English
English version Mature grains and a robust, magnificent Horse King (name of a divine horse). Hearing the sounds of suffering beings, the Horse King proclaimed, 'Who now wishes to cross to the other shore and reach Jambudvipa (the world we live in)?' All those who had fallen into the water raised their right hands and said, 'Save me, save me!' The Horse King immediately exerted its power, and its eighty-four thousand hairs stood erect and grew long, and those who grasped these hairs were all freed from suffering. With what meaning is this metaphor drawn? The blind man symbolizes the ignorance of all beings; the bees symbolize action (karma); the donkey symbolizes consciousness; the donkey falling into the abyss symbolizes consciousness falling into name and form (mind and matter); the empty village symbolizes the six senses; the hail and thunder symbolize the impermanence and harm within the six senses; the evil ghosts symbolize contact (sensory input); the rain of fire symbolizes the various feelings (sensations); falling into the river symbolizes craving (attachment); the Rakshasa in the water who eats people's essence symbolizes the four graspings (clinging); entering the whirlpool symbolizes the three realms of existence (desire realm, form realm, formless realm); the large stone hole symbolizes birth; the great sea symbolizes old age, death, sorrow, grief, and numerous sufferings. The divine Horse King symbolizes the Buddha with his virtuous merits, upright and steadfast, robust body, using right mindfulness and concentration to generate eighty-four thousand virtuous hairs, arising from compassion for all beings. All beings endure great suffering, born to be born, aged to be aged, and died to be died. Yet beings do not know the expedient means to seek the path of liberation from suffering, and the Buddhas guide beings within it, enabling them to escape suffering. Those who can ride the horse are practitioners riding the Dharma wheel (the Buddha's teachings), such as Kondanna (Buddha's first disciple) and the five Bhikkhus, Yasa (son of a wealthy man) and the five others; and the sons of various noble elders, sixty from the community of Bhadravarga, the thousand Kasyapa brothers of Uruvilva (fire worship leaders), Sariputra (one of Buddha's ten great disciples), Maudgalyayana (one of Buddha's ten great disciples) and two hundred and fifty others, King Bimbisara (King of Magadha in ancient India) and eighty-four thousand others, and lastly Subhadra (an old ascetic), and even the remaining Dharma, the eighty-four thousand profound Dharma treasures. If any being can hear even a single phrase or verse, all will be able to create a cause and condition with great Nirvana (the ultimate state in Buddhism). --------------------------------------------------------------------------------