Gene Reeves’ The Stories of the Lotus Sutra was published by Risshō Kōsei Kai in 2010 as a companion to Reeves’ updated translation of the threefold Lotus Sutra. This is the second Kōsei kai book I’ve read that brings up the concept that all religions share a common, inter-faith truth. As Reeves puts it:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p81[W]ithout the nourishment of the Dharma [as revealed in the Simile of the Herbs] we would dry up and die. But this Dharma that nourishes all is not something to be found only in the Buddhist religion. It is universal. It is everywhere. The Dharma can be found even in the ordinary food that we eat and the water we drink, making it possible for us to live.
Or this conflating of Jesus and Krishna with the Eternal Buddha:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p71[E]ven when we think we cannot see him, the Buddha can be found right next to us. The Buddha may not even go by the name of a buddha. Sometimes perhaps he goes by the name of Christ, or Krishna, or even Jane. Belonging to a Buddhist temple or organization is not, in itself, the Buddha Way, nor is it the only way to enter or follow the Buddha Way. The “universal gate” is many gates, many more than you or I could possibly know in a lifetime.
Reeves comes at this whole issue of inter-faith Dharma from a number of directions.
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p51One of the important insights to be gained from the teaching of skillful means is that many things that are not the whole truth are nevertheless important truths. Just as we should seek the potential to be a buddha in ourselves even though we are far from perfect, we should seek the truth, even the hidden truths, in what others say, in their words and in their stories.
“Others” includes of course other religions and their followers. Followers of the Dharma Flower Sutra can be glad when they encounter people of other faiths who have found carriages appropriate for themselves. The Sutra teaches that there are many successful ways, some, no doubt, beyond our imagination.
Or this:
The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p70Apart from the Buddha and blind to the Buddha Dharma, we are like someone wandering around, destitute, impoverished, without purpose, miserable. In a sense, this is the destiny of those who do not, in some way, follow the Buddha Way. This does not mean, however, that one has to be a Buddhist in the ordinary sense. To follow the Buddha is to put one’s trust in and devote oneself to the happiness of others and the life of the whole. It is to share in a kind of common human faith that life is meaningful, a faith that finds expression in a variety of religious and other forms.
I struggle with this concept that the One Buddha Vehicle includes Christian chariots along with the Śrāvakayāna sheep cart and Pratyekabuddha deer cart and Bodhisattva bullock cart.
Stretching the One Buddha Vehicle to cover all of the Buddha’s teachings is, for me, the essence of the Lotus Sutra. I view the Lotus Sutra as the blueprint that allows the practicer to gather from all of the building materials (other sutras) what is needed to create a hall within which one can practice the Buddha way. The Lotus Sutra is the ocean into which all streams have flowed. But I’m unable – or perhaps just unwilling – to stretch it further to include all religions.
These ideas troubled me and it occurred to be that someone who had a statue of a Roman Catholic saint eye-opened for his Buddhist altar might be able to share some insight. I sent this as an email to Ryuei McCormick.
