The Lotus Sutra and the Four Noble Truth
In a revolutionary declaration, chapter 3 of the Lotus Sutra explains that the ultimate teaching of Buddhism is: “the Law of the Lotus”, which is “unsurpassed, wonderful and superior” to the teaching of the Four Noble Truths:
“In the past at Varanasi
you turned the wheel of the Law of the Four Noble Truths,
making distinctions, preaching that all things
are born and become extinct,
Now you turn the wheel of the most wonderful,
the unsurpassed great Law.
This Law is very profound and abstruse;
Since times past often we have heard
the World-Honored One's preaching,
but we have never heard
this kind of profound, wonderful and superior Law.
Since the World-Honored One preaches this Law,
we all welcome it with joy”.
The above passage indicates a profound shift in Shakyamuni’s teachings from the focus on “sufferings” of the Four Noble Truths. It repeatedly brings the element of “Joy” and “wonderful feeling” in the teaching of the “Law of the Lotus”, for which “the mind is filled with joy”:
"World-Honored One,
now I have heard from the Buddha
what I had never heard before,
a Law never known in the past,
and it has ended all my doubts and regrets.
My body and mind are at ease
and I have gained a wonderful feeling
of peace and security.
When I heard the sound of this Law,
I gained what I had never had before.
My mind was filled with great joy.
The Buddha’s final teaching about the “causes for sufferings”
Based on Miao Lo’s explanation of the Lotus Sutra, Nichiren mentions in his letter The Fourteen Slanders, the set of evil tendencies which lead to sufferings. The word “slander” indicates an action or a tendency for slandering the Dharma (or the Buddha nature) - such as Arrogance, Negligence, Refusing to believe, Hatred, Vilification, Holding Grudges...as well as : “Attachment to Earthly Desires”. What the teaching of the Four Noble Truths states as “craving” is described in Nichiren Buddhism as “Attachment to Earthly Desires”. However, because the Four Noble Truths was preached as a specific and elementary teaching, it does not include the mentioned other causes of sufferings, which the Buddha indicated in his final teaching of the Lotus Sutra.
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