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

Last month I offered my changing interpretations about why it takes so long for Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana to become Buddhas. And this time around I want to ponder time and memory, starting with that teaser at the close of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood:

Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

The time and memory comes into play at the opening of Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City:

The Buddha said to the bhiksus:

A countless, limitless, inconceivable, asamkhya number of kalpas ago, there lived a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom­Excellence, 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 World­Honored One. His world was called Well-Composed; and the kalpa in which he became that Buddha, Great-Form.

Bhiksus! It is a very long time since that Buddha passed away. Suppose someone smashed all the earth-particles of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds into ink-powder. Then he went to the east [,carrying the ink-powder with him]. He inked a dot as large as a particle of dust [with that ink-powder] on the world at a distance of one thousand worlds from his world. Then he went again and repeated the inking of a dot on the world at every distance of one thousand worlds until the ink-powder was exhausted. What do you think of this? Do you think that any mathematician or any disciple of a mathematician could count the number of the worlds [he went through]?”

No, we do not, World-Honored One!

Bhiksus! Now all the worlds he went through, whether they were inked or not, were smashed into dust. The number of the kalpas which have elapsed since that Buddha passed away is many hundreds of thousands of billions of asamkhyas larger than the number of the particles of the dust thus produced. Yet I remember [the extinction of] that Buddha by my power of insight as vividly as if he had passed away today.

And just to underline, asamkhyas is linked to a footnote that says: “This is an adjective, meaning ‘innumerable.’ ” I’ve never been really great at math, but I assume multiplying a period of time by “innumerable” gets you some place just this side of infinity.

And in gathas:

I remember the extinction of that Buddha
As vividly as if he had passed away just now,
By my unhindered wisdom;
I also remember
The Sravakas and Bodhisattvas who lived [with him].

Bhiksus, know this!
My wisdom is pure, wonderful,
Free from asravas and from hindrance.
I know those who lived innumerable kalpas ago.

I’ll be 65 years old next month, and if there is one feature of enlightenment that I would cherish, it would be a memory for details so perfect that it makes time irrelevant. For now, I need to look again for my keys. I drove home, so I know they are somewhere in the house.

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

The first half of today’s reading involves promises of future Buddhahood for “the great disciples.” In the past, when I’ve focused on this section, I’ve puzzled over why it is that Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana must spend billions of lifetimes serving Buddhas before they finally attain enlightenment.

After all, it is common to read encouragement like this:

[T]he Lotus Sutra opens the seed of Buddhahood or potential enlightenment that each and everyone of us possess, and with the continued chanting of the Odaimoku, it gives that seed the nourishment it needs to sprout, grow and mature into a real living Buddha, transforming lives into that of an enlightened being, blessed with all the same wonderful and varied qualities, virtues and merits that Shakyamuni Buddha himself attained.
Odaimoku: The Significance Of Chanting Namu Myoho Renge Kyo

Recently, however, I’ve come to look at this from a different perspective. I suppose I could call it the Bodhisattva perspective.

Sakyamuni says to Subhuti:

In his future life, this Subhuti will see three hundred billion nayutas of Buddhas, make offerings to them, respect them, honor them, praise them, perform brahma practices, complete the Way of Bodhisattvas, and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence.

Underline complete the Way of Bodhisattvas and become a Buddha on the final stage of his physical existence.

Again, for Great Katyayana:

On the final stage of his physical existence,
He will obtain the wisdom of the Buddha
And attain perfect enlightenment.

And Great Maudgalyayana:

He will finally complete
The Way of Bodhisattvas,
And become a Buddha
Called Tamala [ pattralcandana-Fragrance In a world called
Mind-Happiness.

Each day, morning and evening, I recite The Four Great Vows, beginning with the greatest vow:

Sentient begins are innumberable: I vow to save them all.

In the book Lotus Seeds, Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick explains:

A bodhisattva is a person who has reached a high level of spiritual maturity and has realized that his or her awakening depends upon the awakening of others. Seeing the suffering of others, a bodhisattva works to assist them to free themselves from suffering and then attain awakening. This intention is expressed in the “Four Bodhisattva Vows.”
Lotus Seeds

When I first heard the Four Great Vows I immediately saw the Catch-22: I can’t become a Buddha until I’ve saved everyone else.

And yet it was only recently that I saw the billions of lifetimes of service from Subhuti, Great Katyayana and Great Maudgalyayana as fulfillment of that Bodhisattva vow to save all sentient beings.

Let me help you onto the boat before I join you on this trip to the other side of the river.

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

Last month I promised to focus on the 16 princes.

On this twelfth time through these verses it is still hard not to feel like a “spoiler” when I discuss the princes.

At the end of Chapter 6, Assurance of Future Buddhahood, we get the great teaser of what is to come:

Now I will tell you
About my previous existence
And also about yours.
All of you, listen attentively!

Underline And also about yours

We then learn of a Buddha called Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence who lived in a time so long ago it is beyond calculation. More important than the distance in the past, is this:

I remember the extinction of that Buddha
As vividly as if he had passed away just now,
By my unhindered wisdom; I also remember
The Sravakas and Bodhisattvas who lived [with him].

Bhiksus, know this!
My wisdom is pure, wonderful,
Free from asravas and from hindrance.
I know those who lived innumerable kalpas ago.

And now the princes:

Before [the king who became Great-Universal-Wisdom-Excellence] left home, he had sixteen sons. The first son was called Accumulated-Wisdom. Each of the sons had various playthings. When the sons heard that their father had attained Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, they gave up the playthings, left home, and came to that Buddha.

Note that these 16 princes gave up their playthings without needing to be offered various toy carts.

In praising the Buddha, the princes point out something that will be repeated several times in tomorrow’s section:

All living beings are suffering.
Being blind, they have no leader.
They do not know how to stop suffering,
Or that they should seek emancipation.
In the long night fewer people go to heaven,
And more people go to the evil regions.
They go from darkness to darkness, and do not hear
Of the names of the Buddhas.

You are the Most Honorable One.
You have obtained the peaceful Dharma-without-asravas. Not only we but also all gods and men
Will be able to obtain the greatest benefit.
Therefore, we bow and devote ourselves to you,
The Most Honorable One.

Without a Buddha in the world, “fewer people go to heaven, And more people go to the evil regions.”

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

Last month skipped over the assurance of future Buddhahood for Subhuti, Great Katyayana, and Great Maudgalyayana and instead discussed Chapter 7, The Parable of the Magic City, and the unhindered power of the Buddha to remember what happened “countless, limitless, inconceivable, asamkhya number of
kalpas ago.”

Continuing in Chapter 7, we have the reality that enlightenment may take awhile.

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-Universal­-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha. Now he attained Anuttara-samyak­sambodhi.

I sit in awe, unable to be still even for a moment, and consider that “He wished to attain Anuttara-samyak-­sambodhi, but could not because the Dharma of the Buddhas had not yet come into his mind,” and I try to imagine what it might feel like when “the Dharma of the Buddhas came into the mind of Great-Universal­-Wisdom-Excellence Buddha.”

Next month, the 16 princes.