The Lotus Sutra  - III. The main teachings of the Lotus Sutra

Introduction - the theoretical teaching and the essential teaching

With all its fantastic imagery and vision, the Lotus Sutra teaches many principles of enormous profundity, centring on two in particular - ‘the replacement of the three vehicles with one vehicle’ and ‘opening the near and revealing the far’.  The bulk of the sutra supports, amplifies and reinforces these two main teachings from a variety of different angles. 

The replacement of the three vehicles with one vehicle is presented in the first half of the sutra.  These first fourteen chapters are called the theoretical teaching (shakumon) because they teach that Buddhahood is a potential shared by all phenomena; at this point in the sutra, however, this is still a theoretical concept, and Shakyamuni’s various predictions of enlightenment for his followers are for some time in the future. 

‘Opening the near and revealing the far’ is presented in the latter fourteen chapters, which are called the essential teaching (honmon), since it reveals Buddhahood as a reality already present in Shakyamuni’s life.  

The Three Vehicles

In the sutras preached before the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni had stated that certain people could not attain Buddhahood - women, evil people, people of incorrigible disbelief (icchantika) and ‘men of the two vehicles’ (nijo).  This last group consisted of his closest disciples - the ‘voice-hearers’ who listened to his preaching and strove for self-improvement; and pratyekabuddhas, who have already become partially enlightened but whose self-absorption prevents them developing fully into Buddhas.  It may seem odd that those closest to the Buddha and most dedicated to following his teachings should be denied the possibility of enlightenment, but Shakyamuni wanted to emphasise the enormous difference between his state of life, Buddhahood, and theirs, for all their sincere efforts.  For these two groups, then, he taught ‘the two vehicles’ as a means to achieve a limited self-awakening.   

This limitation is apparent in the fact that the men of the two vehicles are concerned only with their own salvation. To transcend this, in other sutras Shakyamuni taught the ‘vehicle’ or way of the bodhisattva, who seeks enlightenment through compassionate acts for others; specifically, through helping others onto the path to Buddhahood. Together, the teachings preached for the voice-hearers, pratyekabuddhas and bodhisattvas are called ‘the three vehicles’. 

The replacement of the Three Vehicles with the One Vehicle

The Lotus Sutra starts with the description of various omens that precede the expounding of the Lotus Sutra.  In the second chapter, ‘Expedient Means’, Shakyamuni arises from his silent meditation and begins to talk, without waiting for a question from his disciples, saying ‘The wisdom of the Buddhas is infinitely profound and immeasurable’.[1] Then he announces a truth that only Buddhas can understand - the true entity of all phenomena (shoho jisso) - and lists the Ten Factors of life (ju nyoze) that characterise this entity.  These are appearance, nature, entity, power, influence, internal cause, relation, latent effect, manifest effect and consistency from beginning to end.  The Great Teacher T’ien‑t’ai later clarified the true entity of all phenomena through the theory of ichinen sanzen.[2] 

Shakyamuni then explains that the three vehicles expounded in his earlier sutras are only ‘expedient means’, a way of preparing people for the Buddha’s ultimate teaching: 

Shariputra, when the age is impure and the times are chaotic, then the defilements of living beings are grave, they are greedy and jealous and put down roots of no good. Because of this, the Buddhas, utilising the power of expedient means, apply distinctions to the one Buddha vehicle and preach as though it were three.[3] 

But, as he states forcefully a few lines later on, ‘There is no other vehicle, there is only the one Buddha vehicle.’[4] He further explains that the sole purpose for the Buddha to appear in the world is to teach the one great vehicle, the world of Buddhahood.  This denial of the three vehicles and the statement that Buddhahood is attainable by all people - without exception - is called the replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle.  Once this principle is stated in the ‘Expedient Means’ chapter, Shakyamuni elaborates on it in a variety of ways throughout the rest of the theoretical teaching.  

According to T’ien-t’ai, the ‘Expedient Means’ chapter represents the ‘concise replacement of the three vehicles’, and centres on the passage that reveals the true entity of all phenomena. Since the true entity is shared by all phenomena it is present both in the life of the Buddha and all other people; therefore, there is no essential difference between the Buddha and ordinary people; therefore, men of the two vehicles and bodhisattvas can attain enlightenment; therefore, there are not three vehicles but only one, Buddhahood. 

By contrast, the latter half of the ‘Expedient Means’ chapter through to the end of the ninth chapter - ‘Prophecies Conferred on Learners and Adepts’ - represents the ‘expanded replacement of the three vehicles’. In this section Shakyamuni uses various means to explain further the concept to his voice-hearer disciples and encourages them through prophesying their future enlightenment.   

Moreover, through the prediction of Buddhahood for Devadatta (who had conspired against the Buddha and even had tried to kill him) and the demonstration of the enlightenment of the dragon king’s daughter, Shakyamuni shows that both evil people and women can also attain the highest state of life in their present form, dramatically overturning the teachings of his earlier sutras.  

The replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle was an astonishing revelation for Shakyamuni’s disciples, and even today has truly revolutionary implications. As Daisaku Ikeda notes: 

The Buddha appeared in the world to lead people of all backgrounds and circumstances to enlightenment.  The Buddha taught that attaining Buddhahood is the most fundamental goal of life; all other aspirations are of a far lesser dimension, functioning merely as ‘expedient means’. It is obvious then just how unsuitable fame and fortune are as true goals of human life. 

The replacement of the three vehicles with the one Buddha vehicle, meanwhile, is a revelation of both the Buddha’s true intent and the true purpose of human life.[5]

Opening the near and revealing the far

In the theoretical teaching of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni had said that, after leaving home at the age of nineteen and persevering in various religious practices, he attained Buddhahood under a pipal or bodhi tree at Buddhagaya. His disciples accepted this as a fact - while, in some of the sutras prior to the essential teaching, there are descriptions of events which had taken place in the past lives of Shakyamuni,  these are all related to various aspects of his practice; none mention his enlightenment.  

At the heart of the essential teaching, however, is the passage in the ‘Life Span of the Thus Come One’ (sixteenth) chapter where Shakyamuni refutes the view that he attained enlightenment for the first time in his present life in India, and reveals his original enlightenment in the remote past. This is known as ‘opening the near and revealing the far’.  

T’ien‑t’ai notes that this concept appears in two forms, which he calls ‘the concise revelation’ and ‘the expanded revelation’.  The concise revelation is found in the ‘Emerging from the Earth’ (fifteenth) chapter when Shakyamuni explains to the confused Bodhisattva Maitreya that the Bodhisattvas of the Earth who have just emerged from the earth are also his disciples, and states:  

            Ever since the long distant past

            I have been teaching and converting this multitude.[6]  

This passage therefore reveals in an indirect or ‘concise’ manner the fact that Shakyamuni became a Buddha at some point in the remote past.  The ‘expanded revelation of ‘opening the near and revealing the far’ is found in the following (sixteenth) chapter, when Shakyamuni states directly: 

But good men, it has been immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of nayutas of kalpas since I in fact attained Buddhahood.[7] 

This is termed his ‘actual attainment in the remote past’.  

‘Opening the near and revealing the far’ is also closely related to the concept of ‘to cast off the transient and reveal the true’ (hosshaku kempon), whereby a Buddha discards his transient or provisional status and reveals his true identity. Here, Shakyamuni discards his provisional identity as the Buddha who attained enlightenment in his present lifetime under the pipal tree, and reveals his original enlightenment in the distant past. 

‘Life Span’ in the title of the sixteenth chapter refers to the duration of Shakyamuni’s life as a Buddha; that is, how long he has been enlightened. The statement that since his original enlightenment he has been ‘constantly in this saha world, teaching and converting’[8] indicates that there is no Buddha land apart from the saha world; in other words, Buddhahood or enlightenment is to be achieved nowhere else but amidst the mundane reality of our everyday lives.  

To put it another way, while the ‘Expedient Means’ chapter teaches that Buddhahood is inherent in the nine worlds from Hell to Bodhisattva - that all aspects of ordinary life can reveal Buddhahood - the ‘Life Span of the Thus Come One Chapter’ teaches that the nine worlds are inherent in Buddhahood; the Buddha lives in this real world as an ordinary person, albeit an enlightened one, not as some transcendental being, and is therefore subject to normal human joys and sorrows. In short, as Daisaku Ikeda explains:   

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