Chapter 8: Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples

The Buddha bestows a prophecy upon Purna Maitrayaniputra, widely regarded as the foremost preacher of the Dharma among his disciples. Purna will become a Buddha named Dharma Brightness Tathagata, and his world will be magnificent beyond description. The Buddha praises Purna's tireless efforts in teaching the Dharma across many lifetimes and reveals that even in the present, Purna assists the Buddha's work in ways the assembly cannot perceive. Following Purna's prophecy, the Buddha declares that Kaundinya and five hundred other arhats will all attain Buddhahood in the future, each bearing the name Universal Brightness.

Overjoyed at receiving these prophecies, the five hundred arhats offer their own parable to express their awakened understanding. A man visits a close friend, and after drinking wine falls asleep. The friend, who must depart on urgent business, sews a priceless jewel into the lining of the sleeping man's robe. The man wakes and goes about his life for years, suffering great hardship and poverty, utterly unaware of the treasure he carries with him. When the two friends finally meet again, the friend is astonished at the man's destitution and reveals the jewel sewn into his robe.

The five hundred arhats explain that they are like this impoverished man. The Buddha, like the generous friend, had implanted the seed of supreme aspiration in them long ago, but they were content with the lesser attainment of arhatship and did not realize the immeasurable treasure they already possessed. Now, hearing the Lotus Sutra, they have at last discovered the jewel of Buddhahood that has always been theirs. This parable of the jewel in the robe stands alongside the other great parables of the sutra as a vivid illustration of the universality of Buddha-nature.