Day 29

Day 29 covers all of Chapter 25, The Universal Gate of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva.

Having last month started the chapter, it’s time to continue with examples of the supernatural powers of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva-­mahasattva.

Those who keep the name of this World-Voice­Perceiver Bodhisattva will not be burned when they are put into a conflagration [because they are protected] by the supernatural powers of this Bodrisattva. Those who call his name will be able to take ground when they are washed by an inundation. Suppose hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings are crossing an ocean in order to obtain gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, agate, coral, amber, pearl, and other treasures, and suppose the ship carrying them is blown to the country of raksasa-devils by a storm. If one of the crew calls the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, all the crew will be saved from the attacks of the raksasas. Because of this, [this Bodhisattva] is called World-Voice-Perceiver.

If anyone calls the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva when he is about to be killed, the sword or stick raised against him will suddenly break asunder, and he will be saved. If as many yaksas and raksasas as to fill one thousand million Sumeru­worlds hear a person call the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva when they come to him with the intention of killing him, those devils will not be able even to see him with their malicious eyes, and needless to say, kill him. If anyone, guilty or not, calls the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva when he is bound up in manacles, fetters, pillories or chains, those things [in which he is bound up] will break asunder, and he will be saved. Suppose the chief of a party of merchants is leading his party carrying invaluable treasures along a dangerous road haunted by as many bandits as to fill one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, and suppose one of the members of the party says [to others], ‘Good men! Do not be afraid! Call the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva with all your hearts! This Bodhisattva gives fearlessness to all living beings. If you call his name, you will be saved from [the attacks of] these bandits.’ If the other members of the party hear this and say simultaneously, ‘Namas to World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva,’ all of them will be saved because of their calling of his name. Endless-Intent! The supernatural powers of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva­mahasattva are as great as previously stated.

The Daily Dharma from April 15, 2016, offers this:

If anyone, guilty or not, calls the name of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva when he is bound up in manacles, fetters, pillories or chains, those things [in which he is bound up] will break asunder, and he will be saved.

The Buddha gives this description of World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva (Kannon, Kanzeon, Kuan Yin, Avalokitesvara) to Endless-Intent Bodhisattva in Chapter Twenty-Five of the Lotus Sūtra. The bonds of ignorance and delusion in which we find ourselves are not the result of our personal inadequacy, and neither do they come entirely from the circumstances of the world around us. But these bonds are real, and in our struggles to escape we often just make them worse. When we remember World-Voice Perceiver, the embodiment of compassion, and call on her for help, then we awaken compassion within ourselves and others in the world, and break the bonds of delusion for everyone.

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