The Parable of the Lost Son from the Lotus Sutra

Chapter 4, Faith and Understanding and The Parable of the Prodigal Son from (Luke 15:11-32)

In this series of essays, I would like to explore Buddhist and Christian parables that have taken on a meaningful significance for me. For instance, the similarities between them have given me an opportunity to think deeply about the two traditions that have informed my own religious formation. I was born and raised in a Protestant Christian home but as an adult embraced the teaching and practice of Buddhism. Both religions explore suffering, love, moral action, and the mystery of existence. Comparing their teachings concerning compassion, suffering, and salvation/liberation, reveals nuances in each tradition that sharpens my grasp of the core teachings of both. I also believe that recognizing shared values in religions helps break down prejudice and opens respectful and meaningful conversations between practitioners of both traditions.

In this first essay I would like to focus on a Buddhist parable and a Christian parable that explore the healing of estrangement between father and son that reveal meaningful truths in a simple and affective way. I have felt the effect of both stories in my own spiritual life, and both mean a lot to me.

In the first story, the Parable of the Lost Son from the Lotus Sutra, we are introduced to a young man wandering from place to place alone in the world. He is very poor and has become a beggar to sustain himself. Unknown to him his father has been searching for him for many years. One day while journeying through the countryside the young man comes upon the estate of a wealthy man. He sees the beautiful land with an opulent house and is humbled by its grandeur. He trembles at the thought of asking for alms at such a place, but before he turns away in embarrassment he is immediately recognized by the owner of the estate as his son. After disguising himself and being sensitive to the young man’s discomfort the father offers the young man a job clearing a field and carrying dung. Over the time that followed the young man worked on the estate and was given more and more responsibility and opportunities to show his strengths and mindfulness. The father watched as he saw his son grow into a prudent and thoughtful manager. The young man gained confidence showing more and more initiative in his affairs until he was offered the job of overseer of the entire estate. The young man was grateful for the nurturing and supportive attention he had received and accepted the position wholeheartedly. It was at this point that the estate owner revealed that he was indeed the young man’s father, and that the estate had been his from the first moment he had stepped onto the property.

In the second story we meet a father who has two sons. The younger son was of a reckless and rebellious nature. One day he went to his father and demanded his inheritance. The father willingly handed it over without resistance. The son leaves home and enjoys the high life for a while but because of his recklessness squanders his entire inheritance and he is left in dire circumstances. When a famine hits the land, his only recourse is to hire himself out to a farmer who gives him a job feeding pigs. He becomes so despondent that he envies the lives of the pigs that he has been caring for. At the lowest point of his life he realizes that his father’s hired servants are treated better than he is and decides to return to his father’s house to beg forgiveness telling him that he is not worthy of being called his son.

The father sees him coming a long way off and runs to him with great joy to embrace him with love and compassion. Before he can finish his speech, the father gives him a new robe, a ring, and new sandals and calls his servant to prepare a feast in honour of his son’s return. “This son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and now he is found.” The older son is furious when he hears about the feast because he has never been celebrated in this way even though he had been a good and faithful son and worked all his life for his father. The father tells him “You are always with me and all I have belongs to you, but he was dead and has come back to life.”  

In the first story from the Lotus Sutra the son represents ordinary human beings, especially those who believe they are unworthy of awakening or are too far from the path. The father represents the Buddha, who sees the innate worthiness of the son and all sentient beings and takes the time to carefully guide and inspire him to see himself in a new way. The Buddha teaches each person individually in ways that are appropriate to their individual needs and nature. In the Mahayana tradition this is called the use of skillful means. In my personal experience I have been fortunate to have received teachings from teachers who have known or intuited the most helpful way to present the Dharma to me. This points to the importance of the student/teacher relationship in Buddhism. The tradition says that Shakyamuni Buddha taught 84,000 Dharmas. As my current teacher James Low (https://simplybeing.co.uk) has pointed out, it is as if the Buddha said, “I will go towards you; I will present the teaching in a way that will suit you.” Every being is unique and by approaching the dissemination of Dharma in this way we can appreciate the concept and power of what is meant by skillful means.

The inheritance in the story represents Buddhahood itself, the full awakening that we already possess but don’t recognize yet. The core message of the Lotus Sutra and other Mahayana texts is that all beings possess buddha nature but because of delusion, fear, or lack of self-worth many do not realize it. The Buddha out of compassion for sentient beings guides them until they are ready to accept this truth. This aligns with the Lotus Sutra’s central teaching that all beings are destined to Buddhahood and that skillful means are employed to bring them to this realization.

In the story of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke, the key teaching is shared through what Christians refer to as grace and is signified by forgiveness based on the father’s love for his son. Salvation is understood to refer to the restoring of a “sinner” in need of forgiveness to a right relationship with God. Just as the father of the prodigal son sees him and comes running to meet him, God’s love is waiting no matter how far we have strayed; and it is not earned. It is freely given. This challenges the elder son’s view that it might be based on merit and good work. The father represents the divine heart always open, watching, and ready to welcome the prodigal home.

Although there are differences in these two stories there are common themes as well. Both parables communicate a deep truth: That we are not separated from what we seek-whether Buddhahood or divine love-but it is our own forgetting, fear, or delusion that keeps us from returning to it.