A Playful Look at the Three Vehicles

I want to share my thoughts about the three vehicles from a historical point of view using some of the questions that have come up during our Sangha meetings. So I will write as a series of questions and answers between an inquirer and various representatives of Buddhist teachings, beginning with a hinayana perspective, then transitioning to a Mahayana one and finally from the perspective of the Perfect Teaching of the Lotus Sutra:

Inquirer: What do we call the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha?

Shravaka: They are called the shravakas or “voice-hearers” because they were able to hear the Buddha Dharma directly from the Buddha, put it into practice and cut off the causes and conditions that will lead to repeated rebirth among the six lower realms. Those who accomplish are called "arhats" or "worthy ones."

I: So they will achieve nirvana when they die? 

S: The Buddha and his voice-hearer disciples who became arhats all achieved nirvana when they awakened and eradicated or "extinguished" the fires of greed, hatred, and delusion. From that point on they will no longer generate karma that would lead to a future rebirth, and the remaining things that happen to them until they die will be the fruition of karma from past lives. 

I: How can they act without creating more karma? Doesn't karma mean an "intentional action"? Do you mean to say they no longer intend any actions from the moment they attain awakening and nirvana until they die? 

S: The law of cause and effect has five types. 1) There is the causality of inanimate objects, which is physics. 2) There is the causality of biological processes. 3) There is the causality of mental processes that are not conscious. 4) There is the causality of intentional conscious actions we call karma. 5) There is the causality of the Dharma, the activity of liberated beings who no longer generate self-oriented actions but whose every action are for the benefit of all beings. So, a buddha or arhat who attains nirvana but is still alive will have to endure the fruition of past karma, but their actions will not be karmic but Dharmic. It will not be self-oriented or self-referential, but spontaneous acts of compassion.

I: So, a buddha or an arhat will still suffer the fruits of karma from past lives?

S: Not exactly. They will have to experience or endure the fruition of past karma, but they do not have the emotional reaction of suffering which arises from a mindset tainted by greed, hatred, or delusion. In other words, Shakyamuni Buddha had to endure the pain of having a boulder shard hit his toe, or the pain of the gastrointestinal ailment that he died of, or the loss the massacre of the Shakya clan, the death by illness of Shariputra, or the murder of Mahamaudgalyayana, but he did not suffer anguish which is the emotional reactivity of an unawakened person who has not achieved nirvana.

I: So, a buddha or arhat attains nirvana in life but still has to endure physical pain and the loss of loved ones, but they do not suffer? They don't generate karma but there is a karmic remainder from causes sown in past lives that may still ripen up until their death. But what happens after they die if all that past karma is not expiated?

S: Because buddhas and arhats upon attaining nirvana have eradicated greed, hatred, and delusion there are no longer any conditions that would allow that remaining karma to come into any further fruition as another rebirth among the six worlds. So let's say that in life a buddha or arhat attain nirvana-with-remainder (of past karma) but when they die they attain final nirvana or nirvana-without-remainder. So a buddha or arhat upon death are beyond even pain and loss, as well as suffering.

I: If buddhas and arhats attain final nirvana or nirvana-without-remainder when they die, how can anyone attain awakening or liberation from suffering after their passing if these competent teachers will no longer be reborn in the world?

S: Not all the voice-hearers or lay followers will attain nirvana during the Buddha's lifetime. Some may attain stream-entry and it will take up to seven more lifetimes before they attain nirvana either as a human or as a god of the lower heavens of the desire realm). Others may attain the state of once-returner and they will be reborn once more as a human or god of the lower heavens of the desire realm. Others may attain the state of a never-returner and will be reborn in the pure abodes that are the loftiest of the heaven of the form realm. 

I: But what happens when they are all gone? Will the Dharma last in the world without them to be reborn among humans as competent teachers?

S: The Buddha said that the Dharma would eventually be misunderstood and then forgotten. He said there would be an Age of the True Dharma when those teachers would continue to be reborn and could teach other people how to become voice-hearers and then arhats by hearing the Buddha Dharma and practicing it, even if they don't hear it directly from the Buddha. The Age of the Counterfeit Dharma will occur when the Buddha Dharma is still in the world, but its true spirit will be lost because the competent teachers all became arhats generations before and no competent teachers or mature practitioners are reborn into the world anymore. The Latter Age of the Dharma will follow when Buddhism becomes so corrupt that people only fight about it and misinterpret it and eventually it is neglected and forgotten.

I: That's terrible! Won't a new Buddha appear to teach? 

S: Yes, Maitreya Bodhisattva is even now in the Tushita Heaven of the desire realm, awaiting the right moment to reappear in the world to teach the Buddha Dharma anew. 

I: Great! When will that happen? 

S: (checks datebook) Five hundred and seventy-six million years from now.

I: What! But how will people attain liberation from suffering during those hundreds of millions of years when there is no Buddha Dharma in the world?

S: There will always be some people dedicated and/or smart enough to leave the world and contemplate causality on their own until they attain nirvana. They won't teach anyone else though, either because they're too shy, or they don't have the skills to be a teacher, or circumstances won't permit them to teach more than a few people and they won't be remembered, or perhaps their teachings will be twisted to fit whatever unenlightened philosophy or religion is in control in their time and place. So because they attain awakening on their own and don't or can't teach others, let's call them pratyekabuddhas or “privately-awakened ones.” 

I: So most people aside from these few privately-awakened ones will not be able to escape the six realms of suffering until Maitreya Bodhisattva appears?

S: Unfortunately. Some may be able to at least refrain from evil, do good, and through charity and perhaps even meditation attain rebirth in the heavenly realms, perhaps even in the Tushita Heaven with Maitreya or one of the pure abodes or other heavens and then hear the Dharma as gods when Maitreya teaches or even be reborn from the heavens as a human again at the right time to meet Maitreya. 

I: Well, that's good. So these other religions, even if they can't teach how to attain nirvana can at least teach how to attain rebirth as a human or in the heavenly realms so that one can eventually encounter a buddha? 

S: That is correct. Even the bodhisattva or “awakening being” who became Shakyamuni Buddha appeared in many different times and places where there was no Buddha Dharma and taught people how to refrain from evil, do good, and purify the mind through meditation (though not to the point of actually teaching the four noble truths or insight meditation). 

I: So during those times when there is no Buddha Dharma in the world, and all the voice-hearers have become arhats, there are still occasional privately-awakened ones, and bodhisattvas who appear and teach in terms of the local religious beliefs? 

S: That's right. 

I: How does one become a bodhisattva then? 

S: Like Shakyamuni Buddha did when he started. As a brahmin boy named Sumedha he met one of the past buddhas, Dipamkara (Lighter of Lamps, or Burning Light) and made a vow to become a buddha himself, Dipamkara Buddha then assured him that he would attain buddhahood and become Shakyamuni Buddha. 

I: Can there be more than one bodhisatta at a time? 

S: Of course, there's no limit to how many bodhisattvas there can be, and of course there's more than one world so each world needs buddhas at different times to teach the Buddha Dharma when its been forgotten. However, there can only be one buddha per world per dispensation of the Dharma. 

I: What do you mean? Why not? What's a dispensation? 

S: A dispensation is the time it takes for a Buddha to appear and teach the Buddha Dharma until it is forgotten for a long time. Then they cycle can begin again with a new buddha on that world. There doesn't need to be more than one buddha per world per time period because that would be redundant and superfluous. And there are a limitless number of worlds anyway, and not so many choose to become bodhisattvas and those who do will take eons of rebirths to build up their wisdom and the merit they will need to become buddhas. It is rare to encounter a buddha. They are spread very thin among all the countless worlds that need them.

I: So only those who have met a living buddha, made a vow, and received an assurance or prediction of buddhahood from that buddha can become bodhisattvas? 

S: Those crazy Mahayana people will tell you differently but yes, that's what is needed. It isn't necessary to become a buddha though. All you have to do to escape suffering is take refuge in the Three Treasures, follow the precepts, hear the Dharma, put it into practice, and attain arhatship as soon as you can. If you become a monastic you can do it in this lifetime, or if you become a stream-enterer through faith in the Thee Treasures and living in accord with the five precepts you can do it within seven lifetimes. 

I: That's great, but what about everyone else? What about my [insert loved one] who's [insert extremist political ideology here] and a fundamentalist [insert religion here] and sneers at Buddhism? Who will save them? For that matter, if Shakyamuni Buddha's disciples were so great, why didn't they take advantage of the opportunity to make vows to become buddhas so they could receive assurances and start being reborn as bodhisattvas?

S: Perhaps you think that such a thing is easy? It is not, only the few, the proud, those with the seeds of buddhahood can make such vows and take up the path of a bodhisattva even should they encounter a buddha. Buddha's realize this and are content to simply help beings become arhats as quickly as they can. Or at least to sow the seeds that may in some future lifetime come to fruition in a non-Buddhist time and place as the nirvana of a privately-awakened one.

I: I thought privately-awakened ones attained nirvana without knowing the Buddha Dharma? 

A: Well, in that lifetime they have no contact with the Buddha Dharma, but they may have encountered it, or even a buddha, in a past life.

I: So if only a few even have the ability to make a vow, then that still leaves most people for millions of years without hope. Or even if they are alive at a time when they can encounter a buddha or Buddhism they may not be capable of learning or practicing it. If the Buddha is so compassionate, didn't he provide any means of helping them? 

Avalokiteshvara (aka World Voice Perceiver) appears from the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. The shravaka is speechless and, seeing that he is overshadowed by her celestial splendor, bows and excuses himself.

A: In the Mahayana sutras the Buddha revealed that even after he enters final nirvana there are other buddhas in other worlds, called pure lands, where ignorant beings can be reborn and there easily attain arhatship. If they wish, they may even make vows before the buddhas of those worlds and become bodhisattvas. 

I: So a buddha mostly teaches people how to be voice-hearers who will become arhats, teaches some that will only attain nirvana as privately-awakened ones many lifetimes in the future in times and places wherein there is no more Buddhism, and a few who want to become bodhisattvas? 

Vimalakirti approaches and greets the Avalokiteshvara and the inquirer. He asks what they have been discussing. Avalokiteshvara tells him and invites him to share his response to the previous question. 

V: Well, actually the Buddha does criticize the voice-hearers for having such low aspirations and one-sided views. Or he lets me and other bodhisattvas do it. He does this to encourage more people to aspire to become bodhisattvas and not fall into the mindset of the voice-hearers. He really only taught the voice-hearer vehicle as a concession to the inability of some people to aspire to anything greater. 

I: So there are three kinds of teachings? A vehicle for voice-hearers,a vehicle for privately-awakened ones, and a vehicle for those who are capable of becoming bodhisattvas?

Maitreya Bodhisattva, curious about this gathering, had been listening in from the Tushita Heaven. At this point, he appears to offer his opinion. 

Maitreya: That's right. He taught in this way because our minds are like different kinds of gardens. These gardens have wholesome seeds, that become beautiful flowers, unwholesome seeds that become weeds which choke out everything else, and pure seeds that lead to nirvana. Now some beings have no pure seeds and cannot ever attain any type of nirvana. Others have seeds for buddhahood, others have seeds for becoming voice-hearers, others have seeds for becoming a privately-awakened one, and some have indeterminate seeds and can attain any of those three goals. This is why the Buddha taught the three vehicles, so that each kind of person can have their best and purest seeds, if they have them, come to fruition and attain nirvana. 

I: What about those with no pure seeds?

Maitreya: They're the icchantika or “incorrigible disbelievers” who will never escape the six realms. We can only pity them. 

I: What about those with indeterminate seeds?

Maitreya: The Buddha taught a provisional teaching called the One Vehicle wherein he said for the sake of argument that all people could attain buddhahood. But this was only to encourage those with different seeds to aspire to buddhahood instead of cultivating the lesser seeds. 

Manjushri Bodhisattva hears this and hurries over. 

Manjushri: Hold on! That's not right. My esteemed colleague didn't get the memo yet. He reversed it. The three vehicles are just provisional, it is the One Vehicle that is the true teaching. All people have the pure seeds of buddhahood, also called the buddha-nature...

Maitreya: I know that! We also call it tathagatagarbha, the womb or matrix of the Tathagata. But just because you have buddha-nature as your true nature doesn't mean you'll be able to realize it fully or at all. 

Bhaisajyaraja (Medicine King) appears to contribute to the discussion.

B: Actually, buddha-nature is threefold: there is not just buddha-nature as reality, but also buddha-nature as wisdom to realize it and buddha-nature as the actions to cultivate and express that wisdom. What this means is that the teaching that some have no pure seeds or no seeds for buddhahood is just provisional. The Buddha teaches everyone the One Vehicle, but the three vehicles are just a provisional teaching of aspects of that One Vehicle until they are ready to hear the truth that the real goal for everyone has been buddhahood all along. 

I: So is the bodhisattva-vehicle the same as the One Vehicle? Are the vehicles for voice-hearers and privately-awakened ones fake and all the Buddha's disciples are really on the bodhisattva-vehicle?

Manjushri: All the Buddha's disciples are bodhisattvas, though they may not realize it. Those on the bodhisattva-vehicle among the three vehicles believe that they are the few, the proud, the possessors of pure seeds of buddhahood. However, when they are taught the One Vehicle they realize that buddhahood is not just for them but for everyone, and that their true mission is not to attain buddhahood so that they can teach others to become arhats (and maybe a few future privately-awakened ones and even fewer bodhisattvas) but to attain buddhahood so that all beings can attain buddhahood and that this is what everyone has been doing all along without knowing it. The three vehicles are just partial aspects of the One Vehicle whose true purpose and function is revealed when the One Vehicle is taught. 

Maitreya: You know, it's a good thing I'm a selfless and compassionate bodhisattva, or else I might get upset with you and Vimalakirti making me look stupid. At least I'm not Shariputra.

I: So what about Shariputra and Ananda and Yashodhara and Mahaprajapati? If everyone is able to attain buddhahood because of the One Vehicle...

Manjushri: Relax, the Buddha's about to teach the Infinite Meanings Sutra and then he'll teach the Lotus Sutra and give each of them an assurance of buddhahood. Shh. It's a surprise. Don't tell them yet. 

I: What about the rest of us? 

Manjushri: Bigger surprise. Shh! The Lotus Sutra is the true source of buddhahood, not the buddhas. So if you hear the Lotus Sutra and accept it you will be able to become a bodhisattva as if you had encountered a living buddha, made a vow, and received an assurance. It's even possible to do this if you're living in the Latter Age. 

I: So a book is better than a living buddha? 

Manjushri: (mumbles to himself) Maybe there is such a thing as an icchantika... (aloud to inquirer) Not a book or text! The Lotus Sutra is an expression of the Wonderful Dharma itself. It appears in different ways in different times and places. Sometimes it's a whole library of discourses. Sometimes its just a shorter discourse in eight volumes. Sometimes its just a simple greeting, such as Never Despising Bodhisattva saying "I will not disparage you because you too will become a buddha." Sometimes its just Sanskrit syllables or seven Chinese characters. In any case, to encounter the Wonderful Dharma that all beings will attain buddhahood and that buddhahood has no beginning to anticipate or ending to fear and respond, even for a single moment, with faith and rejoicing is to sow the seed of buddhahood, cultivate it, and express it.

I: I thought we all had the threefold buddha-nature of the seeds of buddhahood. Why do we have to sow it by responding positively to the Lotus Sutra? 

Manjushri: All things are produced by causes and conditions including the seeds of buddhahood. The Lotus Sutra as the Wonderful Dharma is always being encountered and responded to directly or indirectly and this encounter and response are the causes and conditions that can be called the seeds of buddhahood.

I: So the Buddha may have entered final nirvana and is gone, but the Lotus Sutra is still here. Yay!

Manjushri: Actually, the whole idea of a final nirvana also needs a bit more explaining. If you look at any phenomena, from a sun, a planet, a person, a book, or a Buddha, these phenomena are just causes and conditions. There is no singular essential thing to find or hold onto. There is no singular final thing that begins or ends. No phenomena has a substantial beginning or birth or end/death, though provisionally we can say that something is born or dies esp. in terms of our provisional and conventional needs at any given time and place. The point though is that from a deeper perspective all the inessential things about Shakyamuni Buddha may be gone or reduced to relic-ash (shariras) in stupas, but the most important thing about him, his true nature, life's true nature, our true nature, call it buddhahood if you will, has no substantial beginning or end. It is no more and no less present now than it was 2,500 years ago or 500 bajillion kalpas ago. 

I: What?!

Manjushri: It means when your mind and heart is attuned to it, you are receiving the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma from the Eternal Shakyamuni Buddha in the timeless and placeless here and now where all causality meets. Everything significant or not flows into this moment and everything of significance (or not) will flow out. All realms, all causality, all aspects of life are in this single thought-moment. In this moment we can let a weed grow, or a wholesome flower, or a pure seed of buddhahood be sown, cultivated, and germinate.

I: It's sounds like you're saying everything happens right here and now?

Manjushri: Yes, that is why the Buddha says he is always thinking of how to cause all living beings to attain buddhahood quickly. The Buddha does not think of vain and futile things. There really is no way to attain buddhahood other than right here and now.

I: But I thought it took eons of rebirths to build up wisdom and merit as a bodhisattva in order to attain buddhahood.

Manjushri: When and where else do you think all that could possibly happen if not right here and right now.

I: That's unbelievable!

Manjushri: The Buddha does say, this sutra is difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Fortunately, you don't have to believe it. Just have confidence that all phenomena are constantly revealing their true nature in every place and every moment. Depend and develop that confidence that all is being revealed and even your initial confusion and doubt is part of the opening up.

Key to the dialogue: The shravaka represents the teachings of Mainstream Buddhism (the foundational pre-Mahayan teachings). Avalokiteshvara represents the Pure Land perspective because she is an attendant of Amitabha Buddha. Vimalakirti represets a more polemic approach to so-called hinayana teachings by the Mahayana. Maitreya represents the more developed Mahayana teaching of the Yogacara, while Manjushri is representing the Madhyamika and Lotus Sutra perspective. Bhaisajyaraja (Medicine King) is supposed to have appeard as Tiantai Zhiyi (538-597), so he makes a cameo appearance to explain the threefold buddha-nature taught by Zhiyi.

Namu Myoho Renge Kyo,

Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick