Taking interpretation of this parable [of the jewel in the robe] further, the idea of being given a great treasure is not only an individual matter, but something that can be applied to human beings as a whole. The treasure is the earth, the natural environment and resources that we have inherited. Human beings have been given not only buddha-nature, but all of nature itself. The Buddha (the reality of the world) is basically generous and supportive of human life. We have inherited an incredibly rich earth. With it we are given an enormous opportunity to do good. The question is, will we recognize and appreciate how valuable this treasure is, and, if we do, how will we use this treasure given to us?

Perhaps humanity as a whole is like the poor man in the parable – still stumbling around without realizing that we have such a treasure. Perhaps humanity as a whole needs to wake up to see not only the wonderful treasure that is in us but also the wonderful treasure that is all around us.

We can, of course, understand the three phases [of the Dharma] not as an inevitable sequence of periods of time, but as existential phases of our own lives. There will be times when the Dharma can be said to be truly alive in us, times when our practice is more like putting on a show and has little depth, and times when the life of the Dharma in us is in serious decline. But there is no inevitable sequence here. There is no reason, for example, why a period of true Dharma cannot follow a period of merely formal Dharma. And there is no reason to assume that a period has to be completed once it has been entered. We might lapse into a period of decline, but with the proper influences and circumstances we could emerge from it into a more vital phase of true Dharma. A coming evil age is mentioned several times in the Dharma Flower Sutra, but while living in an evil age, or an evil period of our own lives, makes teaching the Dharma difficult, even extremely difficult, nowhere does the Dharma Flower Sutra suggest that it is impossible to teach or practice true Dharma.

It is, I believe, unfortunate that the Lotus Sutra includes the Mahayana practice of referring to the twenty or so traditional Buddhist sects of that time with the demeaning term “Hinayana,” meaning “inferior,” “lesser,” or “small.” But we should understand that the Sutra teaches that this lesser way is sufficient to save people, as it is the attraction of the lesser vehicles that saves the children from the burning house. Consistent with this, whenever in this Sutra there is a description of a more or less paradise-like, future world, there are plenty of shravakas in it. Rather than reject “Hinayana” teachings and methods, the Dharma Flower Sutra seeks to incorporate them into the One Vehicle.

What’s more, teachings about the shravaka way in this Sutra should not be understood as being merely, or even primarily, about monks living many centuries ago. These teachings are for us as well. It is we ourselves, above all, who should not be arrogant or lazy, or feel too comfortable with what we have achieved or too worn-out to do anything more. It is we who need always to remember that we have entered a way that is very difficult and comes to no final end in life.

While the term “buddha-nature” is never used in the Dharma Flower Sutra, this is a good example of the use of the basic idea behind the concept that would be developed after the Dharma Flower Sutra was compiled. One way we can understand the term is as a kind of “power” that makes it possible for any one of us to be a bodhisattva for someone else, a strength that makes it possible for us to share in doing the Buddha’s work of awakening all the living, a strength that makes it possible for us to go far beyond our normal expectations.

Buddha-nature, the potential to become a buddha, is not something we have to earn; it is something that all of us have received naturally, something that cannot be destroyed or taken away from us. It is, as the parable in Chapter 4 teaches, our inheritance; it is ours by virtue of our very existence. This is why we are taught in [Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples] that our treasure is very close.

Our buddha-nature is, in one sense, part of the basis of our very existence. Nothing could be closer. On the other hand, unless we learn to make use of this ability and put it into practice in our daily lives, the goal of realizing it, of becoming a buddha, remains very distant. In light of these two views, gaining the treasure is a matter of more fully understanding and realizing something that was always within us. While our treasure is very close, that full realization and appropriation of it always remains very distant.