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.

Last month, I focused on “the great supernatural powers and the power of wisdom obtained by Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva-mahasattva.”

This month I want to underline the lessons in civility offered in this chapter. Note a smile and perhaps a tongue-in-cheek.

The first lesson comes following the sudden illumination of a world more than 108 billion nayuta Buddha worlds to east of the Saha world after a ray of light is emitted “from the white curls [between the eyebrows] of Sakyamuni Buddha.”

When [Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva] was illumined by the light of Sakyamuni Buddha, he said to the 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 Manjusri Bodhisattva, who is the Son of the King of the Dharma. [I also wish to see] Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Brave­In-Giving Bodhisattva, Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva, Superior­Practice-Intent Bodhisattva, Adornment-King Bodhisattva, and Medicine-Superior Bodhisattva.

Thereupon Pure-Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha said to Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva:

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 an 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]!

And then there is Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva’s greeting after he worshiped the feet of the Buddha with his head and offered the necklace to the Buddha upon his arrival in the Saha World.

World-Honored One! I bring you a message from Pure­Flower-Star-King-Wisdom Buddha. [He wishes to say this.] Are you in good health? Are you happy and peaceful or not? Are the four elements of your body working in harmony or not? Are the worldly affairs bearable or not? Are the living beings easy to save or not? Do they not have much greed, anger, ignorance, jealousy, stinginess and arrogance, or do they? Are they not undutiful to their parents, or are they? Are they not disrespectful to sramainas, or are they? Do they not have wrong views, or do they? Are they not evil, or are they? Do they not fail to control their five desires, or do they? World-Honored One! Did they defeat the Maras, who are their enemies, or not: Is Many-Treasures Tathagata, who passed away a long time ago and has now come here riding in the stupa of the sever treasures, hearing the Dharma or not? [Pure-Flower-Star-King Wisdom Buddha] also wishes to know whether Many-Treasure Tathagata is peaceful and healthy, and able to stay long or not. World-Honored One! Now I wish to see Many-Treasures Buddha World-Honored One! Show him to me!

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

Last month, I focused on the position of the Lotus Sutra in comparison with all of the other sutras. “Just as the Buddha is the king of the Dharma, this sutra is the king of all the sutras.”

This month, I’ll continue with the saving power of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

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 Sutra 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 varisika oil, and lamps of navamalika oil [to the copy of this sutra].

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Last month, I began with the Buddha’s explanation to the Bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground, that the “merits of this sutra to those to whom this sutra is to be transmitted” are limitless.

In the gathas section of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathagathas, the Buddha explains the benefits of keeping this sutra:

Anyone who keeps this sutra
Will be able to see me.
He also will be able to see Many-Treasures Buddha,
[The Buddhas of] my replicas,
And the Bodhisattvas whom I have taught today.

Anyone who keeps this sutra will be able
to cause me to rejoice.
He also will be able to bring joy
To [the Buddhas of] my replicas
And also to Many-Treasures Buddha who once passed away.

He also will be able to see
The present, past and future Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarters,
Make offerings to them, and cause them to rejoice.

The Buddhas sat at the place of enlightenment,
And obtained the hidden core.
Anyone who keeps this sutra will be able
To obtain the same before long.

Anyone who keeps this sutra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sutra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.

Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sutras,
Who knows the position [of this sutra in the series of sutras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.
He will be able to cause innumerable Bodhisattvas
To dwell finally in the One Vehicle.

Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sutra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.

Definitely. Doubtlessly

Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

Last month I focused the idea that the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma can be heard only once in a very long time because the Buddhas expound this sutra only once. Having heard it, we should have no doubts.

Before I get into the story of Never Despising Bodhisattva as a previous life of Sakyamuni and eventually discuss the start of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tahagatas, I want to reiterate what is taught before the rare teaching of the Lotus Sutra.

Great-Power-Obtainer! Innumerable, limitless, inconceivable, asamkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Powerful­Voice-King, the Tathagata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World­Honored One. The kalpa in which he lived was called Free-From­Decay; and his world, Great-Achievement. Powerful-Voice-King Buddha expounded the Dharma to the gods, men and asuras of his world. To those who were seeking Sravakahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the four truths, saved them from birth, old age, disease and death, and caused them to attain Nirvana. To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the twelve causes. To the Bodhisattvas who were seeking Anuttara­samyak-sambodhi, he expounded the teaching suitable for them, that is, the teaching of the six paramitas, and caused them to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha.

Rare it is to have the opportunity to keep, read, recite, expound or copy the Lotus Sutra.

Day 24 concludes Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma and closes the Sixth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month I focused on the fact that the merits of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind will manifest with their “natural” sense organs.

When reading this section I’m always tempted to focus on those great merits of the nose, but I’m going to hold off on that and instead review the merits of the mind.

The good men or women who keep, read, recite expound or copy this sutra after my extinction, will be able to obtain twelve hundred merits of the mind. When they hear even a gatha or a phrase [of this sutra] with their pure minds, they will be able to understand the innumerable meanings [of this sutra]. When they understand the meanings [of this sutra] and expound even a phrase or a gatha [of this sutra] for a month, four months, or a year, their teachings will be consistent with the meanings [of this sutra], and not against the reality of all things. When they expound the scriptures of non-Buddhist schools, or give advice to the government, or teach the way to earn a livelihood, they will be able to be in accord with the right teachings of the Buddha. They will be able to know all the thoughts, deeds, and words, however meaningless, of the living beings of the on thousand million Sumeru-worlds each of which is composed of the six regions.

And in gathas:

Their minds will become pure, clear, keen and undefiled.
They will be able to recognize with their wonderful minds
The superior, mean and inferior teachings.
When they hear even a gatha [of this sutra],
They will be able to understand
The innumerable meanings of [this sutra].

When they expound [this sutra]
In good order according to the Dharma
For a month, four months or a year,
They will be able to understand at once
The thoughts of gods, dragons, men, yaksas, demigods,
And of all the other living beings
Inside and outside this world
Composed of the six region
Because they keep
The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They also will be able to hear and keep
The Dharma expounded to all living beings
By the innumerable Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters
Who are adorned with the marks of one hundred merits.

When they think over the innumerable meaning [of this sutra],
And endlessly repeat the expounding of those meanings,
They will not forget or mistake the beginnings and ends of quotations Because they keep the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

They will see the reality of all things.
Knowing the position [of this sutra in the series of sutras],
And the names and words [of this sutra],
according to the meanings of it,
They will expound [this sutra] as they understand it.

They will expound the Dharma
Already taught by the past Buddhas.
Therefore, they will be fearless
Before the multitude.