Chapter 4: Belief and Understanding

Four of the Buddha's foremost disciples -- Mahakashyapa, Subhuti, Katyayana, and Maudgalyayana -- are deeply moved by the revelation that voice-hearers too will attain Buddhahood. They confess that until now they believed they had reached the final goal and had no further aspiration. Hearing the teaching of the One Vehicle, they are like a person who has been blind from birth and suddenly gains sight.

To express their understanding, the four disciples offer their own parable: the story of the prodigal son. A young man leaves his wealthy father and wanders for decades in poverty and hardship, forgetting his origins entirely. Eventually he stumbles upon his father's estate but does not recognize it and flees in terror at its grandeur. The father, who has never stopped searching for his son, sends servants in humble clothing to offer the son menial work. Gradually, over many years, the father promotes his son through increasingly responsible positions, until at last on his deathbed he reveals the son's true identity and bequeaths him the entire fortune.

The disciples explain that the father is the Buddha, the prodigal son represents the voice-hearers, and the great fortune is the wisdom of Buddhahood. Just as the father patiently guided his son through humble tasks before revealing his inheritance, so the Buddha has led them through the lesser teachings before finally disclosing the supreme treasure that was rightfully theirs all along. They rejoice that they have at last obtained what they never dared to seek.