The Sutra of the Lotus of the Wonderful Dharma (Lotus Sutra)

After the Buddhas have passed into extinction, if persons are of good and gentle mind, then living beings such as these have all attained the Buddha way. After the Buddhas have passed into extinction, if persons make offerings to the relics, raising ten thousand or a million kinds of towers, using gold, silver and crystal, agate, carnelian, lapis lazuli to purify and adorn them extensively, in this way erecting towers; or if they raise up stone mortuary temples or those of sandalwood or aloes, hovenia or other kinds of timber, or of brick, tile clay or earth; if in the midst of the broad fields they pile up earth to make a mortuary temple for the Buddhas, or even if little boys at play should collect sand to make a Buddha tower, then persons such as these have all attained the Buddha way.

If there are persons who for the sake of the Buddha fashion and set up images, carving them with many distinguishing characteristics, then all have attained the Buddha way. Or if they make things out of the seven kinds of gems, of copper, red or white copper, pewter, lead, tin iron wood, or clay, or use cloth soaked in lacquer or resin to adorn and fashion Buddha images, then persons such as these have all attained the Buddha way.

If they employ pigments to paint Buddha images, endowing them with the characteristics of hundredfold merit, if they make them themselves or have other make them, then all have attained the Buddha way. Even if little boys in play should use a piece of grass or wood or a brush, or perhaps a fingernail to draw an image of the Buddha, such persons as these bit by bit will pile up merit and will become fully endowed with a mind of great compassion; they all have attained the Buddha way.

Merely by converting the bodhisattvas (spiritual practitioners) they bring salvation and release to numberless multitudes. And if persons, in the presence of such memorial towers, such jeweled images and painted images, should with reverent minds make offerings of flowers, incense, banners or canopies, or if they should employ persons to make music, striking drums or blowing horns playing pipes, flutes, zithers, harps, balloon guitars, cymbals and gongs, and if these many kinds of wonderful notes are intended wholly as an offering; or if one with a joyful mind sings a song in praise of the Buddha's virtue, even if it is just one small note, then all who do these things have attained the Buddha way.

If someone with a confused and distracted mind should take even one flower and offer it to a painted image, in time he would come to see countless Buddhas. Or if a person should bow or perform obeisance, or should merely press his palms together, or even should raise a single hand, or give no more than a slight nod of the head, and if this were done in offering to an image, then in time he would come to see countless Buddhas.

And if he himself attains the unsurpassed way and spreads salvation abroad to countless multitudes, he will enter the nirvana of no remainder as a fire dies out when the firewood is exhausted. If persons with confused and distracted minds should enter a memorial tower and once exclaim, "Hail to the Buddha!" Then all have attained the Buddha way. If from past Buddhas when they were in the world or after their extinction, they should be those who heard this Dharma (true teaching), then all have attained the Buddha way.

The World-Honored Ones of the future, whose numbers will be incalculable, these Tathagatas will also employ expedient means to preach the Dharma (true teaching), and all these Tathagatas through countless expedient means will save and bring release to living beings so that they enter the Buddha's wisdom which is free of outflows.

If there are those who hear the Dharma (true teaching), then not one will fail to attain Buddhahood. The original vow of the Buddhas was that the Buddha way, which they themselves practice, should be shared universally among living beings so that they too may attain this same way. The Buddhas of future ages, although they preach hundreds, thousands, millions, a countless number of doctrines, in truth do so for the sake of the single vehicle. The Buddhas, most honored of two-legged beings, know that phenomena have no constantly fixed nature, that the seed of Buddhahood sprout through causation, and for this reason they preach the single vehicle.

But that these phenomena are part of an abiding Dharma (true teaching), that the characteristics of the world are constantly abiding – this they have come to know in the place of practice and as leaders and teachers they preach expedient means. The presently existing Buddhas of the ten directions, whom heavenly and human beings make offerings to, who in number are like Ganges sands, they have appeared in the world in order to bring peace and comfort to living beings, and they too preach the Dharma (true teaching) in this way.

They understand the foremost truth of tranquil extinction and therefore employ the power of expedient means, and though they point out various different paths, in truth they do so for the sake of the Buddha vehicle. They understand the actions of living beings, the thoughts that lie deep in their minds, the deeds they have carried out in the past, their desires, their nature, the power of their exertions, and whether their capacities are acute or dull, and so they employ various causes and conditions, similes, parables, and other words and phrases, adapting what expedient means are suitable to their preaching.

Now I too am like this; in order to bring peace and comfort to living beings I employ various different doctrines to disseminate the Buddha way. Through the power of my wisdom I know the nature and desires of living beings and through expedient means I preach these doctrines, causing all living beings to attain joy and gladness. Shariputra, you should understand that I view things through the Buddha eye, I see the living beings in the six paths, how poor and distressed they are, without merit or wisdom, how they enter the perilous road of birth and death, their sufferings continuing with never a break, how deeply they are attached to the five desires, like a yak enamored of its tail, blinding themselves with greed and infatuation, their vision so impaired they can see nothing.

They do not seek the Buddha, with his great might, or the Dharma (true teaching) that can end their sufferings, but enter deeply into erroneous views, hoping to shed suffering through great suffering. For the sake of these living beings I summon up a mind of great compassion. When I first sat in the place of practice and gazed at the tree and walked around it, for the space of three times seven days I pondered the matter in this way.

The wisdom I have attained, I thought, is subtle, wonderful, the foremost. But living beings, dull in capacity, are addicted to pleasure and blinded by stupidity. With persons such as these, what can I say, how can I save them? At that time the Brahma kings, along with the heavenly king Shakra, the Four Heavenly Kings who guard the world, and the heavenly king Great Freedom, in company with other heavenly beings and their hundreds and thousands of followers, reverently pressing their palms together and bowed, begging me to turn the wheel of the Dharma. Immediately I thought to myself that if I merely praised the Buddha vehicle, then the living beings, sunk in their suffering, would be incapable of believing in this Dharma (true teaching).

And because they rejected the Dharma (true teaching) and failed to believe it, they would fall into the three evil paths. It would be better if I did not preach the Dharma (true teaching) but quickly entered into nirvana (the highest paradise). Then my thoughts turned to the Buddhas of the past and the power of expedient means they had employed, and I thought that the way I had now attained should likewise be preached as three vehicles. When I thought in this manner, the Buddhas of the ten directions all appeared and with Brahma sounds comforted and instructed me. "Well done, Shakyamuni!" they said. "Foremost leader and teacher, you have attained the unsurpassed Dharma (true teaching).

But following the example of all other Buddhas, you will employ the power of expedient means. We too have all attained the most wonderful, the foremost Dharma (true teaching), but for the sake of living beings we make distinctions and preach the three vehicles. People of small wisdom delight in a small Dharma (true teaching), unable to believe that they themselves could become Buddhas. Therefore we employ expedient means, making distinctions and preaching various goals.

But though we preach the three vehicles, we do it merely in order to teach the bodhisattvas (spiritual practitioners)." Shariputra, you should understand this. When I heard these saintly lions and their deep, pure subtle, wonderful sounds, I rejoiced, crying ‘Hail to the Buddhas!’ Then I thought to myself, I have come into this impure and evil world, and as these Buddhas have preached, I too must follow that example in my actions. After I had thought of the matter in this way, I set out at once for Varanasi.

The marks of tranquil extinction borne by all phenomena cannot be explained in words, and therefore I used the power of expedient means to preach to the five ascetics. This I termed turning the wheel of the Dharma, and also with regard to ‘the sound of nirvana,’ and ‘arhat,’ ‘Dharma’ and ‘Samgha,’ I used these terms to indicate distinctions. ‘From infinite kalpas (one kalpa is a period of four hundred and thirty two million years of mortals) in the past I have extolled and taught the Dharma of nirvana, ending the long sufferings of birth and death.’

This is how I customarily preached. Shariputra, you should know this. When I looked at the Buddha sons, I saw incalculable thousands, ten thousands, millions who had determined to seek the way of the Buddha, everyone with a respectful and reverent mind, all coming to the place of the Buddha, persons who in the past had listened to other Buddhas and heard the Dharma (true teaching) preached through expedient means. Immediately the thought came to me that the reason the Tathagata has appeared is so he may preach the Buddha wisdom.

Now is precisely the time to do so. Shariputra, you should understand that persons of dull capacity and small wisdom, who are attached to appearances, proud and overbearing, are incapable of believing in this Dharma (true teaching). Now I, joyful and fearless, in the midst of the bodhisattvas (spiritual practitioners), honestly discarding expedient means, will preach only the unsurpassed Way. When the bodhisattvas (spiritual practitioners) hear this Dharma (true teaching), they will be released from all entanglements of doubt.

The twelve hundred arhats (saints), they too will all attain Buddhahood. Following in the same fashion that the Buddhas of the three existences employ in preaching the Dharma (true teaching), I now will do likewise, preaching a Dharma (true teaching) that is without distinctions. The times when the Buddhas appear in the world are far apart and difficult to encounter. And even when they appear in the world it is difficult for them to preach this Dharma (true teaching).

Throughout incalculable, innumerable kalpas (one kalpa is period of four hundred and thirty two million years of mortals) it is rare that one may hear this Dharma (true teaching), and a person capable of listening to this Dharma (true teaching), such a person is likewise rare. It is like the udumbara flower (blooms once every 3,000 years) which all the world loves and delights in, which heavenly and human beings look on as something rare, but which appears only once in many ages. If a person hears this Dharma (true teaching), delights and praises it, even if he utters just one word, then he has made offerings to all the Buddhas of the three existences.

But a person like this is very rarely found, rarer than the udumbara flower (blooms once every 3,000 years). You should have no doubts. I being king of the doctrines, make this announcement to the entire great assembly. I employ only the single vehicle way to teach and convert the bodhisattvas (spiritual practitioners), I have no voice-hearer disciples. You, Shariputra, and the voice-hearers and bodhisattvas (spiritual practitioners), you should understand that this wonderful Dharma (true teaching) is the secret crux of the Buddhas.

In this evil world of the five impurities those who merely delight in and are attached to the desires, living beings such as this in the end will never seek the Buddha way. When evil persons in ages to come hear the Buddha preach the single vehicle, they will be confused, will not believe or accept it, will reject the Dharma (true teaching) and fall into the evil paths. But when there are those with sense of shame, persons of purity who have determined to seek the Buddha way, then for the sake of such as these one should widely praise the way of the single vehicle. Shariputra, you should understand this.

The Dharma (true teaching) of the Buddhas is like this. Employing ten thousand, a million expedient means, they accord with what is appropriate in preaching the Dharma (true teaching). Those who are not versed in this matter, cannot fully comprehend this. But you and the others already know how the Buddhas, the teachers of the world, accord with what is appropriate in employing expedient means. You will have no more doubts or perplexities but, your minds filled with great joy, will know that you yourselves will attain Buddhahood.”