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

Day 17 Text with annotations

Having last month considered the Buddha’s previous life as a king seeking the Dharma, we meet the seer who agrees to teach the Dharma to the king.

“Thereupon a seer came to [me, who was] the king. He said, ‘I have a sūtra of the Great Vehicle called the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. If you are not disobedient to me, I will expound this sūtra to you.’

“Having heard this, I danced with joy, and immediately became his servant. I offered him anything he wanted. I collected fruits, drew water, gathered firewood, and prepared meals for him. I even allowed my body to be his seat. I never felt tired in body and mind. I served him for a thousand years. In order to hear the Dharma from him, I served him so strenuously that I did not cause him to be short of anything.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

I remember that I became a king in a kalpa of the past.
Although I was a king,
I did not indulge in the pleasures of the five desires
Because I was seeking the Great Dharma.

I tolled a bell, and said loudly in all directions;
“Who knows the Great Dharma?
If anyone expounds the Dharma to me,
I will become his servant.”

There was a seer called Asita.
He came to [me, who was] the great king, and said:
“I know the Wonderful Dharma.
It is rare in the world.
If you serve me well,
I will expound the Dharma to you.”

Hearing this, I had great joy.
I became his servant at once.
I offered him
Anything he wanted.

I collected firewood and the fruits of trees and grasses,
And offered these things to him respectfully from time to time.
I never felt tired in body and mind
Because I was thinking of the Wonderful Dharma.

I sought the Great Dharma strenuously
Because I wished to save all living beings.
I did not wish to benefit myself
Or to have the pleasures of the five desires.

Although I was the king of a great country,
I sought the Dharma strenuously.
I finally obtained the Dharma and became a Buddha.
Therefore, I now expound it to you.

Nichiren offers this take on this tale of the King and the Seer.

In another past lifetime of the Buddha he was the ruler of a great country because of the accumulation of virtue in the past. But he was neglectful in ruling the country. His 100 ministers and all the people revered him as a consequence of the pleasurable results of his former observance of the ten virtuous acts. But this would prove to be like the flame of a lamp flickering in the wind, or a dream on a spring night, or the brief blooming of morning glories on a bamboo fence. Though he had followed the virtuous precepts in his past lives, now that he had been born as the ruler of a great country he was enticed by the murderous demon of impermanence and spent his life in vain, neglecting to practice the good. [If he continued in this way] he would sink into the bottomless flames of the Hell of Incessant Suffering where there is no distinction between warriors and peasants. The flames of the three torments would scorch him, his five limbs would be bound in iron cords, and the gag of the three torments would be inserted into his mouth. The monstrous jailers of hell armed with tridents and screaming callously, would punish him by stabbing him all over his body. The sounds of his cries would reach up to the heavens, and in his grief he would fall to the ground. His 100 ministers and all his people would be unable to come to his aid, nor could his family and loved ones come to save him. [He thought of his beloved wife] with whom he slept and awoke on the same bed within the brocade curtains. Together they were like two birds with one wing each who must fly together in the heavens, or like two trees with branches intertwined on the earth. The days and months they had spent together had amassed into years, but not even she and their children could come to visit him. Reflecting on these things he opened his storehouses and donated gold and silver and all the seven treasures in order to support the Saṃgha. He donated elephants and horses, and even his wife and children to them. Later he blew a conch seeking for the great Dharma. He beat a drum seeking for the great Dharma. He sought the Dharma in all directions. At that time there was a seer named Asita. This seer came to the king saying, “I can teach you the True Dharma if you are able to serve me well.” The king rejoiced and entered the mountains, where he collected fruit, gathered firewood, picked vegetables, and drew water for a thousand years. All the while he constantly recited, “Jōzon Myōhōko, Shinjin Mukeken,” which means, “Because I am seeking the Wonderful Dharma I do not feel tired in body and mind.” Through this practice he was able to obtain the Dharma of the five Chinese characters: myō, hō, ren, ge, and kyō. This king would become Śākyamuni Buddha in a future life. In our country there is a Japanese poem that tells how he received the Dharma by serving his master. When a sūtra is copied and presented this verse is sung: “I obtained the Lotus Sūtra by gathering firewood, picking vegetables, and drawing water.” Hearing this I am overcome with emotion.

Minobu-san Gosho, Mt. Minobu Letter, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 5, Page 126-127

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

Day 17 Text with annotations

Having last month heard Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s vow to uphold the Lotus Sūtra, we hear from Arhats and Śrāvakas who vow to preach the Lotus Sūtra in some other world.

At that time there were five hundred Arhats in this congregation. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! We also vow to expound this sūtra [but we will expound it] in some other worlds [rather than in this Sahā-World].”

There were also eight thousand Śrāvakas some of whom had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They rose from their seats, joined their hands together towards the Buddha and vowed:

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

In his letter Treatise on the Teaching, Nichiren used the hesitance of the Arhats and Śrāvakas to preach in the Sahā world to show what he was up against:

It is predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, in the 13th chapter “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” that 2000 years after the Buddha’s extinction, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three kinds of enemies will appear against those who spread the Lotus Sūtra. The time at hand matches exactly the Latter Age of Degeneration preached in the Lotus Sūtra as the “fifth 500-year period” after the death of the Buddha. As I, Nichiren, contemplate whether or not the Buddha’s words have proved to be true, three kinds of enemies surely exist today. If I deny the existence of the three enemies and spread the Lotus Sūtra in a manner so as to avoid persecution, I cannot claim to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. On the other hand, if I spread the sūtra in such a way that I am persecuted by enemies, I certainly will lose my life.

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

Day 17 Text with annotations

Having last month witnessed the daughter of the dragon-king become a Buddha and concluded Chapter 12, Devadatta, we begin today’s portion of Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sūtra, with Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s vow to uphold the Lotus Sūtra.

Thereupon Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, together with their twenty-thousand attendants who were also Bodhisattvas, vowed to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One, do not worry! We will keep, read, recite and expound this sūtra 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 sūtra, and make various offerings to it. We will not spare even our lives [in doing all this].”

Nichiren used this chapter’s prediction of the difficulty in spreading the dharma to explain the troubles he faced. For example, in his Letter to Hōren:

It is most important for a man of wisdom to spread the Lotus Sūtra by keeping the difference of time in mind. For instance, for those who are thirsty, water is just what is necessary, not a bow and arrow or arms. What is needed for a naked person is clothing, not water. One can understand the overarching principle through this one example. If a fierce god spreads the Lotus Sūtra, you should donate your own flesh to him because a fierce god is fond of flesh. It is useless to donate clothing or other food to him. If an evil king tries to destroy the Lotus Sūtra, never obey his order even at the cost of life. When high priests who observe the precepts and are devoted to the pursuit of faith pretend to spread the Lotus Sūtra outwardly, but try to destroy it inwardly, you must reprimand them vigorously. The Lotus Sūtra, “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra” chapter, admonishes us to, “Solely to venerate the Supreme Way without sparing one’s own life.” It is preached in the Nirvana Sūtra, “Even at the cost of life, one should not conceal the king’s orders.” Grand Master Chang-an interprets this in his Annotation on the Nirvana Sūtra, “The reason why it is said that even at the cost of life one should not conceal the teaching is because life is not as important as the Dharma. We must spread the Dharma even at the cost of life.”

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

Day 17 Text with annotations

Having last month heard Śāriputra’s objection to the daughter of the dragon-king becoming a Buddha, we witness the daughter of the dragon-king become a Buddha.

At that time the daughter of the dragon-king had a gem. The gem was worth one thousand million Sumeru-worlds. She offered it to the Buddha. The Buddha received it immediately. She asked both Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva and Venerable Śāriputra, “I offered a gem to the World-Honored One. Did he receive it quickly or not?”

Both of them answered, “Very quickly.”

She said, “Look at me with your supernatural powers! I will become a Buddha more quickly.”

Thereupon the congregation saw that the daughter of the dragon-king changed into a man all of a sudden, performed the Bodhisattva practices, went to the Spotless World in the south, sat on a jeweled lotus-flower, attained perfect enlightenment, obtained the thirty-two major marks and the eighty minor marks [of the Buddha], and [began to] expound the Wonderful Dharma to the living beings of the worlds of the ten quarters. Having seen from afar that [the man who had been] the daughter of the dragon-king had become a Buddha and [begun to] expound the Dharma to the men and gods in his congregation, all the living beings of the Sahā-World, including Bodhisattvas, Śrāvakas, gods, dragons, the [six other kinds, that is, in total] eight kinds of supernatural beings, men, and nonhuman beings, bowed [to that Buddha] with great joy. Having heard the Dharma [from that Buddha], [a group of] innumerable living beings [of that world] understood the Dharma, and reached the stage of irrevocability, and [another group of] innumerable living beings [of that world] obtained the assurance of their future attainment of enlightenment. At that time the Spotless World quaked in the six ways. Three thousand living beings of the Sahā World reached the stage of irrevocability, and another group of three thousand living beings [of the Sahā-World] aspired for Bodhi, and obtained the assurance of their future attainment of enlightenment. The Accumulated-Wisdom Bodhisattva, Śāriputra, and all the other living beings in the congregation received the Dharma faithfully and in silence.

On the topic of the daughter of the dragon-king becoming a Buddha, Nichiren writes in Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers:

Speaking of attainment of Buddhahood by this female dragon, therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê writes, “The great blessing despite little practice shows the power of the Lotus Sūtra. “As this female dragon is indebted to the Lotus Sūtra for attaining Buddhahood, how could she abandon practicers of the sūtra even without the Buddha’s command? So, she says in verse praising the Buddha,”I will widely disseminate Mahāyāna Buddhism to save the suffering people.” This vow of the female dragon is at the same time the vow of all the dragons who follow her, which is so deep that the mouth cannot express it and the mind cannot fathom it. The Sāgara Dragon King, father of the female dragon, was a beast in body but had a deep compassion for his children that he gave the greatest treasure in the ocean, a wish-fulfilling gem to his daughter as a donation upon her attainment of Buddhahood with the present body. This gem was worth as much as all things in the whole world.

Kitō Shō, Treatise on Prayers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 63-64