Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, we return to today’s portion of Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and the vow of the eighty billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas.

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!”

My postscript a year ago still rings true: Imagine being a great Bodhisattva who has “already reached the stage of avaivartika, turned the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma, and obtained dhārāṇis” and still being unsure, waiting for some acknowledgment, some direction, and yet even with these doubts pushing ahead. With a roar like a lion!