Day 20 completes Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground, and concludes the Fifth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 20 Text with annotations

Having last month heard Śākyamuni explain that he is the teacher of these Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, we learn of the doubts this causes among Maitreya and the other Bodhisattvas.

Thereupon Maitreya Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and the innumerable Bodhisattvas in the congregation doubted the Buddha’s words which they had never heard before. They thought:

‘How did the World-Honored One teach these great, innumerable, asaṃkhya Bodhisattvas, and qualify them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi in such a short time?’

[Maitreya Bodhisattva] said to the Buddha:

“World-Honored One! When you, the Tathāgata, were a crown prince, you left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gaya, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi. It is only forty and odd years since then.

“World-Honored One! How did you do these great deeds of the Buddha in such a short time? Did you teach these great, innumerable Bodhisattvas, and qualify them to attain Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi by your powers or by your merits?

“World-Honored One! No one can count the number of these great Bodhisattvas even if he goes on counting them for thousands of billions of kalpas. They have already planted roots of good, practiced the way, and performed brahma practices under innumerable Buddhas from the remotest past.

Nichiren discusses the importance of the question raised by Maitreya in his letter, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching:

Prince Shōtoku of Japan was a son of Emperor Yōmei, the thirty-second sovereign of Japan. When he was six years old, elderly men coming from Paekche, Koguryō, and T’ang China paid homage to the Emperor. The six-year old crown prince declared that they were his disciples, and these elderly men holding hands in reverence said that the crown prince was their teacher. It was indeed a wonder. It is also said in a non-Buddhist work that a certain man, while walking on a street, came across a young man about thirty years old beating an old man of about eighty years old on the street. Asked what was the matter, the story says, the young man answered that this elderly man he was beating was his son. The relationship between Śākyamuni and great bodhisattvas from underground is similar to these stories.

Therefore, Bodhisattva Maitreya and others asked a question, “World Honored One! When You were the crown prince, You left the palace of the Śākya clan and sat in meditation under the bodhi tree not far from the town of Gayā until You attained perfect enlightenment. It has only been forty years or so. How could You, World Honored One, achieve so much in so short a time?”

For forty years or so starting with the Flower Garland Sūtra, bodhisattvas have asked questions in every assembly to dispel the doubts all beings might have had. This, however, is the most serious question of all. In the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning, for instance, 80,000 bodhisattvas such as Great Adornment put forth a serious question concerning the apparent discrepancy in time required for attaining Buddhahood. While it has been said in the sūtras preached in the first forty years or so that it would take many kalpa, now it was preached that one could obtain Buddhahood quickly through the teaching of the Sūtra of Infinite Meaning. However serious the question of Great Adornment Bodhisattva was, that of Maitreya was more crucial. …

The thirty-six questions asked by Kāśyapa in the Nirvana Sūtra were also not as serious as the one asked by Maitreya. If the Buddha had not squarely answered the question to dispel this doubt, all the holy teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime would have appeared to be as worthless as bubbles, and the questions of everyone would have remained unanswered. Here lies the importance of the sixteenth chapter, “The Life Span of the Buddha,” of the Lotus Sūtra.

Kaimoku-shō, Open Your Eyes to the Lotus Teaching, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 72-74

Day 19 concludes Chapter 14, Peaceful Practices, and begins Chapter 15, The Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground.

Day 19 Text with annotations

Having last month considered at the start of Chapter 15 the question posed by Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, more than eight times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, who had come from the other worlds, we greet the many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas who sprang up from underground.

When he had said this, the ground of the Sahā-World, which was composed of one thousand million Sumeru-worlds, quaked and cracked, and many thousands of billions of Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas sprang up from underground simultaneously. Their bodies were golden-colored, and adorned with the thirty-two marks and with innumerable rays of light. They had lived in the sky below this Sahā-World. They came up here because they heard these words of Śākyamuni Buddha. Each of them was the leader of a great multitude. The Bodhisattvas included those who were each accompanied by attendants as many as sixty thousand times the number of the sands of the River Ganges. Needless to say, [they included those who were each accompanied by less attendants, for instance,] fifty thousand times, forty thousand times, thirty thousand times, twenty thousand times or ten thousand times the number of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants just as many of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants as many as a half, or a quarter of the number of the sands of the River Ganges, or by attendants as many as the sands of the River Ganges divided by a thousand billion nayuta, a billion, ten million, a million, ten thousand, a thousand, a hundred, ten, five, four, three or two attendants, or only by one attendant. [The Bodhisattvas] who preferred a solitary life came alone. The total number of the Bodhisattvas was innumerable, limitless, beyond calculation, inexplicable by any parable or simile.

Those Bodhisattvas who appeared from underground, came to Many-Treasures Tathāgata and Śākyamuni Buddha both of whom were in the wonderful stūpa of the seven treasures hanging in the sky. They [joined their hands together] towards the two World-Honored Ones, and worshipped their feet with their heads. Then they [descended onto the ground and] came to the Buddhas sitting on the lion-like seats under the jeweled trees, bowed to them, walked around them from left to right three times, joined their hands together respectfully, and praised them by the various ways by which Bodhisattvas should praise Buddhas. Then they [returned to the sky,] stood to one side, and looked up at the two World-Honored ones with joy. A period of fifty small kalpas elapsed from the Bodhisattva-mahāsattvas’ springing up from underground till the finishing of the praising of the Buddhas by the various ways by which Bodhisattvas should praise Buddhas. All this while Śākyamuni Buddha sat in silence. The four kinds of devotees also kept silence for the fifty small kalpas. By his supernatural powers, however, the Buddha caused the great multitude to think that they kept silence for only half a day. Also by the supernatural powers of the Buddha, the four kinds of devotees were able to see that the skies of many hundreds of thousands of billions of worlds were filled with those Bodhisattvas.

Nichiren offers this description of these Bodhisattvas, who “are simultaneously followers of the Original Buddha and bodhisattvas who reside in the minds of us,” in his letter, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One:

The bodhisattvas described in the fifteenth chapter, “Appearance of Bodhisattvas from Underground,” who have sprung out of the great earth, as numerous as the number of dust-particles of 1,000 worlds, are followers of the Original Buddha Śākyamuni who resides within our minds.

They are like T’ai-kung-wang and Duke of Chou, retainers of King Wu of the Chou dynasty in ancient China, who at the same time served the King’s young son, King Ch’eng; or Takeuchi no Sukune of ancient Japan, a leading minister to Empress Jingu, who concurrently served her son, Prince Nintoku. Just like them Bodhisattvas Superior Practice (Jōgyō), Limitless Practice (Muhengyō), Pure Practice (Jōgyō), and Steadily Established Practice (Anryūgyō), the four leaders of these bodhisattvas sprung from the earth, are simultaneously followers of the Original Buddha and bodhisattvas who reside in the minds of us, ordinary people.

Therefore, Grand Master Miao-lê has declared in his Annotations on the Mo-ho chih-kuan (Mo-ho chih-kuan fu-hsing-chiian hungchiieh): “You should know that both our bodies and the land on which we live are a part of the 3,000 modes of existence which exist in our minds. Consequently, upon our attainment of Buddhahood, we are in complete agreement with the truth of ‘3,000 existences contained in one thought,’ and our single body and single thought permeate through all the worlds in the universe.”

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 147

Day 17 covers all of Chapter 12, Devadatta, and opens Chapter 13, Encouragement for Keeping this Sutra.

Day 17 Text with annotations

Having last month heard Medicine-King Bodhisattva-mahāsattva and Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva-mahāsattva’s vow to uphold the Lotus Sūtra, we hear from Arhats and Śrāvakas who vow to preach the Lotus Sūtra in some other world.

At that time there were five hundred Arhats in this congregation. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They said to the Buddha, “World-Honored One! We also vow to expound this sūtra [but we will expound it] in some other worlds [rather than in this Sahā-World].”

There were also eight thousand Śrāvakas some of whom had something more to learn while others had nothing more to learn. They had already been assured of their future attainment [of Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi]. They rose from their seats, joined their hands together towards the Buddha and vowed:

“World-Honored One! We also will expound this sūtra in some other worlds because the people of this Sahā-World have many evils. They are arrogant. They have few merits. They are angry, defiled, ready to flatter others, and insincere.”

In his letter Treatise on the Teaching, Nichiren used the hesitance of the Arhats and Śrāvakas to preach in the Sahā world to show what he was up against:

It is predicted in the Lotus Sūtra, in the 13th chapter “Encouragement for Upholding This Sūtra,” that 2000 years after the Buddha’s extinction, in the Latter Age of Degeneration, three kinds of enemies will appear against those who spread the Lotus Sūtra. The time at hand matches exactly the Latter Age of Degeneration preached in the Lotus Sūtra as the “fifth 500-year period” after the death of the Buddha. As I, Nichiren, contemplate whether or not the Buddha’s words have proved to be true, three kinds of enemies surely exist today. If I deny the existence of the three enemies and spread the Lotus Sūtra in a manner so as to avoid persecution, I cannot claim to be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra. On the other hand, if I spread the sūtra in such a way that I am persecuted by enemies, I certainly will lose my life.

Day 16 concludes Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures, and completes the Fourth Volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 16 Text with annotations

Having last month repeated in gāthās Śākyamuni’s explanation of Many-Treasures Buddha in the stūpa of treasures and the Buddhas of the replicas, we consider Śākyamuni’s question of who will protect and keep this Sūtra after his extinction.

(The Buddha said to the great multitude.)
Who will protect
And keep this sūtra,
And read and recite it
After my extinction?
Make a vow before me to do this!

Many-Treasures Buddha,
Who had passed away a long time ago,
Made a loud voice like the roar of a lion
According to his great vow.

Many-Treasures Tathāgata and I
And the Buddhas of my replicas,
Who have assembled here,
Wish to know who will do [all this].

My sons!
Who will protect the Dharma?
Make a great vow
To preserve the Dharma forever!

Anyone who protects this sūtra
Should be considered
To have already made offerings
To Many-Treasures and to me.

Many-Treasures Buddha vowed to go
About the worlds of the ten quarters,
Riding in the stūpa of treasures,
In order to hear this sūtra [directly from the expounder].

Anyone [who protects this sūtra] also
Should be considered to have already made offerings
To the Buddhas of my replicas, who have come here
And adorned the worlds with their light.

Anyone who expounds this sūtra
Will be able to see me,
To see Many-Treasures Tathāgata,
And to see the Buddhas of my replicas.

Nichiren’s letter A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, offers this interpretation:

Moreover, the eleventh chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “Appearance of the Stupa of Treasures,” states: “Those who uphold the teaching of this sūtra are deemed to serve Me, Śākyamuni, and the Buddha of Many Treasures. They also serve Buddhas in manifestation here who adorn and glorify their respective worlds.” This means that Śākyamuni Buddha, the Buddha of Many Treasures, and all the Buddhas in manifestation are in our minds, and that we, upholders of the Lotus Sūtra, will follow their steps and inherit all the merits of those Buddhas.

This is the meaning of the passage in the tenth chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, “The Teacher of the Dharma,” which reads: “Those who hear of this Lotus Sūtra even for a moment, will instantly attain Perfect Enlightenment.”

Kanjin Honzon-shō, A Treatise Revealing the Spiritual Contemplation and the Most Verable One, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 2, Page 146

Day 15 concludes Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma, and opens Chapter 11, Beholding the Stūpa of Treasures.

Day 15 Text with annotations

Having last month heard Śākyamuni’s explanation that the Wonderful Dharma is the most difficult to believe and the most difficult to understand, we consider the prediction that people will oppose the Lotus Sūtra.

“Medicine-King! This sūtra is the store of the hidden core of all the Buddhas. Do not give it to others carelessly! It is protected by the Buddhas, by the World-Honored Ones. It has not been expounded explicitly. Many people hate it with jealousy even in my lifetime. Needless to say, more people will do so after my extinction.

Nichiren focuses on this paragraph in Essay on Gratitude letter:

When Queen Māyā became pregnant with her child, the future Śākyamuni Buddha, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven saw through her womb and said: “The queen is pregnant with a sharp sword called the Lotus Sūtra, which is our sworn enemy. How can we eliminate it before it is born?” Pretending to be a great doctor, the Demon entered the palace of King Śuddhodana and talked the queen into drinking poison, saying it was medicine effective for easy childbirth. At the very moment when the Buddha was born, the Demon King caused a rain of stones to fall and mixed the baby’s milk with poison. When Prince Siddhārtha left the palace to become a monk, the Demon King, this time, pretended to be a black poisonous snake blocking the prince’s way. Furthermore, the Demon King entered the bodies of Devadatta, Kokālika, King Virūḍhaka, and King Ajātaśatru, making them throw huge rocks at the Buddha to draw blood or to kill members of the Śākya people and Buddha’s disciples. These almost fatal obstacles to the Buddha were the work of the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven to stop the Buddha from preaching the Lotus Sūtra. They are what is referred to when the Lotus Sūtra, chapter 10 on “The Teacher of the Dharma,” mentions, “Many people hate it with jealousy even in My lifetime.” These were the difficulties the Buddha experienced quite early in His lifetime, and many terrible difficulties awaited Him later. Since Śāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, and the other great bodhisattvas could not believe in the Lotus Sūtra, they, in spite of living close to the Buddha, were the worst enemies in the forty or so years before the Lotus Sūtra was preached.

These things happened in the Buddha’s lifetime, and in the future, more horrible difficulties will probably occur as predicted in the chapter which says: “It will be worse after I die.” How can ordinary people bear those difficulties while even the Buddha could hardly bear them? How much more so, as the difficulties we are to face are said to be more tremendous than those that the Buddha had encountered! No difficulties seem more horrible than Devadatta’s attempted murder of the Buddha with a huge rock thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide or King Ajatasatru’s attempt to hurt the Buddha by releasing a drunken elephant. Nevertheless, according to the sūtra, we shall encounter difficulties greater than those. One who often encounters such difficulties, through no fault of his own, must be a practicer of the Lotus Sūtra after the Buddha’s death.

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 8.

Day 14 covers all of Chapter 9, The Assurance of Future Buddhahood of the Śrāvakas Who Have Something More to Learn and the Śrāvakas Who Have Nothing More to Learn, and opens Chapter 10, The Teacher of the Dharma.

Day 14 Text with annotations

Having last month considered the consequences of speaking ill of someone who keeps the Lotus Sūtra, we repeat in gāthās the need to make offerings to the keeper of the Lotus Sūtra.

Thereupon the World-Honored One, wishing to repeat what he had said, sang in gāthās:

If you wish to dwell in the enlightenment of the Buddha,
And to obtain the self-originating wisdom,
Make offerings strenuously to the keeper
Of the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma!

If you wish to obtain quickly the knowledge
Of the equality and differences of all things,
Keep this sūtra, and also make offerings
To the keeper of this sūtra!

Anyone who keeps
The sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma,
Know this, has compassion towards all living beings
Because he is my messenger.
Anyone who keeps
The Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
Should be considered to have given up his pure world and come here
Out of his compassion towards all living beings.

Know that he can appear wherever he wishes!
He should be considered
To have appeared in this evil world
In order to expound the unsurpassed Dharma.

Offer flowers and incense of heaven,
Jeweled garments of heaven,
And heaps of wonderful treasures of heaven
To the expounder of the Dharma!

Join your hands together and bow
To the person who keeps this sūtra
In the evil world after my extinction,
Just as you do to me!

Offer delicious food and drink,
And various garments to this son of mine,
And yearn to hear the Dharma [from him]
Even if for only a moment!

Nichiren addressed this idea of praising and making offerings to the keeper of the Lotus Sūtra in his Letter to Hōren:

The Buddha preached the two doctrines … that those who slander the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering and those who praise and admire the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra will be rewarded with merit superior to that of those who embrace the Buddha, but they are difficult to understand. Just how, one may wonder, can serving an ordinary person be more meritorious than serving the Buddha? If, however, we say that these two doctrines are false, we call into question the golden words of Śākyamuni Buddha, neglect the testimony of the Buddha of Many Treasures, and negate the proof of the long, wide tongues of the numerous Buddhas in manifestation from all the worlds in the universe. We will then fall into the Avici Hell. It is as dangerous as riding a wild horse running on the rocks. On the other hand, if we believe in these two doctrines, we will become Buddhas of great Enlightenment. We therefore must establish a firm faith in the Lotus Sūtra during this lifetime. Practicing this sūtra without having a firm faith is like trying to grab hold of a jewel in a mountain of treasures without hands or walking a journey of 1,000 ri (4,000 km) without feet. It is best for us to put faith in the Buddha by observing the objective phenomena.

Hōren-shō, Letter to Hōren, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 48

Day 7 concludes Chapter 3, A Parable, and begins Chapter 4, Understanding by Faith.

Day 7 Text with annotations

Having last month considered the fate of those who scowl at this sūtra, we conclude the listing of punishments for slandering the Lotus Sūtra

After that they will be reborn
In the world of animals.
Some of them will become dogs or small foxes.
They will be bald, thin and black.
They will suffer from mange and leprosy
Men will treat them mercilessly,
And hate and despise them.
They will always suffer from hunger and thirst.
Their bones will project; their flesh sag.
They will always suffer in their present existence.
After their death, they will be put
Under pieces of tile or stones.
Those who destroy the seeds of Buddhahood
Will be punished like this.

Some of them will become
Camels or asses.
They will always be heavily loaded,
And beaten with sticks or whips.
They will think of nothing
But water and hay.
Those who slander this sūtra
Will be punished like this.

Some of them will become small foxes.
They will suffer
From mange and leprosy.
They will have only one eye
When they come to a town,
They will be struck by boys.
Some of them
Will be beaten to death.
After they die
They will become boas.
Their bodies will be large,
Five hundred yojanas long.
They will be deaf and stupid.

They will wriggle along without legs.
They will be bitten
By many small vermin.
They will suffer day and night.
They will have no time to take a rest.
Those who slander this sūtra
Will be punished like this.

Some of them will become men again.
They will be foolish, short, ugly,
Crooked, crippled, blind, deaf,
And hunchbacked.
No one will believe their words.
They will always have fetid breath.
They will be possessed by demons.
Poverty-stricken and mean,
They will be employed by others.
Worn-out, thin,
And subject to many diseases,
They will have no one to rely on.
Anyone who employs them
Will not take care of them.
They will lose before long
What little they may have earned.
When they study medicine,
And treat a patient with a proper remedy,
The patient will have another disease
Or die.
When they are ill in health,
No one will cure them.
Even when they take a good medicine,
They will suffer all the more.
They will be attacked by others,
Or robbed or stolen from.
Their sins will incur these misfortunes.
These sinful people will never be able to see
The Buddha, the King of the Saints,
Who expounds the Dharma
And teaches all living beings.
They will always be reborn
In the places of difficulty
[In seeing the Buddha].
They will be mad, deaf or distracted.
They will never be able to hear the Dharma.
For as many kalpas
As there are sands in the River Ganges,
They will be deaf and dumb.
They will not have all the sense organs.
Accustomed to living in hell,
They will take it for their playground.
Accustomed to living in other evil regions,
They will take them for their homes. They will live
Among camels, asses, wild boars, and dogs.
Those who slander this sūtra
Will be punished like this.

When they are reborn in the world of men,
Deafness, blindness, dumbness,
Poverty, and many other defects
Will be their ornaments;
Dropsy, diabetes, mange,
Leprosy, carbuncles, and many other diseases
Will be their garments.
They will always smell bad.
They will be filthy and defiled.
Deeply attached to the view
That the self exists,
They will aggravate their anger.
Their lust will not discriminate
Between [humans,] birds or beasts.
Those who slander this sūtra
Will be punished like this.

Nichiren links this section of Chapter 3, A Parable, to śrāvaka disciples such as Śāriputra, Kāśyapa, Ānanda, and Rāhula in a letter to the Ikegami Brothers:

The śrāvaka disciples such as Śāriputra, Kāśyapa, Ānanda, and Rāhula, who were guaranteed to be future Buddhas in the theoretical section of the Lotus Sūtra through the three cycles of the Buddha’s preaching (dharma, parable, and past relationships) had learned the Lotus Sūtra far in the past, 3,000 dust-particle kalpa (aeons) ago, from a bodhisattva who was the 16th prince of the Great Universal Wisdom Buddha, namely Śākyamuni Buddha today. Nevertheless, due to evil karma they abandoned the Lotus Sūtra, embracing such Mahāyāna sūtras as the Flower Garland Sūtra, Wisdom Sūtra, Sūtra of Great Assembly, Nirvana Sūtra, Great Sun Buddha Sūtra, Revealing the Profound and Secret Sūtra, and Sūtra of Meditation on the Buddha of Infinite Life or Hinayana Āgama sūtras. While doing so, they gradually declined in status to the realms of heavenly and human beings and finally to the three evil realms. As a result for as long as 3,000 dust-particle kalpa they spent much of their time in the Hell of Incessant Suffering, some of their time in the seven major hells, once in a long while in the other one hundred or so hells, and on rare occasions in the realms of hungry souls, beasts, and asura. It was after the 3,000 dust-particle kalpa (aeons) that they were able to be born in the realm of human or heavenly beings.

Therefore, it is stated in the Lotus Sūtra, fascicle 2 (chapter 3), “They will always stay in hell, strolling in it as though it were a garden, and remain in other evil realms as if they were at home.” Those who committed the ten evil acts will fall into such hells as the hell of regeneration and that of black ropes, where they spend 500 or 1,000 years. Those who committed the five rebellious sins, are destined to the Hell of Incessant Suffering for as long as one medium kalpa before being reborn. Those who abandoned the Lotus Sūtra, however, will fall into the Hell of Incessant Suffering and remain there for innumerable number of kalpa, though their sin does not seem to be as terrible as the sin of murdering parents.

Kyōdai-shō, A Letter to the Ikegami Brothers, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Volume 6, Followers I, Page 73

Day 4 concludes Chapter 2, Expedients, and completes the first volume of the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 4 Text with annotations

Having last month considered the thinking behind Śākyamuni’s decision to turn the Wheel of the Dharma, we consider why Śākyamuni laid aside all expedient teachings.

I said to them:
“For the past innumerable kalpas
I have been extolling the teaching of Nirvana
In order to eliminate the sufferings of birth and death.”

Śāriputra, know this!
Then I saw many sons of mine,
Thousands of billions in number,
Seeking the enlightenment of the Buddha.
They came to me respectfully.
They had already heard
Expedient teachings
From the past Buddhas.

I thought:
“I appeared in this world
In order to expound my wisdom.
Now is the time to do this.”

Śāriputra, know this!
Men of dull capacity and of little wisdom cannot believe the Dharma.
Those who are attached to the appearances of things are arrogant.
They cannot believe it, either.

I am now joyful and fearless.
I have laid aside all expedient teachings.
I will expound only unsurpassed enlightenment
To Bodhisattvas.

Nichiren addresses this point on setting aside all expedient teachings in his letter, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods:

The Lotus Sūtra, chapter 2, “Expedients,” states: “In preaching the dharma the World Honored One expounds the expedient teachings first and reveals the true teaching last;” “honestly casting away (‘cast away’ means ‘abandon’) the expedient teachings (the pre-Lotus sūtras, i.e. first three of the four doctrinal teachings or the four doctrinal teachings except the pure perfect teaching, first four of the five tastes: all sūtras except the Lotus Sūtra, or the tripiṭaka, common and distinct teachings taken into the perfect teaching), the Buddha solely preaches the One Vehicle true teaching of the Lotus Sūtra.” Moreover, “The Buddha preaches various teachings (the four periods and seven teachings refer to the pre-Lotus sūtras, and five periods and eight teachings refer to the entire teaching of the Buddha) for the purpose of leading the people into the One Buddha Vehicle.”

Ichidai Goji Keizu, Genealogical Chart of the Buddha’s Lifetime Teachings in Five Periods, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Page 242-243

Day 1 covers the first half of Chapter 1, Introductory

Day 1 Text with annotations

Having last month concluded today’s portion of Chapter 1, Introductory, we begin again with, “Thus have I heard.”

Thus have I heard.

This is a seminal point in Nichiren’s veneration of the Daimoku. As he explains in his Essay on Gratitude:

Venerable Ānanda and Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī listened to every word of the wonderful teaching of the Lotus Sūtra for eight years and at the assembly for compilation of all the sūtras after the Buddha’s extinction, nine hundred ninety-nine arhats wrote them down. They began with “Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō” and chanted “Thus have I heard.” Doesn’t this prove that the five Chinese characters of “Myō, Hō, Ren, Ge, and Kyō” are the essence of the one volume Lotus Sūtra, twenty-eight chapters in eight fascicles?

Hōon-jō, Essay on Gratitude, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Doctrine 3, Pages 52.

Day 32 covers Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, closing the Eighth Volume of the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma.

Day 32 Text with annotations

Having last month concluded Chapter 28, The Encouragement of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, we begin again with the arrival of Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, who was famous for his virtues and supernatural powers without hindrance.

Thereupon Universal-Sage Bodhisattva, who was famous for his virtues and supernatural powers without hindrance, came from a world [in the distance of many worlds] to the east [of this Sahā-World]. He was accompanied by innumerable, uncountable great Bodhisattvas. All the worlds quaked as he passed through. [The gods] rained down jeweled lotus-flowers, and made many hundreds of thousands of billions of kinds of music. He was also surrounded by a great multitude of innumerable gods, dragons, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, men and nonhuman beings. They reached Mt. Gṛdhrakūṭa of the Sahā-World by their virtues and supernatural powers. [Universal-Sage Bodhisattva] worshiped [the feet of] Śākyamuni Buddha with his head, walked around the Buddha [from left] to right seven times and said to the Buddha:
“World-Honored One! I heard the Sūtra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma, which you expounded in this Sahā World, from a remote world in which lives Treasure-Power­Virtue-Superior-King Buddha. I came here with many hundreds of thousands of billions of Bodhisattvas in order to hear and receive [this Sūtra].

Nichiren discusses this chapter in his letter Response to My Lady Nichinyo:

The chapter “Encouragement of Universal Sage Bodhisattva” says that among many disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha, Kāśyapa and Ānanda waited on Him. They were like ministers attending both sides of a king. But this was the Buddha preaching sūtras of the Lesser Vehicle. Among many bodhisattvas, the Bodhiattva Universal Sage and the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī attended Śākyamuni Buddha, the Lord Teacher, like two ministers attending both sides of a king. During the last eight years of the life of Śākyamuni Buddha, in which He expounded the Lotus Sūtra, so many Buddhas and bodhisattvas, more than dust particles on the earth, gathered from ten quarters in the universe. But strangely, Bodhisattva Universal Sage, one of the attendants of Śākyamuni Buddha, was not found there.

However, when Śākyamuni Buddha was about to finish His preaching by expounding the chapter “Wonderful Adornment King,” Bodhisattva Universal Sage came late from the land of the Jeweled Dignity and Virtue Purity King Buddha, performing hundreds of thousands of pieces of music and accompanied by a countless number of eight kinds of gods and demi-gods. Concerned about the reaction of the Buddha toward his late arrival, the bodhisattva turned pale and obligingly vowed to protect the practicer of the Lotus Sūtra in the Latter Age of Degeneration. Śākyamuni Buddha was pleased and told that it was his obligation to spread the Lotus Sūtra in the whole world. Śākyamuni Buddha thus praised Bodhisattva Universal Sage more cordially than his superiors.

Nichinyo Gozen Gohenji, Response to My Lady Nichinyo, Writings of Nichiren Shōnin, Faith and Practice, Volume 4, Page 137-138