Within the Lotus Sutra, certain parables and chapters stand out as luminous expressions of the universality of Buddhahood and the Buddha’s compassionate use of skillful means. Chapter 2, often titled “Skillful Means” or “Expedient Means,” lays the doctrinal foundation by teaching that all the diverse paths and teachings ultimately converge in the single Buddha Vehicle. This vision is dramatized in Chapter 3 through the Parable of the Burning House, where a father entices his children out of a blazing house with promises of different carts, only to bestow upon them one great cart. The burning house evokes the world of suffering, while the various carts suggest provisional teachings that guide beings according to their capacities. The great cart, given equally to all, symbolizes the one path to complete Buddhahood that underlies all these expedients.

Chapter 4 deepens this theme with the Parable of the Poor or Prodigal Son, in which a destitute wanderer slowly comes to recognize that a wealthy man is in fact his father and that he is heir to great treasure. This gradual recognition mirrors how beings, impoverished in wisdom, come to realize that they are heirs to the Buddha’s enlightenment. Chapter 5’s image of one rain nourishing many kinds of herbs and plants extends the same insight: the single Dharma falls on all beings, each receiving and responding according to individual nature and capacity. Together, these chapters portray the Buddha as patiently adapting methods and language so that beings can awaken to what has always been theirs.

The Lotus Sutra returns repeatedly to the motif of provisional guidance leading to an ultimate, universal goal. In Chapter 7, the Parable of the Phantom or Magic City describes a guide who conjures an illusory city so that weary travelers may rest before continuing to their true destination. This phantom city represents temporary goals and partial realizations, offered so that beings do not abandon the path before reaching full enlightenment. Chapter 8 presents the Parable of the Jewel in the Garment, where a man lives in poverty unaware that a priceless jewel has been sewn into his clothing by a friend. Only when the jewel is revealed does he recognize his latent wealth, an image for the Buddha-nature or inherent capacity for Buddhahood that beings possess without realizing it.

Other chapters broaden this vision into a cosmic and timeless perspective. Chapter 11’s jeweled stūpa rising from the earth affirms the enduring validity of the Lotus teaching and the shared realization of Buddhas across time. Chapter 12’s prediction of Buddhahood even for Devadatta, along with the enlightenment of the dragon girl, underscores that no being is excluded from this destiny, however unlikely it may appear. Chapter 16, “The Lifespan of the Tathāgata,” reveals that the Buddha’s enlightenment is not confined to a single historical lifetime but extends over inconceivably vast ages, with the Buddha continuously manifesting to guide beings. In this way, the sutra’s parables and revelations converge on a single point: all beings, without exception, are enfolded within an eternal, compassionate effort to lead them to full and perfect Buddhahood.