Receiving the Benefit of the Lotus Sutra

The Buddha says to Bodhisattva Medicine King, “If after I have passed into nirvana there is a person who, having heard even one gatha or phrase of the Lotus Sutra and having rejoiced in it, that person shall attain the highest enlightenment and become a Buddha. And if there is a person who receives and upholds, reads and recites, explains or copies in writing even one gatha of this Sutra, or who looks upon it with reverence and makes various offerings, it is the same as if that person had made offerings to the Buddha and taken the great vow of the bodhisattva, and he or she too will become a Buddha.” Long after the Buddha has passed into nirvana, the future Buddhahood of any person who is able to hear the Lotus Sutra, even just one gatha or phrase of it – even just the title of the Sutra – and at that moment give rise in their hearts to great satisfaction and joy, has already been affirmed. We do not have to go back 2,500 years, climb the The Gṛdhrakūṭa Mountain Peak, and sit among the assembly of Shakyamuni Buddha in order to receive the benefit of this Sutra.