Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month completed the task of transmitting the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the Bodhisattvas who sprang up from underground, it’s time to discuss The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Thereupon Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva said to the Buddha:

World-Honored One! Why does Medicine-King Bodhisattva walk about this Saha-World? World-Honored One! This Medicine­King Bodhisattva will have to practice hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of austerities in this world. World-Honored One! Tell me why! Not only the gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kirnnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings but also the Bodhisattvas who have come from the other worlds and the Sravakas present here will be glad to hear the reason.

Before proceeding I want to underscore the purpose in discussing Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva austerities, I want to over this overview from Rev. Ryusho Jeffus’ Lecture on the Lotus Sutra:

In Chapter 23, the Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva, the Buddha tells Star-King-Flower Bodhisattva that there is no suffering that cannot be overcome through the practice of the Lotus Sutra. Just as a man who is thirsty is able to quench that thirst when he reaches a pond, so too can we overcome any tribulation. It is here that the Buddha talks about a torch dispelling darkness as well as eliminating the sufferings from diseases and breaking the bonds of birth and death.

When I am working in the hospital as a chaplain I carry an amulet that I dedicated solely for the purpose of healing for all the sick patients I visit. On that amulet I have the phrase “this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma saves all living beings from all sufferings, from all diseases.” It is my ongoing prayer for the health of all the people I visit in the hospital as well as the physicians and nurses who administer care to those patients.
Lecture on the Lotus Sutra

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month begun the Transmission, it is time to complete the task.

In the future, when you see good men or women who believe in the wisdom of the Tathagata, you should expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to them, and cause them to hear and know [this sutra] so that they may he able to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha. When you see anyone who does not receive [this sutra] by faith, you should show him some other profound teachings of mine, teach him, benefit him, and cause him to rejoice. When you do all this, you will be able to repay the favors given to you by the Buddhas.

Having heard these words of the Buddha, the Bodhisattva­mahasattvas were filled with great joy. With more respect than ever, they bent forward, bowed, joined their hands together towards him, and said simultaneously. ‘We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!’

The Bodhisattva-mahasattvas said simultaneously twice more, ‘We will do as you command. Certainly, World-Honored One! Do not worry!’

Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha, wishing to send back to their home worlds [Many-Treasures Buddha and] the Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters, said, ‘May the Buddhas be where they wish to be! May the stupa of Many-Treasures Buddha be where it was!’

Having heard these words of the Buddha, not only the innumerable Buddhas of his replicas, who had come from the worlds of the ten quarters and were sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, Many-Treasures Buddha, and the great multitude of the innumerable, asamkhya Bodhisattvas, including Superior-Practice, but also the four kinds of devotees including Sariputra and other Sravakas, and the gods, men and asuras of the world, had great joy.

The Daily Dharma from Oct. 24, 2015, offers this:

When you see anyone who does not receive [this sūtra] by faith, you should show him some other profound teachings of mine, teach him, benefit him, and cause him to rejoice. When you do all this, you will be able to repay the favors given to you by the Buddhas.

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month completed the Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, it is time for the Transmission.

Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha rose from the seat of the Dharma, and by his great supernatural powers, put his right hand on the heads of the innumerable Bodhisattva-mahasattvas, and said:

For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asamkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma diffcult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you. Propagate it with all your hearts, and make it known far and wide!

He put his [right] hand on their heads twice more, and said:

For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asamkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Now I will transmit [the Dharma] to you. Keep, read, recite and expound [this sutra in which the Dharma is given], and cause all living beings to hear it and know it! Why is that? It is because I have great compassion. I do not begrudge anything. I am fearless. I wish to give the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Tathagata, the wisdom of the Self-Existing One, to all living beings. I am the great almsgiver to all living beings. Follow me, and study my teachings without begrudging efforts!

The Daily Dharma of Aug. 24, 2016, offers this:

For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asaṃkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you. Propagate it with all your hearts, and make it known far and wide!

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month enjoyed the opportunity to “bring joy/To [the Buddhas of] my replicas/And also to Many-Treasures Buddha” and “cause [present, past and future Buddhas] to rejoice” by keeping the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, it’s time to finish up those Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas:

The Buddhas sat at the place of enlightenment,
And obtained the hidden core.
Anyone who keeps this sutra will be able
To obtain the same before long.

Anyone who keeps this sutra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sutra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.

Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sutras,
Who knows the position [of this sutra in the series of sutras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates alI darkness.
He will be able to cause innumerable Bodhisattvas
To dwell finally in the One Vehicle.

Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sutra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.

After more than two decades of practicing with SGI, it was only when I moved to Nichiren Shu and began studying the Lotus Sutra that I came to appreciate what being able to attain the enlightenment of the Buddha means.

Ven. Kenjo Igarashi‘s monthly commentary for September 2015 offered this explanation, something I had never before heard:

Buddhism is the teaching of the Buddha, just as Christianity is the teaching of Jesus Christ and Islam is the teaching of Mohammad.

Ultimately, Buddhism is everyone’s attempt to become a Buddha.

Definitely and doubtlessly.

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having last month considered that “all the profound achievements of the Tathagata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sutra,” this month I’ll use the gathas to review the Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas.

The Buddhas, the World-Saviors, have
Great supernatural powers.
They display their immeasurable, supernatural powers
In order to cause all living beings to rejoice.

The tips of their tongues reach the Heaven of Brahman.
Innumerable rays of light are emitted from their bodies.
For those who are seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha
The Buddhas do these things rarely to be seen.

The sound of coughing of the Buddhas
And the sound of their finger-snapping
Reverberate over the worlds of the ten quarters,
And the ground [of those worlds] quakes in the six ways.

The Buddhas joyfully display
Their immeasurable, supernatural powers
Because [the Bodhisattvas from underground]
[Vow to] keep this sutra after my extinction.

Even if I praise for innumerable kalpas
The keeper of this sutra,
To whom it is to be transmitted,
I cannot praise him highly enough.

His merits are as limitless,
As infinite, as boundless
As the skies of the worlds
Of the ten quarters.

Anyone who keeps this sutra
Will be able to see me. He also will be able to see Many-Treasures Buddha,
[The Buddhas of] my replicas,
And the Bodhisattvas whom I have taught today.

Anyone who keeps this sutra will be able to cause me to rejoice.
He also will be able to bring joy
To [the Buddhas of] my replicas
And also to Many-Treasures Buddha who once passed away.

He also will be able to see
The present, past and future Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarters,
Make offerings to them, and cause them to rejoice.

I smile in reading this. The “Buddhas joyfully display” their powers in response to the Bodhisattvas’ vow. And I am “able to bring joy/To [the Buddhas of] my replicas/And also to Many-Treasures Buddha” and “cause [present, past and future Buddhas] to rejoice” by keeping the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Starting over on this day’s content, I get to touch on what I find the most powerful statement of the Buddha about this sutra. He is addressing the Bodhisattvas who arose from underground headed by Superior-Practice:

To sum up, all the teachings of the Tathagata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathagata, all the treasury of the hidden core of the Tathagata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathagata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sutra. Therefore, keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sutra, and act according to the teachings of it with all your hearts after my extinction! In any world where anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds or copies this sutra, or acts according to its teachings, or in any place where a copy of this sutra is put, be it in a garden, in a forest, under a tree, in a monastery, in the house of a person in white robes, in a hall, in a mountain, in a valley, or in the wilderness, there should a stupa be erected and offerings be made to it because, know this, the place [where the stupa is erected] is the place of enlightenment. Here the Buddhas attained Anuttara­samyak-sambodhi. Here the Buddhas turned the wheel of the Dharma. Here the Buddhas entered into Parinirvana.

The Daily Dharma addressed this on July 22, 2016:

To sum up, all the teachings of the Tathāgata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathāgata, all the treasury of the hidden core of the Tathāgata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathāgata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sūtra. Therefore, keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sūtra, and act according to the teachings of it with all your hearts after my extinction!

Personally deep in faith.

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having covered the transmission of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the Bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground and discussed the benefits of keeping this sutra and the merits of this sutra to those to whom this sutra is to be transmitted from Chapter 21, it is time to explore “The Previous Life of Medicine King Bodhisattva.”

This chapter is problematic for me because I want to take the stories as literal lessons. Who wouldn’t want to be able to “know by smell whether an unborn child is a boy or a girl, or a child of ambiguous sex, or the embryo of a nonhuman being”? But Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva’s fiery all-consuming passion troubles.

Having made these offerings [to the Buddha], he emerged from the samādhi, and thought, ‘I have now made offerings to the Buddha by my supernatural powers. But these offerings are less valuable than the offering of my own body.’

The Daily Dharma from June 16, 2016, offers this perspective:

In Chapter Twenty-Three of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha tells the story of Gladly-Seen-By-All-Beings Bodhisattva, the previous life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva. This Bodhisattva practiced under an ancient Buddha, and made exorbitant offerings to that Buddha through his supernatural powers. He then realized that all the riches of the universe that he could conjure up paled in comparison to the treasure of his own body and his own life. He then made an offering of his body to the Buddha, which illuminated innumerable worlds. Nichiren wrote often of the hardships he faced in his life and those of his followers. He wrote of “reading the Lotus Sūtra with our bodies,” meaning bringing the Buddha’s wisdom to life in our lives. When we act according to the Wonderful Dharma, no matter what hardships we face, then we too are living the Lotus Sūtra, and making a perfect offering from our gratitude to the Buddha.

I’ll continue this discussion tomorrow.

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Having discussed the benefits of keeping this sutra and the merits of this sutra to those to whom this sutra is to be transmitted from Chapter 21, it is time to move on to the actual transmission of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to the Bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground.

Thereupon Sakyamuni Buddha rose from the seat of the Dharma, and by his great supernatural powers, put his right hand on the heads of the innumerable Bodhisattva-mahasattvas, and said:

For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asamkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Now I will transmit the Dharma to you. Propagate it with all your hearts, and make it known far and wide!

He put his [right] hand on their heads twice more, and said:

For many hundreds of thousands of billions of asamkhyas of kalpas, I studied and practiced the Dharma difficult to obtain, and [finally attained] Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Now I will transmit [the Dharma] to you. Keep, read, recite and expound [this sutra in which the Dharma is given], and cause all living beings to hear it and know it! Why is that? It is because I have great compassion. I do not begrudge anything. I am fearless. I wish to give the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Tathagata, the wisdom of the Self-Existing One, to all living beings. I am the great almsgiver to all living beings. Follow me, and study my teachings without begrudging efforts!

Underline I have great compassion. I do not begrudge anything. I am fearless. I wish to give the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Tathagata, the wisdom of the Self-Existing One, to all living beings.

Sakyamuni Buddha continues:

In the future, when you see good men or women who believe in the wisdom of the Tathagata, you should expound this Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma to them, and cause them to hear and know [this sutra] so that they may he able to obtain the wisdom of the Buddha. When you see anyone who does not receive [this sutra] by faith, you should show him some other profound teachings of mine, teach him, benefit him, and cause him to rejoice. When you do all this, you will be able to repay the favors given to you by the Buddhas.

The Daily Dharma for Oct. 25, 2015, said of this final point:

Even though they may not be ready to hear the Wonderful Dharma, we can use the Expedient Teachings to prepare them for the Buddha’s highest teaching. When we are assured that countless beings are helping us all to become enlightened, we are less likely to be disappointed in the progress that we see.

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

Last month, I began with the Buddha’s explanation to the Bodhisattvas who had sprung up from underground, that the “merits of this sutra to those to whom this sutra is to be transmitted” are limitless.

In the gathas section of Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathagathas, the Buddha explains the benefits of keeping this sutra:

Anyone who keeps this sutra
Will be able to see me.
He also will be able to see Many-Treasures Buddha,
[The Buddhas of] my replicas,
And the Bodhisattvas whom I have taught today.

Anyone who keeps this sutra will be able
to cause me to rejoice.
He also will be able to bring joy
To [the Buddhas of] my replicas
And also to Many-Treasures Buddha who once passed away.

He also will be able to see
The present, past and future Buddhas
Of the worlds of the ten quarters,
Make offerings to them, and cause them to rejoice.

The Buddhas sat at the place of enlightenment,
And obtained the hidden core.
Anyone who keeps this sutra will be able
To obtain the same before long.

Anyone who keeps this sutra
Will be able to expound
The meanings of the teachings,
And the names and words [of this sutra].
Their eloquence will be as boundless
And as unhindered as the wind in the sky.

Anyone who understands why the Buddhas expound [many] sutras,
Who knows the position [of this sutra in the series of sutras],
And who expounds it after my extinction
According to its true meaning,
Will be able to eliminate the darkness
Of the living beings of the world where he walks about,
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Eliminates all darkness.
He will be able to cause innumerable Bodhisattvas
To dwell finally in the One Vehicle.

Therefore, the man of wisdom
Who hears the benefits of these merits
And who keeps this sutra after my extinction,
Will be able to attain
The enlightenment of the Buddha
Definitely and doubtlessly.

Definitely. Doubtlessly

Day 26 concludes Chapter 21, The Supernatural Powers of the Tathāgatas, includes Chapter 22, Transmission, and introduces Chapter 23, The Previous Life of Medicine-King Bodhisattva.

This first time through under my single-topic rule allows me to focus on a followup to yesterday’s message and offer why the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma can be heard only once in hundreds of millions of billions of kalpas.

To sum up, all the teachings of the Tathagata, all the unhindered, supernatural powers of the Tathagata, all the treasury of the hidden core of the Tathagata, and all the profound achievements of the Tathagata are revealed and expounded explicitly in this sutra. Therefore, keep, read, recite, expound and copy this sutra, and act according to the teachings of it with all your hearts after my extinction! In any world where anyone keeps, reads, recites, expounds or copies this sutra, or acts according to its teachings, or in any place where a copy of this sutra is put, be it in a garden, in a forest, under a tree, in a monastery, in the house of a person in white robes, in a hall, in a mountain, in a valley, or in the wilderness, there should a stupa be erected and offerings be made to it because, know this, the place [where the stupa is erected] is the place of enlightenment. Here the Buddhas attained Anuttara­samyak-sambodhi. Here the Buddhas turned the wheel of the Dhanna. Here the Buddhas entered into Parinirvana.

This isn’t some ordinary sutra.

I shall not be able to tell all the merits of this sutra to those to whom this sutra is to be transmitted even if I continue telling them by my supernatural powers for many hundreds of thousands of billions of asamkhyas of kalpas.