Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

L OTUS S U TRA (SADDHARMAPUN D ARI KA- SU TRA)
sequent chapters through analogies and parables, such
as the three carts and the burning house, the rich man
and his poor son, medicinal herbs, the magically conjured
city, the gem concealed in a robe, and so forth.
While the Lotus Su tra repeatedly asserts the supremacy
of the one vehicle, it never actually explains
what it is. This has opened the way for diametrically
opposed readings of the sutra. One controversy among
Chinese exegetes centered on whether the one vehicle
is the same as, or different from, the bodhisattva vehicle
(the so called “three carts or four” controversy). At
stake was the question: Is the Mahayana the true, final
teaching, and only the two vehicles provisional? Or is
the Mahayana itself, like the two Hnayana vehicles,
also ultimately a skillful means, leading to but transcended
by a truth beyond expression? A related point
of disagreement in the history of Lotus interpretation
concerns whether the one vehicle should be read inclusively
or exclusively. From an inclusive standpoint,
since the one vehicle is all-encompassing, all practices
and doctrinal formulations can be seen as provisional
skillful means, which, while different in themselves,
nonetheless all point toward the same realization.
From an exclusive or hierarchical viewpoint, however,
the one vehicle is equated with one specific teaching,
the Lotus, which is thereby invested with absolute status,
over and against all other teachings, which are then
relegated to the lesser category of “provisional.”
Universal buddhahood. A corollary to its claim that
there is only one vehicle is the Lotus Su tra’s assertion
that buddhahood is the final goal of all. In the sutra’s
words, “Among those who hear this dharma, there is
not one who shall not attain buddhahood.” This is illustrated
by predictions of future buddhahood bestowed
upon the Buddha’s śravaka disciples, as they
come to understand that the goal of personal NIRVAN A
they had pursued was a skillful expedient, not a final
destination in itself. The twelfth, Devadatta, chapter
was widely interpreted as extending the promise of
buddhahood to persons seen as having particular obstacles
to liberation. The prediction of eventual buddhahood
for Devadatta, the Buddha’s wicked cousin,
was read as illustrating the potential for enlightenment
even in evil persons, and the instantaneous realization
of buddhahood by the dragon king’s daughter, described
in the same chapter, as a promise of enlightenment
for WOMEN. In keeping with traditional views
that buddhahood must be achieved in a male body, the
dragon princess changes into a male in the moment
before her enlightenment. Modern readers seeking
support in the Mahayana for a position of gender
equality find this element in the narrative troubling.
Historically, however, exegetes and devotees have not
necessarily adhered to a literal reading, and the Lotus
was in fact thought to hold particular relevance for
women’s attainment of buddhahood.
The primordial Buddha. The latter part of the Lotus
Su tra, especially the “origin teaching,” presents a radically
revised depiction of Śakyamuni, not as the historical
Buddha who lived and taught in India, but as
the original or primordial Buddha. In chapter eleven,
before he opens the jeweled stupa of Prabhutaratna,
Śakyamuni “recalls his emanations,” and the buddhas
who then gather from throughout the ten directions
are shown to be his manifestations. Particularly in
chapter sixteen, Śakyamuni reveals that he first
achieved enlightenment, not under the bodhi tree in
this lifetime as people think, but billions of kalpas ago,
in the inconceivably remote past. Ever since then, he
has been here in this world and also in others, preaching
the dharma and converting living beings. Thus his
birth, renunciation, practice, awakening, and entry
into nirvana are all revealed to be the skillful means by
which he constantly teaches and liberates others.
The Buddha of the origin teaching is often spoken
of as the “eternal Buddha,” a term that, though easy to
understand, flattens out a long and complex history of
interpretation. Early Chinese exegetes disagreed over
whether this Buddha’s life span was finite or infinite,
or whether he was a Buddha in the dharma-body
(dharmakaya), the recompense-body (sambhogakaya),
or the manifested-body (nirmanakaya) aspect.
In a dynamic synthesis, Zhiyi interpreted the original
Buddha of the Lotus Su tra as embodying all three bodies
in one: The dharma body is the truth that is realized;
the recompense body is the wisdom that realizes
it; and the manifested body, a compassionate expression
of that wisdom as the human Buddha who appeared
and taught in this world. In the Japanese Tendai
tantric tradition (Taimitsu), the primordial Buddha of
the Lotus Su tra was identified with Vairocana or Mahavairocana,
the cosmic Buddha pervading everywhere,
whose form is all things, whose voice is all
sounds, and whose mind is all thoughts. In Tendai
ORIGINAL ENLIGHTENMENT (HONGAKU) doctrine, the
primordial Buddha is said to be the “triple body that
is unproduced” (musa sanjin), that is, innate originally.
Here, the Buddha’s enlightenment in the remote past
is taken as a metaphor for the original enlightenment
that is the beginningless true aspect of all things.
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