One of the ways, I think, in which the Lotus Sutra and its teaching of hōben is ethical is by being radically world-affirming. By this I mean simply that it is this sahā world which is Śākyamuni Buddha’s world. It is in this world that he is a bodhisattva and encourages us to be bodhisattvas. This world is our home, and it is the home of Śākyamuni Buddha, precisely because he is embodied, not only as the historical Buddha, but as the buddha-nature in all things. Thus, things, ordinary things, including ourselves and our neighbors, are not primarily to be seen as empty, though they are; not primarily to be seen as phenomenal, though they are; not primarily to be seen as illusions, though in one sense they are; not primarily to be seen as evil even though they may be in part. It is in dharmas (things/ “conventional” existence) that the Dharma is. It is in transient, changing things that the Buddha is. They are, therefore, to be treated with as much insight and compassion and respect as we can muster.
A Buddhist Kaleidoscope; Gene Reeves, Appropriate Means as the Ethics of the Lotus Sutra, Page 388