The Prose & Verse of The Lotus Sutra

Measuring the Life of The One That Has Come - Chapter 16

Page 2

Questions:
1. If the chapter on Measuring the Life clarifies that which is eternal, how does it differ from The Nirvana Sutra?
2. What is the difference between the one vehicle of The Lotus Sutra and the one vehicle of The Sri-Mala Sutra¹?
Answers:
1. The Lotus Sutra outlines the idea of eternity whereas The Nirvana Sutra elaborates on it.
2. The Sri-Mala Sutra only clarifies the existence of the one vehicle.
   The Lotus Sutra there is the understanding of the three and the clarifying of the one.

• Question:
  The attainment of the ways & means is the immediate goal whereas the attainment of the absolute reality is the long-range goal. With the serene extinction at the site of enlightenment² as described in The Flower Garland Sutra and with Sakyamuni attaining enlightenment nine kalpas before Maitreya³ as described in The Great Nirvana Sutra, there was the attainment of the ways & means. With The Lotus Sutra opening up an understanding of the immediate and revealing the eternal in this chapter, why does the Sutra later go back to teaching the immediate goal in the chapter on The Bodhisattva Never Belittling⁴?
• Answer:
  One should understand that The Lotus Sutra does return back to the ways & means.
  With this being so, there is already understanding of the three and returning to the one and going beyond understanding of the three and returning to the one.
  With this being so, the path of all the Buddhas is the same, whether it is in understanding the three and returning to the one or in opening up the immediate and revealing the eternal.

• Question:
  With this is being so, all the Buddhas are like this, not just the Buddha Sakyamuni. If it were only so about the Buddha Sakyamuni, all of that just described would be refuted.
• Answer:
  As the Sutra says:
        "These are my ways & means, and they are those of all the Buddhas as well."
  And all the Bodhisattvas that listen to the chapter on Measuring the Life then raised this vow:
        "We vow to also teach of the life of The One That Has Come like this in the future."⁵
  These quotes refer to the fact that the path of all the Buddhas being the same. And one is not inclined to speak of the immediate and short-range goal in distinction to the eternal and long-range goal. Therefore one understands and summons that which is without beginning or end and is neither immediate nor eternal in revealing the Spiritual Body that is permanently abiding. That which has a beginning and an end, and is either immediate or eternal is described as being the response of a manifestation. In using these manifestations, the Buddha sought to deal with all the different situations found in the Sutras. However, in the end they were no different from each other. It is impossible for one to master all the situations that the different Sutras and teachers have understood.

• Question:
  On what specific words in the Sutra is the meaning of 'that which is eternal' based?
• Answer:
  Those that are bright value the principle. Those that are in the dark are stuck on the words. However in fathoming the discussion one comprehends the principle. This is the main intent of the doctrine. In holding onto a little of the dregs and chaff, of what benefit is a bridge of questions?

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Footnotes:

1. The Sri-Mala Sutra: More fully known as The Sutra on the Lion's Roar of Queen Sri-Mala (S. Arya Sri-Maladevi Simhanada Sutra), translated into Chinese by Dharmaksema in the early fifth century, definitively by Gunabhadra in 436 CE, and again by Bodhiruci in the early eighth century. It generally covers the idea of the one all-inclusive vehicle of enlightenment in the third and fourth chapters.

2. The serene extinction at the site of enlightenment: The Buddha's realization of Nirvana and the spiritual realm at the site of enlightenment under the Bodhi tree in Gaya, as described in The Flower Garland (Avatamsaka) Sutra.

3. Sakyamuni attaining enlightenment nine kalpas before Maitreya: In The Nirvana Sutra, it is explained that the Bodhisattva Maitreya will attain enlightenment nine kalpas after the Buddha Sakyamuni.

4. In the sixteenth through eighteenth chapters of The Lotus Sutra, the theme of the eternal Buddha is elaborated. In chapter nineteen on The Bodhisattva Never Belittling, the theme returns in part to manifestations of enlightenment (the short term, immediate view). Actually it gets beyond viewing source and manifestation as separable.

5. This quotation is from chapter seventeen of The Lotus Sutra, on Distinguishing the Merits & Virtues of The One That Has Come

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