Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
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I must not wait for the help of another, nor must I lose my resolution and
leave my tasks to another. I must not turn bac k in my efforts to save all beings nor
cease to use my merit for the destruction of all pain. A n d I must not be satisfied
with small successes.”
[ F ro m Śiksāsamuccaya, pp.278-83]The Lost Son
One of the reasons for including this passage is its remarkable resemblance to
the famous parable of St. Luke’s Gospel (15:11–32). As the Lotus of the Good Law,
from whic h t he Buddhist st ory is t aken, was probably in exist enc e well before
Christ ian ideas c ould have found t heir way in India via Persia, it is unlikely t hat t his
parable owes anything to the Christian one. Similarly it is unlikely t hat t he Christ ian
parable is indebted to the Buddhist. Probably we have here a case of religious
minds of t wo widely separat ed c ult ures t hinking along similar lines, as a result of
similar, t hough not ident ic al, religious experienc e. For this reason the resemblances
and differences of the two stories are the most instructive.^4
T he Prodigal of t he Christ ian st ory squanders his pat rimony in riot ous living.
The son in the Buddhist story is a wretc hed c reature who c an only wander around
begging. His fault is not so muc h in squandering his propert y as in failing t o ac quire
wealt h (i.e. spirit ual merit ). The Prodigal returns to his father by his own free
c hoic e, aft er repent ing his evil ways. In the Buddhist story it is only by c hanc e that
the son meets his father again; moreover the son does not rec ognize the father,
though the father rec ognized his son – thus the heavenly Buddha knows his
c hildren and works for their salvation, though they do not rec ognized him in his
true character, and, if they can get a glimpse of him, are afraid and try to avoid
him – they feel muc h more at ease among their own earthbound kind, in “the poor
quarter of the town”, where their divine father sends his messengers (perhaps
representing the bodhisattvas) to find them, bringing them home by forc e if need
be. Here there is no question of a positive ac t of repentanc e, as in the Christian
parable.
Unlike t he Prodigal’s fat her in t he Christ ian st ory, who kills t he fat t ed c alf for
his long-lost son, the father in the Buddhist story makes his son undergo a very
long period of humble probat ion before raising him t o t he posit ion whic h he merit s
by his birt h. The heavenly Buddha c annot raise beings immediately from the filth
and poverty of the earthly gutter to the full glory of his own heavenly palac e, for
they are so earthbound that, if brought to it at onc e, they would suffer agonies of
fear, embarrassment, and c onfusion, and might well insist on returning to the
gutter again. So they must undergo many years of preparation for their high
est at e, t oiling daily among t he mat erial dross of t his world, earnest ly and loyally
st riving t o make t he world a t idier plac e. Like the father in the story, the heavenly
(^4) The text itself purports to give an interpretation of the parable in which the son toiling as a
menial in his father’s house is compared to the Hīnayāna monk, who is unaware of the true
glory of the enlightenment to which he is heir. There is little doubt, however, that the story
here turned to purposes of sectarian propaganda w as originally meant to have a w ider
significance, and w e believe our interpretation to be that demanded by the spirit of the
parable.