[W]e can see the real figure of the Buddha when we devote ourselves to him in faith. We can attain this faithful state when we devote both our body and our soul to the Buddha and become unselfish. In other words, we reach a state in which our hearts are completely honest and gentle, and we leave all our cares in the hands of the Buddha. A simple fervent feeling of entrusting one’s life to the Buddha is the essence of faith. In the words of [Chapter 16, The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata], we “wish to see (him) with all our hearts, and at the cost of our lives.”

Chapters Three, Four, and Five each introduce a parable. The sutra was arranged in such a way that we can easily understand the theories, which were first introduced in Chapter 2, Expedients, by means of the parables in the next three chapters. By the end of [Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood], the five “hearers” (Śāriputra, Subhuti, Maha-Katyayana, Maha-Kasyapa, and Maha-Maudgalyayana) have been assured by Sakyamuni of their future Buddhahood. … [T]he sutra will gradually disclose how not just some, but all of the “hearers” are assured of becoming Buddhas in the future.

Toward the end of [Chapter 2], the Buddha expounds a well-known teaching called, “A small good deed leads a person to become a Buddha.” This teaching states that whenever someone shows sincere faith in the Buddha by performing a good deed, no matter how tiny it may be, this act sets him on the path to Buddhahood, and he or she is sure to become a Buddha eventually. Even though such a person is not yet a Buddha, he or she is on the way, and deserves respect as a future Buddha.

For example, even a person who has never performed any special practice can become a Buddha simply by making an offering, such as incense, flowers, or the wonderful sounds of music, in front of a Stupa (a round dome-shaped shrine) or an image of the Buddha. The sutra repeatedly maintains that such people “have already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha.” Furthermore, just entering a shrine only once and reciting, “Namo Buddhaya” (Homage to the Buddha!), or offering a single flower, is enough to enable anyone to become a Buddha. What is more, even a child at play, who pretends to build a Stupa by heaping up a pile of sand or dirt, “has already become a Buddha.” In the same way, if a child draws a picture of the Buddha on a wall with a stick or the back of his fingernail, and makes a gesture of praying to it, he or she has already become a Buddha (or, as the sutra says again, “has already attained the enlightenment of the Buddha”), (The Buddha is pure good: any act of good on our part, no matter how small or insignificant it may appear to be, puts us in his embrace from which nothing can ever separate us.)

The sutra presents various instances, one by one in order, to show that any small act of good will on our part enables us to become a Buddha. From these concrete examples, we can see that the One Vehicle is the teaching of the Buddha himself—boundless in bounty, pouring forth perfect life in limitless supply, lending a hand to everyone, and leading all of us to his own enlightenment. Finally, the sutra adds, “Anyone who even hears the Dharma (law/truth) will not fail to become a Buddha!”

In Chapter Two, “Expedients,” the Buddha revealed the three vehicles to be expedients – that is, provisional teachings. He clarified that the unity of the three in the One Buddha Vehicle is the true teaching. This is called “opening the provisional to reveal the truth,” or “opening the three to reveal the one,” or “the three teachings become one.”

There are two meanings to nirvana. One is the state of enlightenment attained by Sakyamuni after he eliminated all earthly desires. The other is the extinction of a Buddha’s body upon the coming of physical death. The idea behind these definitions is that the Buddha attained eternal life with the extinction of his body.

In Chapter 1, Introduction, the congregation waited anxiously for this definitive sermon, the way to which had already been prepared by the Sutra of Innumerable Teachings. But Sakyamuni did not begin immediately. First, he preached the opening sutra … . Then he entered into its deep meditation. His body and mind became motionless. The assembled gods rained mandarava flowers upon him. The world quaked in six ways. The assembled beings looked on in astonishment and joined their hands together in supplication. Finally the Buddha emitted a ray of light from the white curl between his eyebrows (the so-called “third eye”) and illuminated all the eighteen thousand worlds to the east, from their lowest hells up to their highest heavens.

These are called the “Six Omens Shown in This World.” In order, they are “Preaching,” “Entering into Samadhi,” “Raining Flowers,” “Quaking,” “Delighting,” and “Emitting a Ray of Light.”

On May 12, 1261, the Japanese military government arrested Nichiren, who was forty years old at the time. His arrest was followed by exile to Ito on the Izu Peninsula. During his exile, he wrote his essay, “Four Debts of Gratitude,” in which he says:

In the Age of Degeneration of the Buddha’s teachings, anyone who believes so much as a word or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra is destined to be envied and hated. That is why the Lotus Sutra says, “Many people begrudge [the sutra] even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.” When I [Nichiren] first read this phrase, I doubted it. But now my experience has convinced me that the Buddha’s words are true. … Although I do not eat meat or fish, and have never harmed a living thing, and although I do not go about with a wife and child, I am treated as a criminal monk, just because I am propagating the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. … But when I realize that I am suffering persecutions by demons who have entered the bodies of my tormentors, just because I believe in the Lotus Sutra and follow its teachings, exactly as the Sutra expounds [in Chapter Thirteen, “Encouragement for Keeping the Sutra”], then I feel joy beyond words. I rejoice because I have found that even a man of low birth [such as Il, one who is ignorant and uneducated, was forecast in the Lotus Sutra some two thousand years ago. The Buddha predicted that such a person [as I] “will suffer religious persecutions.”

Here Nichiren expresses his pleasure at seeing his own experience vindicating the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. For example, Chapter Ten predicts, “If you expound the Sutra after the Buddha’s extinction, many people will begrudge it,” and Chapter Thirteen foretells, “Three kinds of devils will enter the bodies of monks and cause them to persecute the teachers of the Dharma.” Such adversities actually befell Nichiren, as the words of the Sutra had foretold. So Nichiren accepted his misfortunes as living proofs of the words of the Sutra.

To cause all people to attain Buddhahood; to direct them all to the one Buddha-world; and to establish Paradise in this actual world of ours, so that absolute individual peace of mind and absolute peace of society are realized. These are the great purposes of the teachings of the Lotus Sutra.

[Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma,] opens with Sakyamuni speaking to a Bodhisattva named Medicine-King in the presence of eighty thousand great beings:

Medicine-King! Do you see the many human beings, nonhuman beings, monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen in this congregation, who are seeking the goals for Sravakahood and Pratyekabuddhahood or the enlightenment of the Buddha? If any of them rejoice in my presence, even for one moment’s thought, at hearing a verse or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra, I can assure them all of their future Buddhahood. Even after my extinction, if they rejoice for one moment’s thought at hearing a verse or a phrase of the Lotus Sutra, I can assure them all of their future attainment of supreme-perfect-enlightenment. Moreover, if anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds, and copies even a verse or a phrase of the Sutra, and respects a scroll of the Sutra just as he respects me, and makes offerings to it, he or she should be considered to have already made offerings to ten billion Buddhas in a previous existence, and will surely become a Buddha in a future life.

These words of the Buddha introduce a new development in the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. Up until Chapter 10, only “hearers” had been assured of their future Buddhahood. This statement, on the other hand, indicates that not only the “hearers,” but all other people in the congregation are also assured of future Buddhahood. What is more, the account goes on to say that even after the Buddha’s extinction, anyone who rejoices at hearing the Sutra will be assured of his or her future Buddhahood. Furthermore, these words tell us that after the Buddha’s extinction, the Lotus Sutra should be written on a scroll, and we should respect it and make offerings to it.

[In Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva,] Endless-Intent Bodhisattva (Aksayamati) asks Sakyamuni, “What expedients does World-Voice-Perceiver (Avalokitesvara) employ to expound the law in this world?”

Answering this question, Sakyamuni says that World-Voice-Perceiver can transform himself into thirty-three different forms to save people. This is similar to the way Wonderful-Voice transforms himself into thirty-four bodies. However, there are a few differences between the two. World-Voice-Perceiver takes on any of the following thirty-three forms:

(1) a Buddha, (2) a Pratyekabuddha, (3) a Sravaka, (4) Heavenly-King-Brahman, (5) King Sakra, (6) Freedom God (Isvara), (7) Great-Freedom God (Mahesvara), (8) a commander of heavenly hosts, (9) the god Vaisravana, (10) the king of a small country, (11) a rich man, (12) a householder, (13) a prime minister, (14) a Brahman [or Brahmin, a member of the highest Indian caste], (15) a monk, (16) a nun, (17) a man of pure faith, (18) a woman of pure faith, (19) the wife of a rich man, (20) the wife of a householder,
(21) the wife of a prime minister, (22) the wife of a Brahman,
(23) a boy or a girl, (24) a god, (25) a dragon, (26) a yaksa, (27) a gandharva, (28) an asura, (29) a garuda, (30) a kimnara, (31) a mahoraga, (32) a human or nonhuman being, and (33) the Vajra-holding God (p. 318-19).

Not only do all of us have different faces and forms, but also different beliefs and aspirations according to our race, nationality, occupation, social status, age, education, and so forth. A leader must understand people’s feelings, and display an attitude and appearance that are harmonious with theirs. That is why this Bodhisattva transforms himself into other living beings.

“Good man,” says Sakyamuni, “In a certain world, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva takes the shape of a Buddha in order to save those who are to be saved by a Buddha. He takes the shape of Vajradhara [God of Power and Might] by those who are to be saved by Vajradhara” (p. 318-19).