Faith does not require understanding, but that doesn’t mean understanding shouldn’t be sought. That is the role of study in the Buddhist triad of faith, practice and study. As we study, we learn. As we learn, we deepen our understanding. All of this nourishes our faith and allows that faith to grow and flower and bear fruit. For me, this is illustrated in the prediction of future Buddhahood offered to Śāriputra in Chapter 3, A Parable:
“Śāriputra! Although the world in which he appears will not be an evil one, that Buddha will expound the teaching of the Three Vehicles according to his original vow.”
Why would Śāriputra need to teach the Three Vehicles when we learned in Chapter 2 that there is no vehicle other than the One Buddha-Vehicle? Many times when I cycled through my 32 Days of the Lotus Sutra I stumbled here. None of the other predictions of future Buddhahood of the śrāvakas includes this detail.
A year ago, after reading this chapter more than 60 times, I came to a realization. (The remainder of this essay summarizes what I wrote here.)
In Chapter 3, Śāriputra explains that he considered himself a śrāvaka and the teaching he had received before as somehow different from what Bodhisattvas were given. This misunderstanding – the thought that he was taught a lesser teaching – is Śāriputra’s. Thinking there are three separate vehicles mistakes what Śākyamuni did, what other Buddhas are doing and what Śāriputra will do when he becomes a Buddha.
Śākyamuni’s original vow is discussed toward the end of Chapter 2, Expedients.
“I thought:
‘If I extol only the Buddha-Vehicle,
The living beings [of the six regions] will not believe it
Because they are too much enmeshed in sufferings to think of it.
If they do not believe but violate the Dharma,
They will fall into the three evil regions.
I would rather enter into Nirvana quickly
Than expound the Dharma to them.’
“But, thinking of the past Buddhas who employed expedients,
I changed my mind and thought:
‘I will expound the Dharma which I attained
By dividing it into the Three Vehicles.’ ”
Chih-i offers this explanation in his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra:
“Chu-i Yung-san (Abiding in the one and employing the three) is the function related to the Subtlety of Benefits. This is spoken of by Chih-i in terms of the Buddha’s original vow. The Buddha vowed to expound the Three Vehicles in the mundane world. This original vow of the Buddha denotes ‘abiding in the one,’ and expounding the Three Vehicles denotes ‘employing the three.’ ” (Vol. 2, p446)
Śāriputra, like all Buddhas, will abide in the one while he employs the three.
As we are told in Chapter 2:
“I showed to them
The teaching of the Three Vehicles as an expedient
In order to save them from various attachments.”
My misunderstanding, like Śāriputra’s, was in not appreciating the nature of the One Buddha Vehicle. There is no second or third vehicle outside the One Buddha Vehicle.
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