The Parable of the Wrestler

The Buddha said to Kasyapa: "Oh good man! As an analogy: there is in the household of a king a great wrestler. He has a bead adamantine on his brow. This man wrestles with other wrestlers. When [once] the head of another person touched his brow, the bead went into the flesh of the wrestler, and did not know where it was. There raised a boil. A good doctor was called to heal him. At that time, there was a good doctor with a bright mind. He knew very well how to diagnose and prescribe medicines. Now, he sees that the boil appeared due to the fact that the bead has entered the body of the wrestler. He understands that this bead penetrated the flesh and stays there. Then, the good doctor asks the wrestler: 'Where is the bead that was over their eyebrows'? The wrestler is surprised and says: 'Oh great master and doctor! The bead on my brow was not lost? Where could be the bead now? It's not a miracle [that you know about it]’? He (the wrestler) is worried and weeps. Then, the doctor pacifies the wrestler: 'Do not be overwhelmed. When you fought, the gem entered your body. It is now under your skin and can be seen protruding. As you fought, the poison of anger burned so much that the gem penetrated your body and you did not felt it’. But the wrestler does not believe in the words of the doctor. 'If it's under my skin, how is that it does not come out due to the impure blood and pus? If it's in my nerves, we cannot see it anyway. Why do you try to cheat me'? Then, the doctor takes a mirror and holds it in front of the wrestler's face. The gem appears clearly in the mirror. The wrestler sees it, getting all surprised and delighted. It's like that. Oh good man! The case is the same with all beings. They do not come near to a Good Teacher of the Way. So, they cannot see the Buddha-Nature which is within them, although they possess it. And they are governed by greed, lust, anger, and ignorance. Thus, they fall into the realms of hell, animals, hungry ghosts, asuras, candalas, and are born in various houses such as of Kshatriya, Brahmin, Vaishya and Sudra. The karma generated by the mind leads a person, though born as a human, to live as crippled, lame, deaf, blind or dumb, and to 25 existences, where greed, lust, anger and ignorance reign over the mind, and the person becomes unable to know of the presence of the Buddha-Nature.

The wrestler said that the gem has gone away, although it were in his body. The same goes with beings. Not having come into contact with a Good Teacher of the Way, they do not know the hidden treasure of the Tathagata and do not study selflessness. For example, even when a person is said to be of unholy self, one cannot know the true quality of the Self. The same is true with my disciples. As they do not befriend a Good Teacher of the Way, they practice the non-Self and do not know where it (the Self) is. They do not know the true nature of selflessness. How, then, could they know the true nature of the Self itself? So, oh good man, the Tathagata says that all beings possess the Buddha-Nature. This is like the good doctor making the wrestler see where the adamantine jewel rests. All these beings are governed by innumerable defilements and thus do not know the whereabouts of their Buddha-nature. When the illusion is dispelled, there arises knowledge and brightness. This is like the case of the wrestler seeing the gem in the mirror. Oh good man! So is the case that what rests undisclosed [latent] in the Tathagata is immeasurable and it is difficult for beings to think about.”

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 12 - On the Nature of the Tathagata.