Among the Buddha’s many followers, ten were outstanding. Each was famous for possessing a particular talent which excelled all others. For example, Sariputra was the wisest; Maha-Kasyapa was known for his good practices; Maha-Maudgalyayana was famed for his supernatural powers; Purna was the best preacher, distinguished for his eloquence. This meant that he was more than just a master of rhetoric and silvery words; he could preach with such clarity that through him people could understand the Buddha’s deep teachings, and free themselves from sufferings.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraCategory Archives: d13b
The Bodhisattva Vehicle
The Bodhisattva Vehicle includes those who seek or already possess the enlightenment of the Buddha. Although they neither enter into nirvana nor attain the ultimate enlightenment of Sakyamuni, Bodhisattvas share his ideal of working in this world for the salvation of others. In contrast to the Lesser Vehicle, the teaching for Bodhisattvas is called the Great Vehicle, for it seeks to guide all living things to enlightenment, just as a large vehicle can carry many passengers besides the driver.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraPerforming Bodhisattva Practices Secretly
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.
Introduction to the Lotus Sutra