To enter the room of the Tathāgata means to have great compassion towards all living beings.

Compassion can fully cover [the whole realm] like a room providing shelter. Room should be read with the sense of “to enter.”

To wear the robe of the Tathāgata means to be gentle and patient.

“The bearing of insult” and the “forbearing” of pleasure are like a cloak protecting the body. Cloak should be read with the sense of “to put on.”

To sit on the seat of the Tathāgata means to see the voidness of all things.

Being “empty,” one is given “security.” Attainment is likened to a “throne.” Throne should be read with the sense of “to sit.” Isn’t [the Buddha] thereby benefitting beings greatly?

Suppose a man on a plateau {high plain}felt thirsty and sought water.

Receiving and keeping the Dharma Blossom, while seeking enlightenment to the Path of the Buddha, at the apex of one’s desire, is likened to [the state of a man] “[hard pressed by] thirst and in need of water.” This analogy figuratively speaks of [the difference between] shallowness and depth, and gain and loss, in men keeping the Dharma Blossom. It was said earlier that there are those who “cannot contrive to see and hear” the Dharma Blossom. It refers not so much to those who have not obtained the rolls [of the sūtra] as to those who have not comprehended the idea of the One Vehicle.

In contrast to the three vehicles, the One Vehicle is “the hardest to believe.” Seeking understanding about the Dharma Blossom is like searching for water “on a high plain.” Receiving, keeping, reading, and reciting it are symbolized in “to dig.”

He dug a hole in order to get water. As long as he saw the dug-out lumps of earth were dry, he knew that water was still far off. He went on digging, and then found the dug-out lumps of earth wet. When he finally found mud, he was convinced that water was near.

Not seeing the gate to the profound [realm] is like “seeing dry earth.” Turning around to bring themselves to the deep [realm] is like seeing “mud.” They already know that the great awakening is not remote: they “know that water must be near.”

Anyone who copies, keeps, reads and recites this sūtra, makes offerings to it, and expounds it to others after my extinction, will be covered by my robe {garments}.

li is deep and covered completely. Through “garments,” [the Buddha] manifests it.

He will live with me.

When men feel intensely that they are entertaining doubtful thoughts, they are then on the way to wakening. Wakened, one becomes identified with the man of the Lotus Blossom. As they comprehend and partake of the profound ultimate, their experience of understanding becomes an integral part of their thought; thus, a place is provided. Providing a place is the meaning intended by dwelling together.

I will pat him on the head {heads caressed}.

One who will keep the Dharma Blossom will be initiated as a son of the Buddha. A deep love is expressed by means of caressing the heads.

Thereupon the Buddha said again to Medicine-King Bodhisattva mahāsattvas: “I have expounded many sūtras. I am now expounding this sūtra. I also will expound many sūtras in the future. The total number of the sūtras will amount to many thousands of billions. This Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand.

Whereas the preceding sections explicate the Dharma by way of man, the sections from here on explicate man by way of the Dharma. Because it is difficult to obtain the Dharma, it is difficult to find the men who receive and keep it also because it is difficult to believe and understand the Dharma.

Anyone who reads and recites the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, know this, will be adorned just as I am. I will shoulder him. {Borne about on the Thus Come One’s shoulders}

The Dharma is [the same as] the Buddha Master. One should respect the Dharma in order to receive the Dharma, and what [the expression] bearing about means really is that one “bears about” the Dharma but not men. However, the descriptive trace of speech as found here also is focused on man [as the agent of Dharma] in order to help strengthen learning.

An evil man who speaks ill of me in my presence with evil intent for as long as a kalpa is not as sinful as the person who reproaches laymen or monks with even a single word of abuse for their reading and reciting the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

The Buddha is supreme among men and gods. To hate and “curse” him is but cursing the man, not cursing the Dharma. However, if a man who receives the Dharma Blossom “curses” it, this is tantamount to “cursing” the man and disgracing the Dharma as well. To “curse” men and disgrace the Dharma is identical with “slandering” the Dharma-body. The guilt of those who “slander” the Dharma-body is extremely “grave.” [This injunction by the Buddha] is designed to strengthen the learner’s drive, certainly with great effect.

The good men or women who expound even a phrase of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma even to one person even in secret after my extinction,

What has been mentioned is the abundance of merits one obtains when one receives [the sūtra] for oneself. Now [the Buddha] talks about preaching it to another person, which represents an altruistic act, benefitting others. When one’s Path (Tao) embraces [others] as well, one’s merits and rewards will be endless.

know this, are my messengers.

The mind of Great Benevolence always cherishes the idea of propagating the Dharma. If a man is a practitioner of the Dharma, he is then “an emissary of the Thus Come One.”

They are dispatched by me.

This explains that what they understand comes from the Buddha’s understanding. I say “[their understanding] comes from the Buddha’s,” because certainly the Thus Come One is the source of understanding, and they act in compliance with him. The Thus Come One from the beginning takes propagating the Dharma to be his business. And he who can do so is said to be “doing the Thus Come One’s business.”

Thereupon the World-Honored One said to Medicine-King Bodhisattva in the presence of the eighty thousand great men:

The reason why [the Buddha] addressed them through Medicine King is because he could burn his own body [as he did in his former incarnation in order to propagate the Dharma.]’ [The Buddha says that if] one rejoices over one single gāthā [of the sūtra, then one will be granted a prophecy]. If this is so with a few [gāthās], how much more so if one rejoices over many! So deep is the meaning here. If one harbors anger in the heart, one then separates oneself from other beings. When one [as a propagator] is separated from others, [one does] not then cause [others] to trod the path [also]. Therefore, [the Buddha] praises one who “rejoices”; rejoicing means that the Dharma Blossom is propagated.

[Concerning 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,] the five hundred arhats are those who had “the virtues filled inside and their names flowing outside.” Thus, they received their prophecies earlier. These learners and adepts are advanced very little in “name and actuality” (ming-shih); hence, they receive their prophecies later. All that is dealt with throughout this one segment is [the Buddha’s] bestowal of the prophecies upon them.

“World-Honored One! Suppose a man visited {arrives at the house} his good friend.

The five hundred arhats, after their subtle triggering-mechanism was awakened, were delighted and reproached themselves. Insofar as they reproached themselves, their pleasure also was not a shallow one. Although the speeches the Thus Come One has made are so multifarious, with no set pattern, the li underlying them is by no means different. However, these five hundred people went astray from the [Buddha’s] words, failing to grasp his import through their own extreme fault. Thus they themselves draw an analogy in order to express this idea.

Friend refers to the sixteen princes. House means the residence accommodating the teaching of the Greater [Vehicle]. Although these five hundred people in the beginning heard equally [the doctrine], their innate dispositions (chih) varied [in absorbing the Buddha’s speeches, like] white silk, which is dyed differently from one part to another. That is what arrives at the house of a [close] friend means.

He was treated to drink, and fell asleep drunk.

What the friend’s words of advice mean is that beings’ innate [nature], sufficiently [existent in them] has now become completely lacking (submerged). Although still unable to forget the [Buddha’s] words, they have become deluded in thought. The deluded thought has turned passionate. They are intoxicated with the five desires and birth and death (saṃsāra), like the man “getting drunk and lying down.”

His friend had to go out on official business. He fastened a priceless gem inside the garment of the man as a gift to him, and went out.

Although it was said that they were in confusion and delusion, wouldn’t they rather begin to have subtle understanding? Their understanding being truly subtle, the great enlightenment will arise from it; so, speaking of a cause in terms of its effect, one can say it is “priceless.” It is covered with delusion like [the jewel] present in the interior of [the man’s] garment. Because of “the friend,” [the Buddha] has come; he “leaves” [it with them]. Li is never to be lost; it also is what that “friend” “sews.” It was sewed secretly [into all] without discrimination; it cannot be overlooked. The import of the statement about the Greater Vehicle is concealed, leaving them ignorant of this meaning; thus, they are “unaware of anything.” After [“unawareness”] ends they can be transformed. The [Sage’s] stimulus (kan) to teach is stopped temporarily, which is implicit in “having official business, [he] is on the point of going away.”

The drunken man did not notice what his friend had given him. After a while he got up, and went to another country. He had great difficulty in getting food and clothing. He satisfied himself with what little he had earned.

Their previous understanding was activated, enabling them to oppose illusion: they “recovered” from lying down. “Recovering,” they then listened to the teaching. But what they were following was not the original [path]; it is said: they “set out on their travels.” The nirvāṇa of the two vehicles did not “belong to the original”: thus they “reached another country” to lead the pleasure-seeking life. Going astray from the path of the Greater [Vehicle], they suffered hardship in [reaching] li. The joy they found there was less than that found in the Greater Vehicle, but it was something “to be content with” in comparison with that of the world.

Some time later the good friend happened to see him.

Following the teaching [of the three] is what they had grasped, still short of meeting their old friend. Now [the Buddha] has preached that the three are the One: Just now they have “encountered” it. It was not what they themselves had sought: they “encountered it by chance.”

He said, ‘Alas, man! Why have you had such difficulty in getting food and clothing? I fastened a priceless gem inside your garment on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year so that you might live peacefully and satisfy your five desires. The gem is still there, and you do not notice it. You are working hard, and worrying about your livelihood. What a fool you are! Trade that gem for what you want! You will not be short of anything you want.’

“Once when I” was in the place of [the Buddha] Victorious through Great Penetrating Knowledge, “I sewed a priceless jewel” of Dharma “into the inside of your” hearts. To show that they had obtained the One, [they] made up this story. As cause changes into effect, there is no pleasure that cannot be obtained; there cannot be any “want” in anything whatsoever.

We thought that we had attained extinction when we attained Arhatship because we forgot that we had been taught to aspire for the knowledge of all things

When formerly they received the transformative teaching, they had the subtle understanding “sewn” in. “Later” they were attached to the trappings (or disguised aspect) of the transformative teaching, or to the idea [itself] (or deluded thought): They “forgot.”