Day 28

Day 28 covers all of Chapter 24, Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva, and concludes the Seventh Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Last month covered the road traveled by Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva. This month, we get to a special skill of Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva.

Flower-Virtue! Now you see Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva here and nowhere else. But formerly he transformed himself into various living beings and expounded this sutra to other in various places. He became King Brahman, King Sakra, Freedon God, Great-Freedom God, a great general in heaven, Vaisravana Heavenly-King, a wheel-turning-holy-king, the king of a small country, a rich man, a householder, a prime minister, a brahmana, a bhiksu, a bhiksuni, an upasaka, an upasika, the wife of a rich man, that of a householder, that of a prime minister, that of a brahmana, a boy, a girl, a god, a dragon, a yaksa, a gandharva, an asura, a garuDa, a kimnara, a mahoraga, a human being or a nonhuman being. [After he transformed himself into one or another of these living beings,] he expounded this sutra, and saved the hellish denizens, hungry spirits, animals, and all the other living beings in the places of difficulties. When he entered an imperial harem, he became a woman and expounded this sutra.

Rev. Ryusho JeffusLecture on the Lotus Sutra offers this observation:

Wonderful-Voice Bodhisattva is able to change his shape and transform himself into any being he wishes. We, too, as we develop our Buddha potential are better able to communicate with various people taking on their lives and understanding the nature of their problems. Just as the Buddha was able to communicate with people of all the different Ten Worlds so too we can transcend the differences that frequently cause divisions and reach out to the many various people in our environment.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra