Our Collective Effort Toward the Common Good

As a bodhisattva, Excellent in Great Penetrating Wisdom was helped toward becoming a buddha by gods and kings of the Brahma heavens. We can understand that without the help of the gods and kings of heaven, the prince would not have become a buddha at all. This can be understood to mean that Buddhist practice is not primarily a solitary matter, but something done in and for a larger community with the help of others. The sixteen princes praised and honored their father because he was doing the common good, something from which everyone would benefit.

The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, p89