#Mastodharma 馃
the jewel in the robe is another parable that uses material wealth as a metaphor for spiritual wealth which was common at the time it was written but does hit differently for a lot of modern readers
but
the jewel is the man's inherent Buddha nature, he always had it with him, even when he was struggling, even when life was hard. it was right there. he just didn't know it
Tendai buddhism is not big on 'delusion = evil'
instead, delusion is simply misunderstanding your nature
the man didn鈥檛 throw away the jewel
he didn鈥檛 lose it
he didn鈥檛 damage it
he just didn鈥檛 recognize it
Tendai loves this point:
your Buddha nature is not damaged by your confusion
it's untouched.
it's literally sitting there sewn into your life the whole time
