The Attainment of Buddhahoodin Principle and in Its Actual Aspect Chapter3

First of all, you should take the dragon king’s daughter as proof of the validity of the Lotus Sutra doctrine of attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form. The “Devadatta” chapter says, “[This girl] in the space of an instant could actually achieve correct enlightenment.” It also says, “[All saw the dragon girl in the space of an instant] change into a man.” And again, it reads, “Immediately proceeding to the Spotless World of the south . . .” The Great Teacher Dengyō says, “The dragon king’s daughter, an instructor of others, did not need to undergo countless kalpas of austere practice, nor do living beings, who receive instruction, need to undergo such practice. Instructors and instructed alike need no such kalpas of practice. Through the power of the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law they can attain Buddhahood in their present form.”³

Moreover, the Lotus Sutra expounds two kinds of attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form. The theoretical teaching of the sutra expounds the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form in principle, and the essential teaching expounds the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form in its actual aspect. The essential teaching’s doctrine of attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form concludes that one can attain supreme enlightenment in one’s present status as an ordinary person, without changing individual characteristics. That is why one’s physical form, just as it is, is the Thus Come One who in his original state is eternally endowed with the three bodies. This doctrine is found nowhere else in the entire lifetime of Shakyamuni’s teachings. The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra reads, “In the various teachings, he [the Buddha] kept this secret and did not transmit it.”