Morning journal and courier., 1884-06-20
Buddhist Parable of the ProdtgaI Son

A certain man had son, who went away into far country. There he became miser- ably poor. The father, however, grew rich and accumulated much gold and treasure, and many storehOuses and elephants. But tenderly loved his lost son. and secretly la-
 mented that he had no one to whom to leave his palaces and suvernas at his death. After many years, the poor man, in search of food and clothing happened to come to the coun- try where his father had great possessions.
 And when he was afar of his father saw him. and reflected thus in his mind: If at oncS ackno wledge my son, and gave him all my gold and treasures, I shall do him great in jury. He is ignorant and undiseiplined, he is poor and brutaized With one of such mis- erable inclinatious. 'twere better to educate the mind little by little. I will make him one
 of my hired servants y Then the son, fam
 ished and in rags, arrived at the door of his father's house, and, seeing 8 great throne
 appraised and many followers doing homage
 to him who sat upon it, vas awed by the
 wealth around. Instantly he fled once more
 to the highway. s'This," he thought, ''is the
 house of the poor man. If I stay at the pal
 ace of the King perhaps I shall be thrown
 into prison" Then the father sent messen- gers after the son, who was caught and brought back, in spite of his cries and lsmen- tations When he reached his fathers house
 he fell down fainting with fear, not recog- niziHg his father, and believing he was about to suffer snme cruel punishment. The father ordered his servants to deal tenderly with
 the poor man, and sent two laborers of his own rank of life to engage him as a servant on the estate. They gave him broom and basket, and engaged him to clean up the dung-heap at a double wage. From the win. dow of his palace the rich man watched his son at his work; and disgiusing himselft as a poor man and covering himself with dus: and dirt he approached his son and said will Trnvida with food and clothing. You are honest-you are industrious. Look upon me as your father" After many years, the father felt his end approaching, and he summoned his son and the officers of the king and an- nounced to them the secret that he had so long kept. The poor man was really his son who had wandered away from him, and now that he was conscious of his former debased condition he was able to appreciate and re- tain vast wealth, he was determined to hand over to him his entire treasure. The poor man was astonished at this sudden change of
 fortune, but overjoyed at meeting his father
 once more. The parables of Buddha are re-
 ported in the Lotus of the perfect law to be
 yelled from the ignorant by means of an enig-
 matic form of language. The rich man of this parable, with his throne adorned by flowers and gsrlands of jewels, is announced
 children, and has prepared for them vast
 spiritual treasures. But each son of Tirtha-
 gata has miserable inclinations. He prefers
 dung heap to the pearl Mani. To teach
 such a man Tirthagata is obliged to employ
 inferior agents, the monk and the ascetic
 and to wean him by degrees from the lower
 objects of desire When he speaks himself
 he is forced to veil much of his thought, as
 it would not be understood. His sons feel
 no joy on learning spiritual things Little
 by little must their minds be trained and dis
 ciplined for higher truths.