Compendium of the Five Lamps

This demonstrates the "Gate of Defeat" the gate of failure this refers to the subtle point below regarding the gate of failure. Currently, those of the Two Vehicles Two Vehicles: Followers of the Sravaka and Pratyekabuddha paths, often characterized in Zen as seeking personal liberation rather than full Buddhahood. do not understand the place where my meaning "falls" or "fails." Only the World-Honored One and the Great Bodhisattvas know the place where my meaning falls. Returning to the World-Honored One, the seeker said: "Since I have been defeated on two points of meaning, I ought to be beheaded as an apology." The World-Honored One replied: "In my Dharma, there is no such practice. You should instead turn your heart toward the Way." Thereupon, he and his five hundred followers all joined the Buddha as monks and attained the state of Arhat.

In the past, the World-Honored One led the holy assembly to the Sixth Heaven The Paranirmita-vasavartin heaven, the highest realm of the world of desire. to preach the Great Assembly Sutra. He commanded all the respected and fearsome ghosts and spirits of other lands, this earth, the human realms, and the heavens to gather and receive the Buddha's entrustment to protect the True Dharma. If any failed to attend, the Four Heavenly Kings would pursue them with flying wheels of red-hot iron to force their assembly. Once gathered, none dared disobey the Buddha's command, and each made a great vow to protect the True Dharma. Only one Demon King said to the World-Honored One: "Gautama, when I have led all sentient beings to achieve Buddhahood, such that the realm of beings is empty and even the name 'sentient being' no longer exists, only then will I awaken the Bodhicitta Bodhicitta: The "mind of enlightenment," the altruistic intention to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all.."

Once, while walking with Ananda, the World-Honored One saw an ancient stupa Stupa: A reliquary monument or pagoda containing sacred remains.. The World-Honored One bowed to it. Ananda asked: "Whose stupa is this?" The World-Honored One said: "This is a stupa of the Buddhas of the past." Ananda asked: "Whose disciples were the Buddhas of the past?" The World-Honored One said: "They were my disciples." Ananda replied: "It should be so."

Once, a seeker of another school Outsider: A practitioner of non-Buddhist philosophy. asked the Buddha: "I do not ask about that which has words; I do not ask about that which has no words." The World-Honored One remained silent for a long time. The seeker praised him, saying: "The World-Honored One, in his great kindness and compassion, has cleared away the clouds of my delusion and allowed me to enter the Path." He then bowed and departed.

After he left, Ananda asked the Buddha: "What truth did that seeker realize that led him to praise you and depart?" The World-Honored One said: "He is like a fine horse that runs at the mere shadow of the whip."

One day, the World-Honored One commanded Ananda: "The time for the meal is approaching. You should enter the city with the alms bowl." Ananda agreed. The World-Honored One said: "Since you are carrying the bowl, you must follow the ritual of the Seven Buddhas of the past." Ananda then asked: "What is the ritual of the Seven Buddhas of the past?" The World-Honored One called out: "Ananda!" Ananda responded: "Yes?" The World-Honored One said: "Go carry the bowl."

Once, a monk asked: "In the World-Honored One's Dharma, I have a 'place of seeing' An intellectual understanding. and a 'place of realization' Direct spiritual experience., but it is not yet the ultimate. What will the World-Honored One show me?" The World-Honored One replied: "Monk [So-and-so], what I show you is this very question of yours."

After the World-Honored One attained enlightenment, he sat cross-legged under a tree in the Jeta Grove. Two merchants passing the edge of the forest with five hundred wagons found that their two lead oxen refused to move forward. The merchants were astonished. A mountain spirit informed them: "A sage in the forest has attained the Way. Forty-nine days have passed and he has not yet eaten. You should offer him food." The merchants entered the forest and indeed saw a man sitting perfectly still. They asked: "Are you the god Brahma, or Shakra, or a mountain spirit, or a river god?" The World-Honored One smiled and lifted his Kasaya Kasaya: The patchwork robe worn by Buddhist monks. to show them. The merchants bowed and presented their offerings.

Because Jivaka Jivaka: A legendary physician and contemporary of the Buddha, known for his extraordinary diagnostic skills. was skilled at distinguishing sounds, the World-Honored One went with him to a cemetery. Seeing five skulls, the Buddha tapped one and asked Jivaka: "Where was this person reborn?" Jivaka replied: "This one was reborn in the Path of Ghosts." The World-Honored One tapped another: "Where was this one reborn?" Jivaka said: "This one was reborn in the Heavenly Realm." The World-Honored One tapped another and asked where it was reborn; Jivaka was at a loss and did not know This implies the skull belonged to an Arhat or an enlightened being, whose rebirth cannot be traced because they have exited the cycle of Samsara..