In my mind this is the most visually descriptive parable in the Lotus Sutra. It is full of images and descriptions that are meant to elicit an emotional visceral response. I believe we are supposed to see this as a really fearful place to be. It isn’t safe on many levels. There are creatures that can harm us there are distractions which inhibit our rational decisions. The fire is coming we should be running. Someone is outside trying to get our attention. There is a man waving and calling out to us. It is difficult to understand what he is doing, what he is trying to say, or what he wants us to do.
The use of all the imagery in this parable inspired me to explore visio divina, the idea of spiritual vision, divine vision if you will. What do we see or choose to see and how does our spirit influence that vision?
This parable has been written about and lectured on so many times I almost felt there was nothing more I could contribute to the conversation. Yet the more I thought about it the more my mind kept seeing images of the things that hold some people back from seeing and manifesting their inherent enlightened spirit. I also kept going back and forth between the use of fire in this parable and the use of fire in Chapter XVI. Then I thought about how fire as one image is presented in the first half of the Lotus Sutra, versus how fire is presented in the second half of the Lotus Sutra.
In the parable of The Burning House as it appears in the Lotus Sutra Chapter III fire is something we are supposed to see. We need to see the fire and perceive the danger it posses us. In Chapter XVI we are supposed to see beyond the fire and not flee because the fire is not real. This is quite a contradiction on the surface. If it weren’t for the placement in the two different halves of the Sutra it might be confusing, it might be a contradiction. However because the fires lie in the two different halves there is no contradiction. The fire is both to be seen and to be not seen. There is a fire and there is no fire.
An interesting juxtaposition is presented to us and it is in the presence of the two fires I will offer my exploration of spiritual image, of divine image. To do this I will present use some of my spiritual images and hopefully encourage you to do the same as the spirit moves you and inspires you.
