Doctrine

Reverence for the Bible in the West has its counterpart among Far Eastern Buddhists in the reverence shown to the Sutras, especially to The Lotus. There is, perhaps, less restraint there in the expression of devotion. Such reverence is a natural consequence of the belief that The Lotus is the Ultimate Truth preached by every Buddha, once only in every Buddha-world, past, present, and to come. To the Mahayanist it is therefore the Eternal Gospel of Buddhism in all worlds and through all time. The Sutra is declared to be the last will and testament of Śakyamuni before his departure; it is his final bequest to this world. All his previous teaching is postulated as interim doctrine, that is, during the time of the disciples’ ignorance and while their minds were still bound by earth-ties and myopic vision. This final revelation is said to have been reserved by him until the eve of his Nirvana. In it he at last makes known the All-Truth, which confers Perfect Enlightenment and Final Nirvana, or Liberation. This supreme liberation cannot be attained by self-discipline and works; it can only be attained by faith 35and invocation. Salvation by Faith is then the fundamental doctrine of the Mahayana School. According to The Lotus teaching no sacrifice is required, no expiation, no atonement, no remorse, no repentance in the sense of contrition, nothing but faith in the infinite mercy and infinite power of the Infinite Buddha who lives and reigns for ever.

It is manifest, then, that the spiritual message of the book is revolutionary in its character. Not only are these doctrines of salvation given, but there is presented the panorama of unlimited universes, all of them ever-changing manifestations of the All-Buddha, of whom Śakyamuni is but one expression in one of infinite worlds; the assurance that the Eternal Buddha is both transcendent and immanent; the teaching that every world, every universe, is a flower of the Eternal Lotus; the call to faith as a greater force than disciplinary or ascetic works; the proclamation of the Eternal Buddha, and of his Salvation for all, even to the devils in hell; the assurance of the ultimate enlightenment of all; the universality of buddhahood for all, because all are potential buddhas, or enlightened ones—such is the inspiration of this masterpiece of literature.

The author is clearly conscious that he is boldly putting into the Buddha’s lips doctrines to which he never gave utterance, and which are not found in the orthodox scriptures. So eager is he to explain, or explain away, this fundamental discrepancy, that he devotes several chapters and parables to elucidation of and excuse for the Buddha’s complete reversal of his 36earlier teaching. At times he openly fears that the Buddha will be accused of having deceived his disciples and even lied to them. Unbiased minds, as well as the biased minds of the orthodox, cannot fail to recognize that the orthodox doctrines and those of The Lotus are diametrically opposed. There is, therefore, good reason why the author, who so skillfully foists the new doctrine on to Śakyamuni, should endeavour to defend his position by pretending that all the Buddha’s life had been spent in teaching an interim doctrine, using the methods of a tactician or a casuist. The author is indeed in serious difficulty. He wishes to father on to Śakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism, doctrines he would have repudiated, and to use Śakyamuni’s name and authority to change entirely the character of his religion. If this view be correct, then the pious fraud has been remarkably successful, for it is this form of Buddhism that has tamed savage tribes such as the Mongols and Tibetans, inspired people like the Chinese and Japanese to a higher spiritual and artistic development, established a cult with many resemblances to Christianity, and is now reacting, chiefly through theosophical publications, on certain lines of thought in the West. Orthodox Buddhism has had no such influence. It is the heterodox school that has prevailed.

Needless to say, the above explanation is not acceptable to the devout Mahayanist. Like the Fundamentalist in the West he refuses to have his faith shaken in the letter of the Law. The Lotus, in his estimate, was spoken by Śakyamuni on earth during 37his last years, all his previous teaching having been preparatory. Many disciples, who are represented as unable to receive his ultimate Truth, left him as is shown in Chapter II, where they turn away from the higher revelation.

Bound to the letter of his scripture, the devout Mahayanist refuses to see in this dramatic work a brilliant apocalypse, in which the earthly Buddha and his disciples are used as figures to portray a new religion of Salvation for all. That in reality is the term which indicates the character of the new and revolutionary doctrine. It accounts also for the division between Mahayanist and Hinayanist, the broad and the narrow schools, the believer in universal salvation by faith and the believer in the salvation of the few by works. It is self-evident that these two terms are not the creation of the orthodox, for they would never dub themselves Hinayanists, men of the “small cart”. That term is a Mahayanist creation, and the influence of The Lotus Sutra in fixing the contrasted terms is undoubted.

The author of The Lotus drama puts into the mouth of Śakyamuni the statement:

“In the Buddha-lands of the Universe There is only the One-Vehicle Law, (Mahayana) Neither a second, nor a third.”

The other ways, or wains, he says are only “provisional terms”, meant

“To lead all living beings Toward the true Buddha-wisdom”;

38because a Buddha

“Never by a small vehicle (Hinayana) Really saves the living;”

for, being in the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) himself, he says:

“If by a small vehicle I converted but one human being, I should thereby fall into selfishness, A thing that cannot be.”

Having vowed to lead all beings into perfect buddhahood along with himself, he must do so by the highest means, by the fullest enlightenment, by buddhahood; it was only as a temporary expedient that he had led his disciples by partial truths on the way to the All-Truth. This idea is especially brought out in the parables of The Burning House, Chapter III, and the Magic City, Chapter VII.

Leaving then “this pious fraud”, as the Orthodox believe, to implicate itself by its own excuses, let us turn to certain other doctrines of the book, which differentiate it from the orthodox school.

I. Buddhism, whose awakening is placed under the shelter of the bo or bodhi-tree (ficus religiosa), the Buddhist tree of knowledge, bases its existence on gnosis. Mental awakening, or awareness, intelligence, mind, knowledge, wisdom, are all implicit within the term. To what extent the Gnostics were indebted to Buddhism is not yet clearly elucidated. Mind to both was the supreme factor. But though mind was fundamental 39to his doctrine, Śakyamuni, according to the Orthodox school, recognized no Mind behind mind. Like Socrates he treated, and was justified in treating, the theistic conceptions of his day as of inferior value. He did not deny the existence of the gods, but placed them beneath the position attained by a Buddha, that is a truly enlightened man. This Mindless system is entirely changed in Mahayanism, in which the Eternal Buddha, who may be described as the Eternal Mind and Eternal Soul, becomes the very foundation of the new structure.

In The Lotus, when the Ancient Buddha appears, who resembles “The Ancient of Days”, it is evident that He is a Person and the devout see in him the Mind behind the All. The Lotus itself, in its complete aspect, is considered as but a metaphor for the Universe, each flower a world; it is used also for the nidus of a soul, as from the spiritual Lotus-flower springs a soul or a life. That the Mahayanists believe in the Mind behind The Lotus, or the All, is clear from the emphasis they lay on the Eternal Buddha. He is in and through all things, which in a sense is the Buddhist form of Pantheism, although, in fact, transcendence rather than immanence is the doctrine of our Sutra. It is manifest, for instance, that the Ancient Buddha is transcendent; when he appears all beings are shown to be his rather than in him; all must assemble to hear Śakyamuni, his earthly counterpart, proclaim The Lotus, with its gospel of universal salvation. It may be argued that the Ancient Buddha here revealed was only one form of the 40Eternal Buddha, but, even so, the accepted interpretation is that he is the Eternal Buddha. At any rate Nirvana, as extinction of existence, is demonstrated by Mahayanists to be a false doctrine of the Hinayana School.

Chapter XVI is considered to be the supreme declaration of the Buddha, in its Revelation of the eternity of his life. It is Śakyamuni, the earthly form of Buddha, who speaks. After telling of his earthly enlightenment, he goes on to say that though his hearers, who have been his disciples during his brief earthly career, may think such enlightenment a comparatively recent event, yet in reality since he veritably became Buddha, infinite, boundless, hundreds, thousands, myriads, kotis, nayutas, of kalpas, or aeons, had passed. In other words, he who on earth was Śakyamuni had already been Buddha, the Enlightened One, through infinite ages. The doctrine bears resemblance to the doctrine of Eternal Sonship in certain forms of Christian theology. This idea of the infinite is shown in meticulous terms, which to the Western mind may seem puerile. The word “infinite” might cover all our needs. But the story-teller knew his hearers. A single word would pass meaninglessly over their minds. To an unlettered audience his method of detailed illustration had greater value.

The Buddha, then, is conceived of in terms of Omniscience and Eternity. His omnipotence also is shown, by his power to call all creatures to his assembly and to shake all creation. While transcendent, he is also in a sense omnipresent, 41in that he can send his searchlight ray into every world, and can appear anywhere at will. Little stress is laid in this Sutra on his creative and destroying power. This may be taken as assumed, for every Buddha-world springs as a flower, flourishes and perishes, only to be resurrected in some other form. In this sense the Eternal Buddha is creator, destroyer, and eternal re-creator of worlds.

Perhaps the most interesting reference to the character of the Tathagata, or Buddha, in his power of spiritual omnipresence, is seen in the beautiful saying in Chapter X, “The Dwelling of the Tathagata is the great compassionate heart within all living beings; the Robe of the Tathagata is the gentle and forbearing heart; the Throne of the Tathagata is the spirituality of all existence”. Again: “Though I am in another domain, yet will I reveal myself from time to time to the preacher of The Lotus. If he forgets any detail of this Sutra I will return and tell him, so that he may perfectly possess it.”

II. Not only is there an Eternal Mind behind the All, but Mahayanism goes further. It places this Eternal Mind, or Eternal Buddha, in the relationship of Father. The Lotus in Chapter II says that the Buddha is “the Father of all worlds, who forever brings to an end all fear, despondency, distress, ignorance, and enveloping gloom, and brings to perfection boundless knowledge, strength, and courage. He is born in the world to save all living creatures from the fires of birth, age, disease, death, grief, suffering, infatuation, darkness, and the three 42poisons, and teach them to obtain perfect enlightenment”.

III. The Eternal Buddha limits his omnipotence by the freewill of his offspring. He may not, for instance, use force to save them. In the parable of the Burning House, in Chapter III, though the lord of the house is strong in body and limb he may not carry out his children. They must come out of their own will. This is shown again in Chapter IV, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, who leaves his father, and runs away. For long he wanders and the father seeks him in vain. After a vain search, the father settles in a certain city, builds a palatial home, amasses great wealth, and is surrounded by innumerable servants and every luxury; but still he is sore at heart, mourning his lost son. The son meanwhile wanders from town to village and village to town, all his money gone, clad in rags, and hiring out his services for a wretched meal. At last, one day, his travels lead him to his father’s mansion and grounds, where he sees his unrecognized father surrounded with honour and glory. Fearing lest he be seized as a slave he turns hastily away, but not before his father has seen and known him. Then comes the account of the son’s arrest, his terror, his liberation, his being persuaded to undertake work, the most menial work, his gradual rise to be major-domo, and the climax when he is declared as son and heir.

One feature clearly evident in this parable is that the freewill of the son is recognized, persuasion being the only method the father might use.

43IV. In the above parable the relationship of sonship is clearly shown. To summarize the long and detailed reply of the disciples, the rich lord is the Buddha and we are all the Buddha’s sons. The Buddha has always declared us as his sons. We, too, have wandered away and gone through all the miseries of life, being attached to lower things, but now the Buddha-wisdom is revealed to us, and we know that we are Buddha-sons. No longer must we hanker after the smaller vehicles, the hinayana, for now we are in the Great Vehicle, the mahayana; no longer are we, so to speak, struggling children of earth, but sons of the Omniscient. The Great Treasure of the King of Truth unsought has come to us, and we have obtained all the inheritance of Buddha-sons.

V. Again, the love of the Buddha to all creatures is equal and universal. This finds expression in various places, as, for instance, in the Parable of the Trees and Grasses in Chapter V. On these the Buddha-rain falls impartially, as does his saving truth on all creatures. His truth and his salvation are equally for all beings universally.

VI. Karma and Anatman are fundamental doctrines of original Buddhism. To the Buddha there was no such entity as the atman, which may be expressed as the eternal, individual soul. Personality during life was recognized. It was, however, only a bundle of sensations; at death when these sensations ceased for lack of organs, the bundle or person ceased to exist as such. But there remained karma, or the deeds done, which may in a sense be described as character 44without a rigid personality; this remainder entered into a new bundle linked, even consciously, with the past.

“The Karma—all that total of a soul Which in the things it did, the thought it had, The self it wove—with woof of viewless time.”

The Light of Asia.

Therefore, it might be said that the sinner suffered, while the saint rose to the condition of nirvana, or extinction, though whether annihilation of existence or merely cessation of reincarnation was meant is disputed. In Mahayanism, however, the atman or immortal soul is restored, and is no longer karma or character without continued personality, merely the progressive resultant of all previous deeds in infinite past existences. While cause and effect remain in the ethical realm, factors of saving power and even of something resembling works of supererogation are introduced. These are not opposed to the law of causation but fulfil it vicariously, or by a process of substitution. Moral good and evil remain essential to life, but they can be attained without struggle and effort by the process of faith. Faith can thus change the entire aspect and force of karma. Instantaneous conversion of the whole nature is assured by faith and invocation, through the medium of a new relationship. Old infrangible determinist bonds snap like tow under the liberating influence of a new personal relationship with a personal, all-loving Buddha-Father. The likeness to the doctrines of the Fatherhood of God and Salvation by faith of the Four 45Gospels and the Johannine Epistles is even more remarkable than is the Buddhist ritual to the Roman rite, that “invention of the devil to embarrass Mother Church”. The fundamental truth in the Mahayanist texts, as in Christian dogma, has been of course decked out with trappings ill suited to its original simplicity.

VII. The Bodhisattvas, throughout The Lotus, are shown as Enlighteners and Saviours. That is their office and, in consequence, every true disciple becomes a bodhisattva, a being of enlightenment. A distinction is made between Great Bodhisattvas in the spirit world, and ordinary bodhisattvas in this and other similar worlds. The past transmigrations of certain of the more prominent Bodhisattva-disciples, as well as their future, are told; but, in the main body of the narrative, we are spared the more extravagant and even repulsive stories of self-sacrifice by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Something of it occurs in the apocryphal chapters about the imaginary Bodhisattvas, such as the Lord of Healing and Kwan-yin. The fact of their mention in Kumarajiva’s Chinese version is evidence of the existence of their cult early in our era. The Bodhisattvas are qualified to enter the bliss of the Buddhas, but delay for themselves this privilege by the vow they make to save every living being in the Buddha-realm in which they dwell. The one who is most famous in the Far East is Amitabha, of Eternal Light and Eternal Life, possibly a conception derived from Western Asia; his name does not appear in The Lotus. Maitreya, a name suggestive of a Mithraic origin, is foretold in 46The Lotus as the next earthly Buddha. It may be mentioned here that every earthly Buddha-period is of limited duration. It is said to last through three stages, that of the true law, that of semblance of the true law (or formalism, the form without the power), and that of final decadence and disappearance, after which a new Buddha with a new Buddha-period appears. Maitreya, or in Chinese Mi-le Fo, is the Bodhisattva who is to appear as the Buddha of the new period, and he is constantly invoked now as the Coming Buddha, the Messiah who will restore all things.

VIII. Salvation by Faith or Invocation. According to the teaching of The Lotus, while the earthly Buddha did, until near his end, teach the law of salvation by works, it was only because his disciples were earth-bound and their spiritual eyes were not yet opened, nor as yet could be opened. The author knows well that he is introducing a revolution in Buddhism. He sees clearly that the new doctrine of salvation by Faith as the ultimate, indeed the only way, or vehicle, is a very different method from that which in India was accepted as the doctrine of Śakyamuni. The clearest evidence that can be offered of this fact, indubitable to all but the interested, lies in the repudiation of the new doctrine by the Orthodox school, as a contradiction of the essential teaching of the Founder. The “Northern” School may dub it Hinayana, if they wish; it prefers to stand by the documents, and to be fundamentalist with its Master, Śakyamuni, than universalist dependent on 47pious fiction. The author himself realizes that he is confronted with serious difficulty in defending his apocalyptic Buddha from the charge of deception and lying, terms he himself uses. He labours hard with statement and parable to show that the Buddha had not been guilty of falsehood, but had given his disciples such glimpses of truth as they were temporarily able to realize, until they could bear the full light. Consequently, he declares salvation by works to have been but a tactical and temporary teaching, in preparation for the revelation of the doctrine of universal salvation by faith, especially by faith in The Lotus Sutra. The Mahayanist admits all the Hinayana texts and honours them, though they are to him but an interim ethic; in addition he has his own vast treasury of sutras and other works. It is the teaching of these, of which this Sutra is to most the chief, that revelation is made of the All-truth which brings liberation, liberation not by works of the law, but by faith. Salvation by faith is then the foundation doctrine of the Mahayana School. This doctrine easily degenerated into Salvation by invocation through the teaching of the Sutra itself. Such teaching is seen in Chapter X. It produced a degeneration which reduced Buddhist prayer, or rather invocation, to machine-like repetition. It is often literally machine-made, as witness the prayer-wheels or rotatory prayer-drums, large and small, stationary or portable, of the Lamaistic sect. Indeed, invocation flags float in every breeze in the fields of China in protection of the crops. The rosary—is it parent or child of the Western rosary?—is 48carried by monks and nuns and by the devout, and Namo Amitabha is repeated millions of times daily. The Buddhist rosary is perhaps as useful a mode of emptying the mind and reaching the “void” as any other, if we may judge by results. Here is a quotation from Chapter X of The Lotus on the value of invocation and especially of the repetition of the Sutra:

“The Buddha addressed the Lord of Healing saying:... if there be any who hears but a single verse, or a single word of the Wonderful Law-flower Sutra, and by a single thought delights in it, I also predict for him complete and perfect enlightenment. And let there be any who receive and keep, read and recite, or expound and copy even a single verse in the Lotus Sutra, or devoutly look upon the Sutra with reverence as if it were the Buddha, or make offerings to it in various ways with flowers, perfumes, garlands, sandal-powder, perfumed unguents, incense for burning, silk-canopies, banners, flags, garments, music, or even revere it with folded hands; know, Lord of Healing, (this is evidence that) such people have already (in past transmigrations) paid homage to ten myriad kotis of Buddhas and under those Buddhas performed their vows. (Hence they are born among men and) these are the people who will certainly be first to become Buddhas in future worlds. These are the people to be honoured even now, for they have recognized the infinite value of The Lotus Sutra. If such people should be able even by stealth to preach to one person but one word of the Sutra, they reveal 49thereby that they are Tathagata messengers sent by the Tathagata to perform Tathagata deeds. Any one who sins other grievous sins, even blasphemy against the Buddha, is only a light sinner compared with him who with a single ill word defames the devotee of this Sutra (for that is the sin so to speak against the Holy Ghost). The preacher of the Lotus should be honoured above all men and gifts showered upon him, for the Lotus is the Treasury of the mystic secret of all Buddhas, guarded by all Buddhas and seldom divulged. Wherever it is preached, there a stupa of precious materials should be erected, which should be served with all kinds of flowers &c., &c., music and hymns.”

The supreme value of The Lotus is shown in Chapter XIV, in the parable of the King who, to reward his brave soldiers, shares with them everything he possesses, only reserving to himself the superb jewel on his brow. At last, seeing the splendid deeds of his soldiers, he decides to give them also even this supreme gift. So is it with the Tathagata; seeing his followers fight so bravely against the hosts of Mara, he at length gives them the greatest reward of all—the entry into Salvation by faith and sonship in the priceless Jewel of his forehead, The Lotus Sutra, the Sutra which can only be preached once in a Buddha realm. The obtaining of this jewel will bring infinite enlightenment, ultimate wisdom, the full and complete Way of the Buddha.

IX. It has already been shown that a permanent personal soul has taken the place of the Buddha’s 50anatman, or no-soul. The bundle of sensations is no longer a temporary organism dissolved at death, but an entity personal and lasting. To the school which postulates Nirvana as the final extinction of existence, the Mahayanist opposes the doctrine of eternal life. Transmigration and the hells remain, for, as seen in Chapters I and VII, the projection of the Buddha-ray reveals the hells of every world with their suffering creatures; nowhere are the appalling sufferings in hell portrayed more realistically than in Mahayanist temples. A universalist doctrine logically requires that the hells of every world shall come to an end in the ultimate salvation of all its creatures, especially when they hear and respond to the proclamation of The Lotus gospel. The hells and transmigrations through all grades of existence, whether gods, devils, men, or creatures of every species, are still necessary in every world, though all may escape on responding to the good news of The Lotus. Their escape is not to extinction, but to the glories of other Buddha-realms, which in this Sutra are shown to be infinite in variety, number, and splendour. While all will attain to perfect enlightenment and happiness it is given to some to progress to even higher offices. During infinite time in infinite worlds there are infinite Buddhas and Buddha-realms. The most exalted positions therefore are open to those who have the spiritual capacity for them. Take, for instance, the prediction in Chapter VI of the future of the disciple Maha-Kaśyapa. It is foretold that he will pay homage (as disciple) to three hundred myriad kotis 51of universally-honoured Buddhas, serving, revering, honouring, extolling them, and widely proclaiming the infinite Truth of those Buddhas. Presumably he is a disciple of each Buddha separately one after another, thus continuing through incalculable aeons. In his final transmigration it is prophesied that he also will become a Buddha in human form, whose name will be Radiance Tathagata, worshipful, all-wise, of perfectly enlightened conduct, well-departed, understander of the world, peerless leader, controller, teacher of gods and men, Buddha, world-honoured one, whose domain is named Radiant Virtue, and whose Buddha-kalpa, or epoch, is named Magnificence. His lifetime as Buddha will be for twelve kalpas. His law in its correctness will abide (after him) for twenty kalpas and the Semblance of his law, before it begins its final decay, will also abide for twenty kalpas. The period given to Maha-Kaśyapa, as happy disciple of incalculable numbers of Buddhas and himself as a Buddha, is certainly beyond human conception, but whether he then goes into the retirement of some final Nirvana, endlessly radiant and happy, is not foretold. This, however, seems to be the meaning of the author’s Buddha (Śakyamuni) when he speaks of his own immediate Nirvana, which evidently does not mean non-existence, but a state of super-existence, such as that of the Ancient Buddha of Chapter XI. At any rate, it may be said that the Buddha-domain of Kaśyapa, as of the other disciples, while described in all the glories of an oriental paradise, is never depicted in terms of sensuality.

52We may say, then, that the soul continues its personal life, if not endlessly, yet in duration beyond the calculation of mundane arithmetic, that the hells and suffering are impermanent; that bliss is ultimately universal in every Buddha-realm; that infinite possibilities in infinite realms and infinite time are open to all; and that for the highest, that is, those who attain to ultimate perfect enlightenment, there is a supreme Nirvana, ineffable, beyond human definition or conception.

X. The clerical order has due encouragement in the Sutra. Monks and nuns of all types, good, bad, and indifferent, receive mention. The type commanding praise is the devoted preacher of The Lotus doctrine, and him the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will always defend, support, and inspire. In Chapter XIV the character of such a one is depicted and in Chapter XX special attention is drawn to a certain long-suffering monk called “Never-despise”, because he saw in every creature a prospective buddha and revered it accordingly, to the annoyance of his fellow monks, at whose hands he suffered much ill-treatment, until at length he himself became Buddha.

In conclusion, it is just to say that, although The Lotus Sutra is undoubtedly a fundamental classic in Mahayanism, as well as the most popular, the number of its readers is small in relation to the population. This is especially the case in China, where it is known to relatively few; at least 95 per cent, of Chinese adults are quite unable to read it, as is probably also the fact among the monks themselves. The same 53remark would probably apply to Tibet and Mongolia. In Japan both people and monks are better educated, and therefore must be classed in a different category. In consequence, the number of monks and people in China possessed of any working acquaintance with the Sutra is very small. Moreover, simple though the language is, much of it is still beyond the apprehension of the ordinary reader, partly because of the numerous Sanskrit terms, partly because of the special meaning read into ordinary Chinese terms, and partly because the book needs an interpreter with insight. Apocalyptic literature is necessarily mystical, even paradoxical and occult. The literalist will either be repelled or attracted by the mystery. His vision is held by minor detail. He is devoid of capacity for seeing with the eyes of the apocalyptic author, the religious dramatist. For this reason the devotee of The Lotus Sutra in the East, like the literalist interpreter of The Bible in the West, rarely gets within sight of the stage and the play. The individual actor and his individual movements, even his individual words rivet the attention, and the drama is lost in its detail.

Here, then, is one of the great religious dramas of the world. The composer knows that he is offering a new Buddhism in place of the religion of the Founder. He conceives that Founder as declaring a new Gospel, but places him on the stage of the Vulture Peak, where in India he had often addressed his disciples. There he discloses, by means of the all-revealing Buddha-ray, the concept of infinite worlds 54in infinite space and time, with vast numbers of Buddhas teaching their infinite numbers of disciples. Yet these Buddhas later are revealed as the offspring of the one eternal Buddha. The scene changes and, awakening from a trance, the Buddha of, or in, this world announces his intention to reveal a truth that will shake the universe and also turn from him many of his disciples. Then, hesitatingly and with reluctance, he makes the great revelation that Buddhahood, like to his own, is of immediate attainment and within the ready reach of all. We see a host of disciples, the Hinayanists, shocked by this volte-face, withdraw from the august assembly, because the Buddha has shattered all the doctrine he has taught them in the past, and is no longer to be trusted. Then we see the Buddha explaining, even excusing himself, to the faithful who remain. After this he predicts the future of his disciples, and prepares them for the great truths they are to retell, in the parables of the Burning House, the Seeking Father, or Prodigal Son, the Rain, the Magic City, and others. The supreme scene opens with the appearance of the great jewelled shrine in the sky, from which comes the voice of the Buddha of old. The stage is then filled by the arrival of Buddhas, with their train, from every part of the universe. And, at last, the Buddha of old is revealed to the assembled host in dramatic fashion, by the ascent into the sky of Śakyamuni Buddha. The great drama proceeds in the raising of the whole assembly of his disciples from the mountain peak into the air, to join the celestial durbar. Still others arrive from 55other universes, and the sky is thronged with a glorious company from all worlds and in all stages of existence. Marvels appear, miracles are performed, Bodhisattvas as the sands of innumerable Ganges come to make manifest the incalculable number of Śakyamuni’s disciples. The climax of the drama is reached when Śakyamuni makes the declaration that in reality he, too, is the Eternal Buddha. After a certain interlude, he dismisses the assembly who are seen withdrawing from the celestial stage, and finally the shrine of the Ancient of Days disappears from the sky.

The doctrine taught, whatever its origin, is as revolutionary to Buddhism as was the doctrine of Our Lord to Judaism. In the Gospels we have a human figure treading the human stage of action, commanding the affection of the common people, disturbing the vested interests of ceremonialists and legists, ending in a cruel death, and a further revelation to certain disciples. In the Hinayana texts we have a human teacher who, having diagnosed the cause of the disease of transmigration, teaches his disciples an ethical remedy by mental control and discipline. In Mahayana, especially as portrayed in The Lotus Sutra, we have a dramatic presentation, reminding us of the Revelation of St. John at Patmos, with his vision of “One like unto the Son of Man” who was yet “Alpha and Omega”, “the first and the last”, together with the angels and the heavenly host, the sealed book, the vials, and so on. In this great Sutra we have a dramatic presentation of a glorified earthly 56Buddha, who is yet a Buddha from of old, an eternal Buddha, together with an incalculable host of Buddhas and of all intelligent beings in the universe, assembled at a vast meeting in the sky, when the revelation of the last and ultimate Lotus doctrine is made. The whole is the creation of a brilliant dramatist whose name is unknown, but who has left behind if not the greatest, then one of the greatest religious dramas in the world.

57THE LOTUS SUTRA