Because the Original Buddha is eternal and immortal, the Pure Land in this World of Endurance, where the Buddha lives, is also eternal and immortal. It can never be destroyed. However, we ordinary people, deluded by worldly desires and unable to see through the pure eyes of the Buddha, think that the World of Endurance is a defiled land, one which will finally burn away. We see this world as either incinerated by the sun, burned by hellfire, or consumed by worldly desires. We find ourselves in a hostile environment, where the forces of nature seek only to destroy us. We see grief, pain, and fear everywhere we look. To us, this is the “real world.” Because of our corrupted hearts, this world, which should be a paradise, is utter defilement. It is this world, however, which our Buddha-nature can transfigure and realize in all its original glory.

Sakyamuni, when seen as the eternal being, is called the Original Buddha (Hombutsu), who was enlightened in the remotest past. The other Buddhas are called “manifestations of the Buddha.” The existence of each of them is a provisional manifestation in some time or place of the Original Buddha. The second half of the Lotus Sutra (Hommon) reveals the concept of the eternity of Sakyamuni, in contrast with the historical Buddha, who is a temporal representation of himself.

In Buddhism, various Buddhas have been established as objects of devotion for different pious believers. Since each Buddha has a good reason for being venerated, Buddhism permits us to worship any or all of them. Nevertheless, the Most-Venerable-One should be One, just as the Truth is One. The second half of the Lotus Sutra (Hommon) emphasizes such a Buddhist position regarding unity of faith. As the object of faith is absolute, it must relate to the realm of eternity. Generally we think of Sakyamuni as a historical figure, bound by the limitations of time and space, and only a provisional manifestation of the infinite, eternal Buddha. According to the Lotus Sutra, however, every Buddha, including the historical Sakyamuni Buddha, is a representation of the eternal original being of Sakyamuni.

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.

[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.

“The Duration of the Life of the Tathagata” (pronounced Tut-HAH-gut-tuh), is the name of this chapter, which teaches that the Buddha is eternal. We ordinary people usually think that the Buddha had a limited existence, just as we have. It is commonly understood that Sakyamuni was born a prince in the kingdom of the Sakya clan in the Himalayan foothills about 2,500 years ago. When he was around thirty years old, he renounced the world, attained enlightenment after six years of training, and became the Buddha at the place of enlightenment, now known as Buddha-gaya. Afterwards, he expounded the Dharma throughout northern India, and entered Nirvana at the age of eighty. But this limited Sakyamuni, who is equivalent to Sakyamuni as a historical person age, is a provisional figure. This chapter of the “Duration of the Life of the Tathagata (the “One Thus Come”), reveals that he is an everlasting and immortal being, possessing eternal life. This assertion has always been considered the pivotal teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

The Great Vehicle teaches us about the appearance of Buddhas in all of the worlds in the ten directions. When a Buddha appears in a certain world, that realm is named a “pure land.” For instance, Amitayus Buddha appeared in a world far to the west of our World of Endurance. His pure land was named Highest Joy or Land of Bliss. The worlds of the ten quarters are called “the other pure lands,” since they are on other sides of our World of Endurance. A pure land is an ideal world beyond the concrete reality of our world. But if the notion of pure lands were to ignore this world of ours (the only place of reality), those places would be no more than imaginary existences. The other pure lands would have no entities unless the real World of Endurance existed (that is, unless they originated here in our minds in harmony with the mind of the Buddha). Therefore a true pure land must be realized here where we are.

The studies conducted over so many centuries made possible a deeper understanding of the Lotus Sutra, and methodological standards for its interpretation were established. One example is called Kamon. It is a classification of the twenty-eight chapters into several sets for a systematic explanation of their meaning.

The major Kamon is the “Three Parts of Each of the Two Divisions of the Lotus Sutra” which was established by Great Master Chih-i. Most commentators since his time have accepted his guidelines. …

[T]he “Three Parts of Each of the Two Divisions of the Lotus Sutra” refers to the division of the Sutra into two main sections: the first half, consisting of Chapters One through Fourteen, and the second half, consisting of Chapters Fifteen through Twenty-eight. Kamon gives a detailed explanation of the reason for this division. The first half is named Shakumon, literally “imprinted gate.” Its main purpose is to teach how “hearers” and Pratyekabuddhas can attain Buddhahood in the One Vehicle. The second half is called Hommon, which means “Primal Gate” or “Primal Mystery.” This part reveals Sakyamuni to be the infinite, absolute Buddha, the Buddha who attained enlightenment in the remotest past but still leads living beings in the present. These two points are considered the fundamental ideas of the Lotus Sutra.

The Lesser Vehicle of the “Sravaka” and “Pratyekabuddha” drew a sharp line between this world of sufferings and the pure world of spirit. Its followers renounced worldly concerns, devoted their lives to religious austerities, and made every effort to attain absolute tranquility. This made for a two-dimensional world view, esteeming the pure world of spirit and devaluating the everyday world in which we live.

Bodhisattvas, on the other hand, saw the two worlds as one. They saw this world as the center stage for their religious practice, and preached that spiritual enlightenment must be realized in our life in this world. In short, the Bodhisattva’s mission to deliver people from suffering is to be accomplished in this world of sufferings.

By means of these enormous numbers, numbers far beyond the ability of mathematics to conceive, Sakyamuni compares his life span to eternity. The simile which he uses is commonly called the “Five Hundred Dust-atom Kalpas.”