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.

Having last month covered the promise Sakyamuni makes to those who keep, read and recite the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, we come to Sakyamuni’s instructions to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva.

Universal-Sage! If you see anyone who keeps, reads and recites the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the later five hundred years after my extinction, you should think, ‘Before long be will go to the place of enlightenment, defeat Mara and his followers, attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, turn the wheel of the Dharma, beat the drum of the Dharma, blow the conchshell horn of the Dharma, send the rain of the Dharma, and sit on the lion-like seat of the Dharma in the midst of the great multitude of gods and men.’

The Daily Dharma from Oct. 2, 2016, offers this:

The Buddha gives this instruction to Universal-Sage Bodhisattva (Fugen, Samantabhadra) in Chapter Twenty-Eight of the Lotus Sūtra. Nichiren explained that the later five hundred years mentioned in this passage is the time in which we are living today. The Buddha is therefore talking about all of us who practice the Wonderful Dharma. When we can grow our capacity to respect each other as we respect the Buddha, it inspires the respect at the core of all beings, and transforms this world.

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