Chapter XVI is the most important part of the Lotus Sutra for in this chapter is revealed the idea that Buddha is not a person of historical significance. The Buddha is not tied to a physical body who lived and died some twenty-five hundred years ago. The Buddha is not limited to this realm. The Buddha is not the possession of one person only. What is revealed is the eternal nature, the eternally existing, the eternally residing aspect of the Buddha, or as we abbreviate it, the Eternal Buddha. This is not understood in any rational way. It is actually quite unbelievable and, truth be told, logically impossible. Our ever-so-clever minds actually limit our ability to transcend all of this and approach understanding by faith. I believe that understanding the Eternal Buddha is experiential, and that words only talk around the idea. The words in Chapter XVI can lead us to that idea and can help to open the door to understanding by faith because they challenge us to set aside all the rational stuff we are attached to. The words challenge us to, even if for a moment, open ourselves up to connecting with life in a way no book, no computer, no TV show, no sexual experience, or what have you is able to.

Unfortunately in Buddhism there is no supper convenient app for enlightenment. It isn’t as easy as pulling out your smart phone or electronic device and becoming enlightened. There will be times of great struggle, and there will be times of ease, but everything that occurs in our lives is an opportunity to further develop our inner Buddha potential. When we can face our obstacles with the inner joy of being given an opportunity to grow, we can transform that moment into a moment of enlightenment.

If we say we are Buddhist but have no practice or don’t follow the precepts we are like a plant with no stem or tree without a trunk. It won’t be possible for us to support our faith and wisdom without the connection the stem provides. So too our practice, our chanting Odaimoku is the connection that allows our faith and our wisdom to grow. Our faith harmoniously supports our practice and wisdom. You could say that study is our mind, which are the branches holding the leaves or wisdom of our lives. Our manifestation of enlightenment is dependent upon our faith, our practice, and our study. Without all three we cannot effectively maintain the kind of life that is capable of manifesting our innate Buddha potential.

Inside your very life right now already exist the answers and the awareness of the truth of life. Now the challenge, and this is why there is a Buddhist practice, is to awaken it, acknowledge it, and manifest those truths in our lives as we live out our day-to-day existence; perhaps not easy, but definitely not impossible.

Buddhism is not about acquiring knowledge. It couldn’t work like that. Buddhism is somewhat like realizing you are left handed after years of trying to be right handed. Enlightenment, awakening to the Buddha within your life is about realizing your life’s greatest potential and your life’s greatest awareness of the true nature of reality.

Becoming enlightened is not about acquiring something from outside and bringing it inside your life, it is about awakening that potential already existing within your life.

Completely eliminating suffering is thought by many to be impossible. It seems beyond our ability to achieve such a condition of life, and so we seek other conditions, sometimes helpful and sometimes harmful. Yet, fundamentally, ending suffering is the significant driver or motivator in the lives of people. The Buddha initially taught the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Twelve-Link Chain of Causation, as ways to begin to break free of the cycle of suffering. Finally though in the Lotus Sutra, he teaches not only the elimination of suffering but the creation of a life of indestructible joy. The Buddha teaches this is not just something only attainable by a select and rare Buddha but by all people, that all people can become Buddha’s because they already have that condition within their lives.

The Buddha teaches us rebirth is not necessary to the attainment of enlightenment, and there is no fundamental difference between the enlightenment we are capable of achieving and the enlightenment achieved by the Buddha or by any Buddha of any realm. There is not an enlightenment of Sravakas, or an enlightenment of Pratyekabuddhas, or enlightenment unique to Bodhisattvas. There really is one enlightenment, and that is of Buddhahood, and it is something inherent in all life.

No longer is there a fundamental difference between the enlightenment of people and the enlightenment of Buddhas. The Buddha is showing us the path to an enlightenment that is exactly like that of all Buddhas. This is really what I think is remarkable. There is a way for us as common mortals to become enlightened just as the Buddha was, though I think it is also important to realize that our own individual manifestation of that enlightenment will perhaps look different than the Buddha’s. In other words, my enlightenment will not be an enlightenment of sitting under a tree, it might be an enlightenment of working with sick people. Your enlightenment may be an enlightenment that manifests as any number of things such as a clerk, or a computer operator, or doctor, or lawyer, or a mother and father, or child. It can manifest in any number of ways, not dependent upon our occupation or unique skills, but on our innate capacity, on the truth of the condition of Buddhahood being always present in our lives.