Day 25 covers all of Chapter 20, Never-Despising Bodhisattva, and opens Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.
Having last month learned whose past lives are revealed in this story, we repeat in in gāthās the story of a Buddha Called Powerful-Voice-King and a Bodhisattva Called Never-Despising.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
There was once a Buddha,
Called Powerful-Voice-King.
His supernatural powers and wisdom
Were immeasurable.
Leading all living beings, he is honored
By gods, men and dragons with offerings.Some time after the extinction of that Buddha,
His teachings had almost died out.
At that time there lived a Bodhisattva
Called Never-Despising.
The four kinds of devotees at that time
Were attached to views.Never-Despising Bodhisattva
Went to them,
And said,
“I do not despise you
Because you will practice the Way
And become Buddhas.”When they heard this,
They spoke ill of him and abused him.
But Never-Despising Bodhisattva
Endured all this.Thus he expiated his sin.
When he was about to pass away,
He heard this sūtra,
And had his six sense-organs purified.
He prolonged his life
By his supernatural powers,
And expounded this sūtra
To many people.Those who were attached to views
Were led into the Way
To the enlightenment of the Buddha
By this Bodhisattva.
I’m going to take advantage of this opportunity to point out a difference of interpretation of the verse:
Thus he expiated his sin.
Senchu Murano includes a footnote for this verse.
“4. The expiation of sin is referred to in connection with those who abuse the Bodhisattva, not with the Bodhisattva, on p. 294.”
Nichiren, however, makes a very different interpretation in his letter, Tenjū Kyōju Hōmon, Lightening the Karmic Retribution. He writes:
It was not without reason that Never Despising Bodhisattva was spoken ill of, slandered, beaten with sticks and pieces of wood, or had rubble thrown at him. His persecution in this life seems to be the consequences of his slandering the True Dharma in his previous lives. Therefore it is stated in the sūtra, “His sins have been atoned.” I believe it means that Never Despising Bodhisattva’s past sin ceased to exist through his persecution.