Today, the poison has penetrated more deeply and broadly.

Hellish anger [rage], avarice, and stupidity [animality], are the Three Poisons. In this age, every last person is heavily stained with the Three Poisons. Were this not true, according to the Lotus Sutra, we wouldn’t have been born together in this Saha World. A counter argument is that man has always engaged in the wholesale killing of others for shallow worldly affairs and therefore, man has always been stained with the Three Poisons.

Careful consideration reveals that only in this age are the Three Poisons in man, society, and the environment capable of destroying all life, both sentient and insient. Therefore today, the poison has penetrated more deeply and broadly.

For minor illness ordinary medicine will do. Therevadan Buddhism, the Mahayana connecting teachings [all phenomena or dharmas lacking substance by virtue of dependent origination], and the Mahayana specific teachings [a higher level of Mahayana whereby bodhisattvas advance by practicing the Six Paramitas over innumerable lifetimes to eventually attain Buddhahood], are ordinary medicine and at various times in the past were highly effective in curing the minor illness of the Three Poisons, for example, during the Former and Middle Days of the Law of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Today, the illness can be likened to mesothelioma or pancreatic cancer. Only radical surgery and the finest elixir will cure the illness. The radical surgery and elixir is Namu Myoho renge kyo or devotion to the Wonderful Law of the Lotus Flower Sutra.