Day 18 concludes Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, and begins Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices.

Yesterday, I questioned the significance of the fact that Arhats, the Sravakas and the bhiksunis wouldn’t expound the Dharma in the Saha World. Even great Bodhisattvas Medicine-King and Great-­Eloquence only offered a grudging willingness to preach in the Saha World.

And today, we have the 80 billion nayuta Bodhisattva-mahasattvas who had already reached the stage of avaivartika, turned the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma, and obtained dharanis.

Do not worry!
We will expound this sutra
In the dreadful, evil world
After your extinction.

Ignorant people will speak ill of us,
Abuse us, and threaten us
With swords or sticks.
But we will endure all this.

Some bhiksus in the evil world will be cunning.
They will be ready to flatter others.
Thinking that they have obtained what they have not,
Their minds will be filled with arrogance.

Some bhiksus will live in aranyas or retired places,
And wear patched pieces of cloth.
Thinking that they are practicing the true Way,
They will despise others.

Being attached to worldly profits,
They will expound the Dharma to men in white robes.
They will be respected by the people of the world
As the Arhats who have the six supernatural powers.

They will have evil thoughts.
They will always think of worldly things.
Even when they live in aranyas,
They will take pleasure in saying that we have faults.

They will say of us,
“Those bhiksus are greedy for worldly profits.
Therfore, they are expounding
The teachings of heretics.
They made that sutra by themselves
In order to deceive the people of the world.
They are expounding that sutra
Because they wish to make a name for themselves.”

In order to speak ill of us, in order to slander us
In the midst of the great multitude,
In order to say that we are evil,
They will say to kings, ministers and brahmanas,
And also to householders and other bhiksus,
“They have wrong views.
They are expounding
The teachings of heretics.”
But we will endure all this
Because we respect you.

They will despise us,
Saying to us [ironically],
“You are Buddhas.”
But we will endure all these despising words.

There will be many dreadful things
In the evil world of the kalpa of defilements.
Devils will enter the bodies [of those bhiksus]
And cause them to abuse and insult us.

Today, it occurred to me that this litany of evils these Bodhisattvas saw in the Saha World is exactly why the Buddha did not transfer the Dharma to them. Coming to this point over and over again, I have the luxury of remembering the future. These Bodhisattvas, unlike the uncountable ones waiting in the sky below this Saha World, do not understand that this is the Buddha’s pure land and only our defilements prevent us from seeing that.

That “luxury of remembering the future” is something to ponder as well.

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

So I was reviewing Day 17, what I wrote last month and the month before and the month before that, and apparently I haven’t said a thing about Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra, since January 2016. Go figure.

An important point is made.

We begin Chapter 13 with Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahasattva and Great-­Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahasattva, together with their 20,000 attendants who were also Bodhisattvas, answering the Buddha’s request at the end of Chapter 11 for people to vow to expound this sutra after his extinction:

World-Honored One, do not worry! We will keep, read, recite and expound this sutra after your extinction. The living beings in the evil world after [your extinction] will have less roots of good, more arrogance, more greed for offerings of worldly things, and more roots of evil. It will be difficult to teach them because they will go away from emancipation. But we will patiently read, recite, keep, expound and copy this sutra, and make various offerings to it. We will not spare even our lives [in doing all this].

The Daily Dharma from June 29, 2016, offers this perspective:

Medicine-King Bodhisattva, his attendants and other Bodhisattvas make this vow to the Buddha in Chapter Thirteen of the Lotus Sūtra. Once we awaken to our Bodhisattva nature and resolve to benefit all beings, we may still hold on to the belief that those beings should gratefully receive the teaching and and keep progressing towards enlightenment. We may even become discouraged in our practice of the Wonderful Dharma when these beings do not live up to our expectations. The vow of these great Bodhisattvas reminds us of how difficult is is for us ordinary beings to keep the Lotus Sūtra, and of the determination it takes to create benefit in the world.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com

Underline here our Bodhisattva nature and resolve to benefit all beings and then consider what 500 Arhats who already had been assured of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, who offered:

World-Honored One! We also vow to expound this sutra[, but we will expound it] in some other worlds [rather than in this Saha-World].

And then the 8,000 Sravakas, some of whom had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn, who also had been assured of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, who vowed:

World-Honored One! We also will expound this sutra in some other worlds because the people of this Saha-World have many evils. They are arrogant. They have few merits. They are angry, defiled, ready to flatter others, and insincere.

Finally, the bhiksunis who are re-assured of their future Buddhahood in this chapter vow:

World-Honored One! We also will expound this sutra in other worlds.

What does it say of the Arhats, the Sravakas and the bhiksunis that only the Bodhisattvas, grudging as they are, can see themselves even attempting to preach in this Saha World?

Waiting in the sky below the Saha-World is the answer to the Buddha’s question, but we’ll leave that for Day 19.

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month, I focused on the Hotoge verses and the reason why they are embellished with the odd rhythmic reading.

Today, it’s time to get back to the explanation of the Stupa of Treasures and its sudden appearance.

Sakyamuni explains to Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva:

The perfect body of a Tathagata is in this stupa of treasures. A long time ago there was a world called Treasure-Purity at the distance of many thousands of billions of asamkhyas of worlds to the east [of this world]. In that world lived a Buddha called Many-Treasures. When he was yet practicing the Way of Bodhisattvas, he made a great vow: ‘If anyone expounds a sutra called the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters after I become a Buddha and pass away, I will cause my stupa-mausoleum to spring up before him so that I may be able to prove the truthfulness of the sutra and say ‘excellent’ in praise of him because I wish to hear that sotra [directly from him].

He attained enlightenment[, and became a Buddha]. When he was about to pass away, he said to the bhisus in the presence of the great multitude of gods and men, ‘If you wish to make offerings to my perfect body after my extinction, erect a great stupa!’

If anyone expounds the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in any of the worlds of the ten quarters, that Buddha, by his supernatural powers and by the power of his vow, will cause the stupa of treasures enshrining his perfect body to spring up before the expounder of the sutra. Then he will praise [the expounder of the sutra], saying, ‘Excellent, excellent!’

Great-Eloquence! Now Many-Treasures Tathagata caused his stupa to spring up from underground in order to hear the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma [directly from me]. Now he praised me, saying, ‘Excellent, excellent!’

Excellent, indeed.

Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Last month, I dug for the water on a plateau in search of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi and this month I review the three things necessary to expound the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Medicine-King! How should the good men or women who live after my extinction expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the four kinds of devotees when they wish to? They should enter the room of the Tathagata, wear the robe of the Tathagata, sit on the seat of the Tathagata, and then expound this sutra to the four kinds of devotees. To enter the room of the Tathagata means to have great compassion towards all living beings. To wear the robe of the Tathagata means to be gentle and patient. To sit on the seat of the Tathagata means to see the voidness of all things. They should do these [three] things and then without indolence expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to Bodhisattvas and the four kinds of devotees.

And in gathas:

If you wish to expound this sutra,
Enter the room of the Tathagata,
Wear the robe of the Tathagata,
Sit on the seat of the Tathagata,
[And after doing these three things,]
Expound it to people without fear!

To enter the room of the Tathagata means to have great compassion.
To wear his robe means to be gentle and patient.
To sit on his seat means to see the voidness of all things.
Expound the Dharma only after you do these [three] things.

The Daily Dharma of Aug. 8, 2016, offers this discussion on the voidness of all things:

To enter the room of the Tathāgata means to have great compassion.
To wear his robe means to be gentle and patient.
To sit on his seat means to see the voidness of all things.
Expound the Dharma only after you do these [three] things!

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Last month I listed four characteristics of those who keep, read, recite, expound and copy even a phrase of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. One of those characteristics is that they gave up their own benefits to benefit others. This recalls to mind Day 10’s discussion of why the great disciples must spend spend billions of lifetimes serving Buddhas before they finally attain enlightenment.

In Chapter 10, in the gathas section, the Buddha explains:

Anyone who keeps
The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma,
Know this, has compassion towards all living beings
Because he is my messenger.

Anyone who keeps
The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Should be considered to have given up his pure world and come here
Out of his compassion towards all living beings.

Know that he can appear wherever he wishes!
He should be considered
To have appeared in this evil world
In order to expound the unsurpassed Dharma.

And each day I am reminded of a real example of this when I recite this line from the English version of the Invocation:

Honor be to our Founder, the Great Bodhisattva Nichiren Shonin, Dispatched by Our Original Buddha.

Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

The chapter opens with Purna expressing his appreciation for what he has just learned.

Thereupon Purna, the son of Maitrayani having heard from the Buddha the Dharma expounded with expedients by the wisdom [of the Buddha] according to the capacities of all living beings, and having heard that [the Buddha] had assured the great disciples of their future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, and also having heard of the previous life of the Buddha, and also having heard of the great, unhindered, supernatural powers of the Buddhas, had the greatest joy that he had ever had, became pure in heart, and felt like dancing [with joy]. He rose from his seat, came to the Buddha, and worshipped him at his feet with his head. Then he retired to one side of the place, looked up at the honorable face with unblenching eyes, and thought:

The World-Honored One is extraordinary. What he does is exceptional. He expounds the Dharma with expedients by his insight according to the various natures of all living beings of the world, and saves them from various attachments. The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.

The Daily Dharma from April 6, 2016, has an interesting take on this:

The merits of the Buddha are beyond the expression of our words. Only the Buddha, only the World-Honored One, knows the wishes we have deep in our minds.

Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month I discussed the initial turning of the wheel of the Dharma by Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathagata and the plea of the 16 princes to go beyond the teaching for Sravakas and to expound the teaching of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi!

The Buddha assented to the appeal of the sramaneras, but it was twenty thousand kalpas afterwards that he expounded to the four kinds of devotees the sutra of the Great Vehicle called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’

When the Buddha completed the expounding of this sutra, the sixteen sramaneras kept, recited and understood this sutra in order to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. The sixteen sramaneras, [ who were] Bodhisattvas, received this sutra by faith. Some Sravakas understood it by faith, but the other Sravakas and other living beings, thousands of billions in number, doubted it.

It took the Buddha eight thousand kalpas to complete the expounding of this sutra. During that time he did not take a rest. Having completed the expounding of this sutra, the Buddha entered a quiet room and practiced dhyana-concentration for eighty-four thousand kalpas. Seeing him practicing dhyana­concentration quietly in the room, the sixteen Bodhisattva­sramaneras each sat on a seat of the Dharma, expounded the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the four kinds of devotees for eighty-four thousand kalpas, and saved six hundred billion nayutas of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. They showed them the Way, taught them, benefited them, caused them to rejoice and to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-sarµbodhi.

Bodhisattvas practice the Six Perfections or pāramitās. One of those is patience.

It took the Buddha 20,000 kalpas before he started expounding the Lotus Sutra and it took another 8,000 kalpas to complete.

But more to the point is this quote from the Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

Our practice includes the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Twelve-Link Chain of Causation, the Six Paramitas, and it is all contained in the Lotus Sutra and the Odaimoku of Namu Myoho Renge Kyo. When we strive to live according to the fundamental truths of Buddhism and follow the teachings in the Lotus Sutra by chanting the sutra and the Odaimoku, we create a life that manifests our inherent Buddha potential and allows us to live a life of indestructible happiness.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City

This middle section of Chapter 7 is all about the light emitted when Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi.

More than 12 times through this section my appreciation grows. Light as a metaphor for wisdom and freedom from illusion occurs throughout the Lotus Sutra. Perhaps at some future time I’ll devote each month to a different recurring concept. Beyond the light of a Buddha, I’m fascinated by the children who teach adults.

For today, I imagine what it would be light to find the world suddenly illumined with the light of a Buddha.

When Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, five hundred billion Buddha-worlds in each of the ten quarters quaked in the six ways, and all those worlds, including those intercepted from the brilliant rays of light of the sun and the moon by the neighboring worlds, were illumined [by great rays of light], and the living beings of those worlds were able to see each other for the first time. They said to each other, ‘How did you appear so suddenly?’ The palaces of the gods of those worlds, including the palace of Brahmans, also quaked in the six ways. The great rays of light which illumined all those worlds were brighter than the rays of light emitted by those gods.

Let there be light.

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

The first half of today’s reading involves promises of future Buddhahood for “the great disciples.” In the past, when I’ve focused on this section, I’ve puzzled over why it is that Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana must spend billions of lifetimes serving Buddhas before they finally attain enlightenment.

After all, it is common to read encouragement like this:

[T]he Lotus Sutra opens the seed of Buddhahood or potential enlightenment that each and everyone of us possess, and with the continued chanting of the Odaimoku, it gives that seed the nourishment it needs to sprout, grow and mature into a real living Buddha, transforming lives into that of an enlightened being, blessed with all the same wonderful and varied qualities, virtues and merits that Shakyamuni Buddha himself attained.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

Recently, however, I’ve come to look at this from a different perspective. I suppose I could call it the Bodhisattva perspective.

Sakyamuni says to Subhuti:

In his future life, this Subhuti will see three hundred billion nayutas of Buddhas, make offerings to them, respect them, honor them, praise them, perform brahma practices, complete the Way of Bodhisattvas, and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence.

Underline complete the Way of Bodhisattvas and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence.

Again, for Great Katyayana:

On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the wisdom of the Buddha
And attain perfect enlightenment.

And Great Maudgalyayana:

He will finally complete
The Way of Bodhisattvas,
And become a Buddha
Called Tamala [ pattralcandana-Fragrance In a world called
Mind-Happiness.

Each day, morning and evening, I recite The Four Great Vows, beginning with the greatest vow:

Sentient begins are innumberable: I vow to save them all.

In the book Lotus Seeds, Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick explains:

A bodhisattva is a person who has reached a high level of spiritual maturity and has realized that his or her awakening depends upon the awakening of others. Seeing the suffering of others, a bodhisattva works to assist them to free themselves from suffering and then attain awakening. This intention is expressed in the “Four Bodhisattva Vows.”
Lotus Seeds

When I first heard the Four Great Vows I immediately saw the Catch-22: I can’t become a Buddha until I’ve saved everyone else.

And yet it was only recently that I saw the billions of lifetimes of service from Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana as fulfillment of that Bodhisattva vow to save all sentient beings.

Let me help you onto the boat before I join you on this trip to the other side of the river.

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Last month covered how those who hear the Dharma will reach various stages according to their capacities. This month we have examples of this differentiation.

Those who live among gods and men,
Or those who live with a wheel-turning-holy-king,
Or with King Sakra or with King Brahman,
May be likened to the small herbs.

Those who know the Dharma-without-asravas,
Who attained Nirvana,
And who obtained the six supernatural powers,
Including the three major supernatural powers,
May be likened to the middle herbs.
So may those who live alone in mountains or forests,
Who practice dhyana-concentrations,
And who attained the enlightenment of cause-knowers.

Those who seek the stage of the World-Honored One,
Who practice endeavors and concentration of mind,
And who wish to become Buddhas,
May be likened to the large herbs.

My sons [, that is, the Bodhisattvas]
Who seek
The enlightenment of the Buddha exclusively,
Who believe that they will become Buddhas definitely,
And who have compassion towards others,
May be likened to the short trees.

The Bodhisattvas
Who turn the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma
By their supernatural powers,
And who save many thousands of myriads
Of millions of living beings,
May be likened to the tall trees.

Although my teachings are of the same content to anyone
Just as the rain is of the same taste,
The hearers receive my teachings differently
According to their capacities
Just as the plants receive
Different amounts of the rain water.

It always inspires me to know that “Those who live among gods and men,/Or those who live with a wheel-turning-holy-king,/Or with King Sakra or with King Brahman,/May be likened to the small herbs.” Me and the gods on the same level. And, of course, I’m just as inspired by the larger plants.

All from the teachings of the same content.