Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.
Having last month heard Śākyamuni’s reply to Maitreya question about the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground, he hear Śākyamuni explain that he is the teacher of these Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas.
Thereupon the World-Honored One, having sung these gāthās, said to Maitreya Bodhisattva:
Now I will tell all of you in this great multitude, Ajita! [I know that] you have never seen these great, innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground. After I attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in this Sahā-World, I taught these Bodhisattvas, led them, trained them, and caused them to aspire for enlightenment. They lived in the sky below this Sahā-World. When they were there, they read many sūtras, recited them, understood them, thought them over, evaluated them, and remembered them correctly. Ajita! These good men did not wish to talk much with others [about things other than the Dharma] but to live in a quiet place. They practiced the way strenuously without a rest. They did not live among gods and men. They had no hindrance in seeking profound wisdom. They always sought the teaching of the Buddha. They sought unsurpassed wisdom strenuously with all their hearts.”
Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:
Ajita, know this, these great Bodhisattvas
Have studied and practiced
The wisdom of the Buddha
For the past innumerable kalpas.They are my sons because I taught them
And caused them to aspire for great enlightenment.
They have been living in this world
[For the past innumerable kalpas].They always practiced the dhuta.
They wished to live in a quiet place.
They kept away from bustling crowds.
They did not wish to talk much.These sons of mine studied my teachings
Strenuously day and night
In order to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha.
They lived in the sky
Below this Sahā-World.Resolute in mind,
They always sought wisdom,
And expounded
Various wonderful teachings without fear.I once sat under the Bodhi-tree
In the City of Gaya,
Attained perfect enlightenment,
And turned the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma.Then I taught them,
And caused them to aspire £or enlightenment.
Now they do not falter [in seeking enlightenment].
They will be able to become Buddhas.My words are true.
Believe me with all your hearts!
I have been teaching them
Since the remotest past.
Nichiren offers his perspective on these Bodhisattvas in his letter A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One:
My disciples, think deeply! The countless bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground were disciples of Lord Śākyamuni Buddha ever since the time He had first resolved to seek Buddhahood. Nevertheless, they neither came to see Him when He attained Buddhahood under the bodhi tree, nor visited Him when He passed away under the twin śāla trees. Thus, they may very well be accused of not being filial.
Moreover, they did not attend the preaching of the fourteen-chapter theoretical section, and they were absent when the last six chapters of the essential section were preached. They came and left while the first eight chapters of the essential section were being preached. But these great high-ranking bodhisattvas made a vow in the presence of Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures and numerous Buddhas in manifestation that they would propagate the Five Characters transmitted to them at the beginning of the Latter Age of Degeneration. How can they not appear right now?
Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 162