迦葉 當知 如來是諸法之王 若有所說 皆不虛也 於一切法 以智方便而演說之 其所說法 皆悉到於一切智地 如來觀知一切諸法之所歸趣 亦知一切衆生深心所行 通達無礙 又於諸法 究盡明了 示諸衆生一切智慧 迦葉 譬如三千大千世界 山川谿谷土地所生卉木叢林及諸藥草 種類若干 名色各異 密雲彌布 遍覆三千大千世界 一時等澍 其澤普洽 卉木叢林及諸藥草 小根小莖 小枝小葉 中根中莖 中枝中葉 大根大莖 大枝大葉 諸樹大小 隨上中下各有所受 一雲所雨 稱其種性而得生長華菓敷實
jiā shě dāng zhī rú lái shì zhū fǎ zhī wáng ruò yǒu suǒ shuō jiē bù xū yě yú yī qiē fǎ yǐ zhì fāng biàn ér yǎn shuō zhī qí suǒ shuō fǎ jiē xī dào yú yī qiē zhì dì rú lái guān zhī yī qiē zhū fǎ zhī suǒ guī qù yì zhī yī qiē zhòng shēng shēn xīn suǒ xíng tōng dá wú ài yòu yú zhū fǎ jiū jìn míng liǎo shì zhū zhòng shēng yī qiē zhì huì jiā shě pì rú sān qiān dà qiān shì jiè shān chuān xī gǔ tǔ dì suǒ shēng huì mù cóng lín jí zhū yào cǎo zhǒng lèi ruò gān míng sè gè yì mì yún mí bù biàn fù sān qiān dà qiān shì jiè yī shí děng zhù qí zé pǔ qià huì mù cóng lín jí zhū yào cǎo xiǎo gēn xiǎo jīng xiǎo zhī xiǎo yè zhōng gēn zhōng jīng zhōng zhī zhōng yè dà gēn dà jīng dà zhī dà yè zhū shù dà xiǎo suí shàng zhōng xià gè yǒu suǒ shòu yī yún suǒ yǔ chēng qí zhǒng xìng ér dé shēng zhǎng huā guǒ fū shí
Key Message
The Buddha's teaching falls like an impartial rain upon all sentient beings equally; each, according to its own capacity, comes to blossom and bear fruit in its own way.
▸The Chapter on the Parable of Medicinal Herbs (Yaocao Yupin, 藥草喩品) presents one of the most luminous images in the entire Lotus Sutra.
The Chapter on the Parable of Medicinal Herbs (Yaocao Yupin, 藥草喩品) presents one of the most luminous images in the entire Lotus Sutra. The Buddha's teaching is likened to a single rain cloud that spreads across the trichiliocosm (three-thousand great-thousandfold world system) and pours down a great rain equally upon all things. Every grass, tree, and medicinal herb — large and small, with shallow or deep roots, with slender or mighty trunks, with few or many branches — receives the same rain, yet each absorbs exactly the moisture its own nature can hold, and each grows, flowers, and fruits according to its own kind. So too the dharma-rain of the Tathagata falls equally upon all beings without discrimination, yet each being receives and integrates the teaching according to its own capacity (gen ji, 根機) and level of practice. This parable is among the most beautiful expressions of the Lotus Sutra's principle of universal equality: the Buddha does not reserve a special teaching for select disciples or classes of beings but causes the dharma-rain (fayu, 法雨) to fall upon all without distinction.