Day 23 covers all of Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, and opens Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma.
Having last month completed Chapter 18, The Merits of a Person Who Rejoices at Hearing This Sutra, we open Chapter 19, The Merits of the Teacher of the Dharma with the eight hundred merits of the eye.
Thereupon the Buddha said to Constant-Endeavor Bodhisattva-Mahāsattva:
“The good men or women who keep, read, recite, expound or copy this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, will be able to obtain eight hundred merits of the eye, twelve hundred merits of the ear, eight hundred merits of the nose, twelve hundred merits of the tongue, eight hundred merits of the body, and twelve hundred merits of the mind. They will be able to adorn and purify their six sense-organs with these merits. With their pure eyes given by their parents, these good men or women will be able to see all the mountains, forests, rivers and oceans inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, [each of which is composed of six regions] down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven. They also will be able to see the living beings of those worlds, to know the karmas which those living beings are now doing and the region to which each of those living beings is destined to go by his karmas.”
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Listen! I will tell you of the merits
Of those who fearlessly expound
To the great multitude
This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.They will be able to obtain the excellent eyes
Adorned with eight hundred merits.
Their eyes will be pure
Because of this adornment.With their eyes given by their parents,
They will be able to see Mt. Meru, Mt. Sumeru,
The Surrounding Iron Mountains,
And the other mountains,
And the forests, oceans and rivers
Inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds.They will be able to see the living beings
Of those worlds [each being composed of the six regions]
Down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven.
Although they have not yet obtained heavenly eyes,
They will be able to see all this
With their natural eyes.