Chapter 16: The Duration of the Life of the Tathāgata
“I, Śākyamuni, am originally a Hotoke (Buddha).
“I am always expounding the teachings of the Buddha to lead you into the Way of the Buddha.
“Many hundreds of thousands of years have passed since I began expounding my teachings.
“In order to help save you, I have even hidden myself tentatively from this world, but I am always present in this Sahā world. I always live here expounding the Dharma.
“To tell the truth, I am always here, but for those who don’t realize that, I am intentionally hiding myself from your sight.
“When you notice my absence, you appreciate the Buddha for the first time, hold services for his remains and then soon, every one of you begins to seek the Buddha seriously from the heart.
“Once you have trusted the Buddha in all seriousness, you will honestly begin to want to meet Him and seek the Way of the Buddha at the cost of your lives.
“When you enter that state of mind, you realize the Buddha is present in this world along with His disciples.
“You will then begin to understand the reason why the Buddha is saying, ‘I am always here. Only I choose to hide and appear on purpose in order to save you all.’
“In fact, if there is anyone who seeks me, not just on earth but anywhere in space, there I am able to expound my teachings.
“You might think there is no Buddha simply because you do not care to lend an ear to the Buddha’s teachings.
“When I look at your way of life, I can tell very well how hard you are struggling with various sufferings, unable to find the way to escape from them.
“I hide myself from you both to help you realize you can never escape from the sufferings of this world by yourself, and become convinced that you should seek the Buddha and His teachings. When these feelings arise, you will understand that the Buddha is actually expounding His teachings at all times.
“This is known as the Buddha’s supernatural powers. In other words, the Buddha is anywhere at any time.
“Even when you suspect that the world has come to its end and that it will burn to destruction in a great fire, my mental state always remains peaceful, and my surroundings are full of people with the same mental state. It is like, for example, a beautiful flower garden and bushes. There stands a building like a castle. Around it, grow trees full of beautiful flowers and fruits and people are living happily. It is as if heavenly beings are playing music and petals of the mandārava-flowers are gracefully falling around us.
“My world of enlightenment, my world of wisdom, will never be destroyed. But all of you who are at a loss believe this world is moving towards destruction and that while you exist in this world, all kinds of frightful and painful events will arise.
“The reason why you are suffering as you are right now is because you have totally failed to reflect upon your half-hearted ways of life filled with worldly desires, without paying any attention to the right religion and the right faith, and not being mindful of making any efforts.
“Those who continue to conduct good deeds for the world, for its people – with the right faith at heart – are released from the binding of self-attachments and neither fool themselves nor others. People of these kinds will understand that I am expounding my teachings here all the time.
“To those who seek the Way of the Buddha in such states of mind, I teach them that the Buddha’s life is eternal. To those who do not seek the faith, I teach them to have faith in him.
“Thus my wisdom works at my own will. Since I have limitless wisdom and have gained an eternal life, I am capable of saving all people. And these incomparable powers can be obtained thanks to my own endeavor practiced day by day without rest.
“Those who make efforts to try to comprehend the significance of life! You must not question the true eternal existence of the Buddha. You must fundamentally take yourself from your current hypocritical ways of life. That way, you will understand that the teachings of the Buddha are fruitful.
“When the renowned physician saved his children, who themselves were suffering from deadly poison but would not accept any medicine given by their father, by telling them, ‘Your father is dead,’ when in fact he was alive, nobody blamed him. Likewise, I am actually the father of this world, capa ble of saving all people from various pains and sufferings.
“However, you cannot tell what is right and what is wrong. In order to open your eyes, I say that the Buddha is not here while in actuality, I am here. But if you become aware that I am really here, you will gradually lose the sense of appreciation and begin to develop arrogance. Then eventually, you will return to the life full of worldly desires and ultimately fall into the three evil realms of hell, hungry spirits and animals.
“I can see clearly whether or not you people are following the right way. That is why I expound the teachings in many ways in order to lead you appropriately.
“I have only one wish. My wish is to know how I can quickly lead you to the right way of faith and make you become a Buddha as soon as possible.”
Easy Readings of the Lotus Sutra