In considering the lessons of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, we normally start with something like this from Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

“We each may think we are rather ordinary people, not capable of great things. Yet our ordinariness is in fact a disguise for our true self, Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground, the disciples of the Buddha from the infinite past, and beings perfectly endowed with Buddhahood.”

For those new in faith, that may be challenging. Still more difficult is the idea of a place in the sky below this world. I’ve facetiously suggested the sky above Melbourne, Australia, but the question is worth serious consideration. In Stories of the Lotus Sutra, Gene Reeves addresses the ambiguity of the hiding place:

“Exactly what is meant by the empty space below the earth is unclear. … The dramatic effect of the story is dependent on the existence of these bodhisattvas being unknown to all but Shakyamuni, so they have to be hidden somewhere. But it is also important for the thrust of the story that they not be from some other world, or even from one of the heavens or purgatories associated with this world. In other words, both for the sake of the story and for the sake of the central message of the Dharma Flower Sutra, it is important that these bodhisattvas be both hidden and somehow of this world. Thus the Buddha says, ‘They are my children, living in this world…’ .”

Nikkyō Niwano has an interesting alternative take in Buddhism for Today:

“That these bodhisattvas [from Underground] did not originally dwell in the earth but that they, who were in the infinite space below the sahā-world, came out of the earth and rose into the sky has a deep meaning. These bodhisattvas were people who had been freed from illusion in their previous lives by means of the Buddha’s teachings. For this reason, they had been dwelling in infinite space. But hearing the Buddha declare that he would entrust the instruction of the sahā-world to them, they entered into the earth, namely, this sahā-world, experiencing suffering there, and practiced religious disciplines so zealously as to attain the mental state of bodhisattvas. Therefore, they rose into the sky again after coming out of the earth. Though the bodhisattvas had been free from illusion in their previous lives, they voluntarily passed through various sufferings and worries in sahā-world for the purpose of saving the people here, endeavored earnestly to become enlightened, and preached the teaching to others. As mentioned before, this is a very important process; without completing such an endeavor, they could not truly acquire the divine power to save the people in the sahā-world.”

Ordinary people or extraordinary beings, we have a job. As Ryusho Jeffus says in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

“At the heart of Buddhism is making great effort at practicing and changing our lives, something that does not happen without concerted continued effort.”

Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, is the pivot point from which the Lotus Sutra turns from lessons of the historical Buddha, to the revelation of the eternal nature of Śākyamuni and the lessons we are to take into our daily lives.

Thich Nhat Hanh offers a wonderful description of this in Peaceful Action, Open Heart:

“In the Upper Hamlet of Plum Village where I live there is an area where wild daffodils manifest in late February. When we first arrived on the land to begin building Plum Village, we were not aware that there were so many beautiful daffodils, hundreds of thousands of them, waiting there to manifest in early spring. We had only a historical perception of the land; we had not yet seen its ultimate dimension. … You can’t see the Dharma realm (dharmadhatu), until it manifests to you. If you’re too attached to your perception of the historical dimension of reality, you may not be able to see the ultimate dimension manifest. When you know how to look deeply into the historical dimension, you touch the ultimate dimension.”

Both the historical and the ultimate dimension exist simultaneously. Nikkyō Niwano illustrates the historical aspect in Buddhism for Today:

“Buddhism differs distinctively from other religions. Though all have fine teachings, there is no clear evidence of another case in which the founder of a religion attained his own supreme enlightenment and established his own religion. …

“Unlike these religions, the teaching of Buddhism is the truth that Lord Sakyamuni, who was born as a human being like all of us and experienced human suffering and worry, aspired to enlightenment, practiced ascetic disciplines, and attained enlightenment after six years of spiritual effort. The process through which he attained his enlightenment can be clearly seen. … [B]ecause this teaching is one that sprang up out of the earth (actual life), we who actually live in this world can follow it. Chapter 15 makes this point emphatically.”

Ryusho Jeffus offers the ultimate dimension in his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

“As we gather our thoughts and purify our altar then we sit down to celebrate the teaching of the Lotus Sutra, to hear once again the beautiful teaching of the Buddha telling us of the ever-existing nature of Buddhahood and of the enlightenment of our own lives, we are engaging in a celebration. It is as if we are going before the Eternal Buddha and asking him not so much what we can get for ourselves but knowing our own lives are secure because of our practice we can focus on the beauty and truth of the message contained in the Lotus Sutra. We are not supplicants going before some great dispenser of benefit. No, we are the golden-hued erect Bodhisattvas who emerge from the ground and bow to the Buddha and fulfill our vow of teaching and practicing the Lotus Sutra in this age in which we live.”

When we are considering the lessons of Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, it is best to begin by taking to heart the advice offered by the Buddha. We should “concentrate your minds, wear the armor of endeavors, and be resolute” but most important:

“Arouse your power of faith,
And do good patiently!
You will be able to hear the Dharma
That you have never heard before.”

When Maitreya Bodhisattva looked upon the vast cloud of many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground simultaneously, he didn’t recognize any of them. However, he was able to observe the qualities of these bodhisattvas clearly:

“They have studied the Way of Bodhisattvas well.
They are not defiled by worldliness
Just as the lotus-flower
Is not defiled by water.”

We, too, can live in the mundane world without being defiled by it. In fact, it is essential that followers of the Lotus Sutra do just that. As the Introduction to the Lotus Sutra says:

“The lovely lotus flower grows out of muddy water and is not defiled by it. In the same way, Bodhisattvas, persons who put the Buddha’s teachings into practice, can live in the midst of a world defiled by vice and corruption, and yet not be contaminated by it. They can teach and awaken other people while keeping their own minds pure. They can save others, however, only when they live with them here in this evil world.”

Or as Nikkyō Niwano suggests in Buddhism for Today:

“These words represent the ideal way of life that the Buddha teaches us in the Lotus Sutra. We should not withdraw from society but should lead beautiful and pure lives within society. The ideal of the Lotus Sutra consists in making all society pure and beautiful. The title Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law expresses this ideal.”

This is the great task that followers of the Lotus Sutra are expected to take up. Our goal is not a private benefit confined to ourselves and our immediate family. To be true followers of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma we must act the part. We do not wish to escape from this world. Instead, we seek to purify it, to do the work of the Eternal Śākyamuni. In his Lecture on the Lotus Sutra, Ryusho Jeffus offers this clear explanation of what such a life entails:

“When we choose to live our lives with the firm belief that we are the most qualified to become Buddhas, that we don’t need anything else other than our faith in the Lotus Sutra to qualify us, and when we devout ourselves to practice with faith, and when we strive to save others, then we will actually manifest the characteristics of those Bodhisattvas who arose from beneath the ground. We cannot just call ourselves that and end the day. We actually have to do the things required to fulfill our vows as those Bodhisattvas.”

In Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Lecture on the Lotus Sutra he sets the stage for discussing Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, with this observation:

“We each may think we are rather ordinary people, not capable of great things. Yet our ordinariness is in fact a disguise for our true self, Bodhisattvas from beneath the ground, the disciples of the Buddha from the infinite past, and beings perfectly endowed with Buddhahood.”

Lecture on the Lotus Sutra


As the Buddha explains to the four great leaders of those Bodhisattvas:

“The living beings are ready to be saved. They do not fatigue me because I already taught them in their consecutive previous existences, and also because they have already honored the past Buddhas respectfully and planted the roots of good. As soon as they saw me and heard my teachings, they received my teachings by faith and entered into the wisdom of the Tathāgata.”

We are those Bodhisattvas who have been studying and practicing with the Eternal Śākyamuni since the remotest past. Since we have forgotten we are asked today to have faith:

“Arouse your power of faith,
And do good patiently!
You will be able to hear the Dharma
That you have never heard before.

“Now I will relieve you.
Do not doubt me! Do not be afraid!
I do not tell a lie.
My wisdom is immeasurable.
The highest Dharma that I attained
Is profound and difficult to understand.
Now I will expound it.
Listen to me with all your hearts!”

And here we need faith to understand and to act. As Rev. Ryusho Jeffus argues:

“This is our relationship with the Eternal Buddha, not with the historical Buddha. As Bodhisattvas from underground we read the Lotus Sutra from the perspective of an infinite bond with the Buddha, as lifelong practitioners of the Eternal Buddha who have in this lifetime manifested as the beings we currently are but who underneath it all are in fact golden-hued Bodhisattvas. We have received training and are eminently qualified to carry out the lives we have and attain enlightenment in our present form. Everything we need is within us, and the Lotus Sutra is our activation code to actualize our true identities.”

As we faithfully chant the daimoku we join our brethren.

“At first only I, Nichiren, started chanting the daimoku, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō, but then two, three, then one hundred people, gradually began chanting it. This will continue in the future. Isn’t this what emerging from the earth means? When an innumerable number of people emerge from the earth and this Wonderful Dharma spreads extensively, there will be no mistake, just as a shooting arrow never misses the earth, Japan will be filled with people chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō. You should therefore establish your fame as the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra and devote your life to it.”

Shohō Jisso-shō, Treatise on All Phenomena as Ultimate Reality, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 78