QUESTION: According to the Flower Garland Sūtra, Bodhisattva Good Treasures met some fifty “good friends,” in search of the way. Among his “good friends” were such distinguished bodhisattvas as Universal Sage, Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara (Kannon) and Maitreya. Ever Weeping Bodhisattva, King Spotted Feet, King Wonderful Adornment and King Ajātaśatru were led to emancipation from the illusion of life and death respectively by Bodhisattva T’an Wu-chieh, King Fumyō, King Wonderful Adornment’s wife and two sons, and Minister Jivaka.
These teachers were, however, great sages, and difficult to encounter after the passing of the Buddha. After the extinction of the Buddha there lived such great teachers as Nāgārjuna and Vasubandhu in India, but they died, and such teachers as Nan-yūeh (T’ien-t’ai’s teacher) and T’ien-t’ai of China are no longer here. How can we then sever the chain of life and death?
ANSWER: “Good friends” (reliable teachers) exist even in the Latter Age; they are the Lotus Sūtra and Nirvana Sūtra.
Shugo Kokka-ron, Treatise on Protecting the Nation
Although I am not one of those bodhisattvas who emerged from underground, I know that those bodhisattvas will appear in the Latter Age of Degeneration. So, I, as a forerunner of those great bodhisattvas, show the essential dharma, the five Chinese characters of the Wonderful Dharma, in a preliminary manner to the people. It is like the blue bird foretelling the appearance of Hsi-wang-mu (a fairy in ancient China) or a magpie chattering before the arrival of a guest.
Soya Nyūdō-dono-gari Gosho, A Letter to Lay Priest Lord Soya
The chapter “Wonderful Adornment King” is expounded for women. It tells of a wife recommending Buddhism to her husband. If a wife recommends the Lotus Sūtra to her husband in the Latter Age of Degeneration, her merit will be the same as that of Lady Jōtoku, or Pure Virtue.
Nichinyo Gozen Gohenji, Response to My Lady Nichinyo
It is stated in the Great Wisdom Discourse by Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna, “If this is so, isn’t it correct to say that the Flower Garland Sūtra and other Wisdom Sūtras are not the secret dharma, but that instead the Lotus Sūtra, which expounds the doctrine of attaining Buddhahood by the Two Vehicles, is the secret dharma? The Lotus Sūtra is like a great medicine master who can transform poison into medicine.” Commenting on this, Grand Master T’ien-t’ai states, “As a good physician can change poison into medicine, the Two Vehicles, who are considered incapable of attaining Buddhahood, were guaranteed by the Lotus Sūtra to become Buddhas in the future. This is indeed the transformation of poison into medicine. Therefore, it is stated in the Great Wisdom Discourse that no other sūtras but the Lotus Sūtra is the secret dharma.” The Great Concentration and Insight again states, “The Lotus Sūtra is called “myō (wonderful)” because it can remedy the mind of the Two Vehicles which no other sūtra can.” Grand Master Miao-lê says, “The Lotus Sūtra is said to be ‘myō’ as it can cure what is difficult to be cured.”
Ōta Nyūdō-dono Gohenji, A Reply to Lay Priest Lord Ōta
All the bodhisattvas tried in vain to attain Buddhahood during the first 40 years or so of the Buddha’s preaching, beginning with the Flower Garland Sūtra, Therefore when the “concise replacement of the Three Vehicles with the One Vehicle” doctrine was preached in the “Expedients” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “80,000 bodhisattvas who wished to become Buddhas as well as the Wheel-turning Noble Kings gathered from tens of thousands and millions of lands pressed their palms together in the form of gasshō to show respect to the Buddha, wishing to hear the perfect way.” Thereupon the Buddha expounded the “expanded replacement of the Three Vehicles with the One Vehicle” doctrine. “Listening to this doctrine, those bodhisattvas’ doubts all melted away,” says the sūtra.
If you concede that only the Lotus Sūtra expounds the dharma of attaining enlightenment by persons of the Two Vehicles and the concept of the Eternal Buddha, is not it the most wonderful of the Lotus Sūtra?
Shōjō Daijō Fumbetsu-shō, The Differences between Hinayāna and Mahāyāna Teachings
Although we believed the doctrine of attainment of Buddhahood by all living beings because it was preached by the Buddha, it was difficult for some to fully accept it because of the lack of actual proof. However, it all became clear when the most important doctrine of becoming a Buddha with one’s present body was expounded in the “Devadatta” chapter in the fifth fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra. It is like turning black lacquer into white or purifying dirty water by putting a wish-fulfilling gem in it. The Buddha helped a small snake, who was actually a daughter of the dragon king, attain Buddhahood with her present body. From that moment, no one could have the slightest doubt about all men attaining Buddhahood. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra expounds attainment of Buddhahood by all people after the model of enlightenment of women.
Sennichi-ama Gozen Gohenji, A Reply to My Lady Nun Sennichi
[D]uring the eight years when the Buddha expounded the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra on Mt. Sacred Eagle, all the bodhisattvas reached the stage of Wonderful Enlightenment, attaining the same Perfect Enlightenment of Śākyamuni Buddha and perceiving everything clearly as if they looked all around on the summit of Mt. Sumeru or the sun rose at dawn of a long night. Therefore, it cannot be that they do not intend to spread the Lotus Sūtra or bear the suffering of the practicer of the sūtra even without the word of the Buddha. They have thus made a vow, “We will not spare even our lives; we will treasure only the supreme way;” or “Without sparing our lives, we will disseminate this sūtra throughout the land.”
Although we have not cultivated virtue in the past, if we had not been born in the Latter Age of Degeneration, the age when the Wonderful Dharma is transmitted, it would have been difficult to attain the Way of liberation even though eternities passed by.
Devadatta, who committed the Three Rebellious Sins, as well as Rāhula, who observed the 250 precepts, similarly attained Buddhahood through the Lotus Sūtra. King Wonderful Adornment, who was attached to Brahmanism, as well as Śāriputra, a man who held the right view, were guaranteed future Buddhahood. This is what is meant by “If there are those who hear the Dharma, not even one will fail to attain Buddhahood.”
