The Lotus Sutra teaches that “expounding” the sutra is the fourth of the five practices of Dharma teachers. Expounding the sutra is a proactive practice that is a step beyond the somewhat more receptive practices of “receiving and embracing,” “reading,” and “reciting” the sutra. I believe that expounding the sutra is the most important of the Dharma teacher’s five practices.
There are two reasons for this. The first one is that although the Lotus Sutra is the ideal teaching to lead all people to buddhahood, even if you attain liberation for yourself by receiving and embracing, reading, and reciting the sutra, from the standpoint of the aspiration that motivated the Buddha to teach the sutra, you still have a long way to go.
Speaking of attaining buddhahood, I think most people are inclined to feel like giving up, assuming that becoming a buddha is totally beyond their reach. But that’s not the case. The word “buddha” means “awakened one.” Any person who has opened their eyes to and realized the truth of the universe and of human life is a buddha.
But if so, why is it necessary to guide people to buddhahood? In order to make a long story short, I think it might be a good idea to honestly contemplate the current state of the world and envision humanity’s near future.
Currently, humanity as a whole is consumed by voracious desire. The result of this is the destruction of the environment, the depletion of natural resources, and great famines caused by human-induced climate change, and some scientists predict that if the current situation continues, it will result in the demise of most of the human race within a hundred years. Our earth today is undoubtedly the burning house described in the “A Parable” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. It is an enormous mansion engulfed in flames. And there is only one way out of this burning house.
In the “A Parable” chapter, it says the house “while spacious and large, had only one doorway.” This one doorway represents the practice of restraining selfish desire, of returning to a life of contentment with few desires. However, this is easy to talk about but difficult to put into practice. All of you must have experienced this firsthand.
So, what should we do then? The chapter’s “Parable of the Burning House” teaches us to run out of the burning house seeking either the “goat cart” (the awakening of a shravaka), the “deer cart” (the awakening of a pratyekabuddha), or the oxcart (the awakening of a bodhisattva) that the Buddha has prepared just outside the gate.
In other words, there is no path to liberation for us besides seeking the way to become an “awakened one.” To put it differently, the quest to become an awakened one means revealing to all people their inherent buddha nature. If you can achieve this, selfish desires will naturally disappear before you know it. The one doorway out of the burning house is none other than revealing people’s buddha nature to them.
Bodai no me o okosashimu [Germinating the Seeds of Awakening] (Kosei Publishing, 2018), pp. 41–43
Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, was born in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, in 1906. A longtime advocate of cooperation and dialogue between the world’s religious faiths, Rev. Niwano promoted interreligious understanding as honorary chairman of Shinshuren (Federation of New Religious Organizations of Japan), honorary president of Religions for Peace, and in various other capacities. He is the author of several books on Buddhism, the Lotus Sutra, and spirituality, such as Buddhism for Today, Lifetime Beginner, Buddhism for Everyday Life, and more. Rev. Niwano passed away in 1999 at the age of 92.
