Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

Last month, I focused on Purna, the son of Maitrayani. The Buddha reveals that his appearance as the Sravaka foremost in expounding the Dharma is only an expedient. He is really a Bodhisattva.

After the Buddha assures “these twelve hundred Arhats, who are present before me,” of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi one after another, the arhats come to understand “we were like men of no wisdom because we were satisfied with the wisdom of the Lesser Vehicle although we had already been qualified to obtain the wisdom of the Tathagata.”

They offer the Parable of the Priceless Gem and recognize that they had forgotten that they, like Purna, are really bodhisattvas.

We thought that we had attained extinction when we attained Arhatship because we forgot that we had been taught to aspire for the knowledge of all things by you when you were a Bodhisattva just as the man who had difficulty in earning his livelihood satisfied himself with what little he had earned. You, the World-Honored One, saw that the aspiration for the knowledge of all things was still latent in our minds; therefore, you awakened us, saying, ‘Bhiksus! What you had attained was not perfect extinction. I caused you to plant the good root of Buddhahood a long time ago. [You have forgotten this; therefore,] I expounded the teaching of Nirva]Ja as an expedient. You thought that you had attained true extinction when you attained the Nirvana [which I taught you as an expedient].’

World-Honored One! Now we see that we are Bodhisattvas in reality, and that we are assured of our future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Therefore, we have the greatest joy that we have ever had.

Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month, I promised to touch on the debt owed to the 16 young sramanera bodhisattvas, who convinced the Buddha to expound the teaching of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

The Buddha assented to the appeal of the sramaneras, but it was twenty thousand kalpas afterwards that he expounded to the four kinds of devotees the sutra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

When the Buddha completed the expounding of this sutra, the sixteen sramaneras kept, recited and understood this sutra in order to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. The sixteen sramaneras, [ who were] Bodhisattvas, received this sutra by faith. Some Sravakas understood it by faith, but the other Sravakas and other living beings, thousands of billions in number, doubted it.

It took the Buddha eight thousand kalpas to complete the expounding of this sutra. During that time he did not take a rest. Having completed the expounding of this sutra, the Buddha entered a quiet room and practiced dhyana-concentration for eighty-four thousand kalpas. Seeing him practicing dhyana­concentration quietly in the room, the sixteen Bodhisattva­sramaneras each sat on a seat of the Dharma, expounded the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the four kinds of devotees for eighty-four thousand kalpas, and saved six hundred billion nayutas of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. They showed them the Way, taught them, benefited them, caused them to rejoice and to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

And most important, Sakyamuni was one of the srameaneras.

Bhiksus! When we were sramaneras, we each taught many hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those living beings who followed me, heard the Dharma from me in order to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Some of them are still in Sravakahood. I now teach them the Way to Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi. They will be able to enter the Way to Buddhahood by my teaching, but not immediately because the wisdom of the Tathagata is difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Those living beings as many as there are sands in the River Ganges, whom I taught [ when I was a sramanera], included you bhiksus and those who will be reborn as my disciples in Sravakahood after my extinction. My disciples who do not hear this sitra or know the practices of Bodhisattvas, after my extinction will make a conception of extinction by the merits they will have accumulated by themselves, and enter into Nirvana as they conceive it. At that time I shall be a Buddha of another name in another world. Those who will enter into Nirvana as they conceive it will be able [to be reborn] in the world I shall live in, seek the wisdom of the Buddha, and hear this sutra. They will be able to attain [true] extinction only by the Vehicle of the Buddha in that world because there is no other vehicle except when the Tathagatas expound the Dharma with expedients.

Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City

Today’s section of the Lotus Sutra is all about the light that accompanies the enlightenment of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha:

When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.

The Brahman-heavenly-kings of each of the 10 directions react to this sudden illumination. Today, I’ll single out the reaction of the Brahman-­heavenly-king called Great-Compassion of the five hundred billion worlds in the southeast. Great-Compassion and the other Brahman-heavenly-kings went to the northwest, carrying flower-plates filled with heavenly flowers. Their palaces also moved as they went.

After greeting the Buddha and offering the flowers and their palaces, the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the southeast sang in gathas:

Saintly Master, God of Gods!
Your voice is as sweet as a kalavinka’s.
You have compassion towards all living beings.
We now bow before you.
You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
You appear only once in a very long time.

No Buddha has appeared
For the past one hundred and eighty kalpas.
The three evil regions are crowded;
And the living beings in heaven, decreasing.

Now you have appeared in this world
And become the eye of all living beings.
As their refuge, you are saving them.
As their father, you are benefiting them
Out of your compassion towards them.
We are now able to see you
Because we accumulated merits
In our previous existence.

This gathering of Brahman-heavenly-kings is the only one to call the Buddha “God of gods.” More traditional is the description of the Buddha as “Most Honorable of Gods and Men.”

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Last month, and the month before, I’ve skipped over the conclusion of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, in order to delve into the much more interesting, Chapter 7, Parable of the Magic City.

So it is time to say at least something more about the assurance of future Buddhahood given by Sakyamuni to Subhuti, Great Katyayana, Great Maudgalyayana.

After assuring Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana, Sakyamuni says:

The five hundred disciples of mine’
Are powerful and virtuous.
They also shall be assured
Of their future Buddhahood.
They will become Buddhas
In their future lives.

The importance of this chapter is explained in the Daily Dharma from April 26, 2016:

We know the defects of the Lesser Vehicle.
But we do not know how to obtain
The unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.

The Buddha’s disciples Maudgalyāyana, Subhūti and Mahā-Kātyāyana sing these verses in Chapter Six of the Lotus Sūtra. They have heard the Buddha teach that the expedient teachings about Suffering are incomplete. However they still have not yet embraced the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra which leads all beings to enlightenment. Nichiren explained, in his Treatise on Opening the Eyes of Buddhist Images, how teachings that came before the Lotus Sūtra were based on the mind of the hearer, where the Wonderful Dharma is itself the mind of the Buddha. When we read, recite, copy and expound the Lotus Sūtra, we are becoming of one mind with the Buddha.

The Buddha knew the mind of the “men living the life of wisdom” and offered the assurance they felt they needed in order to partake of the meal of the True Dharma. Today, we have joy and confidence, having always had the assurance of future Buddhahood of all who read, recite, copy and expound the Lotus Sūtra.

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Since I’m self-limiting myself to a single topic each time through, it is time to leave aside the Simile of Herbs for at least one time to mention the opening of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

In Chapter 3, Sakyamuni offers the Parable of the Burning House to explain the need for expedients. In Chapter 4, the “men living the life of wisdom” offer the Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son as their perception of why it was necessary to use expedients to raise people up to understand they are worthy to be Buddhas. Chapter 5’s Simile of the Herbs clarifies that the Dharma is the same and that it is the variety among the plant life that explains the variety in the fruits of enlightenment.

And this brings us back to those “men living the life of wisdom,” the elders of the voice hearers.

The chapter opens with Sakyamuni telling Maha-Kasyapa that he will eventually become a Buddha called Light in a world called Light-Virtue and the kalpa in which he will become a buddha, Great-Adornment.

In response, Great Maudgalyayana, Subhuti and Maha-Katyayana plead to be assured of their future Buddhahood, explaining:

Suppose a man came
From a country suffering from famine.
Now he saw the meal of a great king.
He did not partake of it in doubts and fears.
After he was told to take it by the king,
He took it at once.
We are like that man.
We know the defects of the Lesser Vehicle.
But we do not know how to obtain
The unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.

Although we hear you say [to us],
“You will become Buddhas,”
We are still in doubts and fears about it,
Just as that man was about the meal.
If you assure us of our future Buddhahood,
We shall be happy and peaceful.

You, the Great Hero, the World-Honored One,
Wish to give peace to all the people of the world.
If you assure us of our future Buddhahood, we shall be
Like the man who was permitted to take the meal.