In Chapter 10 there is another transition that takes place in the Lotus Sutra and that is the transition from an emphasis on the body of the Buddha to the teaching of the Buddha. In this chapter the Buddha tells his disciples that instead of enshrining his relics, the teaching of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra should be what is contained within the stupa we revere. Here too in this great drama we should remember that because the teaching is true, the teacher is great. We devote ourselves to the Lotus Sutra and to the teacher of that sutra and through our devotion we bring it to life.

Now let me talk about the truth and the living Dharma. The appearance of the great stupa serves as a device or reason for bringing together a great assembly of Buddhas and lands but it also serves as a validation of the truth of the Wonderful Dharma of the Lotus Flower Sutra. Many Treasures Buddha demonstrates to us the truth of the underlying Dharma or the truth of the Lotus Sutra does not change. While the actual words or makeup of the Sutra may take on different appearances or different words the truth that underlies it all is unchanging. The two Buddhas sitting beside each other show us that not only the teacher is to be respected but also the truth of the teaching is equally respectable. We are not really devoting ourselves to the teacher but to the truth of the teaching and that is the real basis of our devotion to the Buddha.

Every day we look around us and we see our worlds our lives as being perhaps small and full of suffering or troubles. Yet the image that is presented to us in the ceremony in the air is an expansive one and one of great beauty. Just as the seating of the two Buddhas side by side presents us with a view of the eternity of time, the image of the joined worlds is one of infinite space. So now we have an expansive time element and an expansive space element all in one moment.

When we place ourselves in front of the Honzon as presented in the Lotus Sutra in these chapters we place ourselves outside of our present time and our present space. Again this allows us the opportunity to view our current condition in this life as really one of great reward. How many people everyday participate in such a grand drama?

It is not easy for us to see this as we live out our lives and experience our day-to-day problems. Yet this is the invitation that the Buddha makes to us – to realize that we are not merely some lonely person chanting Odaimoku and practicing the Lotus Sutra, but that we are actually participants in a drama unlike anything that can be contained by either space or time.

In the arrival of the Stupa of Treasures, we are introduced to a Buddha, Many Treasures, who is old. But he is not just old, he is ancient. He is even older than ancient. You could say that this Buddha is beyond time altogether. He is not just a Buddha from the past, but he represents the primordial Buddha, the Buddha from the metaphysical beginning of things. And here we have our Buddha, Shakyamuni Buddha taking a seat along side of this Buddha. In that moment the past, present, and, as we shall see in chapter 16, the future are all contained right there.

In fact in that moment all dimensions of eternity coalesce, this is the synthesis of time and eternity. We are beyond time; we are in every moment of every possible time. We are the true Time Lords made famous in the Dr. Who story. When we sit before such a great object as we do in our daily practice we are fusing our lives with the past, the present, and the future and our lives expand beyond the moment we currently perceive ourselves to be in. When we take this kind of view, then how can the troubles and tribulations of this moment not seem insignificant while at the same time our own lives achieve the greatest possible significance.

The Bodhisattvas arise out of the dirt of the ground. We live our lives not apart from the messiness of everyday life. We live our lives as ordinary people. We have jobs. We struggle with income, and jobs. We sometimes have what seems like less-than-perfect lives. But this is all there for us to emerge from. There is no going around the messiness of the Saha World. As Bodhisattvas, we are right in the middle of all of it and that is where we can blossom. The struggle and strife of the Saha World is the fertile ground on which we can demonstrate the truth the Lotus Sutra. Who would believe it is possible to attain enlightenment if our lives were already perfect?

What we have taking place with the appearance of these Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground is a shift in the Lotus Sutra from theory to action. We, as those Bodhisattvas, manifest that life condition not by sitting around thinking about it or by some theoretical endeavor but by actually living our lives, by doing, by being. This is not a theoretical practice nor is it a practice only for oneself. This is a practice of engagement, of action, and of involvement with society teaching others and showing others by the example of our lives, not just our theories.

Remember we approach the Buddha and ask him how he is doing, not what he can do for us. The famous speech by John Kennedy, a president of my lifetime, keeps coming to mind. I can almost hear it today, and recall watching it on television as a youth. We should be asking what we can do for others and what we can do for Buddhism, not what Buddhism can do for us or what we can get out of Buddhism.

We learn in the Lotus Sutra that these Bodhisattvas who appear from beneath the ground have trained with the Buddha since the remotest past. This is our relationship with the Eternal Buddha, not with the historical Buddha. As Bodhisattvas from underground we read the Lotus Sutra from the perspective of an infinite bond with the Buddha, as lifelong practitioners of the Eternal Buddha who have in this lifetime manifested as the beings we currently are but who underneath it all are in fact golden-hued Bodhisattvas. We have received training and are eminently qualified to carry out the lives we have and attain enlightenment in our present form. Everything we need is within us, and the Lotus Sutra is our activation code to actualize our true identities.

As we gather our thoughts and purify our altar then we sit down to celebrate the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, to hear once again the beautiful teaching of the Buddha telling us of the ever-­existing nature of Buddhahood and of the enlightenment of our own lives, we are engaging in a celebration. It is as if we are going before the Eternal Buddha and asking him not so much what we can get for ourselves but knowing our own lives are secure because of our practice we can focus on the beauty and truth of the message contained in the Lotus Sutra. We are not supplicants going before some great dispenser of benefit. No, we are the golden-hued erect Bodhisattvas who emerge from the ground and bow to the Buddha and fulfill our vow of teaching and practicing the Lotus Sutra in this age in which we live.

When we begin our daily practice we are advised to clean our practice space. We should approach that just as the Buddha did when the congregation asked to see Many Treasures Buddha. We have approached our altar, our chance to sit before the great honzon presented to us in the Lotus Sutra, which Nichiren identified. We should prepare our space of worship the way the Buddha purified all the worlds. As we go about preparing our space we should call back our distracted thoughts, those emanations of ourselves. Put aside the need to check the cell phone, put aside the worry of email, and schedules, plans and schemes. Focus your mind completely on the one great event of being in the presence of the two Buddhas seated side by side, in the presence of the Eternal Buddha Shakyamuni.

One thing you might have noticed, I certainly do, is that when the Bodhisattvas arose from the ground they did not look to the Buddha for permission or for a prediction. They approached the Buddha and asked how he was and if he was tired. I think this is significant in our own lives. When we practice Buddhism are we doing so in order to be given something or do we approach our practice out of gratitude for what we have.

Remember the Bodhisattvas appear in this world in many shapes and sizes doing many different things, they appear as ordinary beings and yet their true identity is that of these golden-hued beings who have a relationship with the Buddha that spans all time.

When we change our mind, when we realize that we are already Buddhas, and when we practice with the confidence of manifesting and not of trying to be something different, then we are practicing as these great Bodhisattvas. We are complete as we are; we just need to manifest that completeness.