According to some sentient beings, when Buddha preaches widely Tripitaka and the 12 divisions of the Mahayana canon, he is talking about theoretical insights and methods of practice. Sentient beings need to follow the teachings and practice rigorously in order to obtain the great freedom of life like Buddha. In the process of training, there may also be various obstacles leading to regression and loss of the heart of obtaining enlightenment and liberation – a direct manifestation of the perfection of merits of all Buddhas, which can be obtained without the necessities of working hard to practice as long as they believe in. It is a state where all Buddhas can share their inner realization and happiness with all sentient beings after reaching the state where both noumenal and phenomenal are interdependent and all phenomena exist in perfect harmony and do not obstruct each other. In such a state, even if sentient beings have not practiced Buddhism, they can experience and partake of the great Nirvana realm of all Buddhas through their faculties of sight, hearing, and awareness. Therefore, Shakyamuni Buddha in the Sutra says that Buddhas have the ability to give real visible benefits to sentient beings. By extension, in such giving, sentient beings can not only satisfy all desires, but also quickly awaken themselves in time and space, achieving the Buddha’s fruit. Hence, the Sutra says what the Buddha is about to proclaim will transform all gods and humans.
In this part of Sutra, Buddha eulogizes all Buddhas and sings his own praises. The Tathagata and His teachings have appeared in the world like an udumbara flower, the auspicious, wonderful flower that appears only once in thousands of years. He and His Teachings are truly hard to encounter. Inconceivable is the Tathagata-Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi’s wisdom; His knowledge and views are hindrance free and limitless, extending all over innumerable beings, time and space. With the power of one meal, He can make His life last innumerable kalpas. His appearance unchanged in radiance and he does not age.
In the world of Saha where we all live, sentient beings of the three realms, six paths, and twelve types all live by food. Their dietary habits can be divided into four types: 1. Food for the body and its senses; 2. Food for the emotions; 3. Food for thought; 4. Food for wisdom, i.e., for alayavijnana. We human beings live by food for the body and its senses – we have a meal every other period of time. The issue of eating is familiar to different beings in the Dharma meeting, so Buddha uses food as an example. Many sentient beings would find it beyond comprehension that a Buddha with a little food could make His life last 100,000 koti kalpas. In reality, Buddha has some food only to be consistent with sentient beings’ dietary needs. Even if Buddha doesn’t eat or drink, he can live for innumerable, countless kalpas. Arhats, abiders in the fruit of a foe-destroyer, at the Dharma Assembly may dwell in the state of Samadhi for 1000 years without eating or drinking. When coming out of the state of dhyana, they appear unchanged in radiance and do not age at all after 1000 years, just like when they entered Samadhi, let alone Buddha, who dwells on the Void or the Immaterial, a kind of meditation without entry and exit, holding the unreality of all marks. To all Buddhas whose inner realm is characterized by immortality of “nothing has been created, nothing can be destroyed”, their outward manifestations of production and annihilation, birth, aging, illness, and death are but made according to situation or circumstance. The Tathagata has already had command of all dharmas and maintains freedom in all phenomena. Of course, this “freedom of all laws” includes freedom of diet, which means that Tathagata can eat or not eat; freedom of appearance, which means He can age or not, and their appearances and physical functions being maintained at any stage of life as They wish; the freedom of life, which means He can die or not. Upon hearing these, the great bodhisattvas in the Dharma assembly are not surprised or terrified. However, for us, especially humans whose lifespan is now limited to a hundred years, we may find it somewhat inconceivable.
Before Buddha proclaims Dharma, He lauds Himself as well as all Buddhas’ awe-inspiring power of freedom in all laws. Does this pattern for opening Dharma teachings remind you of a similar scene in “The Lotus Sutra”? Let’s cast our minds back to the introductory part of “The Lotus Sutra”. Buddha entered the Samadhi of the Station of Limitless Principles, body and mind unmoving. At that time there fell from the heavens a rain of flowers, which were scattered upon the Buddha and the entire great assembly. All the Buddha universes quaked in six ways. Then the Buddha emitted from between his brows a white hair-mark light which illumined eighteen thousand worlds to the east, omitting none of them in the light. At that time the World Honored One arose serenely from Samadhi and told Shariputra, the Wisdom First among His great disciples: “The wisdom of all the Buddhas is extremely profound and unlimited. The gateway to this wisdom is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. It cannot be known by any of the Sound Hearers or Pratyeka Buddhas. As to that foremost, rare, and hard-to-understand Dharma accomplished by the Buddha – only the Buddhas and the Buddha can exhaust the Real Mark of all Dharmas.” Likewise, before Buddha’s proclamation of the Dharma, He lauds Himself as well as all Buddhas about their profound wisdom, even beyond the understanding of the Sound Hearers or Pratyeka Buddhas. Only Buddhas can understand each other, so the Real Mark of all Dharmas is also beyond the understanding of Bodhisattvas. On hearing this, all the Assembly members are bewildered, and upon the request of Shariputra, Buddha replies: “Stop, stop. It must not be spoken. My Dharma is wonderful beyond conception, and those of undue pride who heard it surely would neither revere nor believe it.” Upon the earnest request of Shariputra for three times, the World Honored One agreed to speak. As he said these words, five thousand Bhikshus, Bhikshunis, Upasakas, and Upasikas in the assembly rose from their seats, made obeisance to the Buddha and left. The World Honored One remained silent and did not restrain them. The Buddha commences proclaiming “The Lotus Sutra” by saying: “A wonderful Dharma such as this is spoken only occasionally by the Buddhas, the Thus Come Ones, just as the Udumbara flower appears but once in a great while.”
In contrast with the beginning part of “The Lotus Sutra”, let’s have a look at the beginning of this Sutra when Buddha eulogizes all Buddhas and sings his own praises. The Sutra says that the Tathagata, out of inexhaustible great compassion for sentient beings in the Three Realms of Existence, has appeared in the world to expound the teachings for attaining bodhi, to rescue sentient beings from ignorance, and to give them true benefits. Like an udumbara flower, the auspicious, wonderful flower that appears only once in a long while, even if a Buddha is born, He is hard to encounter in innumerable kotis of kalpas of reincarnation. Immeasurable is the Tathagata-Sambuddha’s wisdom, which leads and guides all the lost sentient beings. Ananda, you shall know that His knowledge and views are inconceivable, hindrance free and limitless, extending all over innumerable beings, time and space. With the power of one meal, He can make his life last 100,000 koti kalpas or even more innumerable, countless kalpas, His faculties undiminished in vigor and joy, completely indestructible, and His appearance unchanged in radiance and he does not age. What is the reason? Because the Tathagata, with His boundless, indescribable and supreme samadhi and wisdom, has command of all dharmas and maintains freedom.
Why does Buddha in these two scriptures praise the preciousness and rarity of Buddhas and Their teachings and the Buddha’s freedom in all Dharmas, laying the groundwork for what He will say later? When we understand the content of these two classic Sutras, we will understand.
In “The Lotus Sutra”, Buddha directly states that the nature of sentient beings is Buddha, though they are only at a temporary loss. Therefore, there is no such thing as the Sound Hearers or the Pratyeka Buddhas or the Bodhisattvas. These names and Fruition states are toys that Buddha rewards when sentient beings undergo different stages of physical and mental transformation from confusion to enlightenment. “The Lotus Sutra” eradicates the idea of the paths of Three Vehicles; instead, it supports the idea that Three Vehicles will go One-Vehicle ultimately. Whatever the reasons and aspirations of sentient beings have when they set out practicing Buddhism, whether they are beginners or Arhats who have achieved four phala (four grades of saintship), they are already on the way with no differentiation to becoming Buddhas; consequently, there is only One-Vehicle path. As long as sentient beings hear and comprehend the Buddha’s teachings, they can awaken and become Buddhas no matter what kind of Dharma door (the Buddha’s doctrines or wisdom as the door to enlightenment) they are touched by. In the scripture, it is metaphorically said that sentient beings may feel they only have unwholesome roots and in Buddhism will be content with seeking a deer cart or horse carriage, while the Buddha equally gives all sentient beings a great white ox cart. In “The Lotus Sutra”, the Buddha directly bestows predictions upon his great disciples of the human world when to become Buddha, what the Buddha’s name is, and predicts all the hearers of “The Lotus Sutra” will ultimately become Buddhas. Even Devadatta, who committed the act of shedding Buddha’s body blood and splitting the monastic order, received the prediction of eventually becoming a Buddha. The scene of bestowing the predictions of Annuttarasamyaksambodhi equally upon every disciple in The Lotus Sutra is like a human emperor crowning a prince. He equally places a crown on the head of each disciple. This kind of giving makes all beings in the Dharma assembly overjoyed. The disciples of the Theravada in particular cry with a flood of tears. Some disciples say that they are originally puzzled as to why the Buddha speaks of the Theravada Buddhism for themselves and the Mahayana Buddhism for the Great Bodhisattvas. This is definitely not Buddha’s favoritism, but rather because their initial roots are inferior. They only want to escape personal sufferings and never have generated the altruistic aspiration to attain full enlightenment for the benefit of all beings. In light of their roots, Buddha teaches Theravada Buddhism and they can only attain Arhat-phala (the fruit of arhat discipline) in this life. These disciples think that they are aged now and have no time to aspire to the achievements of the great bodhisattvas and have no hope of becoming Buddhas. But the Buddha gives them a big surprise. It turns out that they can become Buddhas just like the Bodhisattvas. No matter what they learn and practice, Theravada or Mahayana, they are actually on the way to becoming Buddhas, not on the way to achieving Arhat-phala. The teaching of different paths of the Sound Hearers, Pratyeka Buddhas and Bodhisattvas and the different fruit titles of Arhat and Bodhisattvas are all convenient methods and pseudonyms for all beings to turn from ignorance to enlightenment. There is only one-Buddha path, since all beings have Buddha nature; they cannot but become Buddhas. Even in the darkness of disorientation, the Buddha’s nature remains complete and untainted.
In the Lotus Assembly where the prediction of Annuttara-samyak-sambodhi is equally bestowed upon every disciple, 5000 disciples take leave just before Buddha begins the Dharma speech. They depart not because of skepticism toward or disrespect of Our Buddha, but because they no longer take any interest in the auspicious signs presented in the Dharma meeting, the earth-shaking radiance of the Buddha, and the Buddha’s statement that all Buddhas have realized a great secret law which only the Buddhas and the Buddha can exhaust the Real Mark of it. They feel that they have heard all the teachings of the Buddha and can no longer listen to the Dharma. Since everything is illusory, with no gain at all, these disciples lose interest in everything that Buddha is to give. These practitioners have forgotten that the original intention of practicing Buddhism and the ultimate goal of becoming a Buddha is to attain happiness and freedom of all beings. Instead, they are indulged in ascetic practice earnestly as if rescuing the head from burning by discarding all emotions and desires, and abandon themselves to the sense of achievement by holding the Pure Precepts, and even are given to becoming a Buddha for the sake of Buddha’s fruit. They are addicted to the act of giving up everything, indulging in asceticism, in the achievements of meditation, and in illusions that are opposite to secular laws such as Inedia (to keep away from cereal food as a path to enlightenment) and staying up meditating all night without sleep. Their hearts feel like a withered tree, without pleasant surprises in life. Everything that secular beings desire, they don’t want to see or listen to. Of course, if that’s their life state, they won’t make efforts to build a paradise world for the sake of satisfying the desires of all beings, for the ultimate happiness of all beings, and for the alleviation of all beings’ suffering. So they leave the Dharma Assembly just before Buddha begins the speech. The Buddha says that these disciples have limited blessings and claim to have obtained what they have not, and their state of practicing is like a withered seed.