Dharma Talk by Dr.Reeves - The One Vehicle of Many Means

"The One Vehicle of Many Means"
May 26, 2002 at IBC

The One Vehicle Treasure Tower which holds remains of Founder Nikkyo Niwano is has become an important place for members of Rissho Kosei-kai. What is the meaning of this One Vehicle?

First, it is important to realize that in the Lotus Sutra this “one” is always associated with a “many.”In Chapter 2, entitled “Skillful Means,” we find:

Even if little children at play,
Use reeds, sticks or brushes,
Or even their fingernails,
To draw images of Buddha,

All such people,
Gradually gaining merit,
And developing their great compassion,
Have taken the Buddha way.

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[Or] if anyone, even while distracted
With even a single flower
Makes an offering to a painted image,
They will eventually see countless Buddhas.

There are two ways of understanding "one-vehicle," the exclusive way and the inclusive way. The exclusive way holds that there is one true way, and we have it but you don’t. Here the one means that the other ways are excluded, or that other ways are wrong and only our way is right and correct.

The inclusive way of the understanding the one holds that there are many good ways, all are within the one. All are included within the One Vehicle.

The Lotus Sutra as we have understood it is a flowering of the wonderful Dharma. It both announces the universality of the One Buddha-way (the One Vehicle) and makes it possible for all of us ordinary human beings to follow the way. It is a kind of teaching for empowerment, giving energy and strength to people to enable them to follow the way.

The first part of the Lotus Sutra is primarily concerned with the "One Vehicle of many skillful means." Shakyamuni Buddha, and all of the Buddhas in the past, future and throughout the universe, use an enormous variety of means, basically various teaching methods, for the one purpose of leading people to enter more fully into the Buddha way.

The Buddha-way is always both a one and a many: It is one because the Buddhas have all taken a primordial vow to have everyone become just like themselves. It is one because all of the many skillful means serve the single purpose of enabling all living being to be Buddhas. And the One Buddha-way is one because it is universally intended for all the living, for everyone without exception.

At the same time, the Buddha way is a many. People are different. Although in some respects human beings are the same, otherwise we would not all be human beings, people are different in many important respects. The differences are created by culture, by language, and by religion as well as by time and the circumstance. Difference is what mpresses us. Therefore the dharma has to be taught in different ways, in appropriate ways, and a great variety of practices and literary forms had been used. Though they serve a common purpose, this many are a real many, a real diversity of teachings and practices. The one is always being transformed by being a many.

The Buddha-way is one in that it is for all people, without exception. This is emphasized over again in the Lotus Sutra. In one sense there is not a variety of vehicles for different kinds of people, one for women and another for men, one for Tibetan people and another for Chinese people etc. Each may have own distinctive methods, practices and sutras within the One-vehicle, because all are for the one purpose of having us be Buddhas by doing the work of the Buddha.

How, you might wonder, can ordinary people like us be Buddhas? Surely we cannot enjoy the same wisdom, dedication or compassion of Shakyamuni Buddha. Perhaps some great leaders, such as Nikkyo Niwano, can be like a Buddha, but not ordinary people, certainly not me!

In Chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha tells us that he has been doing bodhisattva practice for an extremely long time, longer than we can imagine, and that he is not finished yet. It may be surprising to us to find that Shakyamuni Buddha himself, far from having risen above the bodhisattvas, has been a bodhisattva from the remote past, is now a bodhisattva, and will continue being a bodhisattva into the distant future. In other words, becoming a Buddha, for Lotus Sutra, is not so much a matter of achievement or status as it is a kind of activity, not so much a matter of merely being awakened as it is of living a life of awakened practice. It is important for us to understand that being a Buddha is a matter of doing Buddha’s work. It is a matter of becoming a Buddha by doing the work of Buddha. And that is what a bodhisattva is ? someone who is becoming a Buddha. If Shakyamuni Buddha is not yet finished bodhisattva practice, is it any surprise or wonder that we are not?

By taking up the Buddha-way, the way of bodhisattva discipline and practice, we too are becoming Buddhas, that is doing Buddha’s work. In that respect we are exactly like Shakyamuni Buddha. Like him, we should not expect to be finished any time soon, but we can expect that way itself will be very rewarding. It will enable us to experience the joy of seeing countless Buddhas along the way.

"Commencement" is the word used in America for graduation ceremonies. While it marks the completion of a course of study, the word signifies a new beginning. Graduation is an achievement which is more like launching pad than a resting place, more of an opening than a closure. Entering the Buddha-way is like this. It’s not a completion but a place from which we are venture out into the world as a bodhisattva.

Where can we expect to see such Buddhas along the way? The Lotus Sutra says "everywhere." We can see many Buddhas everywhere. In Chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra, there are two messages.

Shakyamuni Buddha recognizes that he has learned from his cousin Devadatta, who had usually been thought to be an embodiment of evil. The Buddha, however, recognized that Devadatta would become a Buddha. He did not say that he was becoming a Buddha because he reformed his character and become a good man. Devadatta was becoming a Buddha because Shakyamuni Buddha had the wisdom and insight to see in Devadatta a potentiality of becoming a Buddha, to see that even Devadatta embodies Buddha, to some degree is already a Buddha.

Shakyamuni Buddha, in other words, sees the Buddha in others, even in those where we might least expect to see Buddhas.

So Chapter 2 tells us that even little children at play, using straws, or sticks or brushes, or even their fingernails, to draw an image of a Buddha have entered the Buddha-way. Or if someone joyfully praises the Buddha in song, even with just a tiny voice, they have taken the Buddha-way. Or if someone, even while thinking about someone else, with even a single flower makes an offering to an image, they will eventually see countless Buddhas, as they too have entered Buddha-way.