Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable
Having last month consider the reaction of the gods to the prediction for Śāriputra by the great multitude, we repeat in gāthās.
Thereupon the gods, wishing to repeat what they had said, sang in gāthās:
The Buddha turned the wheel of the teaching of the Four Truths
At Varanasi a long time ago.
He taught that all things are composed of the five aggregates
And that they are subject to rise and extinction.Now he turns the wheel of the Dharma,
The most wonderful, unsurpassed, and greatest.
The Dharma is profound.
Few believe it.
So far we have heard
Many teachings of the World-Honored One.
But we have never heard
Such a profound, wonderful, and excellent teaching as this.
We are very glad to hear this
From the World-Honored One.Śāriputra, a man of great wisdom,
Was assured of his future Buddhahood.
We also shall be able
To become Buddhas,
And to receive
The highest and unsurpassed honor in the world.The Buddha expounds his enlightenment, difficult to understand,
With expedients according to the capacities of all living beings.
We obtained merits by the good karmas which we did
In this life of ours and in our previous existence.
We also obtained merits by seeing the Buddha.
May we attain the enlightenment of the Buddha by these merits!
When I was last at this point in the cycle, I commented on the lack of comment in any of my books about gods rejoicing. This time through I’m reminded of my addition of the Seven Happy Gods to may altar (explained here) and my new appreciation of how my practice benefits gods too.
Then the Buddha appeared in this world and prepared the panacea of life, that is Buddhism, for the gods and people. Like oil added to a lamp or a cane supporting an elderly person, heavenly beings regained the authority and power they possessed in the Kalpa of Construction.
Kangyō Hachiman-shō, Remonstration with Bodhisattva Hachiman, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 1, Page 257-258