Chapter 23 tells the story of a bodhisattva who burned his body and, in a later incarnation, burned his arms as offerings to the Buddha. The chapter praises the virtue of such actions. The term for burning one’s body as an offering comes from this story. The blessings of faith derived from this and the efficacy of such a faith are taught in this way:

Just like a clear, cool pool, it can satisfy all who are thirsty. Like fire to someone who is cold, like clothing to someone naked, like a leader found by a group of merchants, like a mother found by her children, like a ferry found by passengers, like a doctor found by the sick, like a lamp found by people in the dark, like riches found by the poor, like a ruler found by the people, like a sea lane found by traders, and like a torch dispelling the darkness, this Dharma Flower Sutra can enable all the living to liberate themselves from all suffering, disease, and pain, loosening all the bonds of mortal life.

And in the chapter we can find such words as:

If anyone is sick, when they hear this sutra their sickness will quickly disappear and they will neither grow old nor die.

We may think that faith gives a person strength and power to overcome life’s difficulties and physical illnesses, and the words above may be quoted for this purpose. Yet in later times such words were taken literally, and so people developed faith in the Lotus Sutra for the purpose of receiving worldly benefits.

However, the main idea of chapter 23 ultimately has to do with transcending mortal life—that is, they have to do with “cutting the bonds of life and death” and “defeating the armies of life and death.”

…blowing the conch of the Dharma and beating the drum of the great Dharma, save all living beings from the sea of old age, sickness, and death.

In chapter 21, the bodhisattvas, centering around Superior Practice Bodhisattva, are given the mission to propagate the Dharma (the “special entrustment”), and in chapter 22 this is extended to all the bodhisattvas (the general entrustment”). Those so entrusted make vows to dedicate themselves to following the Buddha’s orders and to working to embody the truth. “We will respectfully do all that the World-Honored One has commanded. Please, World-Honored One, do not worry about that.” A very similar vow can be seen in chapter 13.

When the Buddha’s entrustment orders were completed, the stage of the drama returned from the air to Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa on the ground, and those who received the mission distributed themselves around the Sahā world. The main story line of the Lotus Sutra ends here. The remaining six chapters are supplemental, yet the merits and efficacy of faith are emphasized and taught in various distinct ways in them. Thus, these chapters came to be highly regarded among the people.

In chapter 22, the Dharma is entrusted to all others. Thus, the entrustment in chapter 21 was later called a “special entrustment,” because it was directed only toward the bodhisattvas, such as Superior Practice Bodhisattva, who had welled up from the earth. The entrustment of chapter 22 was called the “general entrustment,” because it is directed to all others. Those who are entrusted with the Dharma swear to fulfill the mission of the Buddha.

Thus, the entrustment of the Buddha’s mission to bodhisattvas is completed and the Stupa of Abundant Treasures Buddha, which had been suspended in the air, returned to where it originally came from, the assembled embodiment buddhas of Shakyamuni returned to their respective lands, and the bodhisattvas returned to this actual Sahā world—generally a reiteration of the significance of being born into this world. This is how the curtain falls on the second group of chapters.

The special entrustment, general entrustment, and the like signify the transmission of the Buddha’s mission to those who put truth into actual practice, thereby propagating it in society. Such assurance symbolizes the paragon of Mahayana Buddhism and has a deep relationship with the Mahayana bodhisattvas.

In this context, we should think again about the location of the “Entrustment” chapter. This chapter is about entrusting the Dharma or the mission to others. It is placed last in all versions, except for the extant Sanskrit texts and Kumarajiva’s translation. In Kumarajiva’s translation it is located after chapter 21, “Divine Powers of the Tathagata.” After examining the content and title of the chapter, I think this location is proper, as the chapter brings a long story and the second group of chapters to a conclusion.

[T]he latter half of chapter 21 consists of verses [that] have long been popularly and lovingly recited. The chapter closes with these words:

After the extinction of the Tathagata,
Anyone who knows the sutras preached by the Buddha,
Their causes and conditions and proper order,
Will teach them truthfully in accord with their true meaning.

Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Can dispel darkness,
Such a person, working in the world,
Can dispel the gloom of living beings,

Leading innumerable bodhisattvas
Finally to dwell in the one vehicle.
Therefore, one who has wisdom,
Hearing of the blessings to be gained,

After my extinction
Should embrace this sutra.
Such a person will be determined to follow,
Without doubts, the Buddha way.

From these verses Nichiren became aware of what it means to be born in the latter days, and of his own mission. And though his heart was crushed by suffering, he enthusiastically took up his mission once again. At that time, he developed his so-called “Five Categories of Teaching”—five things that have to be taken into account for disseminating the Dharma: the teaching, the hearers, the age, the country, and the sequence of propagation.