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

Last month concluded The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, and now it’s time to start again.

Having sung this gatha, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! You do not change, do you?

Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha said to Gladly-Seen-­By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, ‘Good man! The time of my Nirvana is near at hand. The time of my extinction is coming. Prepare me a comfortable couch! I shall enter into Parinirvana tonight.’

Then he instructed Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, saying, ‘Good man! I will transmit all my teachings to you. [I also will transmit] to you all the Bodhisattvas and all my great disciples. [I also will transmit] to you my teachings for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. I also will transmit to you the one thousand Sumeru worlds made of the seven treasures, the jeweled trees, the jeweled platforms, and the gods attending on me. I also will transmit to you the sariras to be left after my extinction. Distribute my sariras far and wide and make offerings to them! Erect thousands of stupas [to enshrine them]!’

Having given these instructions to Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, Sun-Moon-Pure-Bright-Virtue Buddha entered into Nirvana in the last watch of that night. Having seen the extinction of the Buddha, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva was overcome with sorrow. He adored the Buddha all the more. He made a pyre of the candana grown on this shore of the sea, offered it to the body of the Buddha, and burned it. After it burned up, he collected the sariras. He made eighty-four thousand urns of treasures[, and put the sariras therein]. He erected eighty-four thousand stupas[, and enshrined the urns therein]. The stupas were higher than the Third Dhyana-Heaven. They were adorned with yastis. Many streamers and canopies were hanging down [from the stupas]. Many jeweled bells also were fixed [on the stupas].

The Daily Dharma from May 29, 2016, offers this insight:

Having sung this gāthā, Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva said to the Buddha, ‘World-Honored One! You do not change, do you?’

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.

Having last month begun the Transmission, it is time to complete the task.

In the future, when you see good men or women who believe in the wisdom of the Tathagata, you should expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to them, and cause them to hear and know [this sutra] so that they may he able to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha. When you see anyone who does not receive [this sutra] by faith, you should show him some other profound teachings of mine, teach him, benefit him, and cause him to rejoice. When you do all this, you will be able to repay the favors given to you by the Buddhas.

Having heard these words of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva­mahasattvas were filled with great joy. With more respect than ever, they bent forward, bowed, joined their hands together towards him, and said simultaneously. ‘We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!’

The Bodhisattva-mahasattvas said simultaneously twice more, ‘We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!’

Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha, wishing to send back to their home worlds [Many-Treasures Buddha and] the Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters, said, ‘May the Buddhas be where they wish to be! May the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha be where it was!’

Having heard these words of the Buddha, not only the innumerable Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters and were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, Many-Treasures Buddha, and the great multitude of the innumerable, asamkhya Bodhisattvas, including Superior-Practice, but also the four kinds of devotees including Sariputra and other Sravakas, and the gods, men and asuras of the world, had great joy.

The Daily Dharma from Oct. 24, 2015, offers this:

When you see anyone who does not receive [this sūtra] by faith, you should show him some other profound teachings of mine, teach him, benefit him, and cause him to rejoice. When you do all this, you will be able to repay the favors given to you by the Buddhas.

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

Having last month concluded the Day 25 portion of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, it is time to return to the tale of Never-Despising Bodhisattva.

Setting the stage:

Thereupon the Buddha said to Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva-mahasattva:

Know this! Anyone who speaks ill of or abuses or slanders the bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas or upasikas who keep the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will incur the retributions previously stated. (Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.) Anyone [who keeps this sutra] will he able to have his eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind purified, that is to say, to obtain the merits as stated in the previous chapter.

Great-Power-Obtainer! Innumerable, limitless, inconceivable, asamkhya kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Powerful­-Voice-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 World­-Honored One. The kalpa in which he lived was called Free-From­-Decay; 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 Anuttara-­samyak-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.

Great-Power-Obtainer! The duration of the life of Powerful-­Voice-King Buddha was forty billion nayuta kalpas, that is, as many kalpas as there are sands in the River Ganges. His right teachings were preserved for as many kalpas as the particles of dust of the Jambudvipa. The counterfeit of his right teachings was preserved for a many kalpas as the particles of dust of the four continents. The Buddha benefited all living being and then passed away. After [the two ages:] the age of his right teaching and the age of their counterfeit, there appeared in that world another Buddha also called Powerful-Voice-King, the Tathagata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Cone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. After him, the Buddhas of the same name appeared one after another, two billion altogether.

This is one of many places where the rareness of hearing the Lotus Sutra rather than the three vehicles – the teaching of the four truths, the teaching of the twelve causes and the teaching of the six paramitas – is underlined.

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.

Having covered the merits of the nose and the tongue, it is time for the merits of the body.

Furthermore, Constant-Endeavor! The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this sutra, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the body. Their bodies will become as pure as lapis lazuli. All living beings will wish to see them. Some of the living beings in the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds are just born or have just died. All living beings are either noble or humble. They are either handsome or ugly. They are destined to be reborn either in a better region or in a worse region. All of them will be reflected on the pure bodies [of the good men or women]. The Surrounding Iron Mountains, the Great Surrounding Iron Mountains, Mt. Meru, Mt. Maha-Meru, and the other great mountains, and the living beings in those mountains also will be reflected on their bodies. [All the six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven and the living beings therein also will be reflected on their bodies. The Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas, and Bodhisattvas as well as the Buddhas who are expounding the Dharma, also will show their reflections on their bodies.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gathas:

Anyone who keeps
This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will be able to have his body purified like lapis lazuli
All living beings will wish to see him.

Just as a reflection is seen
In a clear mirror
All things in the world will be reflected
On the pure body of this [person, that is, of this] Bodhisattva.
No one but he
Will be able to see all things clearly.

The gods, men, asuras,
Hellish denizens,
Hungry spirits and animals,
That is, all living beings
Of the on thousand million Sumeru-world
Will be reflected on his body.

The palaces of the gods in the heavens
Up to the Highest Heaven,
The Surrounding iron Mountains,
Mt. Meru, Mt. Maha-Meru,
And the great oceans also
Will be reflected on his body.

The Buddhas, Sravakas, Bodhisattvas who are sons of the Buddhas
[That is, the saints] of whom some live a solitary life
While others are espounding the Dharma to the multitude, Also will be reflected on his body.

Although he has not yet obtained the wonderful body
[Of the Bodhisattva who knows] the nature of the Dharma-without-asravas,
He will be able to have all thes things
Reflected on his pure and natural body.

The Daily Dharma from Dec. 3, 2016, offers this:

Just as a reflection is seen
In a clear mirror,
All things in the world will be reflected
On the pure body of this [person, that is, of this] Bodhisattva.
No one but he
Will be able to see all things clearly.