Nichiren on Capacity

 "Thus we can see that it is a great mistake to assert that the teachings are invariably expounded according to the listeners’ capacities." - The Selection of the Time

"The Great Teacher Dengyō declares: “The Former and Middle Days are almost over, and the Latter Day is near at hand. Now indeed is the time when the one vehicle of the Lotus Sutra will prove how perfectly it fits the capacities of all people. How do we know this is true? Because the ‘Peaceful Practices’ chapter of the Lotus Sutra states, ‘In the latter age hereafter, when the Law is about to perish, [accept and embrace the Lotus Sutra].’”38 And Dengyō further states: “Speaking of the age, [the propagation of the true teaching will begin] in the age when the Middle Day of the Law ends and the Latter Day opens. Regarding the land, it will begin in a land to the east of T’ang and to the west of Katsu.39 As for the people, it will spread among people stained by the five impurities who live in a time of conflict. The sutra says, ‘Since hatred and jealousy toward this sutra abound even when the Thus Come One is in the world, how much more will this be so after his passing?’ There is good reason for this statement.” - ibid

"It is a commonly accepted assertion among the scholars of our times that the Thus Come One invariably preached his teachings in p.553accordance with the capacities of his listeners. But in fact this is not how the Buddha truly taught. If it were true that the greatest doctrines were always preached for the persons with the most superior capacities and understanding, then why, when the Buddha first achieved enlightenment, did he not preach the Lotus Sutra? Why, during the first five hundred years of the Former Day of the Law, were the teachings of the Mahayana sutras not spread abroad? And if it were true that the finest doctrines are revealed to those who have a particular connection with the Buddha, then why did Shakyamuni Buddha preach the Meditation on the Buddha Sutra for his father, King Shuddhodana, and the Māyā Sutra for his mother, Lady Māyā [rather than the Lotus Sutra]? And if the reverse were true, namely, that secret doctrines should never be revealed to evil people having no connection with the Buddha or to slanderers of Buddhism, then why did the monk Realization of Virtue teach the Nirvana Sutra to all the countless monks who were guilty of breaking the precepts? Or why did Bodhisattva Never Disparaging address the four kinds of believers, who were slanderers of the Law, and propagate to them the teachings of the Lotus Sutra?" opcit Selection of the Time

Thus we can see that it is a great mistake to assert that the teachings are invariably expounded according to the listeners’ capacities.

"When one examines all the various sutras in the clear mirror of the Lotus, it is evident that the three True Word sutras, including the Mahāvairochana, and the three Pure Land sutras are teachings expounded in accordance with the people’s capacity. And yet because the people have made the teachings of Kōbō, Jikaku, and Chishō their basis, this truth has been obscured in Japan now for more than four hundred years. It is like exchanging a gem for a pebble or trading sandalwood for ordinary lumber. Because Buddhism has gradually been turned upside down, the secular world also has been plunged into corruption and chaos. Buddhism is like the body, and society like the shadow. When the body bends, so does the shadow. How fortunate that all of my disciples who follow the Buddha’s true intention will naturally flow into the ocean of comprehensive wisdom! But the Buddhist scholars of our time put their faith in teachings expounded according to the people’s capacity, and are therefore doomed to sink into the sea of suffering. I will explain in more detail on another occasion." - A Comparison of the Lotus Sutra and Other Sutras

"In particular, the passages in the “Life Span” chapter that speak of those who are “out of their minds” and those who are “not out of their minds” refer in both cases to the stage of hearing the name and words of the truth. The Nirvana Sutra says, “Whether they have faith or do not have faith . . . ,” and “If there are living beings who, in the presence of Buddhas numerous as the sands of the Hiranyavatī River, have conceived the desire for enlightenment, then when they are born in an evil age such as this, they will be able to accept and uphold a sutra like this and will never slander it.” One should also consider these passages." - On the Four stages of Faith and the Five Stages of Practice

There are literally dozens of such passages both easy to understand and difficult to understand. One passage that would seem to run counter to these is the following but as we see:

"Second is the matter of capacity. One who attempts to propagate the teachings of Buddhism must understand the capacity and basic nature of the persons one is addressing. The Venerable Shāriputra attempted to instruct a blacksmith by teaching him to meditate on the vileness of the body, and to instruct a washerman by teaching him to conduct breath-counting meditation.1 Even though these disciples spent over ninety days in their respective meditations, they did not gain the slightest understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. On the contrary, they took on erroneous views and ended by becoming icchantikas, or persons of incorrigible disbelief.

But, as we see, in the very next paragraph, Nichiren reverses himself:

The Buddha, on the other hand, instructed the blacksmith in breath-counting meditation, and the washerman in the meditation on the vileness of the body, and as a result both obtained understanding in no time at all. If even Shāriputra, the foremost in wisdom among the disciples of the Buddha, failed to understand people’s capacity, then how much more difficult must it be for ordinary teachers today, in the Latter Day of the Law, to have such an understanding! Ordinary teachers who lack an understanding of people’s capacity should teach only the Lotus Sutra to those who are under their instruction. -The Teaching, Capacity, Time, and Country

Anyway, we should practice as Nichiren instructs regardless of to whom we are expounding the teachings. If we have to correct wrong thought (words and actions) we do so, as did Nichiren. When we wish to plant the seeds of Enlightenment, Namu Myoho renge kyo, we do so regardless of others capacity.

Mark