This was written in advance of Sunday’s meeting of the Nichiren Buddhist Sangha of the San Francisco Bay Area, which has been discussing Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra this month.
Last week I asked, Does the Buddha Only Teach Bodhisattvas? And my short answer was that since the Buddha is seeking to lead everyone to buddhahood, there are no śrāvakas, only bodhisattvas, among his disciples.
Before moving to Chapter 3 and the Buddha’s prediction that Śāriputra will teach the Three Vehicles according to his original vow, I want to discuss the One Vehicle.
From the last part of Chapter 2, Expedients, we are taught:
Any Śrāvaka or Bodhisattva
Who hears even a gāthā
Of this sūtra which I am to expound
Will undoubtedly become a Buddha.
There is only one teaching, that is, the One Vehicle
In the Buddha-worlds of the ten quarters.
There is not a second or a third vehicle
Except when the Buddhas teach expediently.
The Buddhas lead all Living beings
By tentative names [of vehicles]
In order to expound their wisdom.
They appear in the worlds
Only for the One Vehicle.
And shortly after that:
Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.
That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.
One Goal. One Vehicle. Inseparable.
The Tathāgatas save all living beings
With innumerable expedients.
They cause all living beings to enter the Way
To the wisdom-without-āsravas of the Buddha.
Anyone who hears the Dharma
Will not fail to become a Buddha.
Every Buddha vows at the outset:
“I will cause all living beings
To attain the same enlightenment
That I attained.”
The future Buddhas will expound many thousands
Of myriads of millions of teachings
For just one purpose,
That is, for the purpose of revealing the One Vehicle.
In considering this, it occurred to me that here again the light of the Buddha’s wisdom is an apt analogy.
The Buddha’s wisdom shines in perfect brightness. A Buddha and another Buddha – Yui Butsu Yo Butsu – perceive this light as uniformly white, but those who have not eliminated all of their defilements filter this light into innumerable colors, failing to see the full spectrum of the Buddha’s wisdom.
In the Profound Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra, Chih-i writes:
Briefly, there are three differences [in the kind of preaching undertaken by the Buddha] called “in accordance with the feelings” [of the listener] ; “in accordance with the feelings [of the listener] and the wisdom” [of the Buddha] ; and “in accordance with the wisdom” [of the Buddha.]
The preaching in accordance with the feelings [or capacities of sentient beings] refers to [the teaching of the Buddha which takes into account] the fact that the feelings and natures [of sentient beings] are not the same, so the explanation which is taught in accordance with the feelings is different [for each person]. As it is clarified in the Abhidharma-mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra, there are immeasurable varieties of the dharma supreme in the world [laukikāgra-dharmāh].
It is the same for the real ultimate truth. How much more so for the others. It is like a blind man following his feelings when presented with many different [analogies for the whiteness of] milk.
The blind man, hearing various explanations, argues about the color white. Do they not all refer to [the whiteness of] milk? All the masters have failed to understand this meaning. They each are attached to a certain text, and present their own opinions and argue. They each deny each other’s [opinions], believing one and not believing another. What vigorous bickering! They do not know which side is correct.
Foundations of T'ien T'ai Philosophy, p 237
There is only one teaching, One Vehicle.