Tao-sheng: Eight Dragon Kings

There were also the eight dragon-kings

All these dragon kings are named Joy. They were (once) reincarnated in human form and resided in Rājagṛha. When suffering from drought, the king and ministers went to them to seek help. Immediately the sweet rain fell and the rain soaked the whole country. Seeing the rain fall, the people were very pleased; hence, the name joy.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p168

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Jan. 14, 2025

[Mañjuśrī said] … “How should an [ordinary] Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas expound Myōhō Renge Kyō in the evil world after [your extinction]?”

The Buddha said to him:

“A Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who wishes to expound Myōhō Renge Kyō in the evil world after [my extinction] should practice four sets of things.

“First, he should perform proper practices, approach proper things, and then expound this sūtra to all living beings.

“Mañjuśrī! What are the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform? He should be patient, mild and meek. He should not be rash, timorous, or attached to anything. He should see things as they are. He should not be attached to his nonattachment to anything. Nor should he be attached to his seeing thing as they are. These are the proper practices the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas should perform.

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 14

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Tao-sheng: Four Great Heavenly-Kings

[T]he four great heavenly-kings

In the east of Sumeru is [the king] called Dhṛtarāṣṭra, in the south Virūḍhaka, in the west Virūpāksha, and in the north Vaiśravaṇa. They are controlled by Śakra-Devānām-Indra.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p168

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Jan. 13, 2025

The Buddha said to Medicine-King:

“If after my extinction anyone rejoices, even on a moment’s thought, at hearing even a gāthā or a phrase of Myōhō Renge Kyō, I will assure him of his future attainment of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi.

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 10

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Tao-sheng: Sakra-Devanam-Indra

Sakra-Devanam-Indra was also present.

He is the second god-emperor, in charge of four regional godkings. He commands the dragons (nāgas) and demons (pretas), not letting them offend beings unrestrainedly but making them (beings) always cultivate meritorious virtues. He makes the sun and the moon shine clear and bright. He often acts as a main interlocutor who draws out remarks or sermons [from the Buddha]. Hence, he is mentioned in the beginning [of the paragraph].

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p167

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Jan. 12, 2025

“Flower-Virtue! This Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva protects all living beings in this Sahā-World. He transforms himself into one or another of these various living beings in this Sahā World and expounds Myōhō Renge Kyō to all living beings without reducing his supernatural powers, [his power of] transformation, and his wisdom. He illumines this Sahā World with the many [rays of light] of his wisdom, and causes all living beings to know what they should know.”

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 24

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Tao-sheng: The Merits of the Bodhisattvas

They never faltered in [seeking] Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. 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 [penetrated] 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.

This refers to the conduct that took place in the past [lives].

[The passage] following this phrase illustrates the merits of the bodhisattvas through three kinds of deeds (karman). Having sympathy for, and taking care of, the weak and the deprived is what is meant by “cultivating themselves through compassion.” The word body [of cultivating themselves or, literally, cultivating body] implies both mouth and mind as well.

This word (great wisdom) refers to what they have obtained for themselves. Penetration means “[reaching] to the substratum.”

[Having reached the Other Shore] refers to what they have reached at the ultimate end.

Whereas their virtues were established internally their fame spread outward. Their merit and fame having been established, the news spread outward.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p167

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Jan. 11, 2025

At that time the gods in the skies [of the worlds of the ten quarters] said loudly:

“There is a world called Sahā beyond a distance of many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of worlds. In that world lives a Buddha called Śākyamuni. He is now expounding to Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas a sūtra of the Great Vehicle, called the ‘Myōhō Renge Kyō, the Dharma for Bodhisattvas, the Dharma Upheld by the Buddhas.’ Rejoice from the bottom of your hearts! Bow and make offerings to Śākyamuni Buddha!”

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 21

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Tao-sheng: Bodhisattvas Embrace All Beings

There were also eighty thousand Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas.

The voice hearers basically take the exhaustion of suffering as the aim [of life]; hence, it was said earlier that they had their bondages destroyed. In the path of bodhisattvas, in which a person sets himself to embrace all [beings] he does not stay [in the world] just to get rid of bonds of existence (chieh); he wishes only to acquire such ways to help save beings. [As such] they [i.e., the bodhisattvas] are the only people to be equipped with the magic charms (dhārāṇi) and the four kinds of [unhindered] powers. Hence, their wondrous techniques for wheeling and uplifting ̄̄̄[beings to salvation] are introduced first, being followed at the end by a discussion of the innumerable people to be saved.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p166

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for Jan. 10, 2025

Some bhikṣus who live in a period in which no Buddha lives after my extinction may not believe the Dharma after they attain Arhatship because in that period it will be difficult to meet a person who keeps, reads, and recites Myōhō Renge Kyō, and understands the meanings of Myōhō Renge Kyō. They will be able to understand the Dharma when they meet another Buddha.

“Śāriputra and all of you present here! Understand the Dharma by faith with all your hearts! There is no vehicle other than the One Buddha-Vehicle.”

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 2

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On the Journey to a Place of Treasures