The Sūtra of the Transmission of the Dharma explains how the Buddhist dharma would be propagated after His death. It says, “During the Age of the True Dharma, a one-thousand-year period following the death of the Buddha, many propagators will spread His teachings. The first of them will be Venerable Kāśyapa for the first twenty years; the second, Venerable Ānanda for the next twenty years; the third, Śānavāsa for the next twenty years; and the twenty-third will be Āryasimha.”
Regarding the third propagator, Śānavāsa, the Buddha explained that his name came from the garment in which he was born. To be born wearing clothes is indeed a wonder. In the six realms of the unenlightened, all those from hell to the human realm are born naked; but only those in heaven are born with clothes on. All people, even sages and wisemen, are born in the nude. Even bodhisattvas destined to be Buddhas in the next life are born in the nude, not to say of all others. Nevertheless, Śānavāsa was born wearing a wonderful garment called Śāna-clothes.
This garment was never stained with blood or soiled just as a lotus in a pond and wings of an eagle never get wet. As Śānavāsa grew, the garment grew wider and longer. It became thicker in winter and thinner in summer, blue in spring and white in winter. He was wealthy, so he suffered no inconvenience. Later, as the Buddha had predicted, he entered the priesthood under Ānanda. Then, the garment became the ceremonial robes of gojō, shichijō, and kyūjō. The Buddha explains this wonder of Śānavāsa as follows:
Billions of years ago, this man, Śānavāsa, was a merchant. One day, he crossed an ocean for trade with five hundred merchants. There, he found a sick priest named Pratyekabuddha on the beach. Probably due to his ill karma the priest was in critical condition, had lost consciousness, and lay in filth. Feeling compassionate, the merchant nursed the sick man and brought him back to consciousness, cleaned up the filth, and wrapped him with Śāna-clothes made of a hemp garment. This sage appreciated his kindness, saying, “You helped me and covered up my shame. I shall use this garment not only in this life but also in future lives.” He then passed away. With this merit, during the incalculably long period in the past, every time Śānavāsa was reborn in heaven or on earth, he was wearing the garment. … In this life he became the third transmitter of the dharma after the death of the Buddha, and a sage called Śānavāsa. He built a great temple on Mt. Ulda in Matela. He taught the dharma to numerous people for twenty years.
Thus the Buddha preached that all the happiness and wonder of Priest Śānavāsa stemmed from this one garment.
Myōhō Bikuni Go-henji, A Reply to Nun Myōhō, Nyonin Gosho, Letters Addressed to Female Followers, Page 176-180
