[T]he emergence of a perfect, ideal world is represented by the Stupa of Treasures hanging in space, which now becomes the setting for preaching. The sky in general symbolizes eternity and constancy.

Thus each of the seemingly fantastic events in this chapter has a symbolic meaning of the Buddhist ideal. Based on these ideas, the following chapters will gradually disclose the central thoughts of the Lotus Sutra: (1) the concept of the Original Buddha, and (2) the notion that our World of Endurance is essentially the same as the Pure World.

Since the physical body of the Buddha no longer exists after his extinction, the direct object of our worship should then become his teachings, whose substance is preserved in the form of the Sutra or a scroll of the Sutra. The Sutra is the spirit of the Buddha, or another form of his manifestation. If we focus on the time after the Buddha’s extinction, the Sutra or a scroll of the Sutra replaces his physical manifestation. In this sense, respecting and making offerings to the Sutra or a scroll of the Sutra is exactly the same as respecting and making offerings to the Buddha himself. Indeed, when we believe, worship, and make offerings to the Lotus Sutra, we in fact believe, worship, and make offerings to the living Buddha. Furthermore, through these practices, we are considered to be worshiping the Original Buddha of Eternal Existence. [Chapter 10: The Teacher of the Dharma] and those which follow will gradually clarify what we mean by this.

Sakyamuni repeated in verse what he had said in prose. One stanza reads:

My disciples are performing
The Bodhisattva practices secretly,
Though they show themselves in the forms of sravakas.
They are purifying my world,
Though they pretend to want little
And to shun birth and death.

The lines, “Though they pretend to want little and to shun birth and death,” represent sravaka-practices. The world of birth and death refers to this world, where we live with various desires and sufferings. “Hearers” of the Lesser Vehicle regarded such a world as unclean. They tried to rid themselves, not only of earthly desires, but even of the world itself, by entering some spiritual world, where they sought an ideal state of enlightenment. At first glance, this might seem admirable enough. But if they succeeded in cutting themselves off from the world, it would be impossible for them to save other creatures from suffering. Although Purna seemed to be performing these sravaka-practices, he was really practicing the Bodhisattva practice, helping to purify the world of the Buddha—that is, the world in which we live. Sakyamuni’s affirmation that Purna was secretly performing the Bodhisattva practice is attributed mainly to his efforts to expound the Dharma (teachings of the Buddha), in spite of his appearance of being a sravaka.

In the chapters which follow, the Lotus Sutra will affirm that: (1) faith in Sakyamuni Buddha of this our World of Endurance and (2) practices based on that faith should be the core of Buddhism, even though many subsidiary teachings may exist.

Meanwhile, the story of the sixteen princes is intended to teach that the Bodhisattvas (the princes) must do what Sakyamuni did – save all living beings by teaching the truth. Although the profound wisdom of the Buddha is beyond the reach of Bodhisattvas, they nevertheless share the heart of the Buddha. That heart is a commitment to universal salvation – the act of benefiting others.

In the chapters which follow, we shall see some examples of such acts performed by some of the Bodhisattvas, and the story of the sixteen princes here serves as an introduction to those practices.

The Brahman heavenly-kings were unanimous in praising the Buddha and offering him their most cherished possessions. Each praised the Buddha in his own way. The words spoken by one deity … are often quoted:

May the merits we have accumulated by this offering be distributed among all living beings, and may we and all living beings together attain the enlightenment of the Buddha! (p. 139)

The “merits” spoken of here refer to the benefits they will receive for offering their palaces. Needless to say, they also imply merits in general which we all can attain through our faith in and veneration for the Buddha.

[In Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith] Sakyamuni predicted the enlightenment of the four great disciples just as he had with Sariputra. Chapters Three (“A Parable”), Four (“Understanding by Faith”), and Five (“The Simile of Herbs”) had used parables to clarify the basic lesson from Chapter Two (“Expedients”) – namely, all teachings are only expedients leading to the One Buddha Vehicle. The parables were followed up with assurances of future Buddhahood. In the next chapter, “The Parable of the Magic City,” he employs a different teaching method, showing how events in the remote past can affect the present and the future. This is called teaching by affinities with the past. These three methods – doctrinal teaching, parables, and affinities – are known as the Three Stages of Preaching. All three are designed to make the basic lesson easy for us to understand.

This simile depicts the universal quality of the Buddha, who is like a large cloud that covers all the diverse beings of this world. Chapters Two and Three have introduced the teachings of the One Vehicle (the Truth), which unifies all kinds of philosophies and religions. The One Vehicle can also be understood as a manifestation of the Buddha’s personality, because he attained the Truth and manifested it in his very body. In the “Simile of Herbs,” the personality of the Buddha, the One Thus Come (Tathagata, the title by which he described himself after his enlightenment), is symbolized by the same kind of cloud, of rain, of content, or of taste.

Mental attitudes can be right or wrong; they can be noble or base. Faith that is formed through wrong mental attitudes is nothing more than superstition. Of course, there cannot be any errors in Sakyamuni’s teachings. But he expounded the law expediently in different ways according to our needs and abilities to understand. In this parable, the son, who believes himself to be base and humble, is a representation of all living beings. The father (the Buddha) educated his son with expedients in an effort to raise his base mind and make it into a noble one. This superior, noble mind is what we call the heart of the Buddha. Under the guidance of our father (the Buddha), we are all enabled to develop the heart of the Buddha, which every one of us already possesses by nature.

The Buddhist faith often expounds difficult doctrines consisting of abstract philosophical ideas. When it comes to the Lotus Sutra, however, such complicated dogmas do not appear on the surface. For this reason, some critics have argued that there are no doctrines in the Lotus Sutra. But this is not true. The Lotus Sutra does contain profound philosophical thoughts. Instead of using tortuous logic, however, the Sutra explains its philosophy in the simplified form of stories, drawing on examples familiar to us from everyday life. This is why we find many parables in the text.