I’ve been corresponding with a new Nichiren Shu follower who comes from a Pure Land tradition. In the course of explaining Nichiren’s objection to the nenbutsu I realized a question I had: Why do those who believe in the Lotus Sutra accept the concept that the Eternal Buddha Śākyamuni’s teaching progresses through three stages — Age of True Dharma, Age of Semblance Dharma and finally the Latter Age of the Dharma, mappō? Other Buddhas, yes. These stages are cited in the Lotus Sutra. But the Eternal Śākyamuni’s teaching?

The arrival of mappō was Honen’s rationalization for abandoning Śākyamuni for Amida. Nichiren countered this. As Jacqueline Stone in her Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism writes:

[The concept of human capacity], often invoked in the context of mappō discourse, refers to innate receptivity or capacity for achieving salvation through a particular teaching. “Capacity” forms an element central to the exclusive nenbutsu teaching of Honen, who argued that the superiority of a teaching depends not on its depth of philosophical content but on whether or not people can actually practice it; hence he maintained that the nenbutsu, readily accessible even to those of limited capacity who predominate in this evil age, is superior. For Nichiren, as for Hōnen, “capacity” was to be understood in universal terms; being advocates of exclusive practices, neither man focused on individual differences in receptivity but maintained that all persons can be saved through a single teaching. However, Nichiren did not base his argument for the superiority of the Lotus Sūtra solely on ease of practice. The Lotus Sūtra is the seed of Buddhahood; that is, encountering the Lotus Sūtra is the condition that enables salvation. Nichiren described the people of the Final Dharma age as “not yet having good [roots]” (honmi uzen), that is, without prior connection to the Lotus Sūtra that would ensure their enlightenment. Thus, persons of this age should, he said, all be instructed in the Lotus Sūtra; whether they accept it or slander it, they will in either case receive the seed of Buddhahood and eventually become Buddhas. Nichiren vehemently rejected the position of exclusive nenbutsu adherents, that the Lotus should be set aside as too profound for the benighted people of the Final Dharma age. He maintained, with Chan-jan, that “the more true the teaching, the lower the stage [of the practitioners it can bring to enlightenment].” It was in part to stress the ability of the Lotus to save even the lowly and sinful that Nichiren would refer to himself, later in life, as “the son of lowly people” and born of a caṇḍāla family.” (Page 253)

Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism

What I’m puzzling over is why Nichiren – and especially followers of the Lotus Sutra today – didn’t reject the idea of mappō and instead suggest the whole concept was a skillful device used by the Buddha before the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. Without the question of mappō, we can focus instead on “the more true the teaching, the lower the stage [of the practitioners it can bring to enlightenment]” and the essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

That essential teaching is found in Chapter 16 after Śākyamuni reveals that he was enlightened in a past so distant that it cannot be counted and will continue for a period twice that:

All this time I have been living in this Sahā-World, and teaching [the living beings of this world] by expounding the Dharma to them. I also have been leading and benefiting the living beings of one hundred thousand billion nayuta asaṃkhya worlds outside this world.

“Good men! During this time I gave various names to myself, for instance, the Burning-Light Buddha. I also said, ‘That Buddha entered into Nirvāṇa.’ I did all these things only as expedients.

“Good men! When some people came to me, I saw the strength of the power of their faith and of the other faculties of theirs with the eyes of the Buddha. Then I named myself differently, and told them of the duration of my life differently, according to their capacities. l also said to them, ‘I shall enter into Nirvāṇa.’ I expounded the Wonderful Dharma with these various expedients, and caused the living beings to rejoice.

“Good men! When I saw that some people of little virtue and of much defilement were seeking the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle, I told them, ‘I renounced my family when I was young, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [forty and odd years ago].’ In reality I became the Buddha in the remotest past as I previously stated. I told them this as an expedient to teach them, to lead them into the Way to Buddhahood.

“Good men! All the sūtras that I expounded [hitherto] were for the purpose of saving all living beings. I told the stories of my previous lives [in some sūtras,] and the stories of the previous lives of other Buddhas [in other sūtras]. I showed my replicas [in some sūtras,] and my transformations [in other sūtras]. I described my deeds [in some sūtras,] and the deeds of others [in other sūtras]. All that I say is true, not false, because I see the triple world as it is. I see that the triple world is the world in which the living beings have neither birth nor death, that is to say, do not appear or disappear, that it is the world in which I do not appear or from which l do not disappear, that it is not real or unreal, and that it is not as it seems or as it does not seem. I do not see the triple world in the same way as [the living beings of] the triple world do. I see all this clearly and infallibly. The living beings are various in their natures, desires, deeds, thoughts and opinions. Therefore, I expounded the dharma with various stories of previous lives, with various parables, similes and discourses, in order to cause all living beings to plant the roots of good. I have never stopped doing what I should do. As I said before, it is very long since I became the Buddha. The duration of my life is innumerable, asaṃkhya kalpas. I am always here. I shall never pass away.

And again in gāthās:

[This] pure world of mine is indestructible.
But the [perverted] people think:
“It is full of sorrow, fear, and other sufferings.
It will soon burn away.”

Because of their evil karmas,
These sinful people will not be able
To hear even the names of the Three Treasures
During asaṃkhya kalpas.

To those who have accumulated merits,
And who are gentle and upright,
And who see me living here,
Expounding the Dharma,
I say:
“The duration of my life is immeasurable.”
To those who see me after a long time,
I say, “It is difficult to see a Buddha.”

I can do all this by the power of my wisdom.
The light of my wisdom knows no bound.
The duration of my life is innumerable kalpas.
I obtained this longevity by ages of practices.

All of you, wise men!
Have no doubts about this!
Remove your doubts, have no more!
My words are true, not false.

The physician, who sent a man expediently
To tell his perverted sons
Of the death of their father in order to cure them,
Was not accused of falsehood although he was still alive.

In the same manner, I am the father of the world.
I am saving all living beings from suffering.
Because they are perverted,
I say that I pass away even though I shall not.
If they always see me,
They will become arrogant and licentious,
And cling to the five desires
So much that they will fall into the evil regions.

I know who is practicing the Way and who is not.
Therefore I expound various teachings
To all living beings
According to their capacities.

I am always thinking:
“How shall I cause all living beings
To enter into the unsurpassed Way
And quickly become Buddhas?”

In this essential teaching of the Lotus Sutra, all talk of stages of the Buddha’s teaching are revealed to be nothing but skillful means used to cause all living beings to plant the roots of good. To suggest otherwise negates or at the very least diminishes the Eternal Buddha’s teaching in the Lotus Sutra.