Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

Last month I focused on the reason for the expedient teaching. And the month before I focused on the new car sales pitch for the Lotus Sutra. This time I want to step back and underline something taken for granted: Why does the Buddha expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

(The Buddha said to Sariputra:)
I am like the father.
I am the Saint of Saints.
I am the father of the world.

All living beings are my children.
They are deeply attached
To the pleasures of the world.
They have no wisdom.

The triple world is not peaceful.
It is like the burning house.
It is full of sufferings.
It is dreadful.

There are always the sufferings
Of birth, old age, disease and death.
They are like flames
Raging endlessly.

I have already left
The burning house of the triple world.
I am tranquil and peaceful
In a bower in a forest.

This triple world
Is my property.
All living beings therein
Are my children.

There are many sufferings
In this world.
Only I can save
[All living beings].

I told this to all living beings.
But they did not believe me
Because they were too much attached
To desires and defilements.

Therefore, I expediently expounded to them
The teaching of the Three Vehicles,
And caused them to know
The sufferings of the triple world.
I opened, showed, and expounded
The Way out of the world.

Those children who were resolute in mind
Were able to obtain
The six supernatural powers
Including the three major supernatural powers,
And to become cause-knowers
Or never-faltering Bodhisattvas.

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

At the end of Day 5, Sariputra says:

World-Honored One! Now my doubts are gone. You assured me of my future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. These twelve hundred people now have freedom of mind. When they had something more to learn, [that is to say, when they had not yet completed their study for Arhatship,] you taught them, saying, ‘My teaching is for the purpose of causing you to emancipate yourselves from birth, old age, disease, and death, and to attain Nirvana.’ The [two thousand] people, including those who have something more to learn and those who have nothing more to learn, also think that they attained Nirvaba because they emancipated themselves from such a view as ‘I exist,’ or ‘I shall exist forever,’ or ‘I shall cease to exist.’ But [both the twelve hundred people and the two thousand people] are now quite perplexed because they have heard from you [the Dharma] which they had never heard before. World-Honored One! In order to cause the four kinds of devotees to remove their doubts, explain why you said all this to them!

Today we open with the Buddha’s response:

Did I not tell you, ‘The Buddhas, the World-Honored Ones, expound the Dharma with expedients, that is, with various stories of previous lives, with various parables, with various similes, and with various discourses only for the purpose of causing all living beings to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi’? All these teachings of the Buddhas are for the purpose of teaching Bodhisattvas.

The Buddha then offers Parable of the Burning House.

And this time through this section I want to focus on why to Buddha’s efforts to convince his children to leave the burning house failed.

This house is already burning. They must come out quickly so as not to be burned to death.

Having thought this, he said to his children as he had thought, ‘Come out quickly!’ He warned them with these good words out of his compassion towards them, but they were too much engrossed in playing to hear the words of their father. They were not frightened or afraid. They did not wish to come out. They did not know what a fire was, what a house was, and what they would lose. They ran about happily. They only glanced at their father occasionally.

And in gathas:

At that time the house-owner
Was standing outside the gate.
He heard a man say to him:
“Some time ago
Your children entered this house to play.
They are young and ignorant.
They are engrossed in playing

Hearing this,
The rich man was frightened.
He rushed into the burning house.
In order to save them
From burning to death.

He told them
Of the dangers of the house:
“There are demons and poisonous vermin here.
Flames have already spread all over.
Many sufferings are coming
One after another endlessly.
There are poisonous snakes,
Lizards, vipers,
Yakaas, kumbhanda-demons,
Small foxes, foxes, dogs,
Crested eagles, eagles,
Kites, owls and centipedes here.
They are unbearably hungry and thirsty.
They are dreadful.
These sufferings are difficult to avoid.
Worse still, there is a big fire.”

Though the children heard his warning,
They were still engrossed in playing.
They did not stop playing
Because they were ignorant.

The rich man
Thought:
“They are ignorant.
My anxiety deepens
There is nothing pleasant
In this house.
But they are engrossed
In playing.
They do not listen to me.
They will be burned to death.”

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable.

Last month, I discussed some questions I have regarding the prediction given to Sariputra and his reign as a Buddha called Flower-Light in a world called Free-From-Taint in a kalpa called Great-Treasure-Adornment.

While I may be puzzled, Śāriputra is not.

Thereupon Śāriputra, who felt like dancing with joy, stood up, joined his hands together, looked up at the honorable face, and said to the Buddha:

Hearing this truthful voice of yours, I feel like dancing [with joy]. I have never felt like this before. Why is that? We [Sravakas and the Bodhisattvas] heard this Dharma before. [At that time] we saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood, but not that we were. We deeply regretted that we were not given the immeasurable insight of the Tathagata.

World-Honored One! I sat alone under a tree or walked about mountains and forests, thinking, ‘We [and the Bodhisattvas] entered the same world of the Dharma. Why does the Tathagata save us only by the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle?’

Now I understand that the fault was on our side, not on yours, because if we had waited for your expounding of the Way to Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, we would have been saved by the Great Vehicle. When we heard your first teaching, we did not know that that teaching was an expedient one expounded according to our capacities. Therefore, we believed and received that teaching at once, thought it over, and attained the enlightenment [to be attained by that teaching].

World-Honored One! I reproached myself day and night [after I saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood]. Now I have heard from you the Dharma that I had never heard before. I have removed all my doubts. I am now calm and peaceful in body and mind. Today I have realized that I am your son, that I was born from your mouth, that I was born in [the world of] the Dharma, and that I have obtained the Dharma of foe Buddha.

And in gathas:

I once was attached to wrong views,
And became a teacher of the aspirants
for the teaching of Brahman.
You expounded to me the teaching of Nirvana,
And removed my wrong views because you understood me.
I gave up all those wrong views,
And attained the truth that nothing is substantial.

At that time I thought
That I had attained extinction.
But now I know
That the extinction I attained is not the true one.
When I become a Buddha in the future,
I shall be adorned with the thirty-two marks,
And respected
By gods, men, yaksas, and dragons.
Only then I shall be able to say
That I have eliminated all [illusions].

In the midst of the great multitude,
You said to me, “You will become a Buddha.” Hearing this truthful voice,
All my doubts are gone.

There is a reason Sariputra is considered foremost in wisdom among voice hearers and why Nichiren chose to include him on the Mandala Gohonzon.

From the book Lotus World:

In the Lotus Sutra, the voice-hearers fall into three groups of superior capacity, intermediate capacity, and lesser capacity, depending on the manner in which they are able to understand the One Vehicle. Śāriputra represents the superior category. He is able to understand the Buddha’s teaching of the reality of all things, the declaration of the One Vehicle in Chapter 2 of the Lotus Sutra, and receives the Buddha’s prediction that he will become Flower Light Tathagata in Chapter 3.

Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month, I focused on the Buddha’s vow that “any Sravaka or Bodhisattva who hears even a gatha of this sutra which I am to expound will undoubtedly become a Buddha.”

This time through I want to focus on those who know too much and on those who do not know enough.

First, is that group of 5,000 who refused to believe there was anything more to learn:

Some bhiksus and bhiksunis
Were arrogant.
Some upasakas were self-conceited.
Some upasikas were unfaithful.
Those four kinds of devotees
Were five thousand in number.

They could not see their own faults.
They could not observe all the precepts.
They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.
Those people of little wisdom are gone.
They were the dregs of this congregation.
They were driven away by my powers and virtues.

They had too few merits and virtues
To receive the Dharma.
Now there are only sincere people here.
All twigs and leaves are gone.

Underscore: They were reluctant to heal their own wounds.

Those limitations of the 5,000 who walked out are a subset of the reasons why expedient teachings were needed at all:

Seeing people of no wisdom, I thought:
If I teach them only the Way to Buddhahood,
They will be distracted.
They will doubt my teaching, and not receive it.
I know that they did not plant
The roots of good in their previous existence.
They are deeply attached to the five desires.
They suffer because of stupidity and cravings.
Because they have many desires,
They will fall into the three evil regions,
Or go from one to another of the six regions
Only to undergo many sufferings.
Through their consecutive previous existences,
Their small embryos have continued to grow up
To become men of few virtues and merits.
They are now troubled by many sufferings.
They are in the thick forests of wrong views.
They say “Things exist,”
Or “Things do not exist.”
They are attached to sixty-two wrong views.
They are deeply attached to unreal things.
They hold them firmly, and do not give them up.
They are arrogant, self-conceited,
Liable to flatter others, and insincere.
They have never heard of the name of a Buddha
Or of his right teachings
For thousands of billions of kalpas.
It is difficult to save them.

Therefore, Sariputra!
I expounded an expedient teaching
In order to eliminate their sufferings.
That was the teaching of Nirvana.
40 Tire Sntra of the Lotus Flower of the Wo11derf11l Dlinrma
The Nirvana which I expounded to them
Was not true extinction.

And again:

Sariputra, know this!
Seeing with the eyes of the Buddha
The living beings of the six regions, I thought:
‘They are poor, and devoid of merits and wisdom.
They incessantly suffer because they are taken
To the rough road of birth and death.
They cling to the five desires
Just as a yak loves its tail.
They are occupied with greed and cravings,
And blinded by them.
They do not seek the Buddha who has great power.
They do not seek the Way to eliminate sufferings.
They are deeply attached to wrong views.
They are trying to stop suffering by suffering.’

Day 3 covers the first half of Chapter 2, Expedients.

Last month, I covered the Buddha’s revelation that the “wisdom of the [present] Buddhas is profound and immeasurable.”

This is all very perplexing to the great sravakas and arhats and the others in the congregation:

All of them thought:

Why does the World-Honored One extol so enthusiastically the power of the Buddhas to employ expedients? Why does he say that the Dharma attained by him is profound and difficult to understand, and that the true purpose of his teachings is too difficult for Sravakas and Pratyekabuddhas to know? He expounded to us the teaching of emancipation. We obtained this teaching and reached Nirvana. We do not know why he says all this.

Thereupon Sariputra, seeing the doubts of the four kinds of devotees, and also because he, himself, did not understand [why the Buddha had said this], said to the Buddha:

World-Honored One! Why do you extol so enthusiastically [what you call] the highest [Truth, and the power of the Buddhas to employ) expedients? [Why do you extol) the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand? I have never heard you say all this before. The four kinds of devotees also have the same doubts. World-Honored One! Explain all this! Why do you extol so enthusiastically the Dharma which [you say] is profound, wonderful, and difficult to understand?

And in gathas:

Sun of Wisdom, Great Honorable Saint!
You expound the Dharma for the first time
after a long time.
You say that you obtained
The powers, fearlessness, samadhis,
Dhyana-concentrations, emancipations,
And other inconceivable properties [of a Buddha].

No one asks you about the Dharma you attained
At the place of enlightenment.
[The Dharma] is too difficult for me to measure.
[So it is for others; therefore,] no one asks you.

Although you are not asked, you extol the teachings
[Of the past Buddhas] which you practiced.
Your wisdom is wonderful.
It is the same wisdom that the other Buddhas obtained.

The Arhats-without-asravas
And those who are seeking Nirvana
Are now in the mesh of doubts, wondering:
“Why does the Buddha say all this?”

Those who are seeking the vehicle of cause-knowers,
And the bhiksus, bhiksunis, gods, dragons,
Gandharvas, and other supernatural beings,
Are exchanging glances of perplexity.

They are looking up at you, at the Honorable Biped
Thinking:
“What is this for?
Buddha! Explain all this!”

Underscore No one asks you about the Dharma you attained
At the place of enlightenment.
[The Dharma] is too difficult for me to measure.
[So it is for others; therefore,] no one asks you.

They do not understand the one great purpose of the Buddhas.

Day 2 completes Chapter 1, Introductory.

In anticipation of tomorrow’s introduction to the concept of expedient teachings, I want to use Manjusri’s recollection of a time “innumerable, inconceivable, asamkya kalpas ago” during the reign of a Buddha called Sun-Moon-Light to illustrate how rare it is to hear the Lotus Sutra.

[Sun-Moon-Light] expounded the right teachings. His expounding of the right teachings was good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end. The meanings of those teachings were profound. The words were skillful, pure, unpolluted, perfect, clean, and suitable for the explanation of brahma practices. To those who were seeking Sravakahood, he expounded the teaching of the four truths, a teaching suitable for them, saved them from birth, old age, disease, and death, and caused them to attain Nirvana. To those who were seeking Pratyekabuddhahood, he expounded the teaching of the twelve causes, a teaching suitable for them. To Bodhisattvas, he expounded the teaching of the six paramitas, a teaching suitable for them, and caused them to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, that is, to obtain the knowledge of the equality and differences of all things.

After his extinction there appeared a Buddha also called Sun-­Moon-Light. After his extinction there appeared another Buddha also called Sun-Moon-Light. In the same manner, twenty thousand Buddhas appeared in succession, all of them being called Sun­-Moon-Light with the surname Bharadvaja.

Maitreya, know this! All those Buddhas were called Sun-Moon­-Light with the ten epithets. Their expounding of the Dharma was good at the beginning, good in the middle, and good at the end.

It was only the last Sun-Moon­-Light Buddha who exhibited the good omen illumining the worlds to the east.

Sun-Moon-Light Buddha emerged from his samadhi, and expounded the sutra of the Great Vehicle to Wonderful-Light Bodhisattva and others without rising from his seat for sixty small kalpas. It was called the ‘Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ The hearers in the congregation also sat in the same place for sixty small kalpas, and their bodies and minds were motionless. They thought that they had heard the Buddha expounding the Dharma for only a mealtime. None of them felt tired in body or mind.

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

When I was in high school I joined the cross country running team. (It was the only team you didn’t have to tryout for; anyone who could finish the 2.1 mile race was on the team.) I was middling in my ability, not quite good enough for the varsity squad, but I thrived at the challenge of racing over hills and through valleys. I just couldn’t translate that enjoyment into distance running on a quarter-mile track. Eight times around the track to complete a 2-mile race seemed insufferable. I quit track and, as a result, got kicked off the cross country squad.

Which is why I find my enjoyment of this 32-day cycle through the Lotus Sutra so surprising. Around and around I go, lap after lap, with never a thought about quitting.

And so I start again. This will be the 9th cycle of posts and the third where I limit my focus to a single topic.

Last month, I began at the beginning with “Thus have I heard” and Ryusho Jeffus Shonin’s explanation of the alternate readings of those famous words.

This month I want to detail who is in the crowd for this sermon. It is meant to be such an impressive crowd.

The Buddha once lived on Mt. Grdhrakota in the City of King-House. He was accompanied by twelve thousand great bhiksus. They were Arhats. They had already eliminated asravas, and had no illusions. They had already benefited themselves, broken off the bonds of existence [in the world of birth and death], and obtained liberty in their minds. They included Ajnata-Kaundinya, Maha-Kasyapa, Uruvilva-Kasyapa, Gaya-Kasyapa, Nadi-Kasyapa, Sariputra, Great Maudgalyayana, Maha-Katyayana, Aniruddha, Kapphina, Gavarppati, Revata, Pilindavatsa, Bakkula, Maha-Kausthila, Nanda, Sundarananda, Purna who was the son of Maitrayani, Subhuti, Ananda, and Rahula. They were great Arhats well known to the multitude.

There were also two thousand [Sravakas], some of whom had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. Maha-Prajapati Bhiksuni was present with her six thousand attendants. Yasodhara Bhiksuni, the mother of Rahula, was also present with her attendants.

There were also eighty thousand Bodhisattva-mahasattvas. They never faltered in [seeking] Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. They had already obtained dharanis, turned the irrevocable wheel of the Dharma with eloquence according to the wishes [of all living beings], made offerings to many hundreds of thousands of Buddhas, and planted the roots of virtue under those Buddhas, by whom they had always been praised. They had already trained themselves out of their compassion towards others, entered the Way to the wisdom of the Buddha, obtained great wisdom, and reached the Other Shore so that their fame had already extended over innumerable worlds. They had already saved many hundreds of thousands of living beings. They included Manjusri Bodhisattva, World-Voice-Perceiver Bodhisattva, Great-Power-Obtainer Bodhisattva, Constant­Endeavor Bodhisattva, Never-Resting Bodhisattva, Treasure­Palm Bodhisattva, Medicine-King Bodhisattva, Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva, Treasure-Moon Bodhisattva, Moon-Light Bodhisattva, Full-Moon Bodhisattva, Great-Power Bodhisattva, Immeasurable­Power Bodhisattva, Transcending-Triple-World Bodhisattva, Bhadrapala Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, Accumulated­Treasure Bodhisattva, and Leading-Teacher Bodhisattva. Eighty thousand Bodhisattva-mahasattvas such as these were present.

Sakra-Devanam-Indra was also present. Twenty thousand gods were attending on him. There were also Beautiful-Moon God, Universal-Fragrance God, Treasure-Light God, and the four great heavenly-kings. Ten thousand gods were attending on them. Freedom God and Great-Freedom God were also present. Thirty thousand gods were attending on them. Brahman Heavenly-King who was the lord of the Saha-World, Great Brahman Sikhin, and Great Brahman Light were also present. Twelve thousand gods were attending on them.

There were also the eight dragon-kings: Nanda Dragon-King, Upananda Dragon-King, Sagara Dragon-King, Vasuki Dragon­King, Taksaka Dragon-King, Anavatapta Dragon-King, Manasvin Dragon-King, and Utpalaka Dragon-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants. There were also the four kimnara-kings: Dharma Kimnara-King, Wonderful-Dharma Kimnara-King, Great-Dharma Kimnara-King, and Dharma­Keeping Kimnara-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also the four gandharva-kings: Musical Gandharva­King, Musical-Voice Gandharva-King, Beautiful Gandharva-King, and Beautiful-Voice Gandharva-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also the four asura-kings: Balin Asura-King, Kharaskandha Asura-King, Vemacitrin Asura-King, and Rahu Asura-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

There were also the four garuda-kings: Great-Power-Virtue Garuda-King, Great-Body Garuda-King, Great-Fulfillment Garuda­King, and Free-At-Will Garuda-King, each accompanied by hundreds of thousands of attendants.

King Ajatasatru, who was the son of Vaidehi, was also present with his hundreds of thousands of attendants. They each worshipped the feet of the Buddha, retired, and sat to one side.

The impressiveness of the crowd quickly fades, though, as we advance through the sutra and the impressiveness of these “bhiksus, bhiksunis, upasakas, upasikas, gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas, men, nonhuman beings, the kings of small countries, and the wheel-turning-holy-kings” are completely eclipsed by the arrival of the Bodhisattvas from Underground who will arrive in Chapter 15.

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month, I covered Sakyamuni’s promise to “anyone who keeps, reads and recites this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, memorizes it correctly, studies it, practices it, and copies it.”

This month I start at the beginning with the arrival of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva:

World-Honored One! I heard the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, which you expounded in this Saha World, from a remote world in which lives Treasure-Power­Virtue-Superior-King Buddha. I came here with many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas in order to hear and receive [this Sutra. World-Honored One! Tell me how the good men or women who live after your extinction will be able to obtain this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!

The Buddha said to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva:

The good men or women will be able to obtain this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma after my extinction if they do the following four things: 1. secure the protection of the Buddhas, 2. plant the roots of virtue, 3. reach the stage of steadiness [in proceeding to enlightenment], and 4. resolve to save all living beings. The good men or women will be able to obtain this sutra after my extinction if they do these four things.

Underscore 4. resolve to save all living beings. This is a bodhisattva practice, not a lesser vehicle for Sravakas or Pratyekabuddhas.

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

Last month, I focused on the outcome of the effort of two sons who, at the invitation of their mother, convinced their father, a king, to hear the Buddha.

This month I’d like to focus on the role of the children. I find it interesting that this is not the first place in the Lotus Sutra where children are called on to demonstrate their “merits, virtues and wisdom” for the benefit of their elders. The 8-year-old dragon girl is the other example.

Having been inspired by his children to take faith, abdicating his throne, and “acting according to the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma constantly and strenuously for eighty-four thousand years,” the king:

practiced the samadhi for the adornment of all pure merits. Then he went up to the sky seven times as high as the tala-tree, and said to that Buddha, ‘World-­Honored One! 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.’

Thereupon Cloud-Thunderpeal-Star-King-Flower-Wisdom Buddha said to King Wonderful-Adornment, ‘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 causes you to see a Buddha and aspire for Anuttara-­samyak-sambodhi. Great King! Do you see these two sons of yours, or not? They made offerings to six trillion and five hundred thousand billion Buddhas, that is, as many Buddhas as there are sands in the River Ganges, in their previous existence. They attended on those Buddhas respectfully. They kept the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma under those Buddhas, and caused the people of wrong views to have right views out of their compassion towards them.’

Day 30 covers all of Chapter 26, Dhāraṇīs.

Last month, I covered 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 dharani spells are offered by Medicine-King Bodhisattva to “the expounder of the Dharma’ in order to protect him”; by Brave-In-Giving Bodhisattva “to protect the person who reads, recites and keeps the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma; by Vaisravana Heavenly-King, the Protector of the World, to “protect this teacher of the Dharma out of my compassion towards all living beings”; by World-Holding Heavenly-King to “protect the keeper of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma”; and by the 10 raksasis daughters and their mother to protect “the person who reads, recites and keeps the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma so that he may have no trouble.”

Only two of these – Medicine-King Bodhisattva and the 10 raksasis daughters and their mother – are singled out to receive merit for their efforts by the Buddha.

Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha praised Medicine-King Bodhisattva, saying:

Excellent, excellent, Medicine-King! You uttered these dharanis in order to protect this teacher of the Dharma out of your compassion towards him. You will be able to give many benefits to all living beings.

And in the case of the raksasis daughters and their mother:

The Buddha said to the raksasis:

Excellent, excellent! Your merits will be immeasurable even when you protect the person who keeps only the name of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Needless to say, so will be your merits when you protect the person who keeps the sutra itself, and makes to a copy of this sutra hundreds of thousands of offerings such as flowers, incense, necklaces, powdered incense, incense applicable to the skin, incense to burn, streamers, canopies, music, and various lamps like lamps of butter oil, oil lamps, lamps of perfumed oil, lamps of sumanas-flower oil, lamps of campaka flower oil, lamps of varsika-flower oil, and lamps of utpala-flower oil. Kunti! You [raksasis] and your attendants should protect this teacher of the Dharma.