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.
Having last month opened the Stupa of Treasures, we come to the start of the ceremony in the air.
Thereupon Many-Treasures Buddha in the stupa of treasures offered a half of his seat to Sakyamuni Buddha, saying, ‘Sakyamuni Buddha, sit here!’
Sakyamuni Buddha entered the stupa and sat on the half-seat with his legs crossed. The great multitude, having seen the two Tathagatas sitting cross-legged on the lion-like seat in the stupa of the seven treasures, thought, ‘The seat of the Buddhas is too high. Tathagata! Raise us up by your supernatural powers so that we may be able to be with you in the sky!’
Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha raised them up to the sky by his supernatural powers, and said to the four kinds of devotees with a loud voice:
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.
The Daily Dharma of July 17, 2015, offers this:
“Who will expound the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in this Sahā-World? Now is the time to do this. I shall enter into Nirvāṇa before long. I wish to transmit this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to someone so that this sūtra may be preserved.”
The Buddha asks this of those gathered to hear him teach in Chapter Eleven of the Lotus Sūtra. If there had been no one among those listening who was able to expound the Sūtra, he would not have asked this question. Our ability to benefit others with the Buddha Dharma is not based on our eloquence, our intelligence or our position in life. It is based only on our faith in the Buddha’s teachings and our determination to benefit others. When we read, recite, and copy the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha is transmitting it to us. We preserve the Sūtra through our practice.
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