[Another] lesson that we learn from chapter 4 is that an excellent way to progress from faith to discernment is revealed here. The four śrāvakas listened to the Parable of the Burning House and understood it. They not only thought that they had understood it but demonstrated their understanding to the Buddha in another parable. Not only to receive the teaching passively but also to announce actively what we have been able to realize is a very good way both to deepen our discernment and to elevate our faith. Moreover, it also helps to deepen others’ discernment and elevate their faith. We must not overlook the importance of telling others of our own religious experiences, as demonstrated in this chapter.

We must not feel that this is merely a story set in the remote past. The great compassion of the Buddha suggests that, although the other band of śrāvakas left the assembly, they would also become buddhas named Universal Light Tathāgata, like those who heard the Buddha’s proclamation through Kāśyapa and further endeavored to practice the way to buddhahood. This is the Buddha’s assurance that if we enter the path of his teachings through the Lotus Sutra and accumulate the practices of the bodhisattva-way, we too will surely become Universal Light Tathāgata. This is the meaning of so many people being predicted to become buddhas with the same title, Universal Light Tathāgata. The designation “Universal Light Tathāgata” means a person who emits light from his body and by it brightens all of society. We often see people around us like Universal Light Tathāgata or his followers. Somehow just seeing or talking with them makes us feel more cheerful. Such tathāgatas are necessary in our lives in the sahā-world. We ought at least become the followers of Universal Light Tathāgata, who can brighten our surroundings.

[Another] important thing to learn from chapter 4 is that those who are fortunate enough to have encountered the Lotus Sutra and have been able to understand it and believe in it can fly straight to the Buddha’s arms. However, today’s world, in the evil ages of the five decays, is filled with “poor sons.” 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 this chapter. At the same time, we must follow the Buddha’s example in using tactful means; we must not forget that to follow another’s good example is a shortcut to reaching the goal.

[T]he Buddha teaches us through the Parable of Digging in a Tableland that one who practices the Lotus Sutra must earnestly seek after the Law with hope and unremitting zeal. A man who is extremely thirsty searches for water by digging in a tableland. So long as he sees dry earth, he knows that water is still far off. Continuing his labor unceasingly, in time he sees moist earth and then gradually reaches mud. Then he knows that water is near at hand. So he digs still more earnestly, without being discouraged or doubting. Bodhisattvas are like this. If they have not heard, nor understood, nor been able to observe this Law-Flower Sutra, they are still far from Perfect Enlightenment. But if they hear, understand, ponder, and observe it, they are near Perfect Enlightenment.

Once we have known the Lotus Sutra, we never have to be at a loss as to what to do. If we give up the sutra after only a little practice of it, as though starting to dig somewhere else because water does not appear immediately, we cannot realize the sutra, just as we cannot quench our thirst by digging only a little. The Buddha teaches here that if we endeavor patiently to attain Perfect Enlightenment, just as when we continue to dig unceasingly, we can assuredly reach enlightenment, just as we can reach the mud. This is the sixth essential point of this chapter.

[After abandoning a servile spirit,] the second mental attitude that we learn from chapter 4 is to maintain both faith and discernment toward the Lotus Sutra. Without both, we cannot fly surely to the Buddha’s arms. We are liable to deviate from the right course, either to a wrong one or to a blind alley in human life. If this should happen to us, we need to read the Lotus Sutra over again. In that way we can be sure of finding the way to return our lives to the right course, because the Lotus Sutra includes teachings that are applicable to people in all situations; we can come to our senses by beginning with any portion of the sutra. This is how we can escape from blind alleys in human life.

[The Buddha] preaches his teachings according to the mental capacity of his listeners. This the tactful way of the Buddha’s compassion, coinciding with his words: “Whenever living beings come to me, I behold with a Buddha’s eyes all the faculties, keen or dull, of their faith.”

The words “faculties of their faith” refer to the five organs (pañcendriāni, go-kon) that lead man to good conduct — the sense of belief (śraddhendriya, shin-kon), sense of endeavor (vīryendriya, shōjin-kon), sense of memory (smrtīndriya, nen-kon), sense of meditation (samādhīndriya, jōkon), and sense of wisdom (prajñendriya, e-kon). All five are fundamental to our religious lives.

“Sense of belief” means the mind of faith. … [A] religion, unlike intellectual learning, does not enable a believer to have the power to save others as well as himself if he understands it only in theory. When he believes from the depths of his heart, his belief produces power. His faith cannot be said to be true until he attains such a mental state.

“Sense of endeavor” means the spirit of endeavoring purely and incessantly. Faith alone is not enough. Our religious lives cannot be true unless we maintain our faith purely and constantly endeavor so that our religious spirit does not weaken or lose its power.

“Sense of memory” indicates the mind that always focuses upon the Buddha. Practically speaking, of course, it is impossible for us to completely forget the Buddha for even a moment. When a student devotes himself to his studies or when an adult is entirely absorbed in his work, he must concentrate on one object. Doing so accords with the way to buddhahood. While devoting ourselves to a particular object, we reflect, “I am caused to live by the Buddha.” When we complete a difficult task and feel relieved, we thank the Buddha, saying, “How lucky I am! I am protected by the Buddha.” When an evil thought flashes across our mind or we suddenly feel angry, we instantly examine ourselves, thinking, “Is this the way to buddhahood?” The mind that thus keeps the Buddha in mind at all times is “sense of memory.”

“Sense of meditation” implies a determined mind. Once we have faith in a religion, we are never agitated by anything, whatever may happen. We bear patiently all persecution and temptation, and we continue to believe only in one religion. We must constantly maintain such firm determination, never becoming discouraged. We cannot be said to be real people of religion unless we have such a mental attitude.

“Sense of wisdom” means the wisdom that people of religion must maintain. As frequently mentioned in this book, this is not a self-centered wisdom but the true wisdom that we obtain when we perfectly free ourselves from ego and illusion. So long as we have this wisdom, we will not take the wrong way. We can say the same thing of our belief in religion itself, not to mention our daily lives. If we are attached to a selfish, small desire, we are apt to stray toward a mistaken religion. However earnestly we may believe in it, endeavoring to practice its teaching, keeping it in mind, and devoting ourselves to it, we cannot be saved because of its basically wrong teaching, and we sink farther and farther into the world of illusion. There are many instances around us of people following such a course. Although “sense of wisdom” is mentioned as the last of the five organs leading man to good conduct, it should be first in the order in which we enter a religious life.

We must not ignore the following words of the Buddha: “No Māra deeds will be there, and though there are Māra and Māra’s people, they all will protect the Buddha-law.” Māra, or “devil,” includes all creatures that obstruct the righteous way. “Māra’s people” means the followers of the devil. They have such great powers that they may appear in succession before those who endeavor to realize the righteous way, lead them into temptation, and confuse them. These devilish people conspire to obstruct and intimidate those who try to practice the righteous way. They may be likened to a gang of hooligans or racketeers. The power of evil-minded speech and writing is a still greater devil.

A devil and its followers appeared before Sakyamuni Buddha when he was deep in meditation shortly before his enlightenment and tried to throw various obstacles in his way. If he had been an ordinary man, he would have yielded immediately. However, he was able to withstand the temptations, obstructions, and threats by which the devils tested him, and then his enlightenment became unshakable. Judging from the results Sakyamuni Buddha achieved, these devils’ hindrances can even be said to have spurred his enlightenment.

The first mental attitude that we learn from this chapter is to abandon a servile spirit. To think of ourselves as useless is to deny our own buddha-nature, and accordingly it is to deny the Buddha. It is thus an affront to the Buddha.

We should free our minds. We should always tell ourselves, “I can become a buddha too; I am united with the universe.” We should recite this over and over to ourselves. When we recite this wholeheartedly for a set period, thinking of nothing else, we can enter into the state of perfect spiritual concentration. This state makes us acquire increasing confidence. This kind of confidence is quite different from arrogance. To be arrogant means to think one has realized what one has not yet realized, that is, to judge things according to one’s limited discernment.

People who believe in religion only in order to receive divine favors in this world easily retrogress from their stage of development in that faith. This is because they cannot truly understand the eternity of the Buddha’s life, and at the same time the eternity of man’s life. They think only of the present and begin to doubt the teaching or grow tired of it unless clear material merits are manifested. But there are some people who cannot receive such merits in this world because of deep and inextinguishable unfavorable karma from their former lives, even if they have faith in a true religion, purify their minds, and devote themselves to the bodhisattva practice for the benefit of others in society.

Nevertheless, people who can believe in the immortality of the Buddha’s life can also feel confident of their own eternal life. Therefore they can live with self-confidence, realizing, “If we only continue this way, we are sure to extinguish our former karma eventually and will approach the mental state of the Buddha step by step.” Even if they do not immediately recover from illness or become suddenly blessed with tangible wealth, their minds will be composed. Even if they seem to outsiders to be suffering, their minds are free of suffering. This is the attitude adopted by a real believer.