Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month covered why expedients were necessary, we come to the truth of the reality of all things.
The Buddhas’ sons who complete the practice of the Way
Will become Buddhas in their future lives.I expounded the teaching of the Three Vehicles
Only as an expedient.
All the other World-Honored Ones also
Expound the teaching of the One Vehicle [with expedients].The great multitude present here
Shall remove their doubts.
The Buddhas do not speak differently.
There is only one vehicle, not a second.The number of the Buddhas who passed away
During the past innumerable kalpas was
Hundreds of thousands of billions,
Uncountable.All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The truth of the reality of all things
With various stories of previous lives, parables and similes,
That is to say, with innumerable expedients.All those World-Honored Ones expounded
The teaching of the One Vehicle,
And led innumerable living beings [with expedients]
Into the Way to Buddhahood.All those Great Saintly Masters
Who knew the deep desires
Of the gods, men, and other living beings
Of all the worlds,
Revealed the Highest Truth
With various expedients.
In browsing my quotes looking for something to say on this point, I wandered off into something else I’ve been thinking about: Why we chant. That brought me to this quote from Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1:
There is a story told of Nichiren on his way to his second exile, his trip to Sado Island. It is said that the water was so rough that all those on board the boat feared for their lives. According to the story, Nichiren took one of the oars and with the blade wrote the Odaimoku onto the surface of the water in order to calm the sea.
Whether or not you believe this happened exactly as it is told, there is certain documentary support for believing that he actually did attempt to do this. Still, the fact of the matter is that Nichiren placed all of his faith in the power of the Lotus Sutra. We too can cast the Odaimoku upon the ocean of our suffering, and with our practice we can calm the waters. We can change ourselves so that we can safely and confidently navigate the rough seas in which we may find ourselves.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1
And this plays into news I learned yesterday that the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art is making high-resolution digital copies of works in its collection of 441,175 items available online. Among that offering is Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s (1797–1861) woodblock print “A Vision of Prayer on the Waves”
