Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping This Sūtra, is most often discussed in the context of the hardships the expounder of the Lotus Sutra must expect after the death of the Buddha. But for me, what stands out is the silence of the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas’ reaction.

Let’s start following the predictions for Mahā-Prajāpatī Bhikṣunī, Yaśodharā Bhikṣunī and their attendants:

“Thereupon the World-Honored One looked at the eighty billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas. These Bodhisattvas had already reached the stage of avaivartika, turned the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma, and obtained dhārāṇis. They rose from their seats, came to the Buddha, joined their hands together towards him with all their hearts, and thought, ‘If the World-Honored One commands us to keep and expound this sūtra, we will expound the Dharma just as the Buddha teaches.’

“They also thought, ‘The Buddha keeps silence. He does not command us. What shall we do?’ ”

“In order to follow the wish of the Buddha respectfully, and also to fulfill their original vow, they vowed to the Buddha with a loud voice like the roar of a lion:

“ ‘World-Honored One! After your extinction, we will go to any place [not only of this Sahā-World but also] of the worlds of the ten quarters, as often as required, and cause all living beings to copy, keep, read and recite this sūtra, to expound the meanings of it, to act according to the Dharma, and to memorize this sūtra correctly. We shall be able to do all this only by your powers. World-Honored One! Protect us from afar even when you are in another world!’ ”

As the Introduction of the Lotus Sutra offers, “ ‘Encouragement for Keeping This Sutra’ means encouraging people to uphold it in spite of certain difficulties. It also implies effort and patience.”

For me there is no more powerful demonstration of faith than upholding the Lotus Sutra in the absence of encouragement. The effort and patience needed to act are two of six perfections all Bodhisattvas must master.

In The Stories of the Lotus Sutra, Gene Reeves explains the meaning of “upholding” the Sutra.

“Usually, when translating it in the Dharma Flower Sutra, I have used the term “embrace.” It occurs in several combinations that are important in the Sutra, especially (in Japanese pronunciation) as juji, “receive and embrace”; buji, “honor and embrace”; goji, “protect and embrace”; and jisetsu, “embrace and explain”; and there are many others. I like to use “embrace” because, for the Dharma Flower Sutra, what is involved is not a matter either of storage or of defending, but of following or adhering to the teachings of the Sutra by embodying them in one’s life.

“But in Chapter 13, what is of most direct concern is propagating the Sutra in the face of great difficulties, spreading its teachings to others despite many obstacles, leading others to embrace it. So here, in the title of Chapter 13, it seems fitting to think of being encouraged to ‘uphold’ the Sutra.

In Nichiren’s Toki-ama Gozen Gosho, A Letter to My Lady the Nun Toki, he writes:

“[W]hen we believe in the certainty of attaining Buddhahood, is there anything to fear? It is pointless to become royalty and enjoy the pleasures of this life. It is useless to be born in heaven and enjoy its pleasures. Instead, follow the example of the dragon girl who attained Buddhahood in the “Devadatta” chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, and align yourself with Mahā-Prajāpatī.

How delightful it will be! How joyful it will be! Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.

Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 7, Followers II, Page 116

Sprouts of faith grow and mature in the soil of the Lotus Sutra, watered with the assurances lavishly offered throughout the 28 chapters. No one is excluded from finally attaining enlightenment. Is there anything to fear?

The predictions given in Chapter 13 to Mahā-Prajāpatī, the Buddha’s stepmother, and her followers and Yaśodharā, the Buddha’s wife and mother of his only son, are just one of these important assurances.

In Buddhism for Today, Nikkyō Niwano raises an interesting point about the timing of these predictions:

“It may seem strange that the Buddha in his predictions had left [Mahā-Prajāpatī and Yaśodharā] until last and that before mentioning them he had given his prediction to the dragon king’s daughter, who was, so to speak, an indirect disciple instructed by Mañjuśrī, and only an eight-year-old girl. This priority has the following meanings. First, as already mentioned in the explanation of the Buddha’s prediction to Ānanda and Rāhula, for those closest to the Buddha, like the Bhikṣunī Mahā-Prajāpatī, who had brought up Śākyamuni from babyhood, and the Bhikṣunī Yaśodharā, who had been his wife and had given birth to his son, such intimacy could have become a hindrance rather than a help to their practice. The Buddha teaches us that someone like the dragon king’s daughter, who is a perfect stranger to the Buddha, can receive the Law with ease, while we may find great difficulty in instructing those closest to us, such as our parents and spouses. The delay of the Buddha’s prediction to the Bhikṣunī Mahā-Prajāpatī and the Bhikṣunī Yaśodharā does not mean that they were considered inferior to the dragon king’s daughter.

And if you want to quibble and say the dragon girl’s prediction was a later addition to the sutra, then Chapter 13’s predictions for Mahā-Prajāpatī and Yaśodharā become even more important. The enlightenment of Mahā-Prajāpatī and Yaśodharā put to rest any doubts of whether women are qualified to attain Buddhahood. Everyone has the potential to become a Buddha.

As a postscript, I should add Gene Reeves’ interesting interpretation of the prediction for these female śrāvakas:

“In contrast with the story of the dragon princess, there is no mention of these nuns having to become male. Clearly, as Dharma teachers and bodhisattvas at least, they are female.”

When considering the story of the dragon king’s daughter and how this applies to faith it is appropriate to begin with a warning offered in the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra:

“[I]t would be a serious mistake to take the teaching of the ‘attainment of Buddhahood in this life’ as meaning we can attain enlightenment without any effort. Even if we believe strongly in a religion, we must still practice it and apply its principles to our life. But by the power of their faith, ordinary people can attain the power of the Buddha without first completing difficult studies and practicing for eons and eons. This is what is meant by the ‘attainment of Buddhahood in this very life’ ”

The power of faith is not the only requirement, however. Gene Reeves in his Stories of the Lotus Sutra has an important observation of the requirements for the dragon girl to become a Buddha.

As we learn in the Lotus Sutra, Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva challenged the girl’s assertion that she could become a Buddha quickly. The girl then took a priceless gem and offered it to Śākyamuni. He accepted the gem immediately. As Reeves observes:

“ ‘Just watch,’ she says, ‘use your holy powers to watch me become a buddha even more quickly than it took for Shakyamuni Buddha to take a jewel from my hand.’ In a sense, a little girl becomes a buddha for them, but she can do this only if they used their ‘holy powers,’ their vision, to allow her to be a buddha for them, to open themselves to her being a buddha for them.

In the end, as Nichiren explains, this story offers actual proof for the faithful:

“Although we believed the doctrine of attainment of Buddhahood by all living beings because it was preached by the Buddha, it was difficult for some to fully accept it because of the lack of actual proof. However, it all became clear when the most important doctrine of becoming a Buddha with one’s present body was expounded in the “Devadatta” chapter in the fifth fascicle of the Lotus Sūtra. … The Buddha helped a small snake, who was actually a daughter of the dragon king, attain Buddhahood with her present body. From that moment, no one could have the slightest doubt about all men attaining Buddhahood. Therefore, the Lotus Sūtra expounds attainment of Buddhahood by all people after the model of enlightenment of women. Grand Master Dengyō of Mt. Hiei, who first spread the true meaning of the Lotus Sūtra in Japan, annotated in his Outstanding Principles of the Lotus Sūtra, “Neither the dragon girl, who became a Buddha to preach the dharma, nor the people who heard her preach the dharma needed a roundabout way to Buddhahood. They immediately attained Buddhahood with their present bodies by the power of the Wonderful Dharma.”

Sennichi-ama Gozen Gohenji, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 146-147