Hsuan Hua, Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, Blog

The Law of Cause and Effect’s Strict Retribution

After Master Hsuan Hua’s description of why the Richman in Chapter 4, Faith and Understanding, took on the appearance of someone who was “frightened,” Hsuan Hua offered a lesson about the strict retribution everyone receives, even a Buddha. As explained in a footnote at this point:

After the Buddha had realized Buddhahood, he went through three karmic retributions as a result of his past karma from previous lifetimes:

  1. The Buddha’s foot was pierced through by a golden spear, which was actually a piece of wood chip;
  2. the Buddha ate horse feed for three months; and
  3. the Buddha suffered from a headache for three days.

The narratives that follow describe the last two of these retributions.
Re. T04 No. 197 Foshuo xinqihengjing 佛說興起行經 and To4 No. 196 Zhong benqi jing 中本起經.

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v5, p79-80

A long, long time ago, when the Buddha was still in the formative stage of his practice, there was a famine in the country where he lived. Since there was nothing else to eat, people started eating fish from the sea. A very large fish was caught and brought up on shore. Śākyamuni Buddha, then just a child, hit it with a stick over the head three times. Therefore, although he had become a Buddha, he still suffered headaches as retribution.

Another time, while cultivating in a former life, he saw a bhikṣu going on alms rounds and said, “That bhikṣu is only fit to eat horse feed! Why do those people give him such delicious things to eat?” Because he made that one comment, when he became a Buddha, the following event took place: The Buddha went to another country for the summer meditation retreat. The king had said that he would make offerings to him, but when the Buddha got there, the king reneged. “Just give these bhikṣus horse feed!” he said. So for three months, the Sangha ate only horse feed.

Even though the Buddha has awe-inspiring virtue, he still manifested undergoing retributions such as these.

This story involves the principle of cause and effect as described in the following couplet:

Plant a good cause, reap a good result.
Plant a bad cause, reap a bad result.

The causes you planted in your former lives determine the results you now undergo.

Another story is about King Virūḍhaka’s extermination of the Śākyan clan.

In the past, Sakyamuni Buddha hit a large fish three times, and over five hundred people ate its flesh. Thus, after he became a Buddha, he had headaches as retribution, and King Virūḍhaka exterminated the Śākyan clan.

King Virūḍhaka was a king in India at that time, who wanted to kill everyone in the Śākyan clan. The Śākyans clan was composed of those very people who had, in the past, eaten the fish that Sakyamuni Buddha had hit on the head; and King Virūḍhaka was formerly that fish. Since they had eaten his flesh, he wanted to drink their blood and was determined to kill them all. Although the Buddha possessed all spiritual transformations with endless, wondrous applications, he could not save his kinsfolk.

Mahāmaudgalyāyana, however, could not bear this, and he tried to use his spiritual powers to save them. Why didn’t the Buddha save them? The Buddha knew that this occurrence was a destined retribution determined by the law of cause and effect. Maudgalyāyana did not know the involved cause and effect because, as an Arhat, he could only see the past causes and effects as far back as 80,000 great eons. Everything that happened prior to 80,000 great eons was beyond his knowledge.

Since he didn’t know the circumstances, he thought, “My teacher’s kinsfolk are going to be killed by the king. I must employ my spiritual powers and save them.”

Mahāmaudgalyāyana was foremost in spiritual powers among the Buddha’s disciples, so he recited a mantra that put five hundred members of the Śākyan clan into his alms bowl. Then he sent the bowl up into empty space. “There is no way King Virūḍhaka can kill them now,” he thought. When King Virūḍhaka had finished exterminating the Śākyan clan, Maudgalyāyana brought the bowl down again. Much to his dismay, he found only blood in place of the five hundred Śākyans. None of them survived.

Maudgalyāyana asked the Buddha, “Even with my spiritual powers, why couldn’t I rescue the Śākyan clan?” The Buddha replied, “There was no way to avoid the retribution of this particular case of cause and effect. If it could have been avoided, I would have saved my kinsfolk myself instead of waiting for you to save them.”

This example demonstrates that the law of cause and effect is difficult to escape. Bad karma you created in former lives will come back to you as retribution in this present life; retribution is inevitable.

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v5, p79-82
Promises

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 8, 2025

Anyone who keeps, reads and recites Myōhō Renge Kyō, and understands the meanings of Myōhō Renge Kyō, will be given helping hands by one thousand Buddhas immediately after his present life. He will be fearless. He will not fall into any evil region. He will be reborn in the Tusiita Heaven. There he will go to Maitreya Bodhisattva who, adorned with the thirty-two marks, will be surrounded by great Bodhisattvas, and attended on by hundreds of thousands of billions of goddesses. He will be given the benefits of these merits. Therefore, anyone who has wisdom should copy Myōhō Renge Kyō with all his heart, cause others to copy Myōhō Renge Kyō, and also keep, read and recite Myōhō Renge Kyō, memorize Myōhō Renge Kyō correctly, and act according to Myōhō Renge Kyō.

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 28

About this project

Tao-Sheng Commentary, LS45, LS32

Tao-sheng: Devadatta and the Dragon Princess

When Tao-sheng wrote his commentary in 432 CE, the Kumārajīva translation of the Lotus Sūtra did not include Chapter 12, Devadatta. This wouldn’t be added until the 6th century. As a result, Tao-sheng’s commentary covers only 27 chapters.

LS45, Hsuan Hua, Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, LS32, Blog

Master Hsuan Hua’s interpretation of the Parable of the Rich Man and His Poor Son

Back in March, I reviewed the Buddhist Text Translation Society’s translation of the Lotus Sutra, which I had used as part of my daily practice of reading aloud a portion of the sutra during morning and evening services.

In my review I cited a number of typos I’d noticed, but I paid particular attention to one word I felt was used in error.

A more significant error appears in Chapter 4, Faith and Understanding, when the rich man wants to get close to his son, who has been convinced to come work for him. On page 107 it reads:

“Later, on another day, the elder looked through a window and saw his son at a distance. His son was feeble, emaciated, haggard, and soiled with dung, dirt, and filth. The elder removed his jeweled necklace, his soft, fine upper garments, and his ornaments, and put on a coarse, torn, and grease-stained robe. Smearing himself with dirt and holding a dung shovel in his right hand, he looked frightened.”

The word should be frightful or frightening, not frightened. In Senchu Murano’s translation we’re told:

He looked fearful. He [came to the workers and] said, ‘Work hard! Do not be lazy!’

The BTK English Tripiṭaka translation (PDF), the Rissho Kosei-kai modern translation and Leon Hurvitz’s translation (PDF) all agree that the rich man, dressed in work clothes, looked frightful or commanding.

It is important to keep in mind that the sutra text is volume 15 of Master Hsuan Hua’s 14-volume commentary on the Lotus Sutra. At the time I wrote my review I had not read Hsuan Hua’s commentary. Needless to say, I was surprised by what I found when I finally read Hsuan Hua’s explanation of this portion of the Parable of the Rich Man and his Poor Son.

SUTRA

“The elder removed his jeweled necklace, his soft, fine upper garments, and his ornaments, and put on a coarse, torn, and grease-stained robe. Smearing himself with dirt and holding a dung shovel in his right hand, he looked frightened.”

COMMENTARY

The elder removed his jeweled necklace. “Jeweled necklace” refers to the Buddha’s various Dharmas, including precepts, samādhi, wisdom, and dhārāṇi. “Removed his jeweled necklace” means to hide the awe-inspiring, virtuous, and majestic appearance of the Tathagata’s ten-thousand-foot-tall Nişyanda Buddha body.

His soft, fine upper garments is a metaphor for the Buddha’s great, adorned body and his oceanic subsidiary characteristics. The Buddha’s physical attributes are as limitless as the sea. The Buddha also has countless bodies, and each of his bodies is replete with the thirty-two hallmarks and the eighty subsidiary characteristics and with awe-inspiring virtue and adornments. Now he has hidden these bodies. Why? Those of the Two Vehicles do not recognize these honored, exquisite bodies; in other words, those of the Two Vehicles do not recognize their father, the Buddha. The Buddha is actually their father, but they do not dare to believe it because the Buddha is so wealthy and they are so terribly poor. If the Buddha tried to take them across with his reward and transformation bodies, they would become frightened. Why? Those of the Lesser Vehicle have never seen such honorable and noble bodies with oceanic hallmarks.

That is why the Buddha removed his jeweled necklace, his soft, fine upper garments, and his ornaments, and put on a coarse, torn, and grease-stained robe. What is meant by “coarse”? The Buddha hid his ten-thousand-foot-tall Nişyanda Buddha body and manifested the six-foot-tall body of an old bhikṣu, which looked more or less the same as that of an ordinary person. “Torn” refers to the Lesser Vehicle’s patience toward living beings and patience toward all phenomena. “Grease-stained robe” represents conditional phenomena and outflows that are filthy and impure.

Having afflictions is analogous to smearing himself with dirt. The afflictions are like dirt that smears the body. And holding a dung shovel in his right hand. Why did he hold the dung shovel in his right hand? “Right hand” represents the use of expedient Dharma-doors to teach those of the Two Vehicles. What does “dung shovel” represent? “Dung shovel” refers to the Dharma-door that dispels delusions arising from incorrect views and delusions arising from incorrect thoughts. The Buddha used this Dharma to cut off delusions arising from incorrect views, delusions arising from incorrect thoughts, and delusions of ignorance, thereby becoming a Buddha. He uses this kind of Dharma to teach those of the Two Vehicles, enabling them to follow this method to cut off their own delusions and realize Buddhahood. Because he realized Buddhahood by means of this method, he also teaches this method to living beings. This is called “holding a dung shovel.”

He looked frightened. He appears in the guise of a practitioner of the Two Vehicles, seeming to fear birth and death. The Bodhisattvas are in the cycle of birth and death yet are not subject to birth and death. They are afraid neither of suffering nor of birth and death. Those of the Two Vehicles are afraid of birth and death as well as impermanence and suffering. Thus, the Buddha manifests as if he were afraid of birth and death, impermanence, and suffering. Therefore, the sūtra line says “he looked frightened.”

Hsuan Hua Lotus Sutra Commentary, v5, p79-82

Next: The Law of Cause and Effect’s Strict Retribution

Promises

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 7, 2025

Ajita! Any good man or woman who keeps, reads, or recites Myōhō Renge Kyō after my extinction, also will be able to obtain these merits. Know this! He or she should be considered to have already reached the place of enlightenment, approached Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi, and sat under the tree of enlightenment. Ajita! Erect a stupa in the place where he or she sat, stood or walked! All gods and men should make offerings to that stupa just as they do to the stupa of a Buddha.”

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 17

About this project

Tao-Sheng Commentary, LS45, LS32

Tao-sheng: Endowed with the Capacity for Great Enlightenment

Śākyamuni Buddha raised them up to the sky by his supernatural powers

Why did he touch them? Wanting to express [the idea] that living beings are endowed with the capacity for great enlightenment and that all [are geared to] achieve Buddhahood, [the Buddha] showed this scene.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p278
Earth Store, Blog

Forty-Nine Days to Decide

Earth Store Bodhisattva – Jizo in Japan; Kṣitigarbha in Sanskrit – is famous for his vow to save everyone in hell before he himself becomes a Buddha. But he is not the only one with that responsibility.

As we learn in the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva,  the living have 49 days in which to intervene on behalf of those who have died.

Early in the sutra we learn of a Brahmin woman who was consigned to the hells due to offenses committed during her lifetime. In an act of filial responsibility, her daughter embarked on a journey to the hells to rescue her mother from its horrors.

“The Brahman woman asked the ghost king, ‘What is this place?’

“Poisonless replied, ‘We are on the western side of the Great Iron Ring Mountain and this is the first of the seas that encircle it.’

“The worthy woman asked, ‘I have heard that the hells are within the Iron Ring. Is that actually so?’

“Poisonless answered, ‘Yes, the hells are here.’

“The worthy woman asked, ‘How have I now come to the hells?’

“Poisonless answered, ‘If it wasn’t awesome spiritual strength that brought you here, then it was the power of karma. Those are the only two ways that anyone can come here.’

“The worthy woman asked, ‘Why is this water seething and bubbling, and why are there so many offenders and dreadful beasts?’

“Poisonless replied, ‘These are beings of Jambudvipa who did evil deeds. They have just died and passed through forty-nine days without any surviving relatives doing any meritorious deeds on their behalf to rescue them from their distress. Moreover, during their lives they themselves didn’t plant any good causes. Hence their own karma calls forth these hells. They must, of course, cross this sea first. Ten thousand yojanas east of this sea is another sea in which they will undergo twice as much suffering. East of that sea is yet another sea where the sufferings are doubled yet again. What the combined evil causes of the three karmas evoke are all called the sea of karma. This is that place.”

The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, page 10-11

Later in the sutra the offering of merit to the deceased is discussed.

[Earth Store Bodhisattva said] “World Honored One, I see that beings of Jambudvipa will themselves receive the benefit of any good deeds they are able to do within the Buddha’s teachings. That holds true even when the deeds are as small as a strand of hair, a drop of water, a grain of sand, or a mote of dust.”

After that had been said, an elder named Great Eloquence rose in the assembly. He had realized non-production long ago and was only appearing in the body of an elder to teach and transform those in the ten directions. Placing his palms together respectfully, he asked Earth Store Bodhisattva, “Great Lord, after people in Jambudvipa die and their young and old relatives cultivate merit by making vegetarian meal offerings and doing other such good deeds, will the deceased obtain merit and virtue significant enough to bring about their liberation?”

Earth Store replied, “Elder, based on the awesome power of the Buddhas, I will now expound this principle for the sake of beings of the present and future. Elder, if beings of the present and future, when on the verge of dying hear the name of one Buddha, one Bodhisattva, or one Pratyekabuddha, they will attain liberation whether they have committed offenses or not.

“When men or women laden with offenses who failed to plant good causes die, even they can receive one-seventh of any merit dedicated to them by young and old relatives who do good deeds on their behalf. The other six sevenths of the merit will accrue to the living relatives who did the good deeds. It follows that men and women of the present and future who cultivate while they are strong and healthy will receive all portions of the benefit derived.

“The arrival of the great ghost of Impermanence is so unexpected that the deceased ones’ consciousnesses first drift in darkness, unaware of offenses and blessings. For forty-nine days the deceased are as if deluded or deaf, or as if in various courts where their karmic retributions are being decided. Once judgment is fixed, they are reborn according to their karma. In the time before rebirths are determined, the deceased suffer from thousands upon thousands of anxieties. How much more is that the case for those who are to fall into the bad destinies?

“Throughout forty-nine days, those whose lives have ended and who have not yet been reborn will be hoping every moment that their immediate relatives will earn blessings powerful enough to rescue them. At the end of that time, the deceased will undergo retribution according to their karma. If someone is an offender, he may pass through hundreds of thousands of years with no prospect of liberation. If someone’s offenses deserve fivefold relentless retribution, he will fall into the great hells and undergo incessant suffering throughout hundreds of millions of eons.

“Moreover, Elder, when beings who have committed karmic offenses die, their relatives may prepare vegetarian offerings to aid them on their karmic paths. In the process of preparing the vegetarian meal and before it has been eaten, rice-washing water and vegetable leaves should not be thrown on the ground. Before the food is offered to the Buddhas and the Sangha, no one should eat it. If there is laxness or transgression in this matter, then the deceased will receive no strength from it. If purity is rigorously maintained in making the offering to the Buddhas and the Sangha, the deceased will receive one seventh of the merit. Therefore, Elder, by performing vegetarian offerings on behalf of deceased fathers, mothers, and other relatives while making earnest supplication on their behalf, beings of Jambudvipa benefit both the living and the dead.”

After that was said, thousands of billions of nayutas of ghosts and spirits of Jambudvipa who were in the palace of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, made the unlimited resolve to attain Bodhi. The elder Great Eloquence made obeisance and withdrew.

The Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, page 63-66

I’ve written a lot about the 49-day journey after death. You can find much of that content here.

Promises

Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 6, 2025

Know this, Śāriputra!
I once vowed that I would cause
All living beings to become
Exactly as I am.

That old vow of mine
Has now been fulfilled.
I lead all living beings
Into the Way to Buddhahood.

Lotus Sutra, Chapter 2

About this project

Tao-Sheng Commentary, LS45, LS32

Tao-sheng: The Purpose of Dividing the Seat

Thereupon Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures offered a half of his seat to Śākyamuni Buddha, saying, “Śākyamuni Buddha, sit here!”

The purpose of presenting the dividing of the seat, in order to share [it with the Buddha], is to suggest that extinction [from the world] does not necessarily mean extinction and existence does not necessarily mean existence. The difference between existence and extinction originates in the various grades [of the capacities of beings]. How can the Sage be subject to them? Also by showing that [the Buddha will enter) nirvana not long hence, [the Buddha] makes them anxious to prepare for [receiving) the Dharma.

Tao-sheng Commentary on the Lotus Sutra, p277
Earth Store, Blog

Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva

Back on May 19 I explained the addition of the Medicine Master Sūtra with commentary by Master Hsuan Hua to my “decorations” that line a corner shelf adjacent to my altar.

Working my way through the Medicine Master Sūtra with commentary by Master Hsuan Hua reminded me that I also have a copy of the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, who is represented among my “decorations” by a wooden Jizo Bosatsu figure. I decided to add that sutra behind Jizo. My wife thinks I’m going overboard, but I enjoy the symmetry.

earth-store-sutra-bookcover
Available from the Buddhist Text Translation Society.

On page 5 of the Sutra of the Past Vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva, Śākyamuni says:

“Manjushri, the awesome spiritual vows of this Bodhisattva are inconceivable. If good men or women in the future hear this Bodhisattva’s name, praise him, behold or bow to him, call his name, make offerings to him, or if they draw, carve, cast, sculpt, or paint images of him, such people will be reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three one hundred times and will never fall into the evil paths.”

And on pages 50-51:

The Buddha told the Bodhisattva Universally Expansive, “If, in the future, good men or good women, upon hearing Earth Store Bodhisattva Mahāsattva’s name, place their palms together, praise him, bow to him, or gaze at him in worship, they will overcome thirty eons’ worth of offenses.

Universally Expansive, if good men or women gaze upon and bow but once to painted or drawn images of the Bodhisattva or ones made of clay, or stone, or lacquer, or gold, or silver, or bronze, or iron, they will be reborn one hundred times in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three and will eternally avoid falling into the evil destinies. If their blessings in the heavens come to an end and they are born in the human realm, they will become national leaders who suffer no loss of benefits.

I personally like the thought of such benefits, but that’s not my focus here. Instead, I look at the Bodhisattvas as exemplars to be emulated.

In Taigen Dan Leighton’s Faces of Compassion: Classic Bodhisattva Archetypes and Their Modern Expression, he writes:

In fully employing the bodhisattva figures as archetypes, we must also realize the tentative, artificial nature of archetypes. The archetypal aspects of the bodhisattva figures are helpful as patterns. We can feel a sense of what it might mean to behave and function as a bodhisattva ourselves by examining the fearless insight and eloquence of Mañjuśrī, the luminous helpful activity of Samantabhadra, the unmediated, unconditional generosity of Avalokiteśvara, the faithful witness of Jizō, the patience and loving concern of Maitreya, the clever, illuminating displays of Vimalakirti, and the selfless decision and determination of Siddhārtha Gautama. However, all of their kindness and efforts are only manifest and real when we see the bodhisattva figures not as theoretical or mythological, but as actualities expressed in our world.

Beyond all the archetypal patterns, the life of the bodhisattva is in ordinary, everyday activity. In simple acts of kindness and gestures of cheerfulness, bodhisattvas are functioning everywhere, not as special, saintly beings, but in helpful ways we may barely recognize. The bodhisattvas are not glorified, exotic, unnatural beings, but simply our own best qualities in full flower.

20250424_decorations-web

Jizo Bosatsu is next to the “Jeweled Vehicle” on the right end of my corner shelf of “decorations.”

On the Journey to a Place of Treasures