Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Chapter 12, Devadatta, has some problems. As Senchu Murano explains in the Introduction:

Chapter [12], which is an insertion, betrays discrepancies from Chapter [11] in the following points.

1. Sakyamuni Buddha and Many-Treasures Buddha are on Mt. Sacred Eagle, not in the stupa handing in the sky.
2. Many-Treasures buddha came from the nadir, not from the east.
3. Many-Treasures buddha is accompanied by a Bodhisattva.
4. At the beginning of this chapter, Manjusri Bodhisattva is at the palace of Dragon-King Sagara in the sea.
5. There is no response to the wish of the Buddha to transmit this sutra to someone.

And yet . . .

[Sakyamuni] said to the bhiksus:

Good men or women in the future who hear this chapter of Devadatta of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma with faithful respect caused by their pure minds, and have no doubts [about this chapter], will not fall into hell or the region of hungry spirits or the region of animals. They will be reborn before the Buddhas of the worlds of the ten quarters. They will always hear this sutra at the places of their rebirth. Even when they are reborn among men or gods, they will be given wonderful pleasures. When they are reborn before the Buddhas, they will appear in lotus-flowers.

No doubts here despite the discrepancies.

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month, I went over the requirement that all of the billions and billions of Sakyamuni’s replicas preaching the Dharma in the universe had to be called home before Stupa of Treasures could be opened in order for the congregation to see Many Treasures Buddha.

This time through I want to focus on the shift that takes place at this point in the Lotus Sutra when Sakyamuni asks:

Who will expound the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Saha-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into Nirvana before long. I wish to transmit this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sutra may be preserved.

Then again in gathas:

My sons!
Who will protect the Dharma?
Make a great vow
To preserve the Dharma forever!

And again:

This sutra is
The most excellent.
To keep this sutra
Is to keep me.

Good men!
Who will receive and keep this sutra, And read and recite it
After my extinction?
Make a vow before me
[To do all this]!

Rev. Ryusho Jeffus explains what is going on in his Lecture

In case there was any doubt remaining that the Buddha intended Buddhism to be taught and not be kept to oneself, there comes his request in Chapter 11 where he asks who will teach the Lotus Sutra in this world in which we live, the Saha World. Chapter 11 is where the Buddha begins to shift the focus of his teaching to thinking about the time in this world when he will no longer be alive. He is not thinking or planning for the spread of Buddhism in other parts of the universe. That is already being handled by his emanations and by the future lives of his contemporary disciples. Everything is taken care of except this world of ours. It is the Buddha Shakyamuni who is responsible for ensuring that the fundamental truth of the Lotus Sutra is secure for future generations.

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Having covered the arrival of the Stupa of Treasures last month, it is time to cycle back to the start of Day 15 and the significance of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Thereupon the Buddha said again to Medicine-King Bodhisattva-­mahasattva:

I have expounded many sutras. I am now expounding this sutra. I also will expound many sutras in the future. The total number of the sutras will amount to many thousands of billions. This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.

Medicine-King! This sutra is the store of the hidden core of all the Buddhas. Do not give it to others carelessly! It is protected by the Buddhas, by the World-Honored Ones. It has not been expounded explicitly. Many people hate it with jealousy even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.

Medicine-King, know this! Anyone who copies, keeps, reads and recites this sutra, makes offerings to it, and expounds it to others after my extinction, will be covered by my robe. He also will be protected by the present Buddhas of the other worlds. He will have the great power of faith, the power of vows, and the power of roots of good. Know this! He will live with me. I will pat him on the head.

Enjoying the great power of faith, vows and roots of good. Never alone.

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Last month, I focused on Rahula and the month before on Ananda. This leaves the remaining Sravakas.

Thereupon the World-Honored One saw the two thousand Sravakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They were gentle, quiet and pure. They looked up at the Buddha with all their hearts.

The Buddha said to Ananda, Do you see these two thousand Sravakas, of whom some have something more to learn while others have nothing more to learn?

Yes, I do.

Ananda! These people will make offerings to as many Buddhas, as many Tathagatas, as the particles of dust of fifty worlds. They will respect those Buddhas, honor them, and protect the store of their teachings. They will finally go to the worlds of the ten quarters and become Buddhas at the same time. They will be equally called Treasure-Form, 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 World-Honored One. They will live for a kalpa. They will be the same in regard to the adornments of their worlds, the number of the Sravakas and Bodhisattvas of their worlds, the duration of the preservation of their right teachings, and the duration of the preservation of the counterfeit of their right teachings.”

These two thousand Sravakas, of whom some had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn, were quite happy at this news:

You, the World-Honored One, are the light of wisdom. Hearing from you
That we are assured of our future Buddhahood,
We are as joyful as if we were sprinkled with nectar.

Next month I’ll move into the other part of today’s reading, Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and the universal promise made to those rejoice at hearing even a gatha of phrase of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

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

Purna, foremost in expounding the Dharma, is joyous at the news he’s heard:

Thereupon Purna, the son of Maitrayani having heard from the Buddha the Dharma expounded with expedients by the wisdom [of the Buddha] according to the capacities of all living beings, and having heard that [the Buddha] had assured the great disciples of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, and also having heard of the previous life of the Buddha, and also having heard of the great, unhindered, supernatural powers of the Buddhas, had the greatest joy that he had ever had, became pure in heart, and felt like dancing [with joy]. He rose from his seat, came to the Buddha, and worshipped him at his feet with his head. Then he retired to one side of the place, looked up at the honorable face with unblenching eyes, and thought:

The World-Honored One is extraordinary. What he does is exceptional. He expounds the Dharma with expedients by his insight according to the various natures of all living beings of the world, and saves them from various attachments. The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.

The April 6, 2016, Daily Dharma discusses Purna’s observation and what it means in our daily lives:

In Chapter Eight of the Lotus Sutra, Pūrṇa has these words in mind while looking at the face of the Buddha. The thoughts we have are mostly words, and the words are about the things we want. Words can help us make sense of the world around us, especially the words the Buddha uses to teach us. But words can also confuse us when we mistake our expectations for the reality of the world. When the Buddha calls us to become Bodhisattvas, to realize that our happiness is linked to that of all beings, his words open a part of our mind with which we are not familiar. He asks us to set aside the habits we have learned from this world of conflict and see his world in a new way.