In November of 2021, a group of people gathered in Dallas to witness the return of John F. Kennedy Jr., whom they believed would re-install Donald Trump as president. JFK Jr. died in a plane crash in 1999, and he didn’t return on Nov. 2 or Nov. 22 or any other day. But that didn’t discourage those who believed Michael Brian Protzman was a prophet.

According to a Nov. 8 story in the online news website Vice:

“When one of Protzman’s followers asked: ‘Are we putting too much faith in this man?’, she was immediately shut down for her ‘lack of faith.’ Those defending Protzman spoke with a religious zeal about their belief and faith in him.”

This is an excellent example of what Nikkyō Niwano warns against in Buddhism for Today:

“Faith (shin) is the working of one’s emotions, and discernment (ge) that of one’s reason. Though people often say that a religion or faith ought to be believed in instead of argued about, it is very dangerous to believe blindly in a religion without having any knowledge of it.”

What true faith requires, Nikkyō Niwano explains, is discernment. Unless a religion combines both, it does not have true power.

“A religion cannot be said to be true unless it combines faith and discernment. The Buddha’s teachings can be understood by reason. They do not demand blind, unreasoning faith. We must understand the Buddha’s teachings by listening to preaching and by reading the sutras. As we advance in our discernment of these teachings, faith is generated spontaneously.”

This plays an important part in Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith. As Nikkyō Niwano says:

“In [Chapter 4], we were taught that we must not have the servile idea that we have the capacity to understand the Buddha’s teachings only to a certain limited extent. We should abandon such trifling discriminations and devote ourselves to hearing and receiving the Law. …

“Even if we have only a shallow understanding of the Buddha’s teachings or can practice only a part of them, this is never useless. Every effort will be surely rewarded with the merits of the Law. But we should not be satisfied with this reward. We must always desire and endeavor to deepen our understanding and to elevate ourselves further. Thus, we can use shallow faith and discernment as the first step in advancing ourselves to a higher level of faith and discernment.”

This topic will return in Chapter 16, but for now it is important to remember that each of us, as believers in the Lotus Sutra, are tasked with helping all of the world’s poor sons. Nikkyō Niwano puts it this way:

“We cannot be said to have actually practiced the spirit of the Lotus Sutra unless we save as many of these poor sons as possible. The only thing we can do to save them and lead them is to understand the spirit of the Buddha’s tactful means as illustrated in [Chapter 4].”

Nothing tells you more about the Lotus Sutra’s definition of faith than the fact that the chapter entitled Understanding by Faith does not contain the word faith.

In the first three chapters of the Lotus Sutra, the necessity of understanding by faith is underscored but not explained.

“Śāriputra, know this!
The Buddhas do not speak differently.
Have great power of faith
In the Dharma expounded by the Buddhas!
As a rule, the World-Honored Ones expound the true teaching
Only after a long period [of expounding expedient teachings].”

We are warned repeatedly that the true teaching is difficult to understand. After all, the goal is not simply personal nirvāṇa. This was too much for the old men living the life of wisdom:

“You expounded the wisdom of the Buddha[, that is, the Great Vehicle] with expedients, but we did not aspire for that vehicle because, when we had obtained the day’s pay of Nirvāṇa from the Buddha, we thought that we had already obtained enough.”

I have great affinity for these old men. I can imagine hearing that the goal posts have been moved. I’m happy where I am. Why trudge on further? Of course, the Buddha will reveal that Magic City later. For now, we are learning how faith and practice move together, and the Buddha’s role.

“By his wisdom the rich man succeeded
In leading his son into his household.
Twenty years after that
He had his son manage his house.”

And later:

“The rich man knew
That his son was base and mean.
Therefore, he made him nobler
With expedients,
And then gave him
All his treasures.”

And finally:

“The Buddhas are the Kings of the Dharma
They are free from āsravas, from cause and effect.
The Buddhas practice patience
In order to save inferior people.
They expound the Dharma according to the capacities
Of the ordinary people who are attached to forms.”

For T’ian T’ai, the Rich Man’s transformation of his Poor Son follows five sequential events – providing, inviting, encouraging, purifying and revealing. These events correspond to five flavors T’ian T’ai used to classify the Buddha’s teachings.

For the Poor Son, the first step of faith was accepting the offer of a job at a double-day’s pay. And through his daily work, his faith grew – “After a while the father noticed that his son had become more at ease and peaceful, that he wanted to improve himself, and that he felt ashamed of the thought that he was base and mean.” In the end, the Poor Son was not frightened at the prospect of taking over the family business. He was happy: “I never dreamed of having this store of treasures myself. It has come to me unexpectedly.”

As the Introduction of the Lotus Sutra explains:

“Faith appears in an honest heart. Neither logic nor reason can awaken faith in us. Faith grows beyond reason when we encounter someone beyond our capacities, or when we unexpectedly touch something absolute in our lives or in the cosmos.”

Your house is on fire. Even with smoke billowing out of the windows most people don’t pay attention to the warnings. Thich Nhat Hanh explains it this way in Peaceful Action, Open Heart:

“When we hear this story [of the burning house], we may think it’s just a children’s story and that it doesn’t really have anything to do with our lives. But if we look more deeply into our minds and the state of mind of those around us, we see that this parable expresses the truth about our situation. We’re full of craving, always running after things. We want to become the director or president of a company, we want to buy a beautiful car or a nice house, or go on an exotic vacation. We don’t see that the world we’re living in, driven by craving and delusion, is like a burning house.”

And this brings suffering, which is the first Truth taught by the Buddha. As the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra explains:

“From the Buddhist viewpoint, suffering is an inescapable fact of life, as illustrated in the dictum, ‘All existence is suffering.’ Many people think this view is too pessimistic, but that is not the case. The dictum is presented as a bare fact, neither good or bad. Biological suffering is a part of life. The question is, What can we do about it?”

Re-read that last question: What can we do about it? The old man in the Parable of the Burning House knows he’s strong enough to carry his children to safety, but he wouldn’t be able to save them all. As Nikkyō Niwano explains in Buddhism for Today, the Buddha purposely doesn’t use his divine powers but instead inspires us to act by luring us with the things we desire.

“To imagine attractive playthings to oneself means that one has already entered into the mental state of śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, or bodhisattva. To run out of the burning house means that one is already seeking after the Buddha’s teachings. When living beings remove illusions from their minds, they can immediately escape from the burning house of suffering in this world.

“However, they do not yet think of being saved from the burning house. Their minds are filled with the desire to obtain one of the attractive carts … . Then they ask the Buddha for these carts. This means that each asks for his own enlightenment. Then quite unexpectedly, beyond the enlightenment of the three vehicles, they see the supreme teaching, that is, the enlightenment of the One Buddha Vehicle (the great white-bullock cart), shining brilliantly.

“The Buddha really wishes to give this great cart to all living beings. So he gives the same thing unsparingly and equally to anyone who has advanced to the mental state of seeking supreme enlightenment.”

That mental state of seeking supreme enlightenment is called faith. It takes only a single moment of faith to start us on our way through the gate and to safety.

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.