Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and concludes the first of eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra.
We begin with an expanded explanation of why the 5,000 people walked off when the Buddha agreed to teach the Dharma:
They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.
Blind to their own faults and unable to heal themselves, they miss out:
Any Śrāvaka or Bodhisattva
Who hears even a gāthā
Of this sūtra which I am to expound
Will undoubtedly become a Buddha.There is only one teaching, that is, the One Vehicle
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or a third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teach expediently.
And…
I attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
The Great Vehicle, the Truth of Equality.
If I lead even a single man
By the Lesser Vehicle,
I shall be accused of stinginess.
It is not good at all to do this.
The Buddha’s vow:
Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.
Meanwhile, so many of us are chasing our tail:
Śāriputra, know this!
Seeing with the eyes of the Buddha
The living beings of the six regions, I thought:
“They are poor, and devoid of merits and wisdom.
They incessantly suffer because they are taken
To the rough road of birth and death.
They cling to the five desires
Just as a yak loves its tail.
They are occupied with greed and cravings,
And blinded by them.They do not seek the Buddha who has great power.
They do not seek the Way to eliminate sufferings.
They are deeply attached to wrong views.
They are trying to stop suffering by suffering.”
Normally, I’d cut this off here. But having recently completed Lotus World: An Illustrated Guide to the Gohonzon by Ryuei Michael McCormick, I better understood the role of the gods who are represented in the Gohonzon.
When the Buddha attained enlightenment we wondered, “How shall I save them.”
On that occasion King Brahman,
Heavenly-King Śakra,
The four heavenly world-guardian kings,
Great-Freedom God, and other gods [of each world],
And thousands of millions of their attendants
Joined their hands together [towards me] respectfully,
Bowed to me,
And asked me to turn the wheel of the Dharma.
He opted to do as other Buddhas had done, use expedients.
The Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters
Appeared before me when I had thought this.
They consoled me with their brahma voices:
“Good, Śākyamuni, Highest Leading Teacher!
You attained the unsurpassed Dharma.
You have decided to expound it with expedients
After the examples of the past Buddhas.
We also expound the Three Vehicles
To the living beings
Although we attained
The most wonderful and excellent Dharma.
Men of little wisdom wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle.
They do not believe that they will become Buddhas.
Therefore, we show them
Various fruits of enlightenment.
Although we expound the Three Vehicles,
Our purpose is to teach only Bodhisattvas.”
That led to the first turning of the wheel and the words Nirvāṇa, Arhat, Dharma, and Saṃgha Came into existence.
Śāriputra, know this!
Then I saw many sons of mine,
Thousands of billions in number,
Seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha.
They came to me respectfully.
They had already heard
Expedient teachings
From the past Buddhas.I thought:
“I appeared in this world
In order to expound my wisdom.
Now is the time to do this.”
Which brings us full circle:
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!
