The narrative … told by the four sravakas is called the “Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son.” As we can see from what they have said, the Lesser Vehicle which they had been following stressed escape from this world of sorrows into a pure world of contemplation. Its concept of enlightenment was also passive. It concluded that “nothing is different from anything else,” and “there is nothing more to seek.” This view rejected the reality of this world and the necessity of working to change it. The Great Vehicle, on the other hand, interpreted the same doctrine [that nothing is substantial] positively as becoming a buddha in this world and transforming it into a buddha-world. Enlightenment is to be achieved within the turmoil of our daily life, not in silent seclusion. The four “hearers” now realize that they, too, have obtained the wonderful law of the Great Vehicle and have departed from the passivity of the Lesser Vehicle.

The idea of the One Vehicle can be applied to the secular world as well. The diversification of world culture has created differences in ideas, or in the ways of thinking, among nations. Human culture has developed as a result of our search for the ultimate truth. In the process of cultural advancement through the pursuit of ultimate truth, conflicts often emerge due to our many theoretical differences. History tells us that these confrontations sometimes lead to bitter disputes or even war. Despite all differences in the process, however, these theories or ideas must eventually be unified, because they are all leading to the one single goal of the ultimate truth. The Lotus Sutra clarifies this concept through the teaching of the One Vehicle.

The Lotus Sutra contains seven parables, three of which are best known. The first is the “Parable of the Burning House of the Triple World” in Chapter Three. The second is the “Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son” in Chapter Four. The “Parable of the Physician and His Children” is presented in Chapter Sixteen. These three parables allegorically show the relationship between the Buddha and living beings by presenting a parental relationship. That is, faith in the Buddha is similar to the faith of a child in his father; and the Buddha’s compassion toward living beings is like a father’s love for his children. In other words, natural feelings drawn from the norms of everyday life eventually lead us toward faith in the Buddha.

The term Sravaka originally applied to a direct “hearer” or disciple of Sakyamuni. Representatives of this group are superior elders such as Sariputra and Maha-Maudgalyayana. In a broader sense, however, students of other teachers besides Sakyamuni can be called “hearers.”

As a rule, they are celibate monks who live in groups apart from the rest of society and perform systematic practices and study. (Nichiren pointed out that we all are “hearers” when we become involved in a course of studies. The harder we study, the more we cut ourselves off from outside distractions.)

Chapter Two, “Expedients,” is one of the most important in the Lotus Sutra. It clarifies the fundamental ideas of the “provisional Imprinted Traces,” or first half of the sutra. What are these fundamental ideas?

It is widely known that the Lotus Sutra contains the authentic teaching of the Buddha, or the long-awaited final Dharma—the law which underlies all other laws. Prior to the emergence of the Lotus Sutra, a variety of sutras were preached as means or expedients to lead living beings to enlightenment. This chapter also begins with expedients, suggesting that such expedients and the true teaching cannot be separated from each other. They are closely related, and should be considered as parts of one whole.

The Sanskrit word upaya (“expedient”) conveys the meaning of leading to or approaching the goal. The Three Vehicles are such expedients leading to the goal, the true teaching of the One Buddha Vehicle. Expedients are not just means to an end; they have significance in and of themselves. They are valid steps in the process leading to the truth, the insight of the Buddha. Conversely speaking, the One Buddha Vehicle (the final single truth) is revealed in the form of expedient teachings, valid according to the complexity of our world view. So the sutra says, “The Buddhas divide the One Buddha Vehicle into three as an expedient” (p. 33).

Thus expedients equal the truth in essence. It is not true that “a white lie can be an expedient.” A lie, white or black, is not an expedient in the Buddhist sense. An expedient is true within its own context.

Buddhism is a philosophical religion, and its core is the concept of the Buddha. Profound studies and observations of the Buddha have been conducted from many different perspectives. For instance, the teaching of Mahayana (the Great Vehicle) unfolds its dominant idea that the Buddha is the eternal, infinite truth itself, because he attained that truth, participates in it, and totally identifies himself with it. The Buddha, when regarded this way, is called the Dharma-body, Law-body, or Truth-body. Although the Buddha as Truth gives us some idea of the profundity of his existence (all existence, for that matter), this particular concept of the Buddha may seem somewhat distant from the world of our experience. Such a truth can be understood (as Chapter Two states) only by another Buddha. It is not easy for us ordinary people to awaken to transcendent reality. The Buddha as Truth is too abstract for ordinary people to grasp. We need a more concrete identity of the Buddha in order to feel his existence.

The Lotus Sutra consists of twenty-eight chapters. At the beginning, the Buddha taught from Mount Sacred Eagle (Grdhrakuta, “Vulture Peak,” in Sanskrit) near the city of Rajagriha, India, which today is called Rajgir. In Chapter Eleven, “Beholding the Stupa of Treasures,” he ascended to the sky and remained there until returning to Mt. Sacred Eagle in Chapter Twenty-three, “The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.” Thus he held three assemblies, which are called the First Assembly on Mt. Sacred Eagle; the Assembly in the Sky; and the Second Assembly on Mt. Sacred Eagle. We can divide the chapters of the sutra into three parts according to these three locations.

[W]hy do we end up suffering while pursuing happiness? That is a fundamental question. The answer is that ordinary people think of happiness as the satisfaction of worldly desires, seeing their lives only from a biological viewpoint. If perfection of our biological lives is our only desire and goal, this world quickly becomes a battlefield of clashing egos, all struggling for survival. Each person pursues his own interests at the expense of the others. In order to achieve true happiness, we must break out of our selfish limitations somehow and find a path which transcends biological existence.

We must first realize that true happiness cannot be the satisfaction of our desires by winning the battle for survival (which is impossible), but rather the establishment of a world without conflicts, where each individual considers the happiness and interests of others to be the same as his own. This is the Buddha’s “Pure World.” (In it, the Buddha is at the center, not I or anyone else.) Its realization is the only path for overcoming sufferings.