Day 31 covers Chapter 27, King Wonderful-Adornment as the Previous Life of a Bodhisattva.

This is one of my favorite chapters because of the lessons about teachers and doing the work of the Buddha as Bodhisattvas.

The two sons of King Wonderful-Adornment – Pure-Store and Pure-Eyes – were not your ordinary children:

The two sons had great supernatural powers, merit, virtues and wisdom. A Jong time ago, they had already practiced the Way which Bodhisattva should practice. … They also had already obtained the four states of mind towards all living beings:] compassion, loving kindness, joy and impartiality.

At the time, a Buddha called Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom expounded the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, wishing to lead King Wonderful-Adornment. The sons, for their part, had asked their mother for permission to join the Buddha. She convinced the sons to convince their father to give up his heretical views.

The mother said to them, ‘Show some wonders to your father out of your compassion towards him! If he sees [the wonders], he will have his mind purified and allow us to go to that Buddha.’

And the display by the sons had the desired effect:

By displaying these various wonders, they purified the mind of their father, that is, of the king, and caused him to understand the Dharma by faith.

Note that the King’s conversion was the result of his own roots of good:

These two sons of mine did the work of the Buddha. They converted me from wrong views by displaying wonders. They caused me to dwell peacefully in your teachings. They caused me to see you. These two sons of mine are my teachers. They appeared in my family in order to benefit me. They inspired the roots of good which I had planted in my previous existence.

The Buddha’s words on teachers is compelling:

So it is, so it is. It is just as you say. The good men or women who plant the roots of good will obtain teachers in their successive lives. The teachers will do the work of the Buddha, show the Way [to them], teach them, benefit them, cause them to rejoice, and cause them to enter into the Way to Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Great King, know this! A teacher is a great cause [of your enlightenment] because he leads you, and cause you to see a Buddha and aspire for Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.