The Lotus Sūtra 2.24

2.24

佛告舍利弗：「善哉，善哉！如汝所言。舍利弗！如來亦復如是，則為一切世間之父。於諸怖畏、衰惱、憂患、無明闇蔽，永盡無餘，而悉成就無量知見、力、無所畏，有大神力及智慧力，具足方便、智慧波羅蜜，大慈大悲，常無懈惓，恒求善事，利益一切，而生三界朽故火宅，為度眾生生老病死、憂悲、苦惱、愚癡、闇蔽、三毒之火，教化令得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。見諸眾生為生老病死、憂悲苦惱之所燒煮，亦以五欲財利故，受種種苦；又以貪著追求故，現受眾苦，後受地獄、畜生、餓鬼之苦；若生天上，及在人間，貧窮困苦、愛別離苦、怨憎會苦，如是等種種諸苦。眾生沒在其中，歡喜遊戲，不覺不知、不驚不怖，亦不生厭，不求解脫。於此三界火宅東西馳走，雖遭大苦，不以為患。

The Buddha told Śāriputra: "Excellent, excellent! It is just as you have said. Śāriputra, the Tathāgata is also like this: he is the father of all the world. In him all terrors, decline, afflictions, worries, troubles, and the darkness of ignorance have been permanently exhausted without remainder, and he has completely achieved immeasurable knowledge and vision, powers, and fearlessnesses. He possesses great supernormal power and the power of wisdom, is fully endowed with upāya and the pāramitā of wisdom, is greatly benevolent and greatly compassionate, is ever untiring, constantly seeking what is good to benefit all beings. And so he is born into the decaying, old, burning house of the triple realm to liberate sentient beings from the fires of birth, old age, sickness, and death, of sorrow, grief, suffering, affliction, foolishness, darkness, and the three poisons, teaching and transforming them to attain anuttarā samyaksambodhi. He sees sentient beings being burned and boiled by birth, old age, sickness, and death, and by sorrow, grief, suffering, and affliction; and also undergoing various sufferings for the sake of the five desires, wealth, and profit. Furthermore, due to greed and attachment in seeking them, they undergo all kinds of suffering in the present, and later undergo the suffering of the hells, animals, and hungry ghosts; or, if born in the heavens or among humans, the sufferings of poverty and distress, the suffering of parting from what is loved, the suffering of meeting with what is hated, and various sufferings such as these. Sentient beings are submerged in them, yet they rejoice and play, unaware and unknowing, neither frightened nor terrified, neither feeling revulsion nor seeking liberation. In this burning house of the triple realm, they race east and west; although they encounter great suffering, they do not consider it a calamity.