[I]n the fourth chapter of the Lotus Sutra, “Faith and Understanding,” there appears the famous parable of the rich man and his poor son. The older rich man represents Shakyamuni Buddha and the poor son represents nihilistic Small Vehicle Buddhists. The story portrays the rich man as running a big business; when he is on his deathbed, even a king and his ministers gather around him. Some think that the fact that the man is very rich is intended as praise for the virtue and authority of Shakyamuni Buddha. But based on the fact that the Lotus Sutra portrays a man of wealth, we can imagine the kind of society to which its composers may have belonged: a society of commercial production. This, however, can be said not only of the group that produced the Lotus Sutra but of Mahayana Buddhists in general.

Small Vehicle Buddhists also had connections with men of property as sponsors or supporters, and maintained the sangha with their aid, but they rejected secular occupations personally, secluding themselves within monasticism. In contrast, Mahayana Buddhists situated themselves within society and probably affirmed the activities of everyday life. we can imagine the development of a commercial economy to have been the background for the rise of Mahayana Buddhism. From about 50 CE the Kushana dynasty, centered in northern India, prospered with the help of trade with Rome and had a money-based economy and commercial production. The Mahayana Buddhist movement developed aggressively during that time.

Thus, Mahayana Buddhism or Mahayana Buddhists were closely related to commercial production, and that relationship appears in the Lotus Sutra. One piece of evidence for this is the way in which the Buddha is described as being like a wealthy man of property in Chapter 4. Furthermore, although there are no direct references to commercial production in the Lotus Sutra, we might think of the words that affirm secular life in Chapter 19 and elsewhere from the same perspective.