“Ajita! Anyone who[, while he is staying outside the place of the expounding of the Dharma,] says to another person, ‘Let us go and hear the sūtra called Myōhō Renge Kyō which is being expounded [in that place],’ and cause him to hear Myōhō Renge Kyō even for a moment, in his next life by his merit, will be able to live with the Bodhisattvas who obtain dharanis. … He will be able to see the Buddhas, hear the Dharma from them, and receive their teachings by faith throughout his future existences.
Category Archives: Promises
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 9, 2025
Anyone who protects Myōhō Renge Kyō
Should be considered
To have already made offerings
To Many-Treasures and to me.
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.
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.”
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.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 5, 2025
Anyone who keeps Myōhō Renge Kyō
Will be able to recognize the voices of the Buddhas,
That is, the voices of the Great Honorable Saints
Who teach all living beings,
And who expound Myōhō Renge Kyō in great congregations.He will be able to recognize
All the sounds and voices
Inside and outside the one thousand million Sumeru-worlds,
[Each being composed of the six regions]
Down to the Avici Hell and up to the Highest Heaven.
And yet his organ of hearing will not be destroyed.
He will be able to recognize everything by hearing
Because his ears are sharp.Anyone who keeps
Myōhō Renge Kyō
Will be able to obtain these merits with his natural ears
Although he has not yet obtained heavenly ears.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 4, 2025
It is difficult to keep Myōhō Renge Kyō.
I shall be glad to see
Anyone keeping Myōhō Renge Kyō even for a moment.
So will all the other Buddhas.
He will be praised by all the Buddhas.
He will be a man of valor,
A man of endeavor.
He should be considered
To have already observed the precepts,
And practiced the dhuta.
He will quickly attain
The unsurpassed enlightenment of the Buddha.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 3, 2025
Just as the wheel-turning-holy-king is superior to the kings of small countries, Myōhō Renge Kyō is more honorable than the other sūtras.
The Acts of a Beneficent Dharma-Protecting Spirit
Note: This is another in the monthly excerpts from “Tales of the Lotus Sutra.”
Buddhism in Practice, p441-442The Buddhist monk Lingkan. Details of his background are unknown. [His master] recognized him to be someone who was very bright and compassionate by nature and had him take up regular recitation of the Lotus Sūtra. However, upon first completing his memorization of the scripture, Lingkan unexpectedly came down with (gan) a severe illness. He informed his master of it, saying, “I have heard that if one [ritually] receives and keeps the Lotus one will realize purification of the six sense faculties. How is it that my recitation produces (gan) illness instead?”
His master replied, “When you recite the sutra how do you go about it?”
Kan said, “Sometimes I do not wash my hands, or bother to clothe myself [with the proper robes]. I may rest the [the sūtra] at my feet, or place it at the head of my bed, as the moment moves me.”
His teacher said, “In that case it is a beneficent dharma-protecting spirit that has come to inflict punishment on you. If you don’t show proper care for the scripture your efforts will bring forth (gan) no merits. It is fitting that you repent.”
Kan thereupon fashioned a plain wooden case, where he kept the sutra and to which he [regularly] paid obeisance by touching it with the crown of his head. In the [Buddha] hall he ritually circumambulated [the sūtra]. Except for eating and relieving himself, he threw himself entirely into this painful penance, chastening himself with such intensity that his head split open and blood flowed.
For three years running he kept up this practice, until one day, just as the light of dawn was beginning to break at the fifth watch, there came a loud pounding at the door of the Buddha hall, and someone called out for it to be opened. At first Kan was reluctant, thinking, “Certainly this must be a criminal. Why else would he want a door to be opened when it is already locked tight?” But the person continued to call without letting up, so Kan finally gave in.
When he opened the door he saw an old man. His beard and temples were hoary white, and in his hands he clutched a wooden staff. When Kan showed his face the man struck him repeatedly, saying, “Will you dare ever again to make light of the Lotus Sūtra?” The instant he hit him, the ulcers that covered Kan’s body were healed and his four vital elements returned to their normal balance.
When the daylight finally broke Kan inspected the front of the Buddha hall, where he discovered the footprints of an elephant [in the dirt]. Thereupon he realized for the first time that the old man was the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who had descended to eliminate his sins. From then on he completely reformed his ways and devoted himself unremittingly to the practice of recitation [of the Lotus]. We do not know where or when he died.
His old master, Ju, also took the Lotus as his main practice. Whenever he recited the scripture he felt as though an ambrosial flavor, unlike anything in the known world, would spread through his mouth. As a result, when he began reciting he never wanted to stop.
Myōhō Renge Kyō Promise for June 2, 2025
Offer flowers and incense of heaven,
Jeweled garments of heaven,
And heaps of wonderful treasures of heaven
To the expounder of Myōhō Renge Kyō!