Another important point of the parable [of the Burning House] is that we humans are allegorically illustrated as living in a burning house. The burning, of course, symbolizes our suffering. From the Buddhist viewpoint, suffering is an inescapable fact of life, as illustrated in the dictum, “All existence is suffering.” Many people think this view is too pessimistic, but that is not the case. The dictum is presented as a bare fact, neither good or bad. Biological suffering is a part of life. The question is, What can we do about it?
Introduction to the Lotus SutraCategory Archives: LS32
Day 6
Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month heard Śākyamuni explain the Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha and Bodhisattva carts, we hear why the rich man gave each child the large cart.
“Śāriputra! Seeing that all his children had come out of the burning house safely and reached a carefree place, the rich man remembered that he had immeasurable wealth. So without partiality, he gave them each a large cart. I am also a father, the father of all living beings. Seeing that many hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings have come out of the painful, fearful and rough road of the triple world through the gate of the teachings of the Buddha, and obtained the pleasure of Nirvāṇa, I thought, ‘I have the store of the Dharma in which the immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness of the Buddhas are housed. These living beings are all my children. I will give them the Great Vehicle. I will not cause them to attain extinction by their own ways. I will cause them to attain the extinction of the Tathāgata.’
“To those who have left the triple world, I will give the dhyāna concentrations and emancipations of the Buddhas for their pleasure. These things are of the same nature and of the same species. These things are extolled by the saints• because these things bring the purest and most wonderful pleasure.
“Śāriputra! The rich man persuaded his children to come out at first by promising them the gifts of the three kinds of carts. But the carts which he gave them later were the largest and most comfortable carts adorned with treasures. In spite of this, the rich man was not accused of falsehood. Neither am I. I led all living beings at first with the teaching of the Three Vehicles. Now I will save them by the Great Vehicle only. Why is that? It is because, if I had given them the teaching of the Great Vehicle at first directly from my store of the Dharma in which my immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness are housed, they would not have received all of the Dharma. Śāriputra! Therefore, know this! The Buddhas divide the One Buddha-Vehicle into three by their power to employ expedients.”
The Universal Saviour
In [The Parable of the Burning House], the rich father symbolizes the Buddha, while the children represent all of us living beings. In other words, the relationship between the Buddha and living beings is compared to the relationship of a father and his children. That the father saves his children out of compassion for them implies that the Buddha does the same thing. In short, the parable proclaims the Buddha to be nothing less than the universal Savior.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraDay 5
Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month heard Śāriputra’s joy at hearing he will become a Buddha and his realization that the Dharma had been expounded according to the capacities of the hearers, we repeat in gāthās.
Thereupon Śāriputra, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Hearing this truthful voice,
I have the greatest joy
That I have ever had.
I have removed all the mesh of doubts.You have taught us the Great Vehicle without a break from of old.
Your voice is rare to hear.
It dispels the sufferings of all living beings.
I once eliminated āsravas.
Hearing this voice of yours,
I have now removed all sorrows.I walked about mountains and valleys,
Or sat under a tree in a forest, thinking this over.
I reproached myself with a deep sigh:
“Why was I deceived?
We also are sons of the Buddha
[Just as the Bodhisattvas are].
We entered the same [ world]
[Of the] Dharma-without-āsravas.
But we shall not be able to expound
Unsurpassed enlightenment in the future.
We are in the same [ world of the] Dharma.
But we shall not be given
The golden body with the thirty-two marks,
The ten powers, and the emancipations [of the Buddha].
We are deprived of the hope
To have the eighty wonderful marks,
The eighteen unique properties
And the other merits [of the Buddha].”[Sitting] in the midst of the great multitude,
You benefited all living beings.
Your fame extended over the worlds of the ten quarters.
When I was walking alone,
I saw all this, and thought:
“I am not given this benefit. I have been deceived.”I thought this over day and night,
And wished to ask you,
“Am I disqualified
[From having this benefit] or not?”I always saw you praising the Bodhisattvas.
Therefore, I thought this over day and night.
Now hearing from you,
I understand that you expound the Dharma
According to the capacities of all living beings.
You lead all living beings
To the place of enlightenment
By the Dharma-without-āsravas, difficult to understand.
Feeling Like Dancing
Sariputra, who felt like dancing with joy stood up, pressed his palms together, looked up at the honorable face, and said to the Buddha, “Hearing this truthful voice of yours, I feel like dancing with joy. I have never felt like this before” (p. 51).
Why was he so delighted? He explains that previously, as one of the “hearers,” he had been satisfied with his accomplishments, but couldn’t help feeling that he was still missing something. Now at last he understood what had been bothering him, and realized that he was truly a child of the Buddha.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraDay 4
Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month learned that all Buddhas use expedients, we conclude Chapter 2, Expedients.
[The Buddha said to the great multitude:]
All of you, do not doubt me!
I am the King of the Dharma.
I say to you:
“I will expound the teaching of the One Vehicle
Only to Bodhisattvas.
There is no Śrāvaka among my disciples.”Śāriputra, other Śrāvakas, and Bodhisattvas!
Know this!
This Wonderful Dharma is
The hidden core of the Buddhas.The living beings
In the evil world of the five defilements
Are attached to many desires.
They do not seek the enlightenment of the Buddha.Evil people in the future will doubt the One Vehicle
When they hear it from a Buddha.
They will not believe or receive it.
They will violate the Dharma, and fall into the evil regions.Extol the teaching of the One Vehicle
In the presence of those who are modest,
Who are pure in heart,
And who are seeking enlightenment of the Buddha!Śāriputra [and others], know this!
As a rule, the Buddhas expound the Dharma
With billions of expedients as stated above,
According to the capacities of all living beings.Those who do not study the Dharma
Cannot understand it.
You have already realized
The fact that the Buddhas, the World-Teachers, employ expedients,
According to the capacities of all living beings.
Know that, when you remove your doubts,
And when you have great joy,
You will become Buddhas!
[Here ends] the First Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
See The One Vehicle
The One Vehicle
Notwithstanding the Buddha’s efforts, people failed to realize that the expedients they had been taught were only part of the vast and profound truth attained by their master. Gradually they divided into different schools or sects clustered around a particular teaching which they believed to be the ultimate. During his fifty-year teaching Sakyamuni had employed a wide variety of expedients. His disciples, who scattered far and wide, noticed that they had received different teachings. They began to argue among each other about which teachings and practices were the more correct.
To solve these disputes, Sakyamuni introduced the Lotus Sutra – his ultimate teaching. Its first purpose was to break the attachments his disciples had formed to their own particular ideas. That is, Sakyamuni proclaimed that all he had previously taught were only expedients. They were partial truths, not the whole. They were separate “Vehicles.” Now they must be unified into One Vehicle, the Buddha Vehicle. This concept of the One Vehicle is the central thought of the Lotus Sutra and the chief idea presented in this chapter.
Introduction to the Lotus SutraDay 3
Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.
Having last month been introduced to the idea of expedient teachings, we consider the depth of the insight of the Tathāgatas.
“Śāriputra! The insight of the Tathāgatas is wide and deep. [The Tathāgatas] have all the [states of mind towards] innumerable [living beings,] unhindered [eloquence,] powers, fearlessness, dhyāna-concentrations, emancipations, and samādhis. They entered deep into boundlessness, and attained the Dharma which you have never heard before.
“Śāriputra! The Tathāgatas divide [the Dharma] into various teachings, and expound those teachings to all living beings so skillfully and with such gentle voices that living beings are delighted. Śāriputra! In short, the Buddhas attained the innumerable teachings which you have never heard before. No more, Śāriputra, will I say because the Dharma attained by the Buddhas is the highest Truth, rare [to hear] and difficult to understand. Only the Buddhas attained [the highest Truth, that is,] the reality of all things’ in regard to their appearances as such, their natures as such, their entities as such, their powers as such, their activities as such, their primary causes as such, their environmental causes as such, their effects as such, their rewards and retributions as such, and their equality as such [despite these differences].
The Reality of All Things
[T]he “Ten Suchnesses” … form one of the Buddha’s best known teachings. Reality in the “reality of all things” means “substance” or “existence.” According to this teaching, the true nature of existence (the reality of all things) can be seen in nine aspects as such: (1) their objective appearances (attributes), (2) their subjective natures (inner natures), (3) their entities (forms), (4) their powers (inner potentials), (5) their functions and activities, (6) their primary or direct causes, (7) their environmental causes (indirect causes), (8) their effects upon others, and (9) their rewards and retributions upon themselves.
This is not a classification of existence, but an illustration of various viewpoints from which the true nature of existence may be understood. The viewer is the Buddha, these nine factors essentially make up a whole as a manifestation of his wisdom. From the first factor (appearances) through to the last (rewards and retributions), all are unified as one. Each is ultimately equal to the others, and so really only one “as such” exists. This one, the tenth factor, is called the “equality of the nine factors.’
Introduction to the Lotus SutraDay 2
Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.
Having last month started Day 2’s portion of Chapter 1, Introductory, we continue with the seventy thousand successive Sun-Moon-Light Buddhas.
“After his extinction there appeared a Buddha also called Sun-Moon-Light. After his extinction there appeared another Buddha also called Sun-Moon-Light. In the same manner, seventy thousand Buddhas appeared in succession, all of them being called SunMoon-Light with the surname Bharadvaja.
“Maitreya, know this! All those Buddhas were called Sun-Moonlight with the ten epithets. Their expounding of the Dharma was good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end. The last Sun-Moon-Light Buddha was once a king. He had eight sons born to him before he renounced the world. The first son was called Having-Intention; the second, Good-Intention; the third, InfiniteIntention; the fourth, Treasure-Intention; the fifth, IncreasingIntention; the sixth, Doubts-Removing-Intention; the seventh, Resounding-Intention; and the eighth, Dharma-Intention. These eight princes had unhindered powers and virtues. Each of them was the ruler of the four continents [of a Sumeru-world]. Having heard that their father had renounced the world and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, they abdicated from their thrones, and followed their father. They renounced the world, aspired for the Great Vehicle, performed brahma practices, and became teachers of the Dharma. They had already planted the roots of good under ten million Buddhas in their previous existence.
See The Prelude