Special Topics
Learning Wisdom through the Buddhist Parables
The Buddha often taught the Dharma through a wide range of parables. Using things from our daily experience as analogies, the Buddha revealed truths that people had never encountered before. Through vivid and evocative examples, he illuminated abstract and intangible concepts. Using concrete and easily understandable examples, he clarified the deeper meanings of the Dharma that are often difficult to grasp. Through his skillful metaphors, the Buddha awakened the minds of all beings to t...
Buddhist Parables: A Ship to Wisdom
The Buddha is a masterful storyteller, skilled in teaching through parables. He offers guidance to sentient beings according to their individual capacities and needs. Through these parables, he leads all beings to understand the meaning of the Dharma and realize the true essence of Buddhism, thereby transforming delusion into awakening and moving steadily toward the ultimate liberation of life. ■ Shi Yanxiao 釋演曉 One day, the Buddha was teaching the monks in the forest outside Rajgir. H...
Skillful Parables – Grasping the Buddha’s Wisdom in a Moment
Is impermanence too abstract to grasp? How dangerous are the sensual pleasures? What truly makes up this physical body? How can we guard the doors of the six sense organs? In the scriptures, the Buddha often spoke with effortless skill, using vivid parables drawn from everyday life — bubbles rising on the Ganges, a tree laden with fruit, a box hiding four poisonous snakes, a dog gnawing on a bone, or a turtle retreating into its shell. Through such lively examples, the Bu...
Section on Parables – Theme One: Impermanence, Suffering, and Non-Self
Parable 1: The Five Aggregates Are Impermanent, Like Foam and Illusion Impermanence, suffering, and non-self are the core teachings of the Buddha. These three marks of existence may sound profound and abstract. However, in Saṃyukta Āgama (Sutta No. 265), the Buddha used examples from daily life to help his disciples understand the impermanence of the five aggregates, the nature of suffering, emptiness, and non-self. At that time, the Buddha was staying with a group of monks by the Gange...
Section on Parables – Theme Two: Greed and Desire
Parable 1: Craving and Clinging is Likened to Planting a Tree How does suffering grow bigger and bigger, like a rolling snowball? In the Saṃyukta Āgama No. 283, the Buddha used the analogy of planting a tree to expound on the concept of suffering to his disciples. If, regarding "objects fettered by the bonds" – that is, things bound by various vexations – one greedily delights in their pleasurable taste, one gives rise to craving and clinging. This clinging resu...
Section on Parables – Theme Three: Karma and its Retribution
Parable 1: Heavy Negative Karma with Light Karmic Retribution is like Throwing Salt into the River "Karma" refers to the actions performed by all sentient beings. Good deeds bring happiness, while bad deeds bring suffering. All sentient beings within the cycle of rebirth are bound by karmic retribution. In many sutras of the Madhyama-āgama (Middle Length Discourses), the Buddha discusses karma and its consequences. For example, the Parrot Sutta states: "Sentient beings...
Section on Parables – Theme Four: Guarding the doors of the six sense organs
Parable 1: The wildcat devoured by its prey How should monastics interact with people while guarding the sense doors, and upholding the precepts? At the same time, how can they remain free from attachment and worldly entanglement when confronted with worldly or external temptations? In the Saṃyukta Āgama (Sutra 1260), the Buddha used the parable of a wildcat that was devoured by the mouse that it caught, to illustrate the importance of guarding the sense doors and upholding the precepts. ...
Section on Parables – Theme Five: The Reality of Life
Parable 1: The Body is the Root of Suffering, the Right Path is Like a Raft We often cherish our physical body, fearing it will suffer from hunger and cold, illness and aging, unaware that it is the source of afflictions and suffering. In the Saṃyukta Āgama (Sutta No. 1172) and the Ekottara Āgama, the Supreme Chapter 6, the Buddha, through vivid parables, led his disciples to realize the truth that this body is constantly oppressed by the four elements, the five aggregates, and the s...
Section on Parables – Theme Six: The Path of Practice
Parable 1: Guided by a Wise Teacher, One Awakens by Following the Right Path Why is it that after hearing the Buddha expound the Dharma, some attained realization while others remained bound by afflictions and the endless cycle of birth and death? The Gaṇaka Moggallāna Sutta (No. 144, Madhyama Āgama) records a conversation in which a Brahmin named Gaṇaka Moggallāna—skilled in mathematics—sought to resolve his doubts about the path of practice. The Buddha responded with a parabl...