The Opening of the Eyes

Chapter30(Putting out the fact that the voice-hearers were scold in the past)

The four great voice-hearers, in the passage that expresses their understanding, proclaimed: “Now we have become voice-hearers in truth, for we will take the voice of the Buddha way and cause it to be heard by all. Now we have become true arhats, for everywhere among the heavenly and human beings, devils, and Brahmās of the various worlds we deserve to receive offerings. The World-Honored One in his great mercy makes use of a rare thing, in pity and compassion teaching and converting, bringing benefit to us. In numberless millions of kalpas who could ever repay him? Though we offer him our hands and feet, bow our heads in respectful obeisance, and present all manner of offerings, none of us could repay him. Though we lift him on the crown of our heads, bear him on our two shoulders, for kalpas numerous as Ganges sands reverence him with all our hearts; though we come with delicate foods, with countless jeweled robes, with articles of bedding, various kinds of potions and medicines; with oxhead sandalwood and all kinds of rare gems, construct memorial towers and spread the ground with jeweled robes; though we were to do all this by way of offering for kalpas numerous as Ganges sands, still we could not repay him.”⁹¹

In the various sutras preached during the earlier period of the Buddha’s teaching life, which have been compared to the first four flavors, the voice-hearers were depicted on countless occasions as being subjected to all kinds of abuse and shamed before the great assembly of human and heavenly beings. Thus we are told that the sound of the Venerable Mahākāshyapa’s weeping and wailing echoed throughout the major world system,⁹² that the Venerable Subhūti was so dumbfounded that he almost went off and left the alms bowl⁹³ he had been carrying, that Shāriputra spat out the food he was eating,⁹⁴ and that Pūrna was berated for being the kind who would put filth in a precious jar.⁹⁵

When the World-Honored One was at Deer Park, he extolled the Āgama sutras and enjoined his disciples to rely on the two hundred and fifty precepts as their teacher, warmly praising those who did so, and yet before long, as we have seen, he turned about and began condemning such men. He is guilty, we would have to say, of making two different and completely contradictory pronouncements.

Thus, for example, the World-Honored One cursed Devadatta, saying, “You are a fool who licks the spit of others!” Devadatta felt as though a poison arrow had been shot into his breast, and he cried out in anger, declaring: “Gautama is no Buddha! I am the eldest son of King Dronodana, the elder brother of the Venerable Ānanda, and kin to Gautama. No matter what kind of evil conduct I might be guilty of, he ought to admonish me in private for it. But to publicly and outrageously accuse me of faults in front of this great assembly of human and heavenly beings—is this the behavior appropriate to a great man or a Buddha? He showed himself to be my enemy in the past when he stole the woman I intended to marry,⁹⁶ and he has shown himself my enemy at this gathering today. From this day forward, I will look upon him as my archenemy for lifetime after lifetime and age after age to come!”⁹⁷

When we stop to consider, we note that, of the great voice-hearers, some were originally from non-Buddhist Brahman families, or were leaders of various non-Buddhist orders who had converted kings to their teachings and were looked up to by their followers. Others were men of noble families or the possessors of great wealth. But they abandoned their exalted positions in life, lowered the banners of their pride, cast off everyday clothing, and wrapped their bodies in the humble, dingy-hued robes of a Buddhist monk. They threw away their white fly whisks, their bows and arrows, and took up a solitary alms bowl, becoming like paupers and beggars and following the World-Honored One. They had no dwellings to protect them from the wind and rain, and very little in the way of food or clothing by which to sustain life. Moreover, all the people of the five regions and the four seas of India were disciples or lay supporters of the non-Buddhist teachings, so that even the Buddha himself was on nine occasions forced to suffer major hardships.

Thus, for example, Devadatta hurled a great stone at him, and King Ajātashatru loosed a drunken elephant on him. Failing to receive alms from King Agnidatta, the Buddha was forced to eat horse fodder, and at a Brahman city, he was offered stinking rice gruel. Again, Chinchā, the daughter of a Brahman, tying a bowl to her belly, claimed to be pregnant with his child.⁹⁸

Needless to say, the Buddha’s disciples were likewise forced to suffer frequent hardships. Thus, countless numbers of the Shākya clan were killed by King Virūdhaka, and ten million of the Buddha’s followers were trampled to death by drunken elephants that were set upon them. The nun Utpalavarnā was killed by Devadatta, the Venerable Kālodāyin was buried in horse dung, and the Venerable Maudgalyāyana was beaten to death by members of a Brahman group named Bamboo Staff.⁹⁹ In addition, followers of the six non-Buddhist teachers banded together and slandered the Buddha before King Ajātashatru and King Prasenajit, saying: “Gautama is the most evil man in the whole land of Jambudvīpa. Wherever he may be, the three calamities and seven disasters rampage without fail. As the numerous rivers gather together in the great sea and the groves of trees cluster on the great mountains, so crowds of evil men gather about Gautama. The men called Mahākāshyapa, Shāriputra, Maudgalyāyana, and Subhūti are examples. All those who are born in human form should place loyalty to the sovereign and filial piety above all else. But these men have been so misled by Gautama that they disregard the lessons of their parents, abandon their families, and, defying the commandments of the king, go to live in the mountain forests. They should be expelled from this country. It is because they are allowed to remain that the sun, moon, and stars manifest sinister phenomena, and many strange happenings occur in the land.”¹⁰⁰

The voice-hearers did not know how they could possibly bear such persecutions. Then, as if to add to their hardship, [the Buddha himself began to denounce them]. They found it difficult to follow him. Now and then, hearing him condemn them repeatedly in great assemblies of human and heavenly beings, and not knowing how to behave, they only became more confused.

On top of all this, they had to face the greatest hardship of all, as revealed in the Vimalakīrti Sutra, [when the Buddha addressed the voice-hearers], saying, “Those who give alms to you are cultivating for themselves no field of good fortune. Those who give alms to you will fall into the three evil paths.” These words were spoken when the Buddha was staying at Ambapālī Garden.¹⁰¹ There Brahmā, Shakra, the deities of the sun and moon, the four heavenly kings, and the heavenly gods of the threefold world, along with earthly gods, dragon gods, and other beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, had gathered in this great assembly, when the Buddha said, “The heavenly and human beings who give alms to Subhūti and the other monks will fall into the three evil paths.” After the heavenly and human beings had heard this, would they be likely to go on giving alms to the voice-hearers? It would almost appear as though the Buddha were deliberately attempting through his words to inflict death upon those who upheld the two vehicles. The more sensible persons in the assembly were no doubt repelled by the Buddha’s action. Nevertheless, the voice-hearers were able to obtain enough of the alms given to the Buddha to keep themselves alive, meager though the amount was.

Notes

91. Lotus Sutra, chap. 4. “A rare thing” in the quotation refers to the Lotus Sutra, and “offer him our hands and feet” means to serve the Buddha and practice his teachings.

92. This story appears in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. When Mahākāshyapa heard Vimalakīrti speak about enlightenment, he could not understand it at all and wept over the fact that he did not inherently possess the seed of Buddhahood. The sutra relates that the sound of his weeping echoed throughout the major world system.

93. This story is also found in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. One day Subhūti came to Vimalakīrti asking for alms. Vimalakīrti filled Subhūti’s bowl but told him that he did not deserve to receive alms and that those who offered alms to him would invariably fall into the three evil paths. At that time Subhūti was so shocked that he almost went off without his alms bowl.

94. This story is found in The Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom. When Shakyamuni Buddha reproached Shāriputra for eating impure food, Shāriputra was so surprised that he spat it out. Impure food indicates what is not an offering made from the heart.

95. This story appears in the Vimalakīrti Sutra. When Shakyamuni Buddha saw Pūrna preaching the Hinayana teachings to the people, he told Pūrna that he should not put impure things into a precious vessel.

96. In the period before Shakyamuni renounced the secular life, he married Yashodharā, a beautiful woman whom Devadatta had wished to marry. As a result, Devadatta nurtured a grudge against Shakyamuni.

97. Based on a passage in the Nirvana Sutra.

98. The above stories are included among the nine great ordeals or persecutions suffered by Shakyamuni Buddha. They are described in Great Perfection of Wisdom and other texts.

99. The story of King Virūdhaka appears in The Monastic Rules on Various Matters and elsewhere; it is also included in the nine great ordeals mentioned above. The story of the nun Utpalavarnā is found in Great Perfection of Wisdom; because she reproved Devadatta for being a great enemy of Buddhism, he was so enraged that he beat her to death. Kālodāyin’s disaster is described in The Ten Divisions of Monastic Rules: one day when he was going about begging, a woman offered him alms, but her jealous and enraged husband killed him. The fate of Maudgalyāyana is found in Monastic Rules on Various Matters. All of these stories appear also in the various Āgama sutras.

100. Adapted from a passage in the Nirvana Sutra.

101. The garden of mango trees in the city of Vaishālī in India.

 

 

 

Chapter31(Suspicion that there is no protection by the voice-hearers)

 

Notes

101. The garden of mango trees in the city of Vaishālī in India.

102. A History of the Buddha’s Successors states that, when Mahākāshyapa felt that death was approaching, he transferred the teachings to Ānanda and went to Mount Kukkutapāda in Magadha, where he entered into meditation and died. It is said that not until Bodhisattva Maitreya appears in the world 5,670 million years after the Buddha’s death will Mahākāshyapa reappear.

103. Reference is to a passage in the “Medicine King” chapter of the Lotus Sutra that reads, “After I have passed into extinction, in the last five-hundred-year period you must spread it abroad widely throughout Jambudvīpa and never allow it to be cut off.”

104. Reference is to a special transmission outside the scriptures, not dependent on words and phrases, an expression commonly used in Zen.

105. Hōnen does not use these words in this particular form, however. Nichiren Daishonin took these words from The Nembutsu Chosen above All and put them together as a set.

 

 

 

Chapter32(The sutras preached before the Lotus Sutra had little kindness at all for the various Bodhisattvas)

In the sutras preached before the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha is shown predicting that various great bodhisattvas and heavenly and human beings will attain Buddhahood in the future. But trying to realize such predictions is like trying to grasp the moon in the water, like mistaking the reflection for the actual object—it has the color and shape of the object but not the reality. Likewise, the Buddha would seem to be displaying profound kindness in making such predictions, but in fact it is little kindness at all.

When the World-Honored One had first attained enlightenment and had not yet begun to preach, more than sixty great bodhisattvas, including Dharma Wisdom, Forest of Merits, Diamond Banner, and Diamond Storehouse, appeared from the various Buddha lands of the ten directions and came before Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. There, at the request of the bodhisattvas Chief Wise, Moon of Deliverance, and others, they preached the doctrines of the ten stages of security, the ten stages of practice, the ten stages of devotion, the ten stages of development,¹⁰⁶ and so forth. The doctrines that these great bodhisattvas preached were not learned from Shakyamuni Buddha. At that time, Brahmā and other deities of the worlds of the ten directions came together and preached the various teachings, but again those were not what they had learned from Shakyamuni.

These great bodhisattvas, deities, dragons, and others who appeared at the assembly described in the Flower Garland Sutra were beings who had dwelt in “inconceivable emancipation”¹⁰⁷ since before Shakyamuni Buddha began preaching. Perhaps they were disciples of Shakyamuni when he was carrying out bodhisattva practices in previous existences, or perhaps they were disciples of previous Buddhas of the worlds of the ten directions. In any event, they were not disciples of the Shakyamuni who first attained enlightenment in this world and expounded his lifetime teachings.

It was only when the Buddha set forth the four teachings in the Āgama, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods that he finally acquired disciples. And although they were doctrines preached by the Buddha himself, they were not doctrines that revealed his true intention. Why do I say this? Because the specific and perfect teachings, as set forth in the sutras of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods, do not differ in meaning from the specific and perfect teachings as set forth in the Flower Garland Sutra. The specific and perfect teachings given in the Flower Garland Sutra are not the specific and perfect teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha. They are the specific and perfect teachings of Dharma Wisdom and the other great bodhisattvas mentioned earlier. These great bodhisattvas may appear to most people to have been disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, but in fact it would be better to call them his teachers. The World-Honored One listened to these bodhisattvas’ preaching and, after gaining wisdom and understanding, proceeded to set forth the specific and perfect teachings of the sutras of the Correct and Equal and the Wisdom periods. But these differ in no way from the specific and perfect teachings of the Flower Garland Sutra.

Therefore, we know that these great bodhisattvas were the teachers of Shakyamuni. These bodhisattvas are mentioned in the Flower Garland Sutra, where they are called “good friends.” To call a person a good friend means that that person is neither one’s teacher nor one’s disciple. The two types of teachings called Tripitaka and connecting teachings are offshoots of the specific and perfect teachings. Anyone who understands the specific and perfect teachings will invariably understand the Tripitaka and connecting teachings as well.

A teacher is someone who teaches his disciples things that they did not previously know. For example, in the ages before the Buddha, the heavenly and human beings and followers of Brahmanism were all disciples of the two deities¹⁰⁸ and the three ascetics. Though their doctrines branched off to form ninety-five different schools, these did not go beyond the views of the three ascetics. Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings, also studied these doctrines and for a time became a disciple of the Brahmanic teachers. But after spending twelve years in various painful and comfortable practices,¹⁰⁹ he came to understand the principles of suffering, emptiness, impermanence, and non-self. Therefore, he ceased to call himself a disciple of the Brahmanic teachings and instead proclaimed himself the possessor of a wisdom acquired from no teacher at all. Thus in time the human and heavenly beings came to look up to him as a great teacher.

It is clear, therefore, that during the teaching period of the first four flavors Shakyamuni, the lord of teachings, was a disciple of Dharma Wisdom and the other great bodhisattvas. Similarly, he was the ninth disciple of Bodhisattva Manjushrī.¹¹⁰ This is also the reason why the Buddha repeatedly declares in the earlier sutras, “I never preached a single word.”

 

Notes

106. These four types of ten stages are divisions of the fifty-two stages through which a bodhisattva advances from his first resolve to his attainment of perfect enlightenment.

107. “Inconceivable emancipation” is defined as awakening to the profound and subtle principle of Mahayana. Described in the Vimalakīrti Sutra.

108. The two deities are Shiva and Vishnu.

109. After he renounced secular life, Shakyamuni engaged in various practices for twelve years until he attained enlightenment. It is said that for the first six years he carried out ascetic practices (painful), and for the second six years he persevered in the practice of meditation (comfortable).

110. This story appears in the “Introduction” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. In the distant past, Manjushrī appeared as Bodhisattva Wonderfully Bright, a disciple of Sun Moon Bright Buddha. After the Buddha’s demise, Wonderfully Bright continued to embrace the Lotus Sutra, which his teacher had expounded. The Buddha had fathered eight sons before renouncing the world. Wonderfully Bright led the princes to enlightenment. The last of them to attain Buddhahood was Burning Torch Buddha, under whom Shakyamuni practiced the sutra for enlightenment in a previous existence. This is why Shakyamuni is called “the ninth disciple of Bodhisattva Manjushrī.”

 

 

 

Chapter33(Revealing the deep benefit of the Lotus Sutra)

When Shakyamuni Buddha was seventy-two, he preached the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra on Eagle Peak in the kingdom of Magadha. At that time he denied all the sutras he had preached during the previous more than forty years, and all the fragmentary teachings derived from those sutras, saying, “In these more than forty years, I have not yet revealed the truth.” At that time, the great bodhisattvas and the various heavenly and human beings hastened to implore the Buddha to reveal the true doctrine. In fact, in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra he made a single pronouncement that appeared to suggest the true doctrine,¹¹¹ but he did not elaborate on it. It was like the moment when the moon is about to rise. The moon is still hidden behind the eastern hills, and though its glow begins to light the western hills, people cannot yet see the body of the moon itself.

In the “Expedient Means” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in the section that concisely reveals the replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle, the Buddha briefly explained the concept of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the doctrine that he had kept in mind for his final revelation. But because this was the first time he had touched on the subject, it was only dimly apprehended, like the first note of the cuckoo heard by someone drowsy with sleep, or like the moon appearing over the rim of the hill but veiled in thin clouds. Shāriputra and the others, startled, called the heavenly beings, dragon deities, and great bodhisattvas together and, begging for instruction, said: “The heavenly beings, dragons, spirits, and the others, their numbers like Ganges sands, the bodhisattvas seeking to be Buddhas in a great force of eighty thousand, as well as the wheel-turning kings [who] come from ten thousands of millions of lands, all press their palms and with reverent minds wish to hear the teaching of perfect endowment.”¹¹²

The passage indicates that they requested to hear a doctrine such as they had not heard in the previous more than forty years, one that differed from the four flavors and the three teachings. With regard to the part “[they] wish to hear the teaching of perfect endowment,” it may be noted that the Nirvana Sutra states, “Sad¹¹³ indicates perfect endowment.” The Profound Meaning of the Four Mahayana Treatises states, “Sad connotes six. In India the number six implies perfect endowment.” In his commentary Chi-tsang writes, “Sad is translated as perfect endowment.”¹¹⁴ In the eighth volume of his Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra T’ien-t’ai remarks, “Sad is a Sanskrit word, which is translated as myō, or wonderful.” Bodhisattva Nāgārjuna, in the heart of his thousand-volume Treatise on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, comments, “Sad signifies six.” Nāgārjuna was thirteenth in the lineage of the Buddha’s successors, the founder of the True Word, Flower Garland, and the other schools, a great sage of the first stage of development, and the person whose true identity was the Thus Come One Dharma Clouds Freedom King.

 

Notes

 

 

 

Chapter34(Explaining the the characters Myoho-renge-kyo)

The characters Myoho-renge-kyo are Chinese. In India, the Lotus Sutra is called Saddharma-pundarīka-sūtra. The following is the mantra concerning the heart of the Lotus Sutra composed by the Tripitaka Master Shan-wu-wei:

 

namah samanta-buddhānām

om a ā am ah

sarva-buddha-jna-sākshebhyah

gagana-sambhavālakshani

saddharma-pundarīka-sūtra

jah hūm bam hoh vajrārakshaman

hūm svāhā

 

Hail to all the Buddhas! Three-bodied Thus Come Ones! Open the door to, show me, cause me to awaken to, and to enter into the wisdom and insight of all the Buddhas. You who are like space and who have freed yourself from form! Oh, Sutra of the White Lotus of the Correct Law! Cause me to enter into, to be everywhere within, to dwell in, and to rejoice in you. Oh, Adamantine Protector! Oh, empty, aspect-free, and desire-free sutra!¹¹⁵

 

This mantra, which expresses the heart of the Lotus Sutra, was found in the iron tower in southern India.¹¹⁶ In this mantra, saddharma means “correct Law.” Sad means correct. Correct is the same as myō [wonderful]; myō is the same as correct. Hence the Lotus Sutra of the Correct Law and the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. And when the two characters for namu are prefixed to Myoho-renge-kyo, or the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law, we have the formula Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.¹¹⁷

Myō means perfect endowment. Six refers to the six pāramitās representing all the ten thousand practices. When people ask to hear the teaching of perfect endowment, they are asking how they may gain the perfect endowment of the six pāramitās and ten thousand practices of the bodhisattvas. In the phrase “perfect endowment,” endowment refers to the mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, while perfect means that, since there is mutual possession of the Ten Worlds, then any one world contains all the other worlds, indicating that this is “perfect.” The Lotus Sutra is a single work consisting of eight volumes, twenty-eight chapters, and 69,384 characters. Each and every character is endowed with the character myō, each being a Buddha who has the thirty-two features and eighty characteristics. Each of the Ten Worlds manifests its own Buddhahood. As Miao-lo writes, “Since even Buddhahood is present in all living beings, then all the other worlds are of course present, too.”¹¹⁸

The Buddha replied to the request of his listeners by saying that “the Buddhas wish to open the door of Buddha wisdom to all living beings.”¹¹⁹ The term “all living beings” here refers to Shāriputra, and it also refers to icchantikas, persons of incorrigible disbelief. It also refers to the nine worlds. Thus the Buddha fulfilled his words, “Living beings are numberless. I vow to save them all,”¹²⁰ when he declares, “At the start I took a vow, hoping to make all persons equal to me, without any distinction between us, and what I long ago hoped for has now been fulfilled.”

All the great bodhisattvas, heavenly beings, and others, when they had heard the doctrine of the Buddha and comprehended it, said, “Since times past often we have heard the World-Honored One’s preaching, but we have never heard this kind of profound, wonderful, and superior Law.”¹²¹

The Great Teacher Dengyō comments: “‘Since times past often we have heard the World-Honored One’s preaching’ refers to the fact that they had heard him preach the great doctrines of the Flower Garland Sutra and other sutras in the time previous to the preaching of the Lotus Sutra. ‘We have never heard this kind of profound, wonderful, and superior Law’ means that they had never heard the teaching of the one vehicle of Buddhahood propounded in the Lotus Sutra.”¹²²

They understood, that is, that none of the previous Mahayana sutras—which are as numerous as the sands of the Ganges and include those of the Flower Garland, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods, such as the Profound Secrets and Mahāvairochana sutras—had ever made clear the great principle of three thousand realms in a single moment of life, the core of the Buddha’s lifetime teachings. Nor had they clarified the bone and marrow of those teachings, the doctrines that persons of the two vehicles can attain Buddhahood and that the Buddha attained enlightenment in the remote past.

 

Notes

 

 

 

Chapter35(Revealing deep benefits in the Lotus Sutra)

FROM this time forward, the great bodhisattvas, as well as Brahmā, Shakra, the gods of the sun and moon, and the four heavenly kings, became the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings. Thus, in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha treats these great bodhisattvas as his disciples, admonishing and instructing them in these words: “So I say to the great assembly: After I have passed into extinction, who can guard and uphold, read and recite this sutra? Now in the presence of the Buddha let him come forward and speak his vow!” This was the solemn way he addressed them. Then, among the great bodhisattvas, it was “as though a great wind were tossing the branches of small trees.”¹²³ Like the kusha grass¹²⁴ bending before a great wind or like rivers and streams drawn to the great ocean, so were they drawn to the Buddha.

But it was still a relatively short time since the Buddha had begun to preach the Lotus Sutra on Eagle Peak, and what he said seemed to his listeners dreamlike and unreal. The treasure tower had first appeared to confirm the correctness of the theoretical teaching in the first half of the Lotus Sutra, and after that the treasure tower prepared the way for the expounding of the essential teaching in the latter half. The Buddhas of the ten directions gathered in assembly, Shakyamuni Buddha announcing that all of these were emanations of himself. The treasure tower hung in the air, with Shakyamuni and Many Treasures seated in it side by side, as though both the sun and moon had appeared side by side in the blue sky. The great assembly of human and heavenly beings were clustered in the sky like stars, and the Buddhas who were emanations of Shakyamuni Buddha were on the ground, seated on their lion seats under jeweled trees.

In the Lotus Treasury World described in the Flower Garland Sutra, the Buddhas in their reward bodies all dwell in their separate lands. Buddhas of other worlds do not come to this world and call themselves emanations [as happened in the case of the Lotus Sutra], nor do Buddhas of this world go to other worlds. Only Dharma Wisdom and the other great bodhisattvas come and go.

As for the nine honored ones on the eight-petaled lotus and the thirty-seven honored ones¹²⁵ described respectively in the Mahāvairochana and Diamond Crown sutras, although they appear to be transformation bodies of the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana, they are not Buddhas enlightened since the remote past or endowed with the three bodies.

The thousand Buddhas described in the Larger Wisdom Sutra and the Buddhas of the six directions represented in the Amida Sutra never assembled in this world [as did the Buddha’s emanations in the Lotus Sutra]. The Buddhas who assembled when the Great Collection Sutra was preached were not emanations of Shakyamuni. The four Buddhas of the four directions depicted in the Golden Light Sutra are transformation bodies of Shakyamuni Buddha.

Thus, in the various sutras other than the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni does not assemble Buddhas who carry out different austerities and practices and who possess the three bodies, nor does he identify them as emanations of himself. [Only in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra does he do so.] This chapter, then, is intended as an introduction to the “Life Span” chapter that follows later. Shakyamuni Buddha, who was believed to have attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty years previously, calls together Buddhas who had become enlightened as long as one or even ten kalpas ago, and declares that they are emanations of himself. This is a far cry indeed from the Buddha’s usual preaching on the equality of all Buddhas [in their Dharma bodies], and in fact a cause of great astonishment. If Shakyamuni had attained enlightenment for the first time only some forty years earlier, there could hardly have been so many beings in the ten directions who had received his instruction. And even if he was privileged to possess emanations, there would have been no benefit in his showing them to his listeners. T’ien-t’ai, describing what went on in the astonished minds of the assembly, says, “It was evident to them that Shakyamuni Buddha possessed numerous emanations. Therefore, they understood that he must have attained enlightenment in the far distant past.”¹²⁶

 

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Chapter36(Clarifying the appearance of the Bodhisattvas who came forth from the earth)

In addition, the great bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds appeared, rising up out of the ground. Even Universal Worthy and Manjushrī, who had been regarded as the leading disciples of Shakyamuni, could not compare to them. The great bodhisattvas present in the assemblies described in the sutras of the Flower Garland, Correct and Equal, and Wisdom periods and in the “Treasure Tower” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, or Vajrasattva and the rest of the sixteen great bodhisattvas of the Mahāvairochana [and Diamond Crown] sutras, when compared with these newly arrived bodhisattvas, seemed like a pack of apes or monkeys, with the new bodhisattvas appearing among them like so many Shakras. It was as though great ministers of court had mingled with humble mountain folk. Even Maitreya, who was to be the next Buddha after Shakyamuni, was perplexed by them, to say nothing of the lesser personages in the assembly.

Among these great bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds there were four great sages called Superior Practices, Boundless Practices, Pure Practices, and Firmly Established Practices. In the presence of these four, the other bodhisattvas suspended in the air or seated on Eagle Peak could not bear to gaze on them face to face or begin to fathom their dignity. Even the four bodhisattvas of the Flower Garland Sutra,¹²⁷ the four bodhisattvas of the Mahāvairochana Sutra,¹²⁸ or the sixteen great bodhisattvas of the Diamond Crown Sutra,¹²⁹ when in the presence of these four, were like bleary-eyed men trying to peer at the sun, or like humble fishermen appearing in audience before the emperor. These four were like T’ai-kung Wang and the others of the four sages of ancient China,¹³⁰ who towered above the multitude. They were like the Four White-Haired Elders¹³¹ of Mount Shang who assisted Emperor Hui. Solemn, dignified, they were beings of great and lofty stature. Aside from Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the emanations of Shakyamuni from the ten directions, they were worthy of being good friends upon whom all beings could rely.

Then Bodhisattva Maitreya began to consider the matter in his mind. He said to himself: “Since the time Shakyamuni Buddha was a crown prince, and during the forty-two years since he gained enlightenment at the age of thirty up until this gathering on Eagle Peak, I have known all the bodhisattvas of this world, and all the great bodhisattvas who have come from the worlds of the ten directions to attend the assemblies. Moreover, I have visited the pure and impure lands of the ten directions, sometimes as the Buddha’s emissary, at other times on my own initiative, and I have become acquainted with all the great bodhisattvas of those various lands. As for these great bodhisattvas who have appeared from the earth, what kind of Buddha is their teacher? Surely he must be a Buddha who is incomparably superior to Shakyamuni, Many Treasures, and the emanation Buddhas from the ten directions! From the fury of the rain, we can judge the greatness of the dragon that caused it to fall; from the size of the lotus flower, we can tell the depth of the pond that produced it. Now from what land did these great bodhisattvas come, what Buddha did they follow, and what great teaching have they practiced?”

Thus did Bodhisattva Maitreya wonder to himself, becoming so puzzled that he was unable to utter a sound. But, perhaps through the Buddha’s power, he was at last able to put his doubts into words, saying: “Immeasurable thousands, ten thousands, millions, a great host of bodhisattvas such as was never seen in the past . . . This host of bodhisattvas with their great dignity, virtue, and diligence—who preached the Law for them? Who taught and converted them and brought them to this? Under whom did they first set their minds on enlightenment, what Buddha’s Law do they praise and proclaim? . . . World-Honored One, from times past I have seen nothing like this! I beg you to tell me where they come from, the name of the land. I have constantly journeyed from land to land but never have I seen such a thing! In this whole multitude there is not one person that I know. Suddenly they have come up from the earth—I beg you to explain the cause.”¹³²

[Paraphrasing Maitreya’s statement,] T’ien-t’ai comments: “Since the time of the Buddha’s enlightenment at the place of meditation, up until the present gathering, great bodhisattvas unceasingly came from the worlds in the ten directions to attend the various assemblies. Their numbers are unlimited, but I, with the wisdom and power appropriate to the next Buddha, have been able to see and know every single one of them. And yet, among the newly arrived multitude, I do not know a single person—this in spite of the fact that I have traveled in the ten directions, have served the various Buddhas, and am well known among their audiences.”¹³³

Miao-lo comments, “Wise men can perceive the cause of things, as snakes know the way of snakes.”¹³⁴

The meaning of these passages of scripture and commentary is perfectly clear. In effect, from the time of Shakyamuni’s enlightenment up until the present assembly [on Eagle Peak], in this land and in all the lands of the ten directions, Bodhisattva Maitreya had never seen or heard of these bodhisattvas who came forth from the earth.

 

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