You should not forget that the ultimate doctrine of compassion with which these Buddhas and bodhisattvas guide the people is solely in the Lotus Sūtra. You should remember that the secret doctrine to save the evil, the stupid, women, and those without Buddha-nature is not revealed in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra. This is the very reason why the Lotus Sūtra is superior to all other Buddhist scriptures.
Shō Hokke Daimoku-shō, Treastise on Chanting the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra
Yoshiro Tamura, "Introduction to the Lotus Sutra", p94-95In chapter 21 we find the paradigm of bodhisattva practice and the expectation of the final entrustment of the mission to embody the truth to them. First, Shakyamuni Buddha reveals the ten kinds of divine power and praises the greatness of the truth of the Lotus Sutra. He tells bodhisattva Superior Practice and the other bodhisattvas:
The divine powers of buddhas, as you have seen, are innumerable, unlimited, inconceivable. Even if for the sake of entrusting this sutra to others I were to use these divine powers to declare its blessings for innumerable, unlimited hundreds of thousands of billions of countless eons, I would be unable to exhaust them. In brief, all the teachings of the Tathagata, all the unhindered, divine powers of the Tathagata, the hidden core of the whole storehouse of the Tathagata, and all the profound matters of the Tathagata, are proclaimed, demonstrated, revealed, and preached in this sutra. Therefore, after the extinction of the Tathagata, you should all wholeheartedly embrace, read and recite, explain and copy, and practice it as you have been taught.
Further, it teaches that wherever you are, if you revere the teachings of the sutra and practice them, the Buddha will manifest in a state of absolute and supreme happiness. That is:
In any land, wherever anyone accepts and embraces, reads and recites, explains and copies, and practices it as taught, or wherever a volume of the sutra is kept, whether in a garden, or a woods, or under a tree, or in a monk’s cell, or a layman’s house, or a palace, or in a mountain valley or an open field, in all these places you should put up a tower and make offerings. Why? You should understand that all such places are places of the Way. They are where the buddhas attain supreme awakening; they are where the buddhas turn the Dharma wheel; they are where the buddhas reach complete nirvana.
The tower in this quotation is not a Stupa in which remains are kept, but a caitya in which sutras are kept, signifying the reverent keeping of the teachings of the sutra. And the last Chinese word in the quotation, bān nièpán, is a phonetic translation of pari-nivriti, which, like pari-nirvāṇa, signifies the world of complete awakening or the state of supreme bliss.
When Dogen became seriously ill, he walked around in his room reciting these words. He wrote them on a pillar, and finally named his monastery room the “Lotus Sutra Hermitage.” When one walks through life vigorously, fully in accord with one’s abilities, even if its ends are not yet complete, if a great, awakened letting-go arises, one can be satisfied. Dogen came to such a realization through the words of this chapter.
QUESTION: Why do you claim that the daimoku contains all the Buddha’s teachings?
ANSWER: Interpreting the preface of the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, Chang-an says, “The daimoku at the beginning is the king of the Lotus Sūtra that expresses the profound meaning of the sūtra. The sūtra’s profound meaning is the heart of the text. The heart of the text is unsurpassed by even the theoretical and essential teachings.” Miao-lê says, “By the daimoku, the heart of the text of the Lotus Sūtra, the comparative superiority among all the teachings of the Buddha is discerned.”
Shishin Gohon-shō, The Four Depths of Faith and Five Stages of Practice
Yoshiro Tamura, "Introduction to the Lotus Sutra", p53In the spirit of the bodhisattva, and as a kind of model case of the bodhisattva way, the bodhisattvas who welled up out of the earth in chapter 15 are entrusted with the truth and encouraged with praise to embody it and put it into practice in the future. The words of chapter 21 were very meaningful and encouraging to Nichiren, and it is said that Dogen passed away while reciting passages from this chapter.
Not only those sutras preached by Śākyamuni Buddha but also those expounded by seven Buddhas and 1,000 Buddhas in the past, numerous Buddhas from the remotest past, as well as various Buddhas of all the worlds in the universe today are all subordinates to the Chinese character kyō of the Lotus Sūtra. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra says to Star King Flower Bodhisattva in the 23rd chapter, “Medicine King Bodhisattva,” that just as the sea is larger than any river, Mt. Sumeru is the largest of all the mountains, and the moon is brighter than any star, the Lotus Sūtra is supreme of all the sūtras. Grand Master Miao-lê interprets this saying that the Lotus Sūtra is the best of all the Buddhist scriptures preached in the past, being preached at present, and to be preached in the future. That is to say, all the Buddhist scriptures of all the worlds in the universe are contained in the Chinese character kyō of the Lotus Sūtra.
Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra
Yoshiro Tamura, "Introduction to the Lotus Sutra", p94Chapter 20 shows the actual practice of the truth—that is, it provides a model for bodhisattva practice. It is about bodhisattva Never Disrespectful, who endures all sorts of persecution during a time when the Dharma is in decline. Believing that all people will become buddhas through bodhisattva practice, he persists in never putting down or disrespecting anyone. Whenever he meets someone, he always calls out something like “Good people, I do not slight or make light of you. I can’t slight or make light of you. Why? All of you walk in the bodhisattva way and should become all-wise, perfectly enlightened, worthy buddhas.” He was beaten with sticks, stoned and driven away, but responded with “I would not dare to disrespect you. Surely all of you are to become buddhas.” In this way he single-mindedly practiced respect for others.
Bodhisattva practice is an expression of love for all of humanity equally, rooted in infinite trust of human beings. Nichiren took the practice of never disrespecting and always revering others as a matter of positive and aggressive propagation of the Dharma.
The character myō of the Lotus Sūtra is likened to the sunshine of spring through summer, and blossoming and bearing fruits mean aspiration for and attainment of Buddhahood by those people. Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna says in his Great Wisdom Discourse that it is “like a great medicine master turning poison into medicine.” This is his explanation of how virtuous “myō” of the Lotus Sūtra was. Grand Master Miao-lê says also that the Lotus Sūtra is named “myō” because it was able to heal all the sick people with obstinate diseases that had not been cured by any other sūtras.
Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra
Yoshiro Tamura, "Introduction to the Lotus Sutra", p93-94In chapter 2 is a passage that reads:
The buddhas, the most honored of people,
Know that nothing exists independently,
And that buddha-seeds arise interdependently. This is why they teach the one vehicle.Things are part of the everlasting Dharma,
And the character of the Dharma in the world endures forever.These verses have been used from ancient times to show respect for that part of the explanation of the mental organ that appears in chapter 19, where it says:
And their many teachings will be in accord with the meanings, and never contrary to the true nature of reality. If they teach about some secular text, or speak about the political world or about matters related to livelihood, in every case they will do so in accord with the true Dharma.
Generally speaking, there are four kinds of people who cannot attain Buddhahood or enter the Buddha land. The first is the Two Vehicles with fixed natures namely pratyekabuddha and śrāvaka. Next is the icchantika, who did not listen to the teaching of the Buddha and spoiled the seed of Buddhahood. The third is those with empty mind who do not believe in the doctrine of cause and effect expounded by the Buddha. And finally those who slander the True Dharma. These people, who have long been denied the attainment of Buddhahood in the various pre-Lotus sūtras, were allowed to become Buddhas for the first time in the Lotus Sūtra. This is the reason why the Lotus Sūtra is called “myō.”
Hokke Daimoku Shō, Treatise on the Daimoku of the Lotus Sūtra
Yoshiro Tamura, "Introduction to the Lotus Sutra", p93Chapter 19 extols those who embrace, read, recite, explain, and copy the Lotus Sutra—that is, those who reap the merits of the five practices of a Dharma teacher. Their abilities, both physical and mental, are said to demonstrate excellence through purification of the six organs—the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. It teaches, for example, that they can see without limit to the edge of the infinite universe, hear all the sounds throughout the ten realms, from purgatory to the buddha-land, such as sorrows, grief, fears, sufferings, pleasures, joys, and so forth. To such a person, everything in the infinite universe is alive. Such a one has complete command over all things.
This means that by entering a life of religious faith one’s previous life is dramatically transformed, the ordinary is broken through, such that extraordinary powers previously hidden may emerge. Generally speaking, this means that by observing the world extensively and objectively, and by deeply investigating the true nature of things, a self-reliant dynamism for facing the actual world will emerge. And this may lead to bringing truth to life in the actual world, freely making the best possible use of things as needed.