Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary on the Lotus Sutra includes an outline of the Lotus Sutra created by Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655 CE). As I make my way through the 14 volumes I’ve been copying each chapter’s outline.

The outline has some interesting details that I had not noticed in my 100-plus readings of the Lotus Sutra. For example, back in March I pointed out that in Chapter 1 the outline explains that Maitreya is describing Bodhisattvas practicing the six pāramitās in sequence and then out of sequence as he tells Mañjuśrī  what he sees in the eighteen thousand worlds in the east illuminated by the light of the Buddha.

In Ouyi Zhixu’s outline for Chapter 14 he makes a very important distinction that I’ve only found in one other English translation of Kumārajīva’s Chinese translation of the Lotus Sutra – Senchu Murano’s translation.

Back in February 2023, when I was Comparing H. Kern’s translation of the Lotus Sutra to Senchu Murano’s, I discovered that Murano’s translation stood alone on a key point at the opening of Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices. (See this post.)

Murano begins the chapter:

Thereupon Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva-mahāsattva, the Son of the King of the Dharma, said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! These Bodhisattvas are extraordinarily rare. They made a great vow to protect, keep, read, recite and expound this Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma in the evil world after your extinction because they are following you respectfully. World-Honored One! How should an [ordinary] Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas expound this sūtra in the evil world after [your extinction]?”

In comparing Murano to Kern, I found Kern said Mañjuśrī was not asking about “ordinary” bodhisattvas, but asking specifically how  the extraordinarily bodhisattvas of the previous chapter should propagate the sutra in the evil age after the Buddha’s extinction. In fact, every one of the English translations I had of the Lotus Sutra agreed with Kern. The closest anyone got to Murano was Leon Hurvitz’s translation, which incorporates both Kumārajīva’s Chinese and a 19th century compilation Sanskrit document. He offered:

At that time, Mañjuśrī the dharma prince, the bodhisattva-mahāsattva, addressed the Buddha, saying, “O World-Honored One! Very rarely do there exist such bodhisattvas as these, who out of respectful obedience to the Buddha utter a great vow to keep and hold, to read and recite this Scripture of the Dharma Blossom in the latter evil age! O World-Honored One! How can a bodhisattva-mahāsattva preach this scripture in the latter evil age?”

Hurvitz is the only translator other than Murano who doesn’t specify that Mañjuśrī  is referring to the Bodhisattvas of the previous chapter.

Learning this was very discouraging to me. I have always enjoyed the chapter as a teaching for “ordinary” Bodhisattvas in this evil world.

But then I read Ouyi Zhixu’s outline for Chapter 14:

• D5. “Practices of Peace and Joy” Chapter
  • El. Question
    • F1. Praising the Bodhisattvas of profound practice, discussed in the previous chapter, who are able to propagate the sūtra in accord with the Dharma
    • F2. Asking how Bodhisattvas who are starting to practice can propagate the sūtra in the troubled age

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v15, p245

Interestingly, the Lotus Sutra translation that accompanies Chinese Master Hsuan Hua’s commentary on the Lotus Sutra doesn’t make this distinction and instead follows the other English translations.

At that time the Dharma Prince Bodhisattva Mahāsattva Mañjuśrī said to the Buddha, “World Honored One, all these Bodhisattvas are extremely rare. Reverently complying with the instructions of the Buddha, they have made great vows to protect, uphold, read, and teach this Dharma Flower Sutra in the future troubled age. World Honored One, how should these Bodhisattvas Mahāsattvas teach this sūtra in the future troubled age?”

I’m enjoying Ouyi Zhixu agreement with Murano, but I’m wondering why Ouyi Zhixu stands apart from the other translators.

Master Hsuan Hua offers this explanation of the Bodhisattva’s Four Great Vows in his discussion of Chapter 3, A Parable, in the Lotus Sutra and the description of the characteristics of the Great Cart given to the children who escape the Burning House of the Triple World.

The first of the four vast vows is, “Living beings are boundless; I vow to save them all.” The beings in our inherent nature are countless and limitless. You must first save beings within yourself before you can save beings on the outside. If you have not finished saving the beings within yourself, you cannot finish saving living beings on the outside. Although you have saved living beings, you should not become attached to having done so. You should save all living beings yet have no attachment to having saved them.

The second of the four vast vows is, “Afflictions are endless; I vow to cut them off.” Our afflictions arise without our intending to produce them. We try to avoid having afflictions, yet afflictions still arise. Without realizing how it happens, ignorance manifests. The Heart Sutra discusses twenty types of subsidiary afflictions. Without cause or reason, afflictions arise. One vows to sever these afflictions, but they continue to arise. We would be well-off indeed if we had as much money as we had afflictions. Then we’d always have money – no need to work for it. It’s too bad we don’t have as much money as we do afflictions. Afflictions are never-ending. Money is not. Once you use it, it’s gone. But there are people who think afflictions are the best thing. They get angry and think it’s more fun than eating dumplings. Is this strange or not? Giving rise to afflictions will burn away one’s virtues and Dharma wealth. That is why the Buddha taught all living beings to sever afflictions. Afflictions must be cut off.

The third vow Is, “Dharma-doors are countless; I vow to study them all.” Last year you studied the Śūraṅgama Sūtra. This year you are studying the Dharma Flower Sūtra, the Heart Sūtra, the Vajra Sūtra, and the Earth Store Sūtra; and soon we will have lectures on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra as well. Each sūtra has its own principles. How many doctrines would you say there are? There are as many as the grains of sand in the Ganges, as many as motes of dust. The Avataṃsaka Sūtra in its original form has as many chapters as the motes of dust in ten trichiliocosms. How many is that? It is as many as those dust motes. If you can count how many dust motes there are, then you know how many chapters there are. If you can’t, don’t ask me, because I am just like you.

As to Dharma-doors, there are the Great Vehicle Dharmas, the Lesser Vehicle Dharmas, the four noble truths, the six pāramitās, the twelve links of dependent arising, the thirty-seven factors of awakening… How many Dharmas are there? There are 84,000 Dharma-doors. If we were to study one Dharma-door every day, we would need 84,000 days. How many days are there in our lives? There are 365 days in a year, 3,650 days in ten years, and 36,500 days in one hundred years – so we would be dead before we finished studying. National Master Qingliang lived to be 101. How can we ever finish learning all wisdom and knowledge? We can never finish learning. If not, should we quit studying? No. Even though we cannot finish studying, we still need to study. “Dharma-doors are countless; I vow to study them all.” If we do not study, we will not learn. So we must keep studying. …

The fourth vow Is, “Buddhahood is unsurpassed; I vow to realize it.” In this world, there is nothing higher than the realization of Buddhahood. Becoming a Buddha is the most honorable accomplishment both in and beyond this world. Therefore, the Buddha, the World Honored One, is the most honored both within and beyond the world. Buddhahood is the ultimate refuge and final accomplishment. Before becoming a Buddha, one is simply a confused being in the nine Dharma realms. After becoming a Buddha, one is completely clear, without any confusion. This is why we vow, “Buddhahood is unsurpassed; I vow to realize it.” We vow to become Buddhas. Not only will we become Buddhas, we will lead all living beings to realize Buddhahood together.

These four vast vows are truly magnificent. “I vow to save the living beings of my inherent nature. I vow to cut off the afflictions of my inherent nature.” You can’t just run around telling other people that they should cut off their afflictions. You can’t walk up to someone and say, “You are studying the Buddhadharma, yet you still have so many afflictions. You still have a terrible temper. Just what meaning does all your study have?” You are not supposed to be looking at others’ faults. You are supposed to watch over yourself….

The four vast vows are very important. They are represented in the text by the phrase “with golden cords strung around them.” The four vast vows are like cords of gold braided together. You have to be vigorous. Don’t ever forget these vows. Always base your cultivation upon these four vast vows.

These vows, which are know in Nichiren Shu Buddhism as the Four Great Vows, are derived from T’ien T’ai Buddhism. There’s an excellent discussion of how these vows are derived from the Four Noble Truths in a 1983 article by Robert F. Rhodes. (PDF)

For me, one of the best parts of Master Hsuan Hua’s commentaries is the inclusion of basic stories of Buddhism. The story of The King of Kalinga appeared both in the Hsuan Hua’s commentary on the Vajra Sutra and his Lotus Sutra commentary. I published the Vajra Sutra version earlier because I felt it was more complete. Below is Hsuan Hua’s story of The Deer Park.

Once, there were two deer kings living in the park. One deer king was a former incarnation of Śākyamuni Buddha, many lifetimes and many eons ago. He was the compassionate deer king. The other deer king was a former incarnation of Devadatta. At that time there was a king who went to the Deer Park to hunt. On every expedition, he brought many people with him, and they killed many deer.

So many deer were killed that they were on the verge of becoming extinct. The two deer kings had a meeting and decided that the deer king who was to become Sakyamuni Buddha would go present a petition to the hunting king, begging him for mercy. “What kind of petition shall we present?” asked the other deer king.

The compassionate deer king, the former incarnation of Śākyamuni Buddha, replied, “We shall tell the king of the country that every day we will send him two deer for his food. Then our herds will not become extinct, and he will have fresh venison daily. I am sure the king will agree to this. If he does not, pretty soon we will all be dead, and he will not have any deer meat at all. Besides, he cannot possibly eat that much meat. I suspect he lets most of it rot.”

The deer king Devadatta said, “Okay, let’s go appeal to him!”

The two of them went to the palace to present their petition. When they arrived at the gate, they met the palace guard, who immediately drew his sword to kill them. “Don’t kill us!” the two deer cried. “We have come today for an audience with the king. We want to present him with a petition.”

The guard was quite taken aback. “Weird,” he said. “Talking deer!” and he ran to see the king. He said, “For heaven’s sake, two talking deer have come to see you.”

The king raised an eyebrow and looked at the guard, “Talking deer? Oh yes, well tell them to come in, and we will see what kind of strange creatures they are.”

The two deer came in and said to the king, “You’ve been hunting our herds, Your Majesty, and many of our deer have been killed. You cannot possibly eat that much meat every day, can you? If you keep it up, we will disappear altogether, and you will not have any meat to eat. So we have a petition to present to you. Every day we will send you two deer to eat. Then you will not have to go hunting, but you will have meat to eat every day. If you continue to kill us at the rate you have been, you will wipe us out.” Keep in mind, at that time there were no refrigerators.

The king was surprised to hear deer talking like people. Hearing their request, he found it reasonable and agreed. “Every day you can send us two deer,” he said. And that is just what they did. This way, the king was able to eat fresh, tasty venison every day.

One day the deer king who was to become Śākyamuni Buddha appeared at the palace gate to offer himself for the king to eat. The king recognized the deer and said, “You are the king of one of the herds. How can you offer yourself? Have all the other deer in your herd been eaten?”

Śākyamuni, the deer king, replied, “Not only are there still deer in our herds, but their numbers are increasing daily. We two deer kings each watch over five hundred deer. Of the five hundred, only one goes each day as an offering to Your Majesty. Many fawns are born every day. Now our herds have doubled and redoubled. But now, for a special reason, I myself have come as your daily offering.”

“What reason?” asked the king.

“Today’s deer from my herd came with no problems, but in Devadatta’s herd there was an issue. The deer selected to be offered is pregnant. Her baby is due in a day or two, and she begged Devadatta to let her trade places with someone else, saying that once her baby is born she will gladly go to the king for food. But Devadatta would not hear of it. She came to me and asked me if a deer in my herd would trade with her. None of my deer wanted to go, of course. Hence, I volunteered myself and here I am.”

When the king heard this he thought, “How strange! Deer are living creatures, just like people. Why should I eat deer meat every day? They have feelings just like people do.” Then he recited the following verse:

You are like a person with a deer head,
While I am a deer with a human head.
From this day forward only vegetables I’ll eat;
I’ll never, ever eat another living being’s meat.

“You have the head of a deer,” the king said, “but your heart is extremely kind and compassionate. Your heart is kinder than that of most human beings. I may have a person’s head, but my heart is not as good as yours. From this day forward, I will not eat meat.”

Because of this experience, the king was moved to become a vegetarian. This story explains why that park was named the Deer Park.

I keep track of traffic to this website. I do it just for curiosity; there’s no financial incentive to gather in more eyeballs. I suppose I take a certain pride that somewhere between 30 and 50 unique visitors read what I’ve posted here each day. I remember when that average was 10 unique visitors. The five top draws according to recent statistics were:

Top content over the last 28 days

The popularity of the main landing page is understandable, as is the The Basic Nichiren Shu Service. The fact that Average Time on Page for this site runs more than three minutes is a reflection of the number of people who use this site for their daily practice. A woman who travels a lot for her job thanked me for making this available. Less obvious are Nichiren’s letter about Devadatta and Nikkyō Niwano’s explanation of the 10 Epithets of the Buddha from his Buddhism for Today.

For those who come for the 10 Epithets of the Buddha, I offer Master Hsuan Hua’s explanation from his commentary on the Lotus Sutra.

What does Tathagata mean? It’s given the following interpretation: “By following the true Path, one attains perfect awakening.” One moves forward on the true, down-to-earth path, the path that truly leads to Buddhahood. The path to Buddhahood is real, not an illusion. Moving forward on this true path, one attains the perfect awakening and becomes a Buddha. This is one way to explain it.

The best explanation of the term Tathagata, however, is found in the Vajra Sutra, which says that “The Tathagata does not come from anywhere, nor does he go anywhere. That is why he is called the Tathagata.” He doesn’t come from anywhere, but does he go anywhere? He goes nowhere as well. So he is known as the Tathagata or Thus Come One. Tatha [“thus”] represents stillness. Agata [“come”] represents movement. Movement does not obstruct stillness, and stillness does not obstruct movement. Movement itself is stillness, and stillness itself is movement. Movement and stillness are one.

Why is movement itself stillness and stillness itself movement? Why is there movement? Movement appears in contrast to stillness. Why is there stillness? Stillness appears in contrast to movement. Stillness is produced from movement; movement comes from stillness. This is why movement and stillness are one; they’re dual yet nondual. Even though they’re dual, they’re actually one. They’re like water and ice. Water is ice, and ice is water. The principle is the same. Therefore, movement does not obstruct stillness, and stillness does not obstruct movement. Stillness at its extreme becomes movement, and movement at its extreme becomes stillness.

We human beings move around during the day and remain still at night. However, while in stillness there is movement, and in movement there is stillness. During the day, people are generally on the move, but some may choose to sleep. Sleeping is stillness, and waking is movement. At night, most people sleep, but some don’t. That’s movement. Tathagata is the first of the ten titles of the Buddha.

One Worthy of Offerings

Living beings, for their part, should make offerings to the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha. The Buddha, for his part, is worthy of receiving offerings from gods and humans. It is said,

To every supplication, there will be a response.
No entreaty will be left unanswered.

What is meant by “To every supplication, there will be a response”? Making offerings is a form of supplication. For example, those who make offerings to the Three Jewels hope to receive blessings and wisdom. Those who seek blessings and wisdom may make offerings to the Three Jewels.

One of Right and Universal Knowledge

Right knowledge refers to the understanding that the mind gives rise to the myriad phenomena; universal knowledge refers to the understanding that the myriad phenomena arise from the mind. It is said,

The Buddha taught all Dharmas in response to the minds of living beings.
In the absence of minds, what use would Dharmas be?

One of Perfect Clarity and Conduct

“Clarity” refers to the Buddha’s brilliance–that is, his wisdom. “Conduct” refers to the strength of his cultivation. Because the Buddha is perfect in both wisdom and cultivation, he is One of Perfect Clarity and Conduct.

Sugata, Knower of the World

Sugata is translated as “one who goes well,” meaning that the Buddha has gone to a good place. As Knower of the World, he understands everything in the world. There is no phenomenon, be It mundane or transcendent, that he doesn’t understand.

Unsurpassed One

Only a Buddha can be called the Unsurpassed One; other living beings cannot. Bodhisattvas are called Great Ones and are also known as Surpassed Ones. Buddhas are Unsurpassed Ones, for no one is above them.

Subduing and Regulating Hero

To subdue and regulate is akin to driving a car in a certain direction. To drive a car, you have to turn the steering wheel. Driving is similar to subduing and regulating. In northern China they have horse chariots that are driven by people. The driver cracks the whip, and the horse moves forward. To subdue and regulate is also similar to driving a horse cart. The Buddha is a great hero who subdues and regulates those in the three realms: the realm of desire, the realm of form, and the realm of the formless.

Teacher of Gods and Humans

The Buddha is a teacher of both the beings in the heavens and the people on earth.

Buddha

The Buddha has perfected all three kinds of awakening: self-awakening, the awakening of others, and the perfection of self-awakening and of practices. It is said,

Having perfected the three kinds of awakening and accomplished the myriad virtues,
one is called a Buddha.

World Honored One

The Buddha is honored both in the world and beyond.

In Volume 6, which covers Chapters 5, 6 and 7, Hsuan Hua expands on what Buddha means in discussing the 10 epithets in  his commentary on Chapter 6, Conferring Predictions.

9. Buddha.

What is a Buddha? Those who have heard the Dharma before will understand what Buddha means. Those who have not heard the Dharma will not know it. The Buddha is just a person, and a person is a Buddha. On the other hand, the Buddha is a Buddha and people are just people. We cannot assume that since the Buddha is a person, people are also Buddhas. The Buddha is a person who cultivated and then became a Buddha. How about people? If people cultivate, they can become Buddhas: if they do not cultivate, they cannot. Therefore, it is also said that the Buddha is a living being and that living beings are Buddhas. The Buddha is a living being who cultivated to become a Buddha, so living beings have to cultivate to become Buddhas. You cannot fail to cultivate yet claim to be a Buddha. That’s impossible! Even though the Buddha is a living being, he also has to cultivate. If, in the beginning, the Buddha had not cultivated, he would not have become a Buddha either.

Buddhahood is realized through cultivation, but how do you cultivate? You must first awaken yourself rather than demanding that others awaken. As the saying goes,

Awakened, one is a Buddha;
Confused, one is a living being

When you awaken, you are a Buddha among living beings. When you are confused, you are a living being who has not realized your Buddha nature. The only difference between the two is that one is confused and the other is awake. To awaken is to truly understand.

Those who are self-awakened are distinguished from ordinary people, who have not awakened. Not awakened to what?

They have not awakened to their own faults and offenses; they have not awakened to the fact that they have created so much karma. Luckily, the karma we have created has no physical form. Though empty space is truly vast, if our karma had shape and form, it would surely fill up the whole of space and break it open. But because karma doesn’t have a physical form, we don’t have to worry about storing it anywhere.

Nevertheless, it never leaves you; it follows you everywhere and all the time. Unawakened, you are an ordinary person. Self-awakened, you are no longer the same as ordinary people.

Your own awakening, however, does not have any merit; you still have to create merit. How do you do that? By awakening yourself and awakening others. You should think, “Having awakened myself, I will use the same methods and principles to awaken all living beings, so that everyone will attain awakening.” To awaken others is to walk the Bodhisattva Path, which distinguishes one from those of the Two Vehicles. Even though you are self-awakened and have awakened others, you’re awakening and practice has not yet reached perfection. To perfect your own awakening and the awakening of others is the perfection of awakening and of practices. There are three kinds of perfection in awakening-the perfection of self-awakening, the perfection of bringing others to awakening, and the perfection of awakening and of practices. When you perfect the three kinds of awakening and accomplish the myriad virtues, you will be called a Buddha.