The Parable of the Jewel in the Robe

Told by the five hundred arhats in Chapter 8 (Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples), this parable expresses their joyful realization that they have always possessed the treasure of Buddhahood without knowing it.

A man visits a close friend who is wealthy and generous. After eating and drinking together, the man falls into a deep sleep. The friend, who must depart urgently on official business, wishes to give his companion a gift that will ensure he never suffers want. He takes a priceless jewel and sews it into the lining of the sleeping man's robe, knowing that the jewel alone is worth enough to fulfill all his needs for the rest of his life. The friend then departs.

The man wakes and goes on his way, entirely unaware of the jewel sewn into his clothing. He travels to another land where he struggles desperately to earn a living, enduring great hardship and privation. Even the smallest gain brings him satisfaction, so accustomed has he become to poverty. He has no idea that he carries a treasure that would make him wealthy beyond measure.

Years later, the two friends meet again by chance. The generous friend is shocked to see his companion in such a wretched state and tells him about the jewel. The man looks and finds it exactly where it was sewn, and in an instant his life is transformed. The five hundred arhats explain that they are like this poor man. The Buddha, like the friend, planted the aspiration for supreme enlightenment in them long ago, but they forgot it and were content with the meager attainment of arhatship. Now, hearing the Lotus Sutra, they have discovered the jewel of Buddhahood that has always been hidden in their robes. The parable is a poignant expression of the doctrine that Buddha-nature is not something to be acquired but something to be recognized.