妙法蓮華經 1.53

1.53

and inspire only bodhisattvas. All the acts of a buddha are always for one purpose. The buddhas manifest their wisdom and insight solely to inspire sentient beings to enlightenment.

“O Śāriputra! A Tathāgata teaches sentient beings the Dharma only through the single buddha vehicle. There is no other, neither a second nor a third.

“O Śāriputra! The true nature of all the buddhas of the ten directions is exactly like this.

“O Śāriputra! All the buddhas of the past expounded the teachings for the sake of sentient beings, using incalculable and innumerable skillful means and various explanations and illustrations. These teachings were all for the sake of the single buddha vehicle. All these sentient beings, hearing the Dharma from the buddhas, finally attained omniscience.

“O Śāriputra! All the future buddhas who will appear in the world will expound the teachings for the sake of sentient beings, using incalculable and innumerable skillful means and various explanations and illustrations. These teachings will all be for the single buddha vehicle. All sentient beings who hear this Dharma from these buddhas will ultimately attain omniscience.

“O Śāriputra! All the Buddha Bhagavats of the present, in immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of buddha worlds of the ten directions, teach the Dharma to sentient beings using incalculable and innumerable skillful means with various explanations and illustrations to benefit many of them and cause them to feel at peace. These Dharmas are all of the single buddha vehicle. All the sentient beings who hear the Dharma from these buddhas will ultimately attain omniscience.

“O Śāriputra! These buddhas lead and inspire only bodhisattvas, because they want to teach sentient beings with the wisdom and insight of the Buddha, to enlighten sentient beings with the wisdom and insight of the Buddha, and to cause sentient beings to enter the path of the wisdom and insight of the Buddha.

“O Śāriputra! I too am now like this. Having understood the various desires and deep-rooted inclinations of sentient beings, I teach the Dharma according to their capacities through the power of skillful means, using various explanations and illustrations.

“O Śāriputra! I do this in order to cause them to attain the omniscience

of the single buddha vehicle.

“O Śāriputra! Since there is no second vehicle in the worlds of the ten

directions, how could there be a third!

“O Śāriputra! The buddhas appear in the troubled world of the five defile-

ments, which are the defilement of the kalpa, the defilement through desire’s

confusion, the defilement of sentient beings, the defilement of views, and

the defilement of lifespan. Therefore, O Śāriputra, in the period of the deca-

dent kalpa, because sentient beings are filthy, greedy, jealous, and develop

roots of error, all the buddhas illuminate the three [vehicles] with the power

of skillful means in order to teach the single buddha vehicle.

“O Śāriputra! If any of my disciples declare that they are arhats or

pratyekabuddhas, and do not listen or comprehend that all the Buddha Tathā-

gatas teach only the bodhisattvas, they are not disciples of the buddhas, nor

are they arhats or pratyekabuddhas.