Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

We begin with a definition of arrogance – the 5,000 who left the gathering when Sakyamuni announced that there was something more than the lesser vehicles, something equal to the wisdom of the Buddha still to be taught.

Some bhiksus and bhiksunis
Were arrogant.
Some upasakas were self-conceited.
Some upasikas were unfaithful.
Those four kinds of devotees
Were five thousand in number.

They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.

Sakyamuni expounded the “teaching of Nirvana to the dull people.” His purpose: “to cause them to enter the way to the wisdom of the Buddha.” He didn’t promise Buddhahood; now he does.

Any Sravaka or Bodhisattva
Who hears even a gatha
Of this sutra which I am to expound
Will undoubtedly become a Buddha.

There is only one teaching, that is, the One Vehicle
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or a third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teach expediently.

It is hard to fully grasp what is happening:

Know this, Sariputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

Not some reward in a pure world or a distant heaven. A teaching so that all living beings can “become exactly as I am.”

We can imagine what enlightenment is like reading what Sakyamuni saw at first:

Sariputra, know this!
Seeing with the eyes of the Buddha
The living beings of the six regions, I thought:
They incessantly suffer because they are taken
To the rough road of birth and death.
They cling to the five desires
Just as a yak loves its tail.
They are occupied with greed and cravings,
And blinded by them.
They do not seek the Buddha who has great power.
They do not seek the Way to eliminate sufferings.
They are deeply attached to wrong views.
They are trying to stop suffering by suffering.

My great compassion was aroused towards them.
I for the first time sat at the place of enlightenment[,]
[And attained enlightenment].
For three weeks afterwards,
I gazed on the tree,
Or walked about, thinking:
“The wisdom I obtained is
The most wonderful and excellent.
The living beings [of the six regions]
Are dull, attached to pleasures,
And blinded by stupidity.
How shall I save them?

It took the urging of King Brahman, Heavenly-King Sakra, the four heavenly world-guardian kings, Great-Freedom God, and other gods [of each world], and thousands of millions of their attendants to convince Sakyamuni that he could turn the wheel of the Dharma.

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 Dhanna to them.

But, thinking of the past Buddhas
who employed expedients,
I changed my mind and thought:
I will expound the Dharma which l attained
By dividing it into the Three Vehicles.

And so he expounded the Dharma “according to the capacities of all living beings.”

That was my first turning
Of the wheel of the Dharma.
Thus the words: Nirvana, Arhat, Dharma,
and Sangha
Came into existence.

But this was not enough.

Sariputra, know this!
Then I saw many sons of mine,
Thousands of billions in number,
Seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha.
They came to me respectfully.
They had already heard
Expedient teachings
From the past Buddhas.

I thought:
I appeared in this world
In order to expound my wisdom.
Now is the time to do this.

We hear this now and we will hear this again and again in the Lotus Sutra:

All of you, do not doubt me!
I am the King of the Dharma.
I say to you:
I will expound the teaching of the One Vehicle
Only to Bodhisattvas.
There is no Sravaka among my disciples.

Study this:

Those who do not study the Dharma
Cannot understand it.
You have already realized
The fact that the Buddhas, the World-Teachers,
employ expedients,
According to the capacities of all living beings.
Know that, when you remove your doubts,
And when you have great joy,
You will become Buddhas!