When the spirit departs from the body after death, a demon may enter in its place and destroy one’s descendants. This is what is meant by a hungry demon that devours even itself. However, if a wise person extols the Lotus Sutra and inspirits the dead person’s remains, then, although the deceased’s body remains human, that person’s mind will become the Dharma body. This accords with the doctrine that one can in one’s present form attain the stage where one perceives the non-birth and non-extinction of the phenomenal world. A wise person who has mastered the perfect teaching of the sutras of the Flower Garland, Correct and Equal, or Wisdom period can bring a dead person’s remains into the stage of realizing the non-birth and non-extinction of all phenomena. This is what the Nirvana Sutra means when it states, “Although his body remains human, his mind will become equal to that of the Buddha.” Chunda set an example of attaining in his present body the realization of the non-birth and non-extinction of all phenomena.

If a wise person enlightened to the Lotus Sutra conducts a service for a deceased person, the deceased’s body, just as it is, will become the Dharma body. This is what the phrase “in one’s present form” means. Then the wise person will retrieve the departed spirit, bring it back into the remains of the deceased, and transform it into the Buddha’s mind. This is what the phrase “attaining Buddhahood” indicates. The words “in one’s present form” represent the physical aspect, and “attaining Buddhahood,” the spiritual. The deceased person’s physical and spiritual aspects will be transformed into the mystic reality and mystic wisdom of beginningless time. This is attaining Buddhahood in one’s present form.

Thus the Lotus Sutra states, “This reality [of all phenomena] consists of the appearance (the body of the dead person), nature (the mind), entity (the true entity of body and mind) . . .”¹³ It also reads, “He profoundly understands the signs of guilt and good fortune / and illuminates the ten directions everywhere. / His subtle, wonderful pure Dharma body / is endowed with the thirty-two features.”¹⁴ In this last quotation, the first two lines indicate the realization of the non-birth and non-extinction of all phenomena, and the latter two, the attainment of Buddhahood in one’s present form. The model of the latter is the dragon king’s daughter, while that of the former is Chunda.