Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.
Having last month covered the prediction of future Buddhahood for Subhuti in prose, we come to the prediction for him in gāthās.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Bhikṣus!
Now I will tell you.
Listen to me
With one mind!Subhūti, a disciple of mine,
Will be able
To become a Buddha
Called Beautiful-Form.He will make offerings
To many billions of Buddhas, and practice
According to the practices of the Buddhas,
And finally attain great enlightenment.On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the thirty-two physical marks,
And become as beautiful and as wonderful
As a mountain of treasures.The world of that Buddha
Will be the purest.
Anyone will be happy to see it.
That Buddha will save
Innumerable living beings
Of that world.Many Bodhisattvas
In the world of that Buddha
Will be clever.
They will turn
The irrevocable wheel of the Dharma,
And adorn that world.The Śrāvakas in that world also
Will be countless.
They will have the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers.
They will have the eight emancipations.
They will be exceedingly powerful and virtuous.The supernatural powers
Employed by that Buddha
For the expounding of the Dharma
Will be inconceivable.As many gods and men
As there are sands in the River Ganges
Will join their hands together
And listen to the words of that Buddha.The duration of the life of that Buddha
Will be twelve small kalpas.
His right teachings will be preserved
For twenty small kalpas.
The counterfeit of his right teachings
Also will be preserved for twenty small kalpas.
My penchant for working piece by piece through the sūtra doesn’t always work well. Here’s a case where I struggle to add something specific to this section. But I do have a personal observation in general that applies to this.
We are told that Subhūti “will make offerings To many billions of Buddhas, and practice According to the practices of the Buddhas, And finally attain great enlightenment.” I’ve heard people use this sort of lengthy process as an example of an unattractive or less than ideal outcome, especially given the promises offered to those who keep, read, recite and copy this sūtra.
I have two problems with that. First, consider what it would mean to have the opportunity to make offerings to billions of Buddhas and to practice according to their teachings. Personally, I think that would be great. My practice today is not a burden. It is not something I do grudgingly. It is done with joy.
The other problem I have (underscore I have) with focusing exclusively on the get-enlightenment-quick talisman, is that it makes enlightenment only about me. Each day I vow to save all sentient beings. That could take some time.