When this prince was twelve years of age, however, he saw a bird swoop down from the sky to capture and eat a worm that had crawled out of the earth. This spectacle brought him to realize that this world is one in which the strong prey on the weak. Later, on leaving his castle from different gates, he saw that human beings are subject to the sufferings of old age, illness and death. As a result, he was brought to realize that everyone, without exception, must experience suffering and agony.

The prince determined to seek a way of release from this human suffering. When he was 29 years of age, he abandoned his princely rank, left home, and became a wandering monk. After six years of the most severe ascetic practices (although not because of it), he became a Buddha, which means “Enlightened One.” Such an enlightened state is a release from all suffering. The purpose of the Buddhadharma that Shakyamuni taught is for all of us to “become Buddhas” just like him.

In the Larger Sutra, it states:

... those with farm fields are concerned about those fields, and those who have dwellings are concerned about those dwellings...

We suffer when we don’t have what we want. But we are wrong if we believe our suffering will disappear when we get what we want. Rather, a new suffering or agony will arise, and continue to arise, one after the other. We are released from such agony only when we reach the state of enlightenment in which our base passions of greed, anger and a complaining mind are eliminated.

As already stated in the section on “Classification of the Teaching” in Chapter 1, the Venerable Master considered the “absolute ‘Buddha-centered power’” teaching of the 18th Vow to be the true teaching, and that all other Buddhist teachings are merely provisional. Further, he considered all teachings other than Buddha-dharma, which do not consider becoming a Buddha their goal, to be false teachings.

Accordingly, it can be said that the true teaching is what offers the true benefit, “the benefit of becoming a Buddha.” That is why the Venerable Master wrote, “The true benefit is Amida’s Vow,” pointing out that Amida Buddha’s Vow (hongan, the 18th Vow, the Primal Vow) is the true way to be released from the suffering of this world by showing us the way to become a Buddha. That is what true benefit is.