Part Three · Early Mahāyāna · The Buddha Steps to the Front of the Stage

A new current came surging out of the Western Regions into China. Later generations would call it the "Mahāyāna," the Great Vehicle.

It brought news that made the heart jump: the Buddha is not only that Śākyamuni who has entered nirvāṇa. At this very moment, in the worlds of the ten directions, there are measureless Buddhas, teaching the Dharma right now. The Buddha is not past tense. The Buddha is present continuous.

This news made buddha-recollection over from the ground up. In Part Two, the object recollected was still "the path." In this part, the Buddha — Buddha after living Buddha, each one teaching at this very moment — at last steps to the front of the stage, and becomes the one whom people long to recollect by name, even to see with their own eyes.

Part Three has three chapters, and they watch this step being taken. Chapter one: how people went from "recollecting the Buddha" to "seeing the Buddha" — outside the city of Rājagṛha, a five-precept lay bodhisattva named Bhadrapāla put the question before a great thronged assembly, and the Buddha answered him: stand for seven days, single-mindedly recollecting, until the Buddha appears before your eyes. Chapter two: how the "buddha-field" where such a Buddha dwells was built up, stroke by stroke. Chapter three: how the act of niàn began to move from recollection in the mind toward calling the name with the mouth.

The Buddha has stepped to the front of the stage. We begin with chapter one — the first time a person saw the Buddha face to face.