The Rich Father's Wandering Son
A rich man's son, forgetting his own origin, wandered and scraped by as a hired hand.
Forgetting the worth I originally hold, am I living while reckoning myself too small?
📝Reflection
The Lotus Sutra tells of a rich man's son who left home young and wandered long. He utterly forgot who his father was, that he was the rightful heir, and lived like a beggar. Later, hired by chance into his own father's house as a laborer, he never dreams the great estate is to become his. The core of this parable is not "you were actually rich," but how easily a person forgets his own worth. So with us: we declare ourselves lacking and unqualified, forgetting the possibility we originally hold, and live small. No one took it; we forgot it ourselves. Sometimes we must remember — I am not so small a person as I take myself to be.
🌱Apply It Today
When you feel small today, recall: "what worth of my own have I forgotten?" Writing even one straightens your shoulders.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
