealth — lies in these four characters: "non-seeking" and "effortless attainment." Because he harbored no inner seeking, the wealth came to him effortlessly. This means that in practicing the Dharma, ultimately your mind must transcend attachment to the law of cause and effect. If you still "seek rewards for your practice," you will never attain full buddhahood.