After practicing the Lotus sutra for 26 years, I got a strong inclination to read the actual book of the Lotus sutra in order to understand the real essence of the Sutra.
I read the book "THE SUTRA OF THE LOTUS FLOWER OF THE WONDERFUL LAW" translated by Senchu Murano which is the direct translation of the original Sanskrit version of the Sadharma Pundarika Suthra, I read it over and over again about fifty times during a period of one and a half years.
The contents given here are the essence of the Lotus sutra according to the capacity of my understanding. Although I clearly state that it is by my understanding, I believe that this is the understanding I received through the guidance of all the Buddha’s in the universe.
The Lotus Sutra directly offers the people, who are less merited beings, a minute portion of the energy contained in the soul of Buddha for their salvation. Buddha volunteered to save the less merited beings of the latter day of the law, which is the tail end or decay of the kalpa, by using his miraculous powers. What he did during all the rest of the kalpas was to train the more merited people in order to get them energized. He achieved this by leading them through the Hinayana and provisional Mahayana teachings.
Buddha stated in the Lotus Sutra that you cannot practice Bodhisattva activities during this era if you do not seek the guidance of the Lotus Sutra or the help of the power of the Buddha for salvation. According to my understanding the essence of the Lotus Sutra is believing the super natural powers of the Buddha and praying with the greatest faith and asking him to save us, in order to leave this Saha world and enter a better world in the universe.
Although you preach that you are kind, compassionate and you have mettha and karuna, can you whole-heartedly vouch in the name of the Buddha that you have these qualities? I am sure nobody can do so according to his or her true conscience. We can pretend, but are we really holy?
If we know that we are being watched and guided by Buddha or by Almighty, without our knowledge we practice eight Paramithas (example is given in "How to practice Lotus Sutra"). We practice Lotus Sutra or we ask the help of the Buddha to face challenges in our day-to-day life and thereby conquer all our challenges. Then, by experiences we have gained we start believing in the law or believing in the super natural powers of Buddha. We try to introduce this law to the people who are suffering to help them alleviate their sufferings.
We can repay our debt of gratitude to the law by praising the law and introducing another person to the practice. By doing this in an inconspicuous manner we practice Bodhisattva attributes such as kindness, compassion, etc. We do this for the Buddha because we are in association with the Buddha. We believe from the bottom of our hearts in the Buddha’s presence or presence of Almighty with us. I whole-heartedly believe this is possible. Buddha can see me and watch me and all the supreme beings are there to help me to overcome my bad karma. This is the thought that you should have when you sit in front of the object of worship.
Buddhayana is the soul of the Buddha or the miraculous power of the universe that Buddha is a part of. Now Buddha is in his energy form
We are unaware of the presence of this power. Before we chant we pray to alleviate the negative karma we have committed. We bow down to the law and seek guidance in order to achieve enlightenment.
Buddha demonstrated his miraculous powers in order to persuade the audience that he could save every being on earth in this latter day of the law. In the Lotus Sutra Buddha states "I vouched to save all living beings in this saha world. Now the time has come for me to attain Parinibbana. In future I will not come to this world in the physical form but my task has not been accomplished till I save all the living beings. So I keep this fine dharma or the law for you. Please believe in the Buddha’s super natural powers. Adore it and seek direct help from my super natural powers. I have vouched to save you all immaterial of you being merited or non merited".
