The title called Skilful Means depending on which translation you have, actually explains why the Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra and why there should be no confusion regarding his previous teachings .Many buddhist are not aware of the Lotus Sutra or if they are they chose to dismiss the teachings.The buddha explained why he taught the concept of Nirvana in the years soon after he became enlightenment under the Bodhi tree.When he had the amazing revelations of the truth his first thought was how shall I tell the people about this wonderful law they will not believe me .So he decided to teach them gradually.This is very much like we all learn .You would not put a complicated story in front of a small child . You would start them off with the alphabet and build up their knowledge until they could read. This was the dilemma the Buddha was in and it took him sometime to eventually build up his followers knowledge until he decided to preach the Lotus Sutra. This was when he was around seventy two years of age. When you look at it this way you may find it hard to believe other Buddhist cling on to the provisional teachings. Even when the Buddha decided to preach the whole truth he held back fearing that those in the congegration would not believe .This was not due to him worrying about being laughed at but he knew that those who would not believe and turn away will not have the opportunity to end their suffering . All the Buddha's teaching was to help people with their problems, this is why even today the teachings can speak to us and give insights into what makes us unhappy.Just because we have high technology people have not changed much fundamentally . in fact we are seeing more suffering in mental illness and addictions then ever before .Nirvana is a concept that provisional Buddhist see as the goal but it is only the first stage .It is not complete annihilation and has been misunderstood . In later chapters in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha goes into detail and is proof that Nirvana is not how it was taught in the previous sutras. Again you may say the Buddha lied but he had to find a way to pull people from the illusions of this world . Several parables he used to explain this.The first one in the Lotus Sutra is the parable of the burning house. He chose the analogy of the burning house to explain how the world we live in is transitory and not to be depended upon. Most people live in the six lower worlds and they are on a endless merry go round. Even if they get what they desire they may still be unhappy . Many examples are seen ,when so called celebrities are revealing series problems in their lives, People we think have it all in our ignorance.The Buddha knew that people in the lower worlds tend to depend on everything outside of ourselves which would eventually cause them sorrow as everything is in a state of flux .We can not cling on to these things as everything dies eventually. If we do try and cling on to what is an illusion we will not only create suffering for ourselves but for those around us. Take one of the states the Buddha described as hunger .It is a state that is never satisfied and when one hunger is fulfilled another one will follow. However when the Buddha first went out to discover enlightenment he joined a group of ascetics who starved themselves .The Buddha was very good at this but soon realised he would die if the carried on much longer with a grain of rice each day .This is when he preached the middle way and decided to leave the group. He speaks of different vehicles to use in reaching enlightenment but in this chapter he eventually teaches that there is only one vehicle and that is a state of Buddhahood and the entry into that state is Bodhisattva.This is an attitude that not only looks to ones own life but has concern for others with the understanding that we are all interconnected.. I remember seeing on television one of the distressing stories of those inside the twin towers when they collapsed .While I was listening to those who were narrating the incident it struck me that all of them seem to show an incredible feeling of care for those who were in the same dilemma . When the twin towers started to fall , all those present in the corridor were concerned about each other and tried to get everyone to safety.They called it a miracle when later it was discovered to be the only corridor that was not completely destroyed.
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