According to Tendai’s “Branches of the Lotus Sutra,” the parables are divided into two portions, the exposition and the explanation of correspondences.

Correspondences for the Parable of the Priceless Gem

Just as when a certain man goes to the house of a friend, gets drunk and falls asleep and does not know that his friend, having to go out on official business, has tied a priceless jewel inside his garment as a present, but goes to another country and undergoes great hardship to get food and clothing, the Buddha, when he was a bodhisattva, taught us to conceive the idea of perfect wisdom, but we soon forgot, neither knowing nor perceiving. Having obtained the arhat-way, we said we had reached nirvana; in the hardship of gaining a living we had contented ourselves with a mere trifle.

Just as the friend who gave the jewel happens to meet him later and, seeing his condition, tells him that he has tied a priceless jewel within the man’s garment and that it is still there, our aspirations after perfect wisdom still remain and were never lost; now the World-Honored One arouses us and says, “That which you have obtained is not final nirvana. For long I have caused you to cultivate the roots of buddha-goodness, and through my skillful means have displayed a form of nirvana. However, you have considered it to be the real nirvana you had obtained.”

Just as the friend urges the man to go and exchange that jewel for what he needs, and do whatever he wants, free from all poverty and shortage, now we know we are really bodhisattvas predicted to attain perfect enlightenment. For this cause we greatly rejoice in our unprecedented gain.

According to Tendai’s “Branches of the Lotus Sutra,” the parables are divided into two portions, the exposition and the explanation of correspondences.

Correspondences for the Parable of the Magic City

Just as the guide, wise and astute, knows well the perilous road, where it is open and where closed, the Tathāgata is the bhiksus’ great leader acquainted with all the distresses, evils, perils, and long-continued processes of mortality, which they must be rid of and removed from.

Just as along the way, the company he leads becomes tired, and the people tell the leader they wish to turn back, if living beings only hear of the One Buddha Vehicle they will not desire to see the Buddha nor wish to approach him, but think that the Buddha way is long and far, and only after long suffering of arduous labor can the end be reached.

It is just as when that leader, in order to give rest to the company, magically makes a great city and after they are rested informs them: “The Place of Jewels is at hand; this city is not real, but only my magic production,” the Buddha, knowing that the minds of living beings are feeble and low, by his skillful means, when they are on their way, to give them rest preaches the two stages of nirvana. If those beings dwell in these two stages, then the Tathāgata proceeds to tell them: “You have not yet accomplished your task. The place where you are dwelling is near the Buddha wisdom. Take note and ponder that the nirvana which you have attained is not the real one! It is only that the Tathāgata, through his skillful means, in the One Buddha Vehicle discriminates and speaks of three.”

According to Tendai’s “Branches of the Lotus Sutra,” the parables are divided into two portions, the exposition and the explanation of correspondences.

Correspondences for the Simile of the Herbs

Just as the great cloud rises, the Tathāgata appears in the world.

Just as the great cloud everywhere covers the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, the Tathāgata universally extends his great call over the world of gods, men, and asuras.

Just as the cloud pours down its rain equally at the same time, the Tathāgata sounds forth these words:

“I am the Tathāgata, the Worshipful, the All Wise, the Perfectly Enlightened in Conduct, the Well Departed, the Understander of the World, the Peerless Leader, the Controller, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-honored One. Those who have not yet been saved I cause to be saved; those who have not yet been set free to be set free; those who have not yet been comforted to be comforted; those who have not yet obtained nirvana to obtain nirvana. I know the present world and the world to come as they really are, I am the All Knowing, the All Seeing, the Knower of the Way, the Opener of the Way, the Preacher of the Way. Come to me, all you gods, men and asuras, to hear the Law.”

The mountains, rivers and streams, valleys, and land of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world represent the uncountable thousands of millions of varieties of living beings who go where the Buddha is and hear his teachings. Just as there are plants, trees, thickets, forests, and medicinal herbs, of various and numerous kinds, with names and colors all different, the natural powers of living beings are keen or dull, zealous or indifferent; the Buddha therefore preaches the Dharma to them in various ways unstintingly, causing them to rejoice and joyfully gain good profit. Just as the dense cloud pours down its rain equally at the same time, and its moisture fertilizes every tree, big or little, according to its superior, middle, or lower capacity, and from the rain of one cloud, each according to the nature of its kind acquires its development, opening its blossoms and bearing its fruit, all the living beings, having heard the Dharma, are comforted in the present life and will afterward be reborn in happy states, made joyful by the truth and also enabled to hear the Dharma. Having heard the Dharma, they are freed from hindrances, and according to their capacity in all the laws, they gradually enter the way.

Just as these trees and plants are produced in one soil and moistened by the same rain, the Dharma preached by the Tathāgata is of one form and flavor, that is to say, deliverance, abandonment, extinction, and finally the attainment of perfect knowledge.

Just as what the trees and plants receive is different, if there are living beings who hear the Dharma of the Tathāgata and keep, read, recite, and practice it as he preaches, they cannot know the merits they have achieved. Why? Only the Tathāgata knows the seed, the form, the embodiment, and the nature of all these living things, what things they are reflecting over, what things they are thinking, what things practicing, how reflecting, how thinking, how practicing, by what laws reflecting, by what laws thinking, by what laws practicing, and by what laws attaining to what laws. Only the Tathāgata in reality sees, clearly and without hindrance, the stages in which all living beings are.

Just as those plants, trees, thickets, forests, medicinal herbs, and others do not know their own natures, superior, middle, or inferior, the Tathāgata knows the Dharma of one form and one taste, that is to say, deliverance, abandonment, extinction, final nirvana of eternal tranquility, ending in return to the void. The Buddha, knowing this and observing the dispositions of all living beings, supports and protects them. Therefore, he does not immediately declare to them the complete and perfect wisdom.

According to Tendai’s “Branches of the Lotus Sutra,” the parables are divided into two portions, the exposition and the explanation of correspondences.

Correspondences to the Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son

Just as the very rich elder said, “This is my son,” the Tathāgata has declared that we are his sons.

Just as the son fainted from fear when taken by the messengers sent by his father, we have borne all kinds of torments in the midst of birth-death because of the three sufferings, and because of our delusion and ignorance we have enjoyed our attachment to inferior dharmas.

Just as the father sent two ill-looking messengers to get his son to work for him, the Tathāgata has caused us to remove the dirt of diverting discussions over the various dharmas. We have been diligent in our progress and have received the day’s hire of reaching nirvana.

Just as the father and the son for twenty years built up confidence, but the son remains in his original place, the Tathāgata, knowing that our minds were attached to desires and delighted in inferior dharmas, let us go our own way; he did not discriminate against us, saying: “You possess the treasury of Tathāgata knowledge.”

Just as when the elder, intending to give the son all his treasures, made him supervisor, but the son did not expect to receive even a single meal, the Buddha through his skillful means speaks of the Tathāgata wisdom but we, following the Buddha, accept the day’s hire of nirvana, are satisfied with that, and do not seek out the Great Vehicle. We have also declared and expounded the Tathāgata wisdom for the sake of bodhisattvas, but the Buddha, knowing that our minds delight in inferior things, has through his skillful means taught according to our capacity. We still did not perceive that we were really the sons of the Buddha.

Just as the elder, as death approached, called his relatives and the kings together and declared that this was his real son to whom he would bequeath all his wealth, the Tathāgata does not begrudge the Buddha wisdom; from old we have delighted in inferior things although we were the Buddha’s sons. If we had a mind to take pleasure in the Great Vehicle, the Buddha would have taught the Great Vehicle to us. Now in this sutra he preaches the sole One Vehicle.

Thus, just as the son was overjoyed hearing his father’s words and finding the treasures had come of themselves to him, we, though having no mind to hope or expect it, now have a great treasure of the king of the Dharma come of itself to us. Such things that Buddha-sons should obtain, we have obtained.

Because the Mahayana sutras all possess to some extent the underlying conviction that their task was to win others over to their belief, it is very difficult to distinguish, among the intermingling of intellectual influences, exactly which ideas were borrowed and which were lent. Further, unlike the treatises of the Abhidharma, the authors of the Mahayana sutras did not lend their names to their works, but put them in the mouth of Ānanda; it is therefore all the harder to clarify the actual circumstances of transmission.

The first half of the Lotus Sutra (the theoretical teachings, called the “secondary gate”; Jpn., shakumon) is concerned with giving concrete expression to the idea of “explaining the three and revealing the one” in the “Tactfulness” chapter, giving predictions of future buddhahood to the arhats and pratyekabuddhas and including all three vehicles in the one. This reflects a powerful new viewpoint. From the time of early Mahayana and the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, the bodhisattva vehicle had been praised as superior to the others, and the possibility of arhats and pratyekabuddhas gaining buddhahood was not acknowledged. The possibility of buddhahood for women and for Devadatta, who had fallen into hell for slandering the Dharma, remained unadmitted. When a movement grew up within Mahayana demanding the potential of enlightenment for all beings through the enlarged compassion of the Buddha, the formation of the “Devadatta” chapter became a necessity. This trend reached its culmination in the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, which taught that all beings without exception possess the buddha-nature and buddhahood is possible even for icchantikas (incorrigibles), even though they have no aspiration for enlightenment (bodhicitta). This is clearly in the line of Lotus thought.

The latter half of the Lotus Sutra (the essential teachings, called the “primary gate”; Jpn., honmon), deals with the true and expedient teachings of the Eternal Original Buddha, set forth in the chapter “Revelation of the [Eternal] Life of the Tathāgata.” This development may be traced as stemming from the monotheistic tendencies of the early Mahayana sutras coupled with the growth in Hinduism of faith in a supreme deity. The idea of an eternal, original Buddha exerted an influence on the concept of Amitābha/Amitāyus (characterized by eternal light and eternal life) in the Pure Land sutras, and on Vairocana Buddha (the Dharma Body of Wisdom) of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra.

These, then, are two aspects that portray the continuity and development of Lotus thought in Mahayana sutras.

According to Tendai’s “Branches of the Lotus Sutra,” the parables are divided into two portions, the exposition and the explanation of correspondences.

Correspondences for the Parable of the Burning House

The elder is the Tathāgata, the father of all the worlds. He has already cut off and ended all fear, distress, sadness, ignorance, and darkness; he has perfected his boundless knowledge, powers, and fearlessness; possessing great superhuman power and the power of knowledge, he is endowed with skillful means and the pāramitā of wisdom.

The five hundred people living in the elder’s house represent living beings for whom the Tathāgata is greatly compassionate and tireless, and ever seeks the good, benefiting all.

The thirty children in the burning house are the living beings for whose sake the Tathāgata is born in the triple world (of the desire, form, and formless realms) to save them from the fires of birth, old age, illness, death, grief, sadness, suffering, lamentation, and the three poisons, and to teach them to attain perfect and supreme enlightenment.

Just as the elder sees the conflagration spring up on every side, living beings are scorched by the fires of birth, old age, illness, death, grief, sadness, suffering, and lamentation, and suffer because of the five desires and the greed for gain. They suffer in hell, or as animals or hungry spirits, and experience as heavenly or human beings the sufferings of poverty and distress, separation from loved ones, and meetings with those they hate.

Just as the elder tells the children that there are various carts outside the gate, in order to get them to leave the burning house, the Tathāgata, through wisdom and skillful means, saves living beings from the burning house of the triple world, teaching three vehicles, the śrāvaka, the pratyekabuddha, and the Buddha (“bodhisattva” in the Sanskrit text) vehicles. The Tathāgata by these skillful means brings living beings forth, saying, “This Dharma of the three vehicles is praised by the sages. In them you will be free and unbound, depending on nothing else. Riding in these three vehicles you will gain peace and joy through the roots, the powers, perceptions, ways, concentrations, emancipations, and contemplations.” In the same way the children seeking the goat carts come out of the burning house, if there are living beings who have a spirit of wisdom within, and hearing the Dharma from the Buddha, the World-Honored One, receive it in faith and zealously make progress, desiring speedily to escape from the triple world and seek nirvana for themselves, they will be named the śrāvaka vehicle.

Just as the children seeking the deer carts come out of the burning house, if there are living beings who hear the Dharma from the Buddha, the World-Honored One, and receive it in faith, zealously make progress, seeking natural wisdom, delighting in the tranquility of their own goodness, and know the causes and conditions of the dharmas, these will be called the pratyekabuddha vehicle.

Just as the children seeking the bullock carts come out of the burning house, if there are living beings who, following the Buddha, the World Honored One, hear the Dharma, receive it in faith, diligently practice and zealously advance, seeking the complete wisdom, the wisdom of the Buddha, the natural wisdom, the wisdom without a teacher, and the knowledge, powers, and fearlessness of the Tathāgata, who take pity on and comfort innumerable creatures, benefit gods and men, and save all, these will be called the Great Vehicle. Because bodhisattvas seek this vehicle they are called mahāsattvas.

Just as the elder, seeing his children leave the burning house safely, going to a place free from fear, and, pondering on his immeasurable wealth, gives each of his children a great cart, the Tathāgata is the father of all living beings, and seeing innumerable beings escape from the suffering of the triple world and from fearful and perilous paths by the Buddha’s teaching, and gain the joys of nirvana, he reflects: “I possess infinite wisdom, power, fearlessness, and other Law-treasuries of buddhas. The living beings are all my children. I will give them equally the great vehicle. There will be no one who gains nirvana separately. All will gain nirvana by the same nirvana as the Tathāgata. They are able to produce pure, supreme pleasure.”

Just as the elder at first attracted his children by the three carts and afterward gave them only a great cart and is yet not guilty of falsehood, the Tathāgata first preached the three vehicles to attract the living beings and afterward saved them by the Great Vehicle alone. The Tathāgata possesses infinite wisdom, power, fearlessness, and the treasury of the dharmas, and gives all beings the Dharma of the Great Vehicle. Through their skillful means, the buddhas discriminate the One Vehicle and expound the three.

The central concern of the first half of the Lotus Sutra is the uniting of the three vehicles into the One. Early proponents of Mahayana, whose thought is expressed in the Wisdom sutras, denigrated the existing Buddhism as Hinayana, contending, in their efforts to give precedence to the practice of the bodhisattva as a candidate for buddhahood, that neither śrāvakas nor pratyekabuddhas were capable of attaining the buddha degree. As the compassion of the Buddha came to be emphasized more and more, though, it became necessary to resolve the question of the buddhahood of the other two vehicles. The “Tactfulness” chapter of the Lotus Sutra specifically addresses the issue, and following chapters repeat its ideas one by one, using a number of parables and allegories. The Buddha’s disciples, the śrāvakas, previously described as having as their ultimate goal the attainment of arhatship, receive in the Lotus Sutra, together with the pratyekabuddhas, predictions of their ultimate buddhahood. Therefore the sutra can truly be called adbhuta-dharma (“the unprecedented law and teaching”).

Buddhism employs a special word, vyākaraṇa, to express a prediction about someone’s future attainment of buddhahood. It had been used in sutras preceding the Lotus, and can be traced right back to the Jātakas (stories of the Buddha’s former lives) and other early scriptures. It has various forms of expression and, appearing in a broad spectrum of sutras, is a major contributor to the development of the idea of prediction in Buddhism. With the growth of the concepts of buddha-nature and tathāgata-garbha in middle-period Mahayana works, such as the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra and Śrimālādevi-sūtra, the idea of prediction gave way to those new ways of thinking.