A phrase that appears often in Buddhist texts is, “The three realms are in disturbance, just like a house on fire.” According to classical Buddhist thought, the three realms are three levels of existence in the world of samsara: the realm of desire (kamadhatu), the ordinary world we inhabit, where beings are subject to the three poisons of greed, anger, and delusion; the realm of form (rupadhatu), a higher realm of existence in which beings have severed some attachments; and the realm of formlessness (arupadhatu), the highest realm of samsaric existence in which beings are free of attachment to form. Even though the higher two of the three realms may offer some respite from the afflictions, all three are still samsara. None of the three realms can provide real peace or security. They are like a burning house, full of traps and dangers.

Imagine a group of chickens in a cage. They fight each other to get the corn, and they fight over whether the corn or the rice tastes better. And while they are competing with each other over a few kernels of corn or grains of rice, they are unaware that in a few hours they will be taken to the slaughterhouse. We too live in a world full of insecurity, but we don’t see it because we’re so caught up in our craving and delusions.

The Buddha taught these three vehicles to respond to the different levels and capacities of beings, the different causes and conditions, and the different times and situations in which the teachings were given. The three-vehicles teaching is a skillful means in the historical dimension. In terms of the ultimate dimension, however, the Buddha always aims to reveal the deepest meaning, the absolute truth. The reason for all Tathagatas appearing in the world is to guide living beings to the ultimate truth of the One Vehicle, which is also called the Buddha vehicle – opening up, pointing out, awakening to, and entering the insight of the Buddha. So the philosophy of the One Vehicle revealed in the Lotus Sutra has been called “opening up the three to the one” or “gathering the three and returning them to the one.” The teaching of the three vehicles is but a skillful means; in fact, there is only One Vehicle. The Buddha says in a verse:

Within the Buddha Lands of the ten directions
There is the Dharma of only One Vehicle.
There are not two, nor are there yet three,
Save where the Buddha,
Preaching by resort to expedients,
And by merely borrowing provisional names and words,
Draws the beings to him.

This passage is considered the essence of the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra. With this insight, the Sutra achieves something that all previous Mahayana sutras had not yet been able to do. It reconciles and unifies the teachings of the three vehicles into the One Vehicle, the great vehicle that has the capacity to carry all beings to the shore of liberation. This is the heart of the wonderful Dharma, and it is for this reason that the Lotus Sutra is regarded as the king of sutras, not because it expresses more profound or mystical theories, but because it reunites all the disciples and paths of practice into the one great family of the Buddha.

The Buddha describes in some detail the profound insight that is “without measure and without obstruction,” the wisdom and understanding he has learned and practiced according to the immeasurable methods of countless other Buddhas. Only a Buddha can perfect and realize the insight into the suchness, the true nature, of all dharmas (phenomena) – the suchness of their marks (outer appearance), their nature, their substance, their powers, their functions, their causes and conditions, their effects, their retribution, and their ultimate origin. These are called “the ten suchnesses.” Many scholars and Buddhist teachers say that this passage contains the basic philosophy of the Lotus Sutra, and they have spent a lot of ink and paper and time analyzing it in great detail. But the meaning of the ten suchnesses can be distilled into one thing: the Buddha’s wisdom is very deep, and with this insight he is able to see the true nature, the ultimate reality of everything – all dharmas – in time and in space, in the phenomenal world as well as in the ultimate dimension.

[Chapter 2] begins as Shakyamuni Buddha emerges from his samadhi and says to Shariputra, “The wisdom of the Buddha is profound and incalculable. Shravakas or pratyekabuddhas cannot achieve this wisdom.” This is a very important detail. The Buddha has just come out of a deep state of meditative concentration and is about to begin delivering this most important Mahayana sutra. Whom does he choose to address at this moment? Not one of the great bodhisattvas, such as Manjushri or Maitreya, but his loyal disciple, the bhikshu Shariputra. In the Vimalakirtinirdesha Sutra, Shariputra is held in low regard and made an object of denigration. He represents all the shortcomings of the Hinayana tradition. But now, in the Lotus Sutra, he is the object of the Buddha’s care and love. In this Sutra, Shariputra represents the fourfold community of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen to whom the Buddha will transmit the teachings for future generations. Right away we can see how the Lotus Sutra aims to reconcile the two traditions.

The second chapter of the Lotus Sutra is called “Expedient Devices.” The Sanskrit term upaya is often translated in English as “skillful means.” Skillful means are the various skillful ways we can use to fulfill our intentions and manifest our practice. This chapter is the real beginning of the Lotus Sutra in that it serves as the foundation for the entire Sutra. If we can understand the foundational teaching of skillful means we will be able to grasp the whole of the Sutra.

The intention of [the Lotus Sutra’s] introductory chapter is to prepare the audience psychologically and spiritually to receive a very important teaching, the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma. In order to understand the great import of this teaching, the assembly that has gathered in this historical dimension must be introduced to the ultimate dimension. In the past, in another cosmic realm, Buddha Sun and Moon Glow had also given the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. So the miraculous events that are happening today are only a repetition of something that has already occurred in another dimension of reality, the ultimate dimension that is unbounded by our ordinary perceptions of time and space.

As far as the historical dimension is concerned, Shakyamuni is the Buddha who is giving the Dharma talk today in this saha world. From this perspective, the historical Buddha gave teachings for forty years, and then only at the end of his life did he give the teaching of the Lotus Sutra. But in terms of the ultimate dimension, Buddha Shakyamuni and Buddha Sun and Moon Glow are one and the same. In the ultimate dimension, never for a moment has the Buddha ceased to deliver the Lotus Sutra.

So this introductory chapter opens two doors. The first door is that of history, the events we experience and what we can see and know in our own lifetimes. The second door is that of ultimate reality, which goes beyond time and space. Everything, all phenomena, participate in these two dimensions. When we look at a wave on the surface of the ocean, we can see the form of the wave and we locate the wave in space and time. Space and time are not two separate entities; space is made of time and time is made of space. Looking at a wave from the perspective of the historical dimension, it seems to have a beginning and an end, a birth and a death. A wave can be high or low, a wave can be long or short – many qualities can be ascribed to the wave. The notions of “birth” and “death,” “high” or “low,” “beginning” and “ending,” “coming” and “going,” “being” or “nonbeing” – all of these can be applied to a wave in the historical dimension.

We, too, are subject to these notions. When we look in terms of the historical dimension we see that we are subject to being and nonbeing. We are born, but later on we will die. We have a beginning and an end. We have come from somewhere, and we will go somewhere. That is the historical dimension. All of us belong to this dimension. Shakyamuni Buddha also has a historical dimension – he was a human being who was born in Kapilavastu and died in Kushinagara, and during his lifetime of eighty years he taught the Dharma.

At the same time, all beings and things also belong to the ultimate dimension, the dimension of reality that is not subject to notions of space and time, birth and death, coming and going. A wave is a wave, but at the same time it is water. The wave does not have to die in order to become water; it is already water right in the present moment. We don’t speak of water in terms of being or nonbeing, coming and going – water is always water. To talk about a wave, we need these notions: the wave arises and passes away; it comes from somewhere or has gone somewhere; the wave has a beginning and an end; it is high or low, more or less beautiful than other waves; the wave is subject to birth and death. None of these distinctions can be applied to the wave in its ultimate dimension as water. In fact, you cannot separate the wave from its ultimate dimension.

Even though we are used to seeing everything in terms of the historical dimension, we can touch the ultimate dimension. So our practice is to become like a wave – while living the life of a wave in the historical dimension, we realize that we are also water and live the life of water. That is the essence of the practice. Because if you know your true nature of no coming, no going; no being, no nonbeing; no birth, no death, then you will have no fear and can dwell in the ultimate dimension, nirvana, right here and now. You don’t have to die in order to reach nirvana. When you dwell in your true nature, you are already dwelling in nirvana. We have our historical dimension, but we also have our ultimate dimension, just as the Buddha does.

In this introductory chapter, the Lotus Sutra reveals to us these two dimensions. The Buddha Shakyamuni is none other than the Buddha Sun and Moon Glow – and all the other cosmic Buddhas that have appeared in various forms to teach the Dharma from beginningless time.