Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs.

Before we get to the spells offered to the protection of the teachers of the Lotus Sutra we get reaffirmation of the merits to be given to “the good men or women who keep, read, recite, understand or copy the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma?”

The Buddha said to Medicine-King Bodhisattva:

“Suppose some good men or women make offerings to eight hundred billion nayuta Buddhas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges. What do you think of this? Are the merits given to them many or not?”

“Very many, World-Honored One!”

The Buddha said: “More merits will be given to the good men or women who keep, read or recite even a single gatha of four lines of this sutra, understand the meanings of it or act according to it.”

Medicine King Bodhisattva offers spells to protect the expounder of the Lotus Sutra and Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva utter dharanis to protect “the person who reads, recites and keeps the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.”

I enjoy the concept of protecting “weak points,” as in:

If he keeps these dharanis, this teacher of the Dharma will not have his weak points taken advantage of by any yaksa, raksasa, putana, krtya, kumbhanda or hungry spirit.

We each have our weak points, the things we are hesitant to do or likely to neglect.

Following the Bodhisattvas, we have the Heavenly Kings offering their protection. This involvement of the gods in protecting those who expound or read the Lotus Sutra is reinforced every time we took at the Great Mandala Gohonzon. Vaisravana, the Heavenly King of the North, is in the upper left corner and World-Holding Heavenly-King is in the upper right corner.

Also appearing in the Mandala Gohonzon and in this chapter of the Lotus Sutra are the 10 raksasis daughters and their mother, the Mother-Of-Devils, Hariti. Of the ten daughters, my favorite is “Plunderer of Energy of All Beings.” Having suffered depression for many years, I feel I’ve known her for a lifetime.