With each reading of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, I am encouraged by the sutra’s embrace of diversity. One Dharma rains on all manner of different species, and as we take faith in the Lotus Sutra and practice and grow, nourished by that universal rain, we obtain different flowers and fruits.

We are not all the same. There is no reason to expect uniformity in those who take faith in the Lotus Sutra. We cannot expect flowering herbs to become towering oak trees. That’s just not going to happen.

When I was still a member of Soka Gakkai I would frequently hear whispers about this or that leader’s practice or, more often, lack of practice. Such gossip undermined everyone’s faith. Today, I’ve moved so far in the other direction that I now argue that any sincere practice will have the same benefit as any formal ritual.

In Nichiren’s Gassui Gosho, A Letter on Menstruation, Nichiren explains:

“You may chant the whole twenty-eight chapters, one chapter, one paragraph, one sentence or even one character of the Lotus Sūtra a day. Or, you may chant the daimoku, ‘Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō,’ just once in a day or once in your whole life. Even if you may never chant the daimoku yourself, you may rejoice at hearing others chant it just once in your whole life. Or you may rejoice with others who rejoice at hearing a voice chanting the daimoku. The joy of the daimoku chanting transmitted 50 times this way from person to person, will grow weaker steadily until in the last fiftieth person it will be as uncertain as the mind of a two- or three-year-old baby or as unpredictable as a horse or a cow, which cannot tell the difference between head and tail. Nevertheless, the merit of such people is one hundred thousand billion times greater than that of those whose wisdom is as great as Śāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, Mañjuśrī, and Maitreya, but put faith in sūtras other than the Lotus Sūtra and memorize them all.”

Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, p22-24

I know of more than one couple where one person practices formally and the other is supportive of the partner’s practice. In the verses at the end of Chapter 2 a lengthy list of such people are promised wonderful benefits.

“Those who bowed to the image of the Buddha,
Or just joined their hands together towards it,
Or raised only one hand towards it,
Or bent their head a little towards it
And offered the bending to it,
Became able to see innumerable Buddhas one after another.
They attained unsurpassed enlightenment,
Saved countless living beings,
And entered into the Nirvana-without-remainder
Just as fire dies out when wood is gone.”

I am the master of only myself. Your practice is yours. Mine is mine. I encourage everyone to bathe in the rain of the Dharma and allow the seed of enlightenment to sprout and grow and eventually bear its unique fruit.

When the rain of the Dharma falls in Chapter 5, we are told that the “roots, stems, branches and leaves” were watered. This is more than a botany lesson. As Nikkyō Niwano explains in Buddhism for Today:

“Roots, stalks, twigs, and leaves indicate faith, precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Roots are the most important part of plants. Without roots, they cannot grow stalks, twigs, or leaves. Therefore ‘roots’ means faith. One cannot keep the precepts without faith. Because of keeping the precepts, one can enter into the mental state of meditation and can also obtain wisdom.

“Conversely, however strong the roots may be, they will eventually die if the twigs and leaves wither or if the stalks are cut. In the same way, if man does not have wisdom, his faith will become corrupt. In short, in believing in a religion, man begins with faith and attains wisdom through the precepts and meditation. However, these four steps of his religious practice are always interrelated and exist together. When any one of the four steps is lacking, his religious practice cannot be perfect, and it will not progress to the next stage. Just as a tree may be big or little, superior, middle, or low, so different people are large- or small-minded, wise or ignorant.”

When the roots, stems, branches and leaves work together the plants bear fruit and this helps nourish others. Gene Reeves offers this explanation in Stories from the Lotus Sutra:

“From the point of view of the Sutra, this earth is the buddha land of Shakyamuni Buddha. This world, and especially this world, is Shakyamuni Buddha’s world. But the Buddha is not some sort of all-powerful God ruling the universe. The Buddha is embodied, made real, in the Buddha-deeds of ordinary living beings. The Buddha invites us to be partners with him in transforming this world into a pure buddha land, where there is a kind of harmony of beauty enabling living beings to flourish together in many different healthy ways, all equally depending on the Dharma and on one another.

“[Chapter 5] of the Lotus Sutra encourages us to think of the large picture and to be grateful that we are nourished by the Dharma raining on us. But it is also important to recognize that the Dharma can be rained down by us. In Zen and Western Thought the famous Zen scholar Masao Abe wrote that ‘the greatest debt without doubt is to my three teachers. … Without the Dharma rain they poured upon me, a rain which nourished me for many years, even this humble bunch of flowers could not have been gathered.’

“In other words, to follow the Buddha Way, the Dharma, is to be nourished by the Dharma, but it is also to nourish others – many kinds of others. In still other words, to follow the Buddha Way of transforming living beings and purifying buddha lands is to become a buddha oneself, at least in small but very important ways.”

The goal of faith in the Lotus Sutra is to approach an understanding of the equality and differences of all things. This is especially true of Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs.

As the Buddha explains at the beginning of the chapter:

“I, the Tathāgata, am the King of the Dharma. Nothing I say is false. I expound all teachings with expedients by my wisdom in order to lead all living beings to the stage of knowing all things.”

But as the Buddha later explains, a single teaching won’t fulfill his goal:

“The various teachings I expound are of the same content, of the same taste. Those who emancipate themselves from the bonds of existence, from illusions, and from birth and death, will finally obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things. But those who hear or keep my teachings or read or recite the sutras in which my teachings are expounded, or act according to my teachings, do not know the merits that they will be able to obtain by these practices. Why is that? It is because only I know their capacities, appearances, entities and natures.”

The goal, we learn, is to inspire the faith needed to open the gate to the Buddha’s wisdom. As the Buddha explains in gāthās:

“I am honorable, and my wisdom is profound.
Therefore, I have been reticent on this truth,
That is, the reality of all things, for a long time.
I did not make haste to expound it to all living beings.

“If they had heard it without expedients,
Men of ignorance would have had doubts,
And lost their way [to enlightenment] forever,
Though men of wisdom would have understood it by faith.”

And once we enter that gate, we are promised that our faith will be rewarded:

“Those who hear the Dharma from me
Will reach various stages
Of enlightenment
According to their capacities.”

Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Lecture on the Lotus Sutra offers an interesting take on the equality and differences of all things and variations that result according to our capacities:

“No longer is there a fundamental difference between the enlightenment of people and the enlightenment of Buddhas. The Buddha is showing us the path to an enlightenment that is exactly like that of all Buddhas. This is really what I think is remarkable. There is a way for us as common mortals to become enlightened just as the Buddha was, though I think it is also important to realize that our own individual manifestation of that enlightenment will perhaps look different than the Buddha’s. In other words, my enlightenment will not be an enlightenment of sitting under a tree, it might be an enlightenment of working with sick people. … It can manifest in any number of ways, not dependent upon our occupation or unique skills, but on our innate capacity, on the truth of the condition of Buddhahood being always present in our lives.”

One of the hidden lessons of the Lotus Sutra is the 10 realms – the six realms of transmigration and the four higher realms of Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva and Buddha. We are first introduced to these by the light of the Buddha in Chapter 1 and in Chapter 4 we learn of the śrāvaka realm. As Nichiren writes in Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Venerable One:

“[I]t is stated in the Lotus Sūtra (chapter four, “Understanding by Faith”) that four great Śrāvakas such as Kāśyapa rejoiced in their understanding of the teaching of the Lotus Sūtra enabling śrāvakas to attain Buddhahood, and reported to the Buddha that they had been given invaluable jewels without asking for them. This represents the attainment of Buddhahood by the śrāvaka realm contained in our minds.

“Not only the śrāvaka but also Śākyamuni Buddha is within us. For, we encounter such a statement like this in the second chapter of the Lotus Sūtra: “It was My (Śākyamuni’s) original vow to let all beings become like Myself. My vow has now been fulfilled. I have helped them all enter the way of the Buddha.” Does this not mean, that Śākyamuni Buddha, who has attained Perfect Enlightenment, is our flesh and blood, and all the merits He has accumulated before and after attaining Buddhahood are our bones?”

Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 146

With the revelation of the Buddha’s immeasurable lifespan in Chapter 16, the reader of the Lotus Sutra is brought to the realization that we all possess Buddha nature. As Gene Reeves explains in Stories of the Lotus Sutra:

“While the term ‘buddha-nature’ is never used in the Dharma Flower Sutra, this is a good example of the use of the basic idea behind the concept that would be developed after the Dharma Flower Sutra was compiled. One way we can understand the term is as a kind of ‘power’ that makes it possible for any one of us to be a bodhisattva for someone else, a strength that makes it possible for us to share in doing the Buddha’s work of awakening all the living, a strength that makes it possible for us to go far beyond our normal expectations.

“Buddha-nature, the potential to become a buddha, is not something we have to earn; it is something that all of us have received naturally, something that cannot be destroyed or taken away from us. It is, as the parable in Chapter 4 teaches, our inheritance.”

As Reeves points out, “[T]here is no such thing as a ‘hopeless case.’ Everyone, without exception, has within himself or herself an inner strength, a great power, to flourish in some way.”

This is where faith grows. We are assured repeatedly that the hell we experience one day can be transformed into the heavenly realm, that we can gain great merit by being bodhisattvas helping others. With faith that we have no fixed nature, we gain unlimited freedom.

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.”