Day 13 covers all of Chapter 8, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Five Hundred Disciples.

Having last month covered the prediction of Purna’s future Buddhahood and the nature of the world of that Buddha, we consider how Sakyamuni’s disciples are performing the Bodhisattva practices secretly.

Bhisus, listen to me attentively!
The Way practiced by my sons
Is beyond your comprehension
Because they learned how to employ expedients.

Knowing that people wish to hear
The teachings of the Lesser Vehicle,
And that they are afraid of having the great wisdom,
[My sons, that is,] the Bodhisattvas transform themselves
Into Sravakas or cause-knowers,
And teach the people with innumerable expedients.

Saying to the innumerable living beings, [for instance,]
“We are Sravakas.
We are far from the enlightenment of the Buddha,”
They save them, and cause them to attain [Sravakahoodl
Even the lazy people who wish to hear the Lesser Vehicle
Will become Buddhas with this expedient in the course of time.

My disciples are performing
The Bodhisattva practices secretly
Though they show themselves in the form of Sravakas.
They are purifying my world
Though they pretend to want little
And to shun birth-and-death.
In the presence of the people,
They pretend to have the three poisons and wrong views.
They save them with these expedients.
They change themselves into various forms.
If I speak of all their transformations,
The listeners will doubt me.

The Daily Dharma from Aug. 11, 2016, offers this interpretation:

My disciples are performing
The Bodhisattva practices secretly
Though they show themselves in the form of Śrāvakas.
They are purifying my world.

Day 12 concludes Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and completes the Third Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month covered Sakyamuni’s big reveal about the sixteen princes who became Bodhisattvas, we move to the teachings of those sramaneras Bodhisattvas.

Bhiksus! When we were sramaneras, we each taught many hundreds of thousands of billions of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those living beings who followed me, heard the Dharma from me in order to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Some of them are still in Sravakahood. I now teach them the Way to Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi. They will be able to enter the Way to Buddhahood by my teaching, but not immediately because the wisdom of the Tathagata is difficult to believe and difficult to understand. Those living beings as many as there are sands in the River Ganges, whom I taught [when I was a sramanera], included you bhiksus and those who will be reborn as my disciples in Sravakahood after my extinction. My disciples who do not hear this sutra or know the practices of Bodhisattvas, after my extinction will make a conception of extinction by the merits they will have accumulated by themselves, and enter into Nirvana as they conceive it. At that time I shall be a Buddha of another name in another world. Those who will enter into Nirvana as they conceive it will be able [to be reborn] in the world I shall live in, seek the wisdom of the Buddha, and hear this sutra. They will be able to attain [true] extinction only by the Vehicle of the Buddha in that world because there is no other vehicle except when the Tathagatas expound the Dharma with expedients.

And again, there is no other vehicle.

Day 11 continues Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City

Having last month covered the southeast and the great Brahman-­heavenly-king called Great-Compassion in our tour of the reactions to the new light in the 10 quarters, it’s time for the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the south.

Bhiksus! The great Brahman-[heavenly-]kings of the five hundred billion worlds in the south, who saw their palaces illumined more brightly than ever, also danced with joy. They wondered why [their palaces were so illumined]. They visited each other and discussed the reason, saying, ‘Why are our palaces illumined so brightly?’ There was a great Brahman-heavenly-­king called Wonderful-Dharma among them. He said to the other Brahmans in gathas:

Our palaces are illumined so brightly.
There must be some reason.
Let us find [the place]
[From where the light has come].

We have never seen this [light]
For the past one hundred thousand kalpas.
Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha appear
Somewhere in the universe?

Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion [worlds] went to the north, carrying flower-plates filled with heavenly flowers, in order to find [the place from where the light had come]. Their palaces also moved as they went. They [reached the Well-Composed World and] saw that Great­Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathagata was sitting on the lion­like seat under the Bodhi-tree of the place of enlightenment, surrounded respectfully by gods, dragon-kings, gandharvas, kimnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They also saw that the sixteen princes were begging the Buddha to turn the wheel of the Dharma. They worshipped the Buddha with their heads, walked around him a hundred thousand times, and strewed heavenly flowers to him. The strewn flowers were heaped up to the height of Mt. Sumeru. The Brahman­heavenly-kings offered flowers also to the Bodhi-tree of the Buddha. Having offered flowers, they offered their palaces to the Buddha, saying, ‘We offer these palaces to you. Receive them and benefit us out of your compassion towards us!’ In the presence of the Buddha, they simultaneously praised him in gathas with all their hearts:

It is difficult to see a World-Honored One.
You, the World-Honored One, eliminated all illusions.
We have not seen a World-Honored One
For the past one hundred and thirty kalpas.

Send the rain of the Dharma
On the hungry and thirsty beings!
Possessor of immeasurable wisdom,
We have never seen anyone wiser than you.
You are as rare as an udumbara-flower.
Now we have met you today.

Our palaces are beautifully adorned
With your light.
World-Honored One, receive them
Out of your great compassion towards us!

Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings, having praised the Buddha with these gathas, said, ‘World-Honored One! Turn the wheel of the Dharma so that Mara, Brahman, the other gods, sramanas, and brahmanas of the world may be peaceful, and that they may be saved!’ They simultaneously praised the Buddha in gathas with all their hearts:

Most Honorable of Gods and Men!
Turn the wheel of the unsurpassed Dharma,
Beat the drum of the Great Dharma,
Blow the conch-shell horn of the Great Dharma,
Send the rain of the Great Dharma,
And save innumerable living beings!
Devoting ourselves to you, we beg you.
Resound your profound teaching!

Thereupon Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathagata gave his tacit consent to their appeal.

Resound your profound teaching!

Day 10 concludes Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, and opens Chapter 7, The Parable of a Magic City.

Having last month considered the Dharma of the Buddhas and its elusiveness, it’s time to introduce the 16 princes.

Before [Great-Universal­-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha] left home, he had sixteen sons. The first son was called Accumulated-Wisdom. Each of the sons had various playthings. When the sons heard that their father had attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, they gave up the playthings, left home, and came to that Buddha.

[When they were leaving home,] their mothers saw them off, weeping. Not only the wheel-turning-holy-king, who was their grandfather, but also one hundred ministers and hundreds of thousands of billions of subjects surrounded and followed the princes, wishing to come to the place of enlightenment, to see Great­Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathagata, to make offerings to that Buddha, respect him, honor him, and praise him.

Having come [to that Buddha], the princes worshiped him at his feet with their heads, walked around him, joined their hands together towards him with all their hearts, looked up at the World­-Honored One, and praised him in gathas:

In order to save all living beings,
You, the World-Honored One,
Who have great powers and virtues,
[Made efforts] for many hundreds of millions of years.
Now you have become a Buddha.
You have finally fulfilled your vows. Congratulations!

You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
When you were sitting,
You were quiet and peaceful.
You did not move your body, hands or feet
For ten small kalpas.
Your mind was tranquil, not distracted.
You have finally obtained tranquil extinction.
You now dwell peacefully in the Dharma-without-asravas.

Seeing that you have peacefully attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
We, too, have obtained benefits.
Congratulations! How glad we are!
All living beings are suffering.
Being blind, they have no leader.
They do not know how to stop suffering,
Or that they should seek emancipation.
In the long night fewer people go to heaven,
And more people go to the evil regions.
They go from darkness to darkness, and do not hear
Of the names of the Buddhas.

You are the Most Honorable One.
You have obtained the peaceful Dharma-without-asravas.
Not only we but also all gods and men
Will be able to obtain the greatest benefit.
Therefore, we bow and devote ourselves to you,
The Most Honorable One.

The Daily Dharma from July 31, 2016, offers this perspective on this section:

Seeing that you have peacefully attained
The enlightenment of the Buddha,
We, too, have obtained benefits.
Congratulations! How glad we are!

Day 9 covers Chapter 5, The Simile of Herbs, and introduces Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood.

Having last month described the grownups among the plants, it’s time to conclude the chapter.

As previously stated, Kasyapa, I expound the Dharma
And lead human flowers
[To the fruits of Buddhahood]
Just as the large cloud waters all flowers
By a rain of the same taste
And causes them to bear their fruits.

Kasyapa, know this!
I reveal the enlightenment of the Buddha
With various stories of previous lives,
With various parables and similes,
That is, with various expedients.
All the other Buddhas do the same.

Now I will tell you[, Sravakas,]
The most important truth.
You, Sravakas,
Have not yet attained [true] extinction.
What you are now practicing is
The Way of Bodhisattvas.
Study and practice it continuously,
And you will become Buddhas.

The Lecture on the Lotus Sutra offers this conclusion on the Simile of Herbs:

Concerning the Simile of the Herbs, it should be pointed out that all the plants live in harmony with each other. They are grouped together, even as they each grew according to their unique nature. Some would grow near mountains, some near the river, some in between. Yet they all grew together. Over and over in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha either refers to groups of people, alludes to groups of people or addresses groups of people. Even when he addresses specific individuals he does so as representatives for people of similar capacities. We each are important to the greater whole that makes up the entire universe as well as our local Sangha. Every person brings a unique perspective and understanding to the practice of Buddhism. The entire Sangha grows stronger by the contributions of each person, just as society is made stronger when all people actively participate.

It takes the combined efforts of many people to ensure that our society reflects the ideas and beliefs of Buddhism, which in turn will help eliminate the suffering that is around us in the world today.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Day 8 concludes Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith, and closes the second volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month started the gathas, it’s time to consider why these sravakas did not want to do the bodhisattva practices.

You told us
To purify the world of the Buddha
And teach all living beings.
We heard this, but did not wish to do so
Because we had already attained the truth:
“All things are void and tranquil.
Nothing appears or disappears.
Nothing is larger or smaller.
Nothing has asravas.
Nothing is subject to cause and effect.”

Having thought this, we did not wish
To do [the Bodhisattva practices].
In the long night
We did not care
For the wisdom of the Buddha.
We did not wish to have it.
We thought:
“The Dharma we attained is perfect.”

Having studied the truth of the Void in the long night,
We emancipated ourselves
From the sufferings of the triple world,
Attained the Nirvana-with-remainder,
And reached the final stage
Of our physical existence.

You said [to us]:
“When you attain enlightenment infallibly,
You will have already repaid
The favors I gave you.”

Although we expounded to the sons of the Buddha
The teachings for Bodhisattvas in order to cause them
To seek the enlightenment of the Buddha,
We did not wish to attain
The same enlightenment for ourselves.
You, our Leader, left us alone because you knew this.
You did not persuade us
To seek the enlightenment of the Buddha.
You did not say
That we should be able to have real benefits.

And that is why expedients were necessary.

Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

Having last month covered those who rejoice at hearing this sutra, it’s time to consider some people who would be better off if they didn’t hear the Lotus Sutra.

Sariputra
Do not expound this sutra
To those who are arrogant and idle,
And who think that the self exists!

Do not expound it to men of little wisdom!
They would not be able to understand it
Even if they heard it
Because they are deeply attached to the five desires.

Those who do not believe this sutra
But slander it,
Will destroy the seeds of Buddhahood
Of all living beings of the world.

Some will scowl at this sutra
And doubt it.
Listen! I will tell you
How they will be punished.

In my lifetime or after my extinction
Some will slander this sutra,
And despise the person
Who reads or recites
Or copies or keeps this sutra.
They will hate him,
Look at him with jealousy,
And harbor enmity against him.
Listen! I will tell you
How they will be punished.

When their present lives end,
They will fall into the Avici Hell.
They will live there for a kalpa,
And have their rebirth in the same hell.
This rebirth of theirs will be repeated
For innumerable kalpas.

After that they will be reborn
In the world of animals.
Some of them will become dogs or small foxes.
They will be bald, thin and black.
They will suffer from mange and leprosy
Men will treat them mercilessly,
And hate and despise them.
They will always suffer from hunger and thirst.
Their bones will project; their flesh sag.
They will always suffer in their present existence.
After their death, they will be put
Under pieces of tile or stones.
Those who destroy the seeds of Buddhahood
Will be punished like this.

Some of them will become
Camels or asses.
They will always be heavily loaded,
And beaten with sticks or whips.
They will think of nothing
But water and hay.
Those who slander this sutra
Will be punished like this.

Some of them will become small foxes.
They will suffer
From mange and leprosy.
They will have only one eye
When they come to a town,
They will be struck by boys.
Some of them
Will be beaten to death.
After they die
They will become boas.
Their bodies will be large,
Five hundred yojanas long.
They will be deaf and stupid.
They will wriggle along without legs.
They will be bitten
By many small vermin.
They will suffer day and night.
They will have no time to take a rest.
Those who slander this sutra
Will be punished like this.

Some of them will become men again.
They will be foolish, short, ugly,
Crooked, crippled, blind, deaf,
And hunchbacked.
No one will believe their words.
They will always have fetid breath.
They will be possessed by demons.
Poverty-stricken and mean,
They will be employed by others.
Worn-out, thin,
And subject to many diseases,
They will have no one to rely on.
Anyone who employs them
Will not take care of them.
They will lose before long
What little they may have earned.
When they study medicine,
And treat a patient with a proper remedy,
The patient will have another disease
Or die.
When they are ill in health,
No one will cure them.
Even when they take a good medicine,
They will suffer all the more.
They will be attacked by others,
Or robbed or stolen from.
Their sins will incur these misfortunes.
These sinful people will never be able to see
The Buddha, the King of the Saints,
Who expounds the Dharma
And teaches all living beings.
They will always be reborn
In the places of difficulty
[In seeing the Buddha].
They will be mad, deaf or distracted.
They will never be able to hear the Dharma
For as many kalpas
As there are sands in the River Ganges.
They will be deaf and dumb.
They will not have all the sense organs.
Accustomed to living in hell,
They will take it for their playground.
Accustomed to living in other evil regions,
They will take them for their homes.
They will live
Among camels, asses, wild boars, and dogs.
Those who slander this sutra
Will be punished like this.

When they are reborn in the world of men,
Deafness, blindness, dumbness,
Poverty, and many other defects
Will be their ornaments;
Dropsy, diabetes, mange,
Leprosy, carbuncles, and many other diseases
Will be their garments.
They will always smell bad.
They will be filthy and defiled.
Deeply attached to the view
That the self exists,
They will aggravate their anger.
Their lust will not discriminate
Between [humans,] birds or beasts.
Those who slander this sutra
Will be punished like this.

(The Buddha said to Sariputra:)
A kalpa will not be long enough to describe
The punishments to be inflicted
Upon those who slander this sutra.

Therefore,
I tell you,
Do not expound this sutra
To people of no wisdom.

And next month, those to whom one should expound this sutra.

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month considered why the father gave all of the children the large bullock carts, we move to the gathas description of the burning manor house.

I will tell you a parable.
A rich man had a manor house.
It was old, rotten,
Broken and ruined.
The house was about to collapse.
The lower parts of the pillars were rotten;
The beams and ridge-poles, tilting and slanted;
The foundation and steps, broken;
The fences and walls, corrupt;
The plaster of the walls, peeling;
The rush thatched on the roof, falling;
The rafters and eaves, slipping out of each other;
The hedges around the house, bent;
And refuse and debris, scattered all over.

In this house lived
Five hundred people.
Kites, owls, crested eagles,
Eagles, crows,
Magpies, doves, pigeons,
Lizards, snakes, vipers, scorpions,
Millipedes, wall lizards, centipedes,
Weasels, badgers, mice, rats,
And poisonous vermin
Were moving about.
Maggots and other vermin
Assembled on the excretions
Scattered all over
In the house.

Foxes, wolves, and small foxes
Were crawling on corpses,
Biting them, chewing them,
And dismembering them.

Many dogs were scrambling for their prey.
Weak and nervous from hunger,
They were seeking food here and there.
They were fighting with each other,
Snapping at each other,
And barking at each other.
The house was
So dreadful, so extraordinary.

Mountain spirits, water spirits,
Yaksas and other demons
Lived here and there.
They fed on people and poisonous vermin.

Wild birds and beasts
Hatched their eggs,
Suckled or bred.
They protected their offspring.
Yaksas scrambled for their young,
Took them, and ate them.
Having eaten to their hearts’ content,
They became more violent.
They fought with each other.
Their shrieks were dreadful.

The demons called kumbhandas
Crouched on the ground
Or jumped a foot or two above the ground.
They walked to and fro
And played at their will.
They seized dogs by the legs,
Or hit them
Until they lost their voices,
And held their feet against their necks.
They enjoyed seeing them frightened.

Some demons,
Tall, large,
Naked, black, and thin,
Lived in the house.
They were crying for food
With loud and evil voices.

The necks of some demons
Were as slender as needles.
The heads of some demons
Were like that of a cow.
They ate people or dogs.
Their hair was disheveled
Like mugworts.
They were cruel and dangerous.
Always hungry and thirsty,
They were running about, shrieking.

Yaksas, hungry spirits,
And wild birds and beasts
Were unbearably hungry.
They were looking out of the windows
In all directions for food.
The house was so dangerous, so dreadful.

Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1, offers this perspective:

The quest for material gain, fueled by craving leads to suffering, or as the Buddha says: “You will be burned by them.” In the case of the Parable of the Burning house the children inside were so busy engrossed in their games, in their play, in their pursuit of happiness that they failed to notice the house was on fire and they were in great danger. If we approach our Buddhist practice as a way to gain benefit and not as a way to become enlightened then we will continue the cycles of suffering, of getting burned. Instead we should approach Buddhism as a way to become enlightened.
Lotus Path: Practicing the Lotus Sutra Volume 1

Day 5 begins Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month returned to the start of the chapter, we continue with Sariputra’s realization that the deception he experienced was his own.

I have never felt like this before. Why is that? We [Sravakas and the Bodhisattvas] heard this Dharma before. [At that time] we saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood, but not that we were. We deeply regretted that we were not given the immeasurable insight of the Tathagata.

World-Honored One! I sat alone under a tree or walked about mountains and forests, thinking, ‘We [and the Bodhisattvas] entered the same world of the Dharma. Why does the Tathagata save us only by the teachings of the Lesser Vehicle?’

Now I understand that the fault was on our side, not on yours, because if we had waited for your expounding of the Way to Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, we would have been saved by the Great Vehicle. When we heard your first teaching, we did not know that that teaching was an expedient one expounded according to our capacities. Therefore, we believed and received that teaching at once, thought it over, and attained the enlightenment [to be attained by that teaching].

World-Honored One! I reproached myself day and night [after I saw that the Bodhisattvas were assured of their future Buddhahood]. Now I have heard from you the Dharma that I had never heard before. I have removed all my doubts. I am now calm and peaceful in body and mind. Today I have realized that I am your son, that I was born from your mouth, that I was born in [the world of] the Dharma, and that I have obtained the Dharma of the Buddha.

Calm and peaceful in body and mind. There is a reason Sariputra is considered foremost in wisdom.

Day 4 finishes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sutra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Having last month covered the Buddha’s vow, we continue with why expedients were necessary.

Seeing people of no wisdom, I thought:

‘If I teach them only the Way to Buddhahood,
They will be distracted.
They will doubt my teaching, and not receive it.
I know that they did not plant
The roots of good in their previous existence.
They are deeply attached to the five desires.
They suffer because of stupidity and cravings.
Because they have many desires,
They will fall into the three evil regions,
Or go from one to another of the six regions
Only to undergo many sufferings.
Through their consecutive previous existences,
Their small embryos have continued to grow up
To become men of few virtues and merits.
They are now troubled by many sufferings.
They are in the thick forests of wrong views.
They say “Things exist,”
Or “Things do not exist.”
They are attached to sixty-two wrong views.
They are deeply attached to unreal things.
They hold them firmly, and do not give them up.
They are arrogant, self-conceited,
Liable to flatter others, and insincere.
They have never heard of the name of a Buddha
Or of his right teachings
For thousands of billions of kalpas.
It is difficult to save them.’

Therefore, Sariputra!
I expounded an expedient teaching
In order to eliminate their sufferings.
That was the teaching of Nirvana.
The Nirvana which I expounded to them
Was not true extinction.

All things are from the outset
In the state of tranquil extinction.

The Daily Dharma from Nov. 1, 2015, offers this:

The Buddha provides this explanation to his disciple Śāriputra in Chapter Two of the Lotus Sūtra. In this part of the story, the Buddha has announced that everything he had taught up until then, including the teachings of suffering and Nirvāṇa, were merely preparation for his highest teaching: the realization of the same enlightenment he reached. With the teaching of Nirvāṇa, the Buddha helps us take responsibility for our own situation rather than relying on an external force to make us happy. One problem with Nirvāṇa is that we can believe that it is something we do not have now. When we extinguish the fires of our delusion, we see the world with the Buddha’s eyes. We see the world for what it is, right here and right now.

The Daily Dharma is produced by the Lexington Nichiren Buddhist Community. To subscribe to the daily emails, visit zenzaizenzai.com