Day 19

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Last month, I imagined dreaming ‘Surrounded by bhiksus, The Tathagatas are sitting On the lion-like seats, And expounding the Dharma.’

I’ll hold off on discussing the fourth set of peaceful practices until I get to the third set next month on the 18th day.

That leaves the start of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Those Bodhisattvas who appeared from underground, came to Many-Treasures Tathagata and Sakyamuni Buddha both of whom were in the wonderful stupa of the seven treasures hanging in the sky. They [joined their hands together] towards the two World-Honored Ones, and worshipped their feet with their heads. Then they [descended onto the ground and] came to the Buddhas sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, bowed to them, walked around them from left to right three times, joined their hands together respectfully, and praised them by the various ways by which Bodhisattvas should praise Buddhas. Then they [returned to the sky,] stood to one side, and looked up at the two World-Honored ones with joy. A period of fifty small kalpas elapsed from the Bodhisattva-mahasattvas’ springing up from underground till the finishing of the praising of the Buddhas by the various ways by which Bodhisattvas should praise Buddhas. All this while Sakyamuni Buddha sat in silence. The four kinds of devotees also kept silence for the fifty small kalpas. By his supernatural powers, however, the Buddha caused the great multitude to think that they kept silence for only half a day. Also by the supernatural powers of the Buddha, the four kinds of devotees were able to see that the skies of many hundreds of thousands of billions of worlds were filled with those Bodhisattvas.

Those Bodhisattvas had four leade,rs: 1. Superior-Practice, 2. Limitless-Practice, 3. Pure-Practice, and 4. Steadily-Established-­Practice. These four [great] Bodhisattvas were the highest leaders [of those Bodhisattvas]. In the presence of the great multitude, they joined their hands together towards Sakyamuni Buddha, looked up at him, and inquired after him saying:

World-Honored One! Are you in good health? Are you peaceful or not? Are the living beings, whom you are to save, ready to receive your teachings or not? Do they not fatigue you?

Thereupon the four great Bodhisattvas sang in gathas:

World-Honored One, are you peaceful?
Are you in good health?
Are you not tired
With teaching the living beings?
Are they ready
To receive your teaching,
Or are they not?
Do they not fatigue you?

A couple of things to point out using quotes I’ve set aside:

The Bodhisattvas who arose in Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, did not go to the Buddha and say, “What will you give us?” They went to the Buddha and asked him how he was, if he was in good health, and if he was well enough to teach. They did not sit and wait for things to come to them. They vowed to spread the Lotus Sutra in this Saha world. They promised the Buddha that they would work tirelessly to teach others no matter the difficulty they faced.
Physician's Good Medicine

And from the Daily Dharma of May 8, 2016:

All this while Śākyamuni Buddha sat in silence. The four kinds of devotees also kept silence for the fifty small kalpas. By his supernatural powers, however, the Buddha caused the great multitude to think that they kept silence for only half a day.

We find this description of the Buddha and his congregation in Chapter Fifteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Innumerable Bodhisattvas have sprung up from underground and come to pay their respects to the Buddha. This passage shows that in our suffering and attachment, we have a different concept of time than the Buddha. The kalpas the Lotus Sūtra uses to measure time are unimaginably long periods. When a stone a mile on each side is worn down to a pebble by a celestial being flying past it every thousand years and brushing it with her veil, a kalpa expires. When we see the world on this scale of time, rather than the limited years we have in our lives, it opens us up to the Buddha’s wisdom.

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