In Chapter 23 of the Lotus Sutra we find these twelve similes:
This sutra can bring great and abundant benefit to all the living and fulfill their hopes.

Just like a clear, cool pool, it can satisfy all who are thirsty. Like fire to someone who is cold, like clothing to someone naked, like a leader found by a group of merchants, like a mother found by her children, like a ferry found by passengers, like a doctor found by the sick, like a lamp found by people in the dark, like riches found by the poor, like a ruler found by the people, like a sea lane found by traders, and like a torch dispelling the darkness this Dharma Flower Sutra can enable all the living to liberate themselves from all suffering, disease, and pain, loosening all the bonds of mortal life. (LS 359)

This passage can readily be understood to be not only describing the wonderful powers of the Dharma Flower Sutra but also expressing hope for all those in need:

May those who are thirsty find cool, clear water.
May those who are cold find a warm fire.
May those who are naked find clothing.
May those who are without leadership find a leader.
May children who are lost find their mothers.
May those who need to cross over water find a ferry.
May those who are sick find a doctor.
May those who are in the dark find a lamp.
May those who are poor find riches.
May those in need ofone find a ruler.
May those who trade find a sea lane.
May those in darkness find a light.

In other words, the twelve similes are not merely claims about what the Lotus Sutra can do, though they are that; they are also a poetic expression of the many kinds of human needs and of the hope that they be met.

Thus the meaning of “this sutra can save all living beings” is that if it is heard and applied – by us – people will be saved. Those who are thirsty will find cool water and those in the dark will find light.

There is no evidence to suggest that such practices as burning body parts or one’s whole body was taken literally in India. It was in China and Vietnam especially, with finger burning and self-immolations occurring even as late as 1948, that such language was taken literally. This is one danger of literalism. It can lead to extreme acts that benefit no one. Devotion is good; devotion to the Buddha is good; devotion to the Dharma Flower Sutra is good. But acts of devotion have to be examined with additional criteria to determine whether they are in accord with the Dharma as a whole, whether they promote or retard one’s progress along the way, and whether they are likely to lead to a reduction in suffering. There could be very exceptional circumstances, perhaps once in ten million eons, when such a sacrifice is called for. It may be that Vietnam in the 1960s was one such time. But the monk Thich Quang Duc, who burned himself in 1963, did not do so merely to express his devotion. His act of devotion was also a political act aimed at improving the lives of millions of people.

Religious devotion not tempered by intelligence and wisdom can be dangerous, both to others and to oneself. Sound practice, skillful practice of the Buddha Way, requires that we develop to the fullest all of our capacities for doing good.

Despite the fact that this chapter is taken by some as praising the actual sacrifice of one’s body or body parts by burning, I believe that the Lotus Sutra does not teach that we should burn ourselves or parts of our bodies. The idea that keeping even a single verse of the Lotus Sutra is more rewarding than burning one’s finger or toe suggests this. And further, suicide would go against the teachings of the Sutra as a whole as well as the Buddha’s precept against killing. The language here, as in so much of the Lotus Sutra, is symbolic, carrying a deeper meaning than what appears on the surface.

Chapter 23 of the Lotus Sutra tells a story about previous lives of Medicine King Bodhisattva, when he was a bodhisattva called Seen with Joy by All the Living, a bodhisattva who burned his whole body as a sacrifice to a buddha and later burned just his arms as a sacrifice to a buddha. It then praises the Dharma Flower Sutra and those who follow it.

Like the Sutra as a whole, this chapter has had enormous impact on East Asian Buddhism. Many will remember the sight of Vietnamese monks burning themselves to death in the 1960s during the Vietnam War, beginning with the monk Thich Quang Duc in 1963. It has been said that these monks and nuns used their bodies as torches to illuminate the suffering of the Vietnamese people so that the world might see what was happening in Vietnam. Theirs was an extremely powerful message. And it is a fact that the story and pictures of Thich Quang Duc burning himself were soon seen all over the world. And within a few months the regime of President Diem was overthrown and his anti-Buddhist policies ended.

A great many Chinese monks right down to the middle of the twentieth century followed the practice of burning off one or more of their fingers as a sign of dedication and devotion. Until very recently, virtually all Chinese monks and nuns, and I believe those in Vietnam as well, when receiving final ordination, used moxa, a kind of herb used in traditional Chinese medicine, to burn small places on their scalps, where the scars usually remained for life. This ritual burning was taken to be a sign of complete devotion to the three treasures – the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.

While deeply sympathetic with those who show such great devotion by sacrificing their bodies by fire, it is not a practice I can recommend to anyone. It is much better, I believe, to sacrifice our bodies through dedicated work, in a sense burning our bodies much more slowly. Since Chapter 23 is naturally read as advocating self-immolation, it has been my least favorite chapter in the Lotus Sutra, one that I some times wish had not been included. And yet the last part of the chapter contains some of the most beautiful aphoristic poetry in the Dharma Flower Sutra.