Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Having last month completed Chapter 10, the Teacher of the Dharma, it’s time to introduce Chapter 11, Beholding the Stupa of Treasures.

Thereupon a stupa of the seven treasures sprang up from underground and hung in the sky before the Buddha. The stupa was five hundred yojanas high and two hundred and fifty yojanas wide and deep. It was adorned with various treasures. It was furnished with five thousand railings and ten million chambers. It was adorned with innumerable banners and streamers, from which jeweled necklaces and billions of jeweled bells were hanging down. The fragrance of tamalapattra and candana was sent forth from the four sides of the stupa to all the corners of the world. Many canopies, adorned with streamers, and made of the seven treasures-gold, silver, lapis lazuli, shell, agate, pearl and ruby­were hanging in the sky [one upon another from the top of the stupa] up to the [heaven of the] palaces of the four heavenly-kings. The thirty-three gods offered a rain of heavenly mandarava-flowers to the stupa of treasures. Thousands of billions of living beings, including the other gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kimnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings, also offered flowers, incense, necklaces, streamers, canopies and music to the stupa of treasures, venerated the stupa, honored it, and praised it.

Here is an interesting discussion of the arrival of the Stupa of Treasures from the Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

There are two causes at work when the Stupa of Treasures appears that are stated in Many Treasures original vow. In other words there are two things that make the appearance of Many Treasures and his stupa possible. The first cause, or the first requirement was the original vow of Many Treasures. By making his vow originally he set into motion the actualization of it happening. In our own lives it would be comparable to making a determination to do something. Because of our promise or determination we put into motion the actualization of that thing we determined. This is one reason why I feel that when we take vows to practice Buddhism it is so important to really understand the significance of making that promise. We should become people of our word, doing what we promise to do, in all situations.

In our own lives, we have the hidden treasure, the gem of Buddhahood, which we can ignore and let lay dormant. On the other hand we can choose to make a vow, or a determination, to manifest and then carry out the necessary activities to actualize the vow to manifest our Buddhahood. All this we can do through our faith in the Lotus Sutra.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Having last month covered how anyone who keeps this sutra in the future should be considered to have been dispatched by Sakyamuni, I conclude the day’s reading with the need to withhold criticism of those who follow this most excellent sutra.

Whoever for as long as a kalpa,
With evil intent and flushed face,
Speaks ill of me,
Will incur immeasurable retributions.
Whoever for even a moment
Reproaches those who read, recite and keep
The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Will incur even more retributions.

Whoever for as long as a kalpa
Joins his hands together towards me
And praises me with innumerable gathas
In order to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha,
Will obtain innumerable merits
Because he praises me.
Whoever praises the keeper of this sutra
Will obtain even more merits.

For eight thousand million kalpas
Offer to the keeper of this sutra
The most wonderful things to see,
Hear, smell, taste and touch!

If you make these offerings,
And hear [this sutra] even for a moment,
You will rejoice and say,
“Now I have obtained great benefits.”

Medicine-King! I will tell you.
The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Is the most excellent sutra
That I have ever expounded.

The Daily Dharma from May 6, 2016, offers this:

Medicine-King! I will tell you.
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Is the most excellent sūtra
That I have ever expounded.

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

Having last month covered the importance of Purna and his hidden role, we come now to prediction of Purna’s future Buddhahood and the nature of the world of that Buddha.

Bhiksus! Purna was the most excellent expounder of the Dharma under the seven Buddhas. He is the same under me. He will be the same under the future Buddhas of this Kalpa of Sages. He will protect the teachings of those Buddhas and help them propagate their teachings. After the end of this kalpa also he will protect the teachings of innumerable Buddhas, help them propagate their teachings, teach and benefit innumerable living beings, and cause them to aspire for Anuttara-samyak-sarmbodhi He will always make efforts to teach all living beings strenuously so that the worlds of those Buddhas may be purified. He will perform the Way of Bodhisattvas step by step for innumerable, asamkhya kalpas, and then attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi in this world. He will be called Dharma-Brightness, the Tathagata, the Deserver of Offerings, the Perfectly Enlightened One, the Man of Wisdom and Practice, the Well-Gone, the Knower of the World, the Unsurpassed Man, the Controller of Men, the Teacher of Gods and Men, the Buddha, the World-Honored One. The world of that Buddha will be composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, that is, as many Sumeru-worlds as there are sands in the River Ganges. The ground [of that world] will be made of the seven treasures. It will be as even as the palm of a hand. There will be no mountains nor ravines nor ditches. Tall buildings adorned with the seven treasures will be seen everywhere in that world, and the palaces of gods of that world will hang so low in the sky that gods and men will be able to see each other. There will be no evil regions nor women. The living beings of that world will be born without any medium. They will have no sexual desire. They will have great supernatural powers, emit light from their bodies, and fly about at will. They will be resolute in mind, strenuous, and wise. They will be golden in color, and adorned with the thirty-two marks. They will feed on two things: the delight in the Dharma, and the delight in dhyana. There will be innumerable, asamkhya Bodhisattvas, that is, thousands of billions of nayutas of Bodhisattvas. They will have great supernatural powers and the four kinds of unhindered eloquence. They will teach the living beings of that world. There will also be uncountable Sravakas there. They will have the six supernatural powers including the three major supernatural powers, and the eight emancipations. The world of that Buddha will be adorned with those innumerable merits. The kalpa [in which Purna will become that Buddha] will be called Treasure­Brightness; and his world, Good-Purity. The duration of the life of that Buddha will be innumerable, asamkhya kalpas, and his teachings will be preserved for a long time. After his extinction, stupas of the seven treasures will be erected [in his honor] throughout that world.

I’m fascinated by the descriptions of the worlds to be governed by future Buddhas. Purna’s is especially pleasing with “no evil regions nor women. The living beings of that world will be born without any medium. They will have no sexual desire. They will have great supernatural powers, emit light from their bodies, and fly about at will. They will be resolute in mind, strenuous, and wise.”

The footnote explains that being born without any medium means to be “born not through the medium of a mother or an egg or moisture but by their own karmas. It is held that those who are born without any medium appear in a moment in their adult forms.”

From one world to the next, perhaps not unlike O-Kay.

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 Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathagata emerging from his samadhi after practicing dhyana-concentration for eighty-four thousand kalpas, we move on to Sakyamuni’s big reveal about the sixteen princes who became Bodhisattvas.

The Buddha said to the bhiksus:

These sixteen Bodhisattvas willingly expounded the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma. Each of them taught six hundred billion nayutas of living beings, that is, as many living beings as there are sands in the River Ganges. Those living beings were always accompanied by the Bodhisattva[, by whom they were taught,] in their consecutive existences. [In each of their consecutive existences,] they heard the Dharma from him, and understood it by faith. By the merits [they had thus accumulated], they were given a privilege to see four billion Buddhas, that is, four billion World­-Honored Ones. They have not yet seen all of them.

Bhiksus! Now I will tell you. The sixteen sramaneras, who were the disciples of that Buddha, have already attained Anuttara­-samyak-sambodhi. They now expound the Dharma in the worlds of the ten quarters. They have many hundreds of thousands of billions of attendants consisting of Bodhisattvas and Sravakas. Two of the sramaneras are now Buddhas in the east. One of them is called Aksobhya. He is in the World of Joy. The other is called Sumeru-Peak. Another couple of the sramaneras are now Buddhas in the southeast, called Lion-Voice and Lion-Form. Another couple of them are now Buddhas in the south, called Sky-Dwelling and Eternal-Extinction. Another couple of them are now Buddhas in the southwest, called Emperor-Form and Brahma-Form. Another couple of them are now Buddhas in the west, called Amitayus and Saving-All-Worlds-From-Suffering. Another couple of them are now Buddhas in the northwest, called Tamalapattracandana­Fragrance-Supernatural-Power and Sumeru-Form. Another couple of them are now Buddhas in the north, called Cloud-Freedom and Cloud-Freedom-King. One of the remaining two is now a Buddha in the northeast called Eliminating-Fear-Of-All-Worlds. The other one, that is, the sixteenth sramanera is I, Sakyamuni Buddha. I attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi in this Saha-World.

And my mind wanders and wonders where is the the Saha World in a firmament in which two buddhas are each in the East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest and North and one is in the Northeast? Is the Saha World of the 16th prince, Sakyamuni Buddha, in the Northeast with Eliminating-Fear-Of-All-Worlds Buddha or in the nadir or the zenith or, for that matter, the center of the universe?

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

Last month I started our parade of 500 billion Brahman-Heavingly-Kings from each direction who are seeking the source of the light that illumines their worlds. We turn now to the southeast and a great Brahman-­heavenly-king called Great-Compassion:

Why is it
That we see this light?
Our palaces are illumined
More brightly than ever.

Did a god of great virtue or a Buddha
Appear somewhere in the universe?
We have never seen this [light] before.
Let us do our best to find [the reason].

Let us go even to the end of one thousand billion worlds,
And find the place from where this light has come.
A Buddha may have appeared somewhere in the universe
In order to save the suffering beings.

Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings of the five hundred billion [worlds] went to the northwest, 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 Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Tathagata was sitting on the lion-like seat under the Bodhi­tree 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. Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings 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 Brahman-heavenly-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:

Saintly Master, God of Gods!
Your voice is as sweet as a kalavinka’s.
You have compassion towards all living beings.
We now bow before you.
You, the World-Honored One, are exceptional.
You appear only once in a very long time.

No Buddha has appeared
For the past one hundred and eighty kalpas.
The three evil regions are crowded;
And the living beings in heaven, decreasing.

Now you have appeared in this world
And become the eye of all living beings.
As their refuge, you are saving them.
As their father, you are benefiting them
Out of your compassion towards them.
We are now able to see you
Because we accumulated merits
In our previous existence.

Thereupon the Brahman-heavenly-kings, having praised the Buddha with these gathas, said, ‘World-Honored One! Turn the wheel of the Dharma and save all living beings out of your compassion towards them!’ Then they simultaneously said in gathas with all their hearts:

Great Saint, turn the wheel of the Dharma
And reveal the reality of all things!
Save the suffering beings
And cause them to have great joy!

If they hear the Dharma, some will attain enlightenment;
Others will be reborn in heaven.
The living beings in the evil regions will decrease;
And those who do good patiently will increase.

Each of these directions varies. Most interesting here is the introduction of the idea that “No Buddha has appeared/For the past one hundred and eighty kalpas.” And the impact of that lack: “The three evil regions are crowded;/And the living beings in heaven, decreasing.”

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

Having last month pondered time and its ravages on memory, it’s time to consider the Dharma of the Buddhas and its elusiveness.

The Buddha said to the bhiksus:

The duration of the life of Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha was five hundred and forty billion nayuta kalpas. [Before he attained Buddhahood,] he sat at the place of enlightenment and defeated the army of Mara. He wished to attain Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi, but could not because the Dharma of the Buddhas had not yet come into his mind. He sat cross-legged without moving his mind and body for one to ten small kalpas. During all that time the Dharma of the Buddhas did not come into his mind.

[Before he sat at the place of enlightenment,] the Trayastrimsa Gods prepared him a lion-like seat a yojana high under the Bodhi­tree so that he might be able to attain Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi on that seat. When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat. From time to time withered flowers were blown away by fragrant winds and new flowers were rained down. [The Brahman-heavenly-kings] continued this offering to him for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued raining flowers until he passed away.

[When he sat on that seat,] the four heavenly-kings beat heavenly drums, and the other gods made heavenly music and offered it to him. They continued these offerings also for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued these offerings until he passed away.

Bhiksus! At the end of the period of ten small kalpas, the Dharma of the Buddhas came into the mind of Great-Universal­Wisdom-Excellence Buddha. Now he attained Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi.

The Daily Dharma from May 27, 2016, offers this perspective:

When he sat on that seat, the Brahman-heavenly-kings rained heavenly flowers on the area extending a hundred yojanas in all directions from that seat. From time to time withered flowers were blown away by fragrant winds and new flowers were rained down. [The Brahman-heavenly-kings] continued this offering to him for fully ten small kalpas. [After he attained Buddhahood also,] they continued raining flowers until he passed away.

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

Having last month summarized how this simile reveals the dharma it’s time to describe the grownups among the plants before we conclude the chapter.

Both the Sravakas and the cause-knowers,
Who live in mountains or forests,
Who have reached the final stage
of their physical existence,
And who have attained enlightenment by hearing the Dharma,
May be likened to the herbs
Which have already grown up.

The Bodhisattvas
Who resolve to seek wisdom,
Who understand the triple world,
And who seek the most excellent vehicle,
May be likened to the short trees
Which have already grown up.

Those who practice dhyana,
Who have supernatural powers,
Who have great joy
When they hear that all things are insubstantial,
And who save all living beings
By emitting innumerable rays of light,
May be likened to the tall trees
Which have already grown up.

Ah, for a chance to be a real grownup.

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

Last month I finished the prose section and now it’s time for the gathas.

Hearing your teaching of today,
We are dancing with joy.
We have never had
Such joy before.

You say:
‘The Sravakas will be able to become Buddhas.’
We have obtained unsurpassed treasures
Although we did not seek them.

Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son

You are like the father.
Knowing that we wished
To hear the Lesser Vehicle,
You did not say to us,
‘You will become Buddhas.’
You said of us to others:
‘Though they are my disciples, they are Sravakas.
They eliminated asravas,
But attained only the Lesser Vehicle.’

You said to us:
‘Expound the most excellent Way
[to Bodhisattvas]!
Those who practice the Way
Will be able to become Buddhas.’

By this order of yours
We expounded the unsurpassed Way
To the great Bodhisattvas
With various stories of previous lives,
With various parables and similes
And with various discourses.

Hearing the [Way, that is, the] Dharma from us,
Those sons of yours
Thought it over day and night,
And practiced it strenuously.
Thereupon the Buddha assured them
Of their future Buddhahood, saying to them:
‘You will become Buddhas
In your future lives.’

You expounded the real thing,
That is, the store
Of the hidden core of the Buddhas
Only to the Bodhisattvas.
You did not expound
This truth to us.

The poor son came to his father,
And took custody
Of the things of his father,
But wished to take none of them.
The same can be said of us.

We did not wish to have the treasure-store
Of the teachings of the Buddhas
Although we expounded it [to the Bodhisattvas].

We were satisfied with the elimination
Of illusions within ourselves.
What we accomplished was that elimination.
We did nothing more.

The Daily Dharma from Sept. 2, 2016, offers this to consider:

These verses are sung by Subhūti, Mahā-Kātyāyana, Mahā-Kāśyapa, and Mahā-Maudgalyāyana in Chapter Four of the Lotus Sūtra. They use the parable of the wayward son in this chapter to describe their own realization that the Buddha had not held any teaching back from them. Instead, the Buddha earlier allowed them to remain in the satisfaction of ending their own suffering. But before they can continue their progress towards the Buddha’s own enlightenment, they must give up their preoccupation with suffering, as the boy in the parable had to give up his idea of himself as a lowly hired worker, rather than the heir to his father’s treasure.

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

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

Having last month covered the teaching for the unsurpassed enlightenment equal to that of the Buddha, we come to those who rejoice at hearing this sutra.

I am the King of the Dharma.
I expound the Dharma without hindrance.
I appeared in this world
In order to give peace to all living beings.

Sariputra!
I expound this seal of the Dharma
In order to benefit
[All living beings] of the world.
Do not propagate it carelessly
At the place where you are!

Anyone who rejoices at hearing this sutra,
And who receives it respectfully,
Know this, has already reached
The stage of avaivartika.

Anyone who believes and receives this sutra
Should be considered
To have already seen the past Buddhas,
Respected them, made offerings to them,
And heard the Dharma from them
In his previous existence.

Anyone who believes what you expound
Should be considered
To have already seen all of us,
That is, you and me,
And the Sangha of bhiksus,
And the Bodhisattvas.

I expound only to people of profound wisdom
This Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma Because men of little wisdom would doubt this sutra,
And not understand it even if they heard it.
No Sravaka
Or Pratyekabuddha
Can understand
This sutra.

Even you, Sariputra,
Have understood this sutra
Only by faith.
Needless to say,
The other Sravakas cannot do otherwise.
They will be able to follow this sutra
Only because they believe my words,
Not because they have wisdom.

Only by faith.

Day 6 continues Chapter 3, A Parable

Having last month compared the Sravakas, Pratyekabuddhas and Bodhisattvas with the children who cherished the sheep carts, the deer carts and the bullock carts, it’s time to consider why the father gave all of the children the large bullock carts.

Sariputra! Seeing that all his children had come out of the burning house safely and reached a carefree place, the rich man remembered that he had immeasurable wealth. So without partiality, he gave them each a large cart. I am also a father, the father of all living beings. Seeing that many hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings have come out of the painful, fearful and rough road of the triple world through the gate of the teachings of the Buddha, and obtained the pleasure of Nirvana, I thought, ‘I have the store of the Dharma in which the immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness of the Buddhas are housed. These living beings are all my children. I will give them the Great Vehicle. I will not cause them to attain extinction by their own ways. I will cause them to attain the extinction of the Tathagata.’

To those who have left the triple world, I will give the dhyana­concentrations and emancipations of the Buddhas for their pleasure. These things are of the same nature and of the same species. These things are extolled by the saints because these things bring the purest and most wonderful pleasure.

Sariputra! The rich man persuaded his children to come out at first by promising them the gifts of the three kinds of carts. But the carts which he gave them later were the largest and most comfortable carts adorned with treasures. In spite of this, the rich man was not accused of falsehood. Neither am I. I led all living beings at first with the teaching of the Three Vehicles. Now I will save them by the Great Vehicle only. Why is that? It is because, if I had given them the teaching of the Great Vehicle at first directly from my store of the Dharma in which my immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness are housed, they would not have received all of the Dharma. Sariputra! Therefore, know this! The Buddhas divide the One Buddha-Vehicle into three by their power to employ expedients.

Underscore I am also a father, the father of all living beings. Seeing that many hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings have come out of the painful, fearful and rough road of the triple world through the gate of the teachings of the Buddha, and obtained the pleasure of Nirvana, I thought, ‘I have the store of the Dharma in which the immeasurable wisdom, powers and fearlessness of the Buddhas are housed. These living beings are all my children. I will give them the Great Vehicle. I will not cause them to attain extinction by their own ways. I will cause them to attain the extinction of the Tathagata.’