Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs.

The chapter opens with Medicine-King Bodhisattva asking the Buddha, “How many merits will be given to the good men or women who keep, read, recite, understand or copy the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma?”

The Buddha said to him:

“Suppose some good men or women make offerings to eight hundred billion nayuta Buddhas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges. What do you think of this? Are the merits given to them many or not?”

“Very many, World-Honored One!” The Buddha said: “More merits will be given to the good men or women who keep, read or recite even a single gatha of four lines of this sutra, understand the meanings of it or act according to it.”

Following this Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva, Vaisravana Heavenly-King, and World-Holding Heavenly-King each offer dharanis spells for the protection of teacher of the Dharma.

Then we are introduced to the 10 raksasas daughters:

1. Lamba
2. Vilamba
3. Crooked-Teeth
4. Flower-Teeth
5. Black-Teeth
6. Many-Hairs
7. Insatiable
8. Necklace-Holding
9. Kunti
10. Plunderer-Of-Energy-Of-All-Beings

And their mother.  Together they vow:

“World-Honored One! We also will protect the person who reads, recites and keeps the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma so that he may have no trouble. No one shall take advantage of the weak points of this teacher of the Dharma.”

Their vow of protection warns:

Anyone who attacks this teacher of the Dharma
Will receive the same retribution
As to be received by the person who kills his parents,
Or who makes [sesame] oil without taking out worms [from the sesame],
Or who deceives others by using wrong measures and scales,
Or by Devadatta, who split the Sarngha.

In response, the Buddha promises the demon daughters and their mother:

“Excellent, excellent! Your merits will be immeasurable even when you protect the person who keeps only the name of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Needless to say, so will be your merits when you protect the person who keeps the sutra itself, and makes to a copy of this sutra hundreds of thousands of offerings such as flowers, incense, necklaces, powdered incense, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, streamers, canopies, music, and various lamps like lamps of butter oil, oil lamps, lamps of perfumed oil, lamps of sumanas-flower oil, lamps of campaka flower oil, lamps of varsika-flower oil, and lamps of utpala-flower oil. Kunti! You [raksasis] and your attendants should protect this teacher of the Dharma.”

Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

I’ll reframe from repeating what I started with last month when I used Ryūei Michael McCormick’s Lotus in a Sea of Flames to illustrate the power of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva. Still, Sakyamuni’s emancipation proclamation bears repeating:

Good man! If many hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings hear [the name of] World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and call his name with all their hearts when they are under various sufferings, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva will immediately perceive their voices, and cause them to emancipate themselves [from the sufferings].

Something that did seem new to me this time around was the repetition of the idea that “if one of the crew…” or “one of the members of a party…” calls on World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, everyone benefits in one case and everyone is inspired to follow the lead of the first person. Individual effort; group benefit.

In any event, thinking of World-Voice-Perceiver pays dividends:

Those who have much lust will be saved from lust if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Those who have much anger will be saved from anger if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Those who have much stupidity will be saved from stupidity if they constantly think of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and respect him. Endless-Intent! World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva has these great supernatural powers. He gives many benefits to all living beings. Therefore, they should constantly think of him.

And a comparison of benefits:

“Endless-Intent! Suppose a good man or woman keeps the names of six thousand and two hundred million Bodhisattvas, that is, of as many Bodhisattvas as there are sands in the River Ganges, and offers drink, food, clothing, bedding and medicine to them throughout his or her life. What do you think of this? Are his or her merits many or not?”

Endless-Intent said, “Very many. World-Honored One!”

The Buddha said:

“Anyone who keeps the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva and bows and makes offerings to him even for a moment, will be given as many merits as to be given to the good man or woman as previously stated. The merits will not be exhausted even after hundreds of thousands of billions of kalpas. Endless-Intent! Anyone who keeps the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva will be given these benefits of innumerable merits and virtues.”

In the same manner as Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, when World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva is not emancipating people he goes about this Saha-World expounding the Dharma to the living beings:

Good man! In a certain world, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva takes the shape of a Buddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Buddha. He takes the shape of a Pratyekabuddha and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Pratyekabuddha. He takes the shape of a Sravaka and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a Sravaka. He takes the shape of King Brahman and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by King Brahman. He takes the shape of King Sakra and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by King Sakra. He takes the shape of Freedom God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Freedom God. He takes the shape of Great-Freedom God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Great-Freedom God. He takes the shape of a great general in heaven and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a great general in heaven. He takes the shape of Vaisravania and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Vaisravania. He takes the shape of the king of a small country and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by the king of a small country. He takes the shape of a rich man and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a rich man. He takes the shape of a householder and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a householder. He takes the shape of a prime minister and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a prime minister. He takes the shape of a brahmana and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a brahmana. He takes the shape of a bhiksu, a bhiksuni, an upasaka or an upasika and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a bhiksu, a bhiksuni, an upasaka or an upasika. He takes the shape of a wife and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by the wife of a rich man, of a householder, of a prime minister, or of a brahmana. He takes the shape of a boy or a girl and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by a boy or a girl. He takes the shape of a god, a dragon, a yaksa, a gandharva, an asura, a garuda, a kimnara, a mahoraga, a human being or a nonhuman being and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by one or another of these living beings. He takes the shape of Vajra-Holding God and expounds the Dharma to those who are to be saved by Vajra-Holding God.

He could literally be anyone you hear expounding this sutra.

And in gathas:

World-Voice-Perceiver will save
All living beings from misfortunes
And from innumerable sufferings of the world
By the wonderful power of his wisdom.

And:

He sees the truth of all things and their purity.
He sees all things with his great wisdom.
He sees all things with loving-kindness and compassion.
Think of him constantly! Look up at him constantly!

All darkness is dispelled by the light of his wisdom
As spotless and as pure as the light of the sun.
The light destroys the dangers of wind and fire,
And illumines the whole world brightly.

His precepts out of his loving-kindness brace us up as thunderbolts.
His wishes out of his compassion are as wonderful as large clouds.
He pours the rain of the Dharma as sweet as nectar,
And extinguishes the fire of illusions.

Day 28 covers all of Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, and concludes the Seventh Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

As Chapter 24 opens, Sakyamuni Buddha faces the east and emits rays of light that illuminate “one hundred and eight billion nayuta Buddha-worlds.” In a world “beyond those worlds” – a world named All-Pure-Light-Adornment – a Buddha named Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom was teaching the Dharma to bodhisattvas. One of those bodhisattvas was Wonderful-Voice. When the light emitted by Sakyamuni Buddha illumined him, Wonderful-Voice said to Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha:

World-Honored One! I wish to visit the Saha-World, bow to Sakyamuni Buddha, attend on him, and make offerings to him. I also wish to see Mafijusri Bodhisattva, who is the Son of the King of the Dharma. [I also wish to see] Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva, Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva, Superior-Practice-Intent Bodhisattva, Adornment-King Bodhisattva, and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattva.

The Buddha offered advice for all travellers:

Do not despise that world! Do not consider it to be inferior [to our world]! Good Man! The Saha-World is not even. It is full of mud, stones, mountains’ and impurities. The Buddha [of that world] is short in stature! So are the Bodhisattvas [of that world]. You are forty-two thousand yojanas tall. I am six million and eight hundred thousand yojanas tall. You are the most handsome. You have thousands of millions of marks of merits, and your light is wonderful. Do not despise that world when you go there! Do not consider that the Buddha and Bodhisattvas of that world are inferior [to us]! Do not consider that that world is inferior [to ours]!

The arrival of Wonderful-Voice in the Saha-World prompted questions and Sakyamuni Buddha explained to Flower-Virtue Bodhisattva:

Flower-Virtue! Now you see Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva here and nowhere else. But formerly he transformed himself into various living beings and expounded this sutra to others in various places. He became King Brahman, King Sakra, Freedom God, Great-Freedom God, a great general in heaven, Vaisravana Heavenly-King, a wheel-turning-holy-king, the king of a small country, a rich man, a householder, a prime minister, a brahmana, a bhiksu, a bhiksuni, an upasaka, an upasika, the wife of a rich man, that of a householder, that of a prime minister, that of a brahmana, a boy, a girl, a god, a dragon, a yaksa, a gandharva, an asura, a garuda, a kimnara, a mahoraga, a human being or a nonhuman being. [After he transformed himself into one or another of these living beings,] he expounded this sutra, and saved the hellish denizens, hungry spirits, animals, and all the other living beings in the places of difficulties. When he entered an imperial harem, he became a woman and expounded this sutra.

“Flower-Virtue! This Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva protects all living beings in this Saha-World. He transforms himself into one or another of these various living beings in this Saha-World and expounds this sutra to all living beings without reducing his supernatural powers, [his power of] transformation, and his wisdom. He illumines this Saha-World with the many [rays of light] of his wisdom, and causes all living beings to know what they should know. He also does the same in the innumerable worlds of the ten quarters, that is, in as many worlds as, there are sands in the River Ganges.

Watching for the transformations of Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva in the Saha-World.

Day 27 concludes Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Let’s skip Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva’s arm-burning demonstration and the suggestion that “Anyone who aspires for, and wishes to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, should offer a light to the stupa of the Buddha by burning a finger or a toe” and get down to the business of scorch-free merit in following the Lotus Sutra:

[T]he merits to be given to the person who fills the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds with the seven treasures and offers that amount of the seven treasures to the Buddhas, to the Great Bodhisattvas, to the Pratyekabuddhas, and to the Arhats, are less than the merits to be given to the person who keeps even a single gatha of four lines of this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Following a lengthy list of examples illustrating how the Lotus Sutra is greater than all other sutras, we get to the bottom line:

Star-King-Flower! This sutra saves all living beings. This sutra saves them from all sufferings, and gives them great benefits. All living beings will be able to fulfill their wishes by this sutra just as a man who reaches a pond of fresh water when he is thirsty, just as a man who gets fire when he suffers from cold, just as a man who is given a garment when he is naked, just as a party of merchants who find a leader, just as a child who meets its mother, just as a man who gets a ship when he wants to cross [a river], just as a patient who finds a physician, just as a man who is given a light in the darkness, just as a poor man who gets a treasure, just as the people of a nation who see a new king enthroned, just as a trader who reaches the seacoast. Just as a torch dispels darkness, this Sotra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma saves all living beings from all sufferings, from all diseases, and from all the bonds of birth and death. The merits to be given to the person who, after hearing this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, copies it, or causes others to copy it, cannot be measured even by the wisdom of the Buddha. Neither can the merits to be given to the person who copies this sutra and offers flowers, incense, necklaces, incense to burn, powdered incense, incense applicable to the skin, streamers, canopies, garments, and various kinds of lamps such as Lamps of butter oil, oil lamps, lamps of perfumed oil, lamps of campaka oil, lamps of sumanas oil, lamps of patala oil, lamps of varsika oil, and lamps of navamalika oil [to the copy of this sotra].

Special benefits are promised to women in particular for keeping this chapter of the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, but everyone benefits.

Star-King-Flower! Protect this sutra by your supernatural powers! Why is that? It is because this sutra is a good medicine for the diseases of the people of the Jambudvipa. The patient who hears this sutra will be cured of his disease at once. He will not grow old or die.