On Prayer

Nichiren, the shramana of Japan

Background

Prayers based upon the Lotus Sutra will definitely be answered, writes Nichiren Daishonin. In contrast, he emphasizes, prayers based upon mistaken teachings not only will go unanswered, but will create suffering both for those who offer them and for those on whose behalf they do so.

This is the theme of On Prayer, written by Nichiren Daishonin in the ninth year of Bun’ei (1272), when he was in exile on Sado Island. The writing is thought to be a reply to questions raised by Sairen-bō, a disciple of the Daishonin and former priest of the Mountain [Jikaku] branch of the Tendai school, who at the time was also living in exile on Sado Island.

Sairen-bō and the Daishonin exchanged a number of letters concerning various important Buddhist doctrines. In this letter, the Daishonin distinguishes between the efficacy of prayer based on schools that prevailed in Japanese society of the day—including the Flower Garland, Dharma Characteristics, Precepts, True Word, and Tendai schools—and prayer based upon the Lotus Sutra. The authorities of the contemporary imperial court and shogunate relied to a great degree upon the teachings and prayers of the True Word, Tendai, Zen, and Nembutsu schools.

It was because the prayers offered by priests of the True Word and Tendai schools were ineffectual, the Daishonin declares, that the imperial forces were defeated in the Jōkyū Disturbance—a struggle for power between the imperial court and the Kamakura shogunate in 1221. Placing their trust in these schools, the court had requested that prayers be offered for its protection and victory.

Ultimately, however, despite such prayers, not only were the imperial forces defeated in battle, but three retired emperors were exiled to distant islands. Thus, concludes the Daishonin, such prayers do not simply go unanswered; they actually bring about misfortune.

On the other hand, prayers based on the Lotus Sutra are true prayers, the Daishonin says. He then states the reasons: all Buddhas, bodhisattvas, people of the two vehicles (voice-hearers and cause-awakened ones), and human and heavenly beings present in the assembly of the Lotus Sutra feel a great sense of gratitude because they attained Buddhahood through the sutra. To repay these debts of gratitude, they will certainly protect those who uphold the Lotus Sutra.

The Daishonin mentions the dragon king’s daughter and the evil Devadatta in particular, noting that because their attainment of Buddhahood was considered an especially remarkable achievement their debt of gratitude is correspondingly great; thus, he assures Sairen-bō, they, too, will never fail to guard the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra.

The Daishonin also firmly refutes the statement made by Kōbō, the founder of the True Word school in Japan, who claimed in his work The Treatise on the Ten Stages of the Mind that the Mahāvairochana Sutra ranks first, the Flower Garland Sutra second, and the Lotus Sutra third. To support his contention that True Word doctrines are misleading, the Daishonin cites this statement made by the Buddha in the Lotus Sutra, “I have preached various sutras, and among those sutras the Lotus is the foremost!”

The letter’s heading, “Nichiren, the shramana of Japan,” expresses his conviction that he is truly a shramana, or seeker of the way, and that he is the votary of the Lotus Sutra. Shakyamuni achieved enlightenment as a seeker of the way in India. In this sense this designation can also be said to convey the Daishonin’s conviction that he is the true shramana of Japan, and that he is the Buddha of the Latter Day of the Law.

In conclusion, the Daishonin urges Sairen-bō to offer prayers based upon the correct doctrines of the Lotus Sutra and to fulfill his true potential as a human being by aspiring to attain Buddhahood.

 

 

Chapter1(Prayer that is based upon the Lotus Sutra is a prayer that is certain to be fulfilled)

QUESTION: Of the types of prayer that one offers based upon the teachings of the Flower Garland school, the Dharma Characteristics school, the Three Treatises school, the three Hinayana schools,¹ the True Word school, or the Tendai school, which type is effective?

Answer: Since they represent the preaching of the Buddha, they can all in some sense be considered prayer. But prayer that is based upon the Lotus Sutra is a prayer that is certain to be fulfilled.

 

Notes

1. The three Hinayana schools refer to the Dharma Analysis Treasury, Establishment of Truth, and Precepts schools.

 

 

Chapter2(Revealing why the persons of the two vehicles protect those who practice the Lotus Sutra)

Question: What is the reason for that?

Answer: The persons of the two vehicles, though they spent kalpas numerous as the dust particles of the land practicing the sutras that correspond to the four flavors, could never attain Buddhahood. But, by listening to the Lotus Sutra for just an instant, they became Buddhas. For this reason, Shāriputra, Mahākāshyapa, and the others who make up the twelve hundred [arhats] and the twelve thousand [arhats],² and all the others of the two vehicles who attained Buddhahood, will certainly respond to the prayers of those who practice the Lotus Sutra. And they will take upon themselves the pains of such practitioners.

Therefore, it is stated in the “Belief and Understanding” chapter [of the Lotus Sutra]: “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.”

In this passage from the sutra, the four great voice-hearers, having heard the message of the “Simile and Parable” chapter and learned how they can become Buddhas, are expounding on how difficult it is to repay one’s debt of gratitude to the Buddha and to the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, we can understand that, to persons of the two vehicles, the practitioners of this sutra are more important than a father or a mother, than a beloved child, than their own two eyes or their body and life itself.

Though I do not think that the great voice-hearers such as Shāriputra and Maudgalyāyana would actually cast aside a practitioner who praised any of the teachings put forth by the Buddha in the course of his lifetime, still it is likely that they feel a small degree of resentment toward the various sutras that were preached previous to the Lotus Sutra. This is because in them a strong warning has been given that “within the Buddha’s teachings they [voice-hearers] are like seeds that have already been spoiled.”³ But now these voice-hearers have become Thus Come Ones such as Flower Glow, Rare Form, and Universal Brightness,⁴ a most unexpected stroke of good fortune. They must feel as though the K’un-lun Mountains had split open and they were able to enter those jewel-filled mountains. That is why the passage of appreciation says, “This cluster of unsurpassed jewels has come to us unsought.”⁵

So there can be no doubt that all persons of the two vehicles will protect the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra. Even lowly creatures know enough to repay a debt of gratitude. Thus the bird known as the wild goose will invariably carry out its filial duty to the mother bird when she is about to die. And the fox never forgets its old hillock.⁶ If even animals will do such things, then how much more so should this be true of human beings?

A man named Wang Shou was traveling along a road when he became hungry and weary. Beside the road was a plum tree that was loaded with fruit. Wang Shou ate the fruit and thereby satisfied his hunger. But he said to himself, “I have eaten the fruit of this plum tree and thus restored my strength and spirits. It would not be right if I failed to repay this debt of gratitude.” So saying, he took off his robe and hung it on the plum tree before going on his way.

A man named Wang Yin was traveling along a road when he became thirsty. Crossing a river, he drank some of the water, and then he tossed a coin into the river as payment for the water he had drunk.

A dragon will invariably protect a monk who is wearing a Buddhist surplice. The reason is that a dragon once received a Buddhist surplice from the Buddha and, placing it around its beloved child in the dragon palace, was able to prevent the child from being eaten by garuda birds.

A garuda bird will invariably protect one who acts with filial duty toward one’s parents. Dragons would shake Mount Sumeru and eat the beloved chicks of the garuda bird after they fell from their nests. But the Buddha instructed the garuda bird to take the offerings of rice that Buddhist monks set aside from the alms given them by filial persons and to place these offerings on top of Mount Sumeru. In this way, the garuda bird was able to prevent its chicks from being eaten by dragons.

Heaven will invariably protect a person who observes the precepts and practices goodness. If people who are born into the human realm do not observe the precepts or practice goodness, then when they die, they will in most cases be reborn in the realm of the asura. And if those in the realm of the asura become very numerous, they will grow arrogant and will inevitably offend against heaven.

However, if people who are born into the human realm observe the precepts and practice goodness, when they die, they will invariably be reborn in the realm of heavenly beings. And if those in the realm of heavenly beings become very numerous, the asuras will be frightened and will not dare to offend against heaven. That is the reason why heaven invariably protects people who observe the precepts and practice goodness.

Persons of the two vehicles are more excellent in the virtue gained from their observance of the precepts and more astute in wisdom than ordinary people in the six paths. Therefore, how could they possibly ever abandon those who practice the Lotus Sutra, since the Lotus Sutra is the means that has enabled them to attain Buddhahood?

 

Notes

2. The “twelve hundred [arhats]” refers to the Buddha’s disciples who received a prophecy of attaining Buddhahood in the “Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples” chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Each of them was given the title of the Thus Come One Universal Brightness. The “twelve thousand [arhats]” indicates those who assembled at the ceremony of the preaching of the Lotus Sutra.

3. A rephrasing of a passage in the Vimalakīrti Sutra: “With regard to the Law of the Buddha, they have become like rotten seeds.”

4. Flower Glow and Rare Form are the names that Shāriputra and Subhūti will acquire on attaining Buddhahood, as prophesied by the Buddha in the “Simile and Parable” chapter and the “Bestowal of Prophecy” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, respectively. With regard to the title of Universal Brightness, see n. 2.

5. Lotus Sutra, chap. 4.

6. This appears in the “Nine Pieces” of Elegies of Ch’u. A commentary on Elegies of Ch’u by Chu Hsi of the Sung dynasty states, “The old fox dies, invariably turning its head toward the hillock. This is because it never forgets the place of its birth.” The source of the story of the wild goose is unknown.

 

 

Chapter3(Revealing the reason why Buddha protects the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra)

Moreover, although the bodhisattvas and ordinary people had practiced the teachings of the various sutras preached in the forty and more years previous to the Lotus Sutra for a period of countless kalpas in order to become Buddhas, none ever succeeded in attaining Buddhahood. But they were able to attain Buddhahood by practicing the Lotus Sutra. And now these Buddhas of the worlds of the ten directions are endowed with the thirty-two features and eighty characteristics that distinguish a Buddha, and are looked up to by living beings in the other nine realms, just as stars cluster about the moon, as the eight mountains surround Mount Sumeru, as the people of the four continents look up to the sun, or as common people look up to a wheel-turning king. And is the fact that these Buddhas are looked up to in this manner not due to the benefit and blessing of the Lotus Sutra?

Therefore, in the Lotus Sutra the Buddha gives this warning: “There is no need to enshrine the relics of the Buddha there.”⁷ And the Nirvana Sutra says, “What the Buddhas take as their teacher is the Law. Therefore, the Thus Come Ones honor, respect, and make offerings to it.” In the passage from the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha is saying that his relics need not be enshrined in the stupa alongside the Lotus Sutra. And the passage from the Nirvana Sutra indicates that the Buddhas should honor, respect, and make offerings to the Lotus Sutra.

The Buddhas, because they were enlightened by the Lotus Sutra, were able to attain Buddhahood. Therefore, if they should fail to preach the sutra to others, they would be withholding from others the seeds of Buddhahood and would be committing a fault. For this reason, the Thus Come One Shakyamuni made his appearance in this sahā world and prepared to preach it. But the devil king of the sixth heaven, otherwise known as the fundamental darkness, took possession of the bodies of all the people and caused them to hate the Buddha and impede his preaching.

Thus the king known as Virūdhaka killed five hundred people of the Shākya clan; Angulimāla chased after the Buddha; Devadatta rolled a huge stone down on him; and Chinchā, the daughter of a Brahman, tied a bowl to her belly and claimed to be pregnant with the Buddha’s child.

The lord of a Brahman city proclaimed that a fine of five hundred ryō of gold should be levied against anyone who invited the Buddha into the city. As a result, the people of the city blocked the road with thorns, threw filth into the wells, built a barricade of spikes at the gate, and put poison in the Buddha’s food, all because of their hatred of him.

The nun Utpalavarnā was murdered, Maudgalyāyana was killed by Brahmans of the Bamboo Staff school, and Kālodāyin was buried in horse dung, all because of animosity toward the Buddha.

Nevertheless, the Buddha managed to survive these various ordeals, and, at the age of seventy-two, forty-two years after he first began preaching the Buddhist teachings, at a mountain called Gridhrakūta northeast of the city of Rājagriha in central India, he began to preach the Lotus Sutra. He preached it for a period of eight years. Then, on the bank of the Ajitavatī River at the city of Kushinagara in eastern India, in the middle of the night on the fifteenth day of the second month, when he was eighty years of age, he entered nirvana.

But before that, he had revealed his enlightenment in the form of the Lotus Sutra. Therefore, the words of this sutra are indeed the very soul of Shakyamuni Thus Come One. And since every single word constitutes the soul of the Buddha, Shakyamuni Thus Come One will protect those who practice this sutra as though he were protecting his very own eyes. He will accompany them just as a shadow accompanies a body. How then could the prayers of such persons not be answered?

 

Notes

7. Lotus Sutra, chap. 10.

 

 

 

Chapter4(Revealing that Bodhisattvas and the four heavenly kings always protect the practitioner of the Lotus Sutra)

During the first forty and more years of the Buddha’s teaching life, the various bodhisattvas had tried to attain Buddhahood through the sutras beginning with the Flower Garland Sutra, but they were unable to do so. But when the “Expedient Means” chapter of the Lotus Sutra was preached, announcing the concise replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle,⁸ then “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.” And when, as a result, they heard the expanded replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle, then it was as the sutra states, “When the bodhisattvas hear this Law, they will be released from all entanglements of doubt.”⁹

After that, bodhisattvas from this world and from other regions assembled together like gathering clouds or so many stars. And when the “Treasure Tower” chapter was preached, the Buddhas of the ten directions gathered round, each accompanied by countless numbers of bodhisattvas.

Manjushrī appeared from the sea accompanied by countless bodhisattvas,¹⁰ and in addition there were the eight hundred thousand million nayutas of bodhisattvas¹¹ and the bodhisattvas more numerous than the sands of eight Ganges Rivers;¹² the bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds, who emerged from the earth;¹³ the bodhisattvas as numerous as the sands of six hundred and eighty ten thousands, millions, nayutas of Ganges Rivers who appear in the “Distinctions in Benefits” chapter; the bodhisattvas multiplied a thousand times; the bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a world; the bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a major world system; the bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of an intermediate world system; the bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a minor world system; the bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of four four-continent worlds, or the dust particles of three four-continent worlds, two four-continent worlds, or one four-continent world; and the people as numerous as the dust particles of eight worlds.

There were the eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas of the “Medicine King” chapter; the eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas and the forty-two thousand heavenly sons of the “Wonderful Sound” chapter; the eighty-four thousand people of the “Universal Gateway” chapter; the sixty-eight thousand people of the “Dhāranī” chapter; the eighty-four thousand people of the “King Wonderful Adornment” chapter; and the bodhisattvas as numerous as the Ganges sands and the bodhisattvas as numerous as the dust particles of a major world system of the “Encouragements” chapter.

If we were to count up all these bodhisattvas, they would be as numerous as the dust particles of the worlds of the ten directions, as the plants and trees in the worlds of the ten directions, as the stars in the worlds of the ten directions, or as the raindrops in the worlds of the ten directions. All of these beings attained Buddhahood through the Lotus Sutra and are dwelling on the earth, under the earth, or in the sky of this present major world system.

The Venerable Mahākāshyapa lives on Mount Kukkutapāda, Manjushrī lives on Mount Clear and Cool, Bodhisattva Earth Repository lives on Mount Kharadīya, Perceiver of the World’s Sounds lives on Mount Potalaka, Bodhisattva Maitreya lives in the Tushita heaven, Nanda and the countless other dragon kings and asura kings live at the bottom of the sea or at the seaside, Shakra lives in the heaven of the thirty-three gods, Brahmā lives in the Summit of Being heaven, Maheshvara lives in the sixth heaven of Freely Enjoying Things Conjured by Others, the four heavenly kings live on the slopes of Mount Sumeru, and the sun, the moon, and the crowds of stars appear before our eyes and shine over our heads. The river gods, the stream gods, and the mountain gods were all among the honored ones present at the assembly when the Lotus Sutra was preached.

It has now been over twenty-two hundred years since the Buddha preached the Lotus Sutra. Human beings have a short life span, and therefore there are no persons alive today who have seen the Buddha with their own eyes. But in the heavenly realm the span of a day is long, and the beings there have long lives; as a result, there are countless heavenly beings still alive who have seen the Buddha and listened to him preach the Lotus Sutra.

Fifty years in the life of a human being is equivalent to no more than one day and one night in the lives of beings in the heaven of the four heavenly kings. And these heavenly beings, passing such days and nights, with thirty such days to a month and twelve such months to a year, live to be five hundred years old. Therefore, twenty-two hundred or more years in the lives of human beings will be equivalent to only forty-four days in the lives of beings in the heaven of the four heavenly kings.

Hence from the point of view of the deities of the sun and moon and the heavenly king Vaishravana, it has been only forty-four days, or less than two months, since the Buddha passed away. And from the point of view of Shakra and Brahmā, not even a month, not even an hour, has passed since the Buddha departed. In such a short time, how could these heavenly beings have forgotten the vow that they took in the presence of the Buddha, or the debt of gratitude they owe to the sutra that allowed them to attain Buddhahood, and thus abandon the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra? When we think of it in this way, we can feel greatly assured.

Therefore, we know that the prayers offered by a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra will be answered just as an echo answers a sound, as a shadow follows a form, as the reflection of the moon appears in clear water, as a mirror collects dewdrops,¹⁴ as a magnet attracts iron, as amber attracts particles of dust, or as a clear mirror reflects the color of an object.

 

Notes

8. Shakyamuni expressed the idea of “the replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle” concisely in the form of the revelation of the true aspect of all phenomena, that is, the ten factors of life. Hence the expression “concise.” In the “Expedient Means” chapter and in subsequent chapters Shakyamuni elaborates on this idea, and this more detailed explanation corresponds to the “expanded” replacement of the three vehicles with the one vehicle.

9. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2.

10. Ibid., chap. 12.

11. Ibid., chap. 13. This number of bodhisattvas made a vow before Shakyamuni Buddha to propagate the sutra in the worlds of the ten directions after his passing.

12. Ibid., chap. 15. These bodhisattvas from other worlds vowed to spread the sutra in the sahā world after the Buddha’s passing.

13. Ibid. This refers to the numerous bodhisattvas known as the Bodhisattvas of the Earth.

14. Vapor condenses on a mirror placed outside at night. It was said that the mirror drew this water down from the moon.

 

 

 

Chapter5(Revealing that the dragon king’s daughter has a deep favor in the Lotus Sutra and protects the practitioners of Lotus Sutra)

Concerning the ways of the ordinary world, though a man may not be inclined to a certain act, if he is urged to it by his parents, his sovereign, his teachers, his wife and children, or his close friends, and if he is a person of conscience, he will overlook his own inclinations and will sacrifice his name and profit, and even his life, to perform that act. How much more earnest will he be, then, if the act is something that springs from his own heart. In such a case, even the restraints of his parents, his sovereign, or his teachers cannot prevent him from carrying out the action.

Thus it was that a worthy man named Fan Yü-ch’i cut off his own head so that it could be presented to Ching K’o, and Chi-cha, having pledged to present his sword to the lord of Hsü, hung it on the lord’s grave.

Similarly, at the gathering on Eagle Peak, the dragon king’s daughter attained Buddhahood in her present form.¹⁵ In the Hinayana sutras, women were despised because they are hindered by the thick clouds of the five obstacles and bound by the strong cords of the three obediences; and in the Mahayana sutras expounded in the first forty and more years of the Buddha’s preaching, women were rejected, since they were thought to be incapable of carrying out religious practice over many kalpas. Or though it had been stated that “the first time they conceive the desire to do so, they can attain enlightenment,”¹⁶ this was indicated as a possibility in name only, with no actual examples to support it. So, in effect, the attainment of Buddhahood by women was denied.

Thus, even a woman who was in the realm of human or heavenly beings had no hope of ever finding the way to become a Buddha. How much less hope was there for this woman [described in the Lotus Sutra], a humble being born among the creatures known as dragons, who had not yet reached maturity but was only eight years old. And yet, contrary to all expectations, through the instruction of Manjushrī, in the short space of time between the “Teacher of the Law” and “Devadatta” chapters when the Buddha was preaching the “Treasure Tower” chapter, she attained Buddhahood in the midst of the ocean. This was a most wonderful happening! If it had not been for the power of the Lotus Sutra, the foremost among all the teachings of the Buddha’s lifetime, how could such a thing have come about?

Therefore, Miao-lo remarks of the event, “The sutra here demonstrates its power by revealing that practice is shallow but the benefit that results is profound indeed.”¹⁷ And because the dragon girl was able to attain Buddhahood through this sutra, how could she ever abandon someone who is a practitioner of the Lotus Sutra, even if she had not been admonished against it by the Buddha? Therefore, in the verse that she uttered in praise of the Buddha, she stated, “I unfold the doctrines of the great vehicle to rescue living beings from suffering.”¹⁸

Her oath was the oath taken by her retinue, or all the creatures known as dragons, whose number is so vast that “the mouth cannot express it, the mind cannot fathom it.”¹⁹ The dragon king Sāgara, though a lowly creature, cared profoundly for his daughter. Therefore, he took the finest treasure in all the great ocean, a wish-granting jewel, and had his daughter present it as alms to the Buddha, in recognition of the fact that she had attained Buddhahood in her present form. This jewel was equivalent in value to a major world system.

 

Notes

15. Lotus Sutra, chap. 12.

16. Flower Garland Sutra.

17. The Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.”

18. Lotus Sutra, chap. 12.

19. Ibid.

 

 

Chapter6(Revieing why Devadatta should protect the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra)

Devadatta was the grandson of King Simhahanu, the son of Shakyamuni Buddha’s uncle, King Dronodana, and an elder brother of the Venerable Ānanda. His mother was a daughter of the rich man Suprabuddha. He was thus a member of the family of a wheel-turning king and held a high social position in the southern continent of Jambudvīpa.

While he was still an ordinary member of society, the woman he had intended to marry, Yashodharā, was taken away by Prince Siddhārtha, and he thereafter looked upon Siddhārtha as he would an enemy from a past existence.

Later, he broke his ties with his family and joined the Buddhist Order, but when there were large gatherings of human and heavenly beings, the Buddha would censure him, calling him a fool or one who eats the spit of others. In addition, being a man who cared deeply about fame and personal profit, he envied the attention that was paid to the Buddha. He then began observing the five ascetic practices in an attempt to appear more admirable than the Buddha. He pounded iron to make a thousand-spoked wheel pattern [to imprint on the soles of his feet], gathered together fireflies to form a tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, and committed to memory sixty thousand and eighty thousand jeweled teachings.²⁰ He erected an ordination platform on Mount Gayāshīrsha and lured many of the Buddha’s disciples over to his side. He smeared poison on his fingernails and thus attempted to poison the feet of the Buddha. He beat the nun Utpalavarnā to death and rolled a huge rock down on the Buddha, injuring the latter on the toe. He was guilty of committing three cardinal sins and, in the end, gathered about him all the evil men of the five regions of India and strove to harm the Buddha and his disciples and lay supporters.

King Bimbisāra was the foremost of the Buddha’s lay supporters. Each day he dispatched five hundred carriages, day after day supplying alms to the Buddha and his disciples. But Devadatta, driven by his intense jealousy, talked to Prince Ajātashatru and in time persuaded him to attack his father, whereupon he pinned the king down with seven foot-long spikes.

In the end, the earth in front of the northern gate of the capital city of Rājagriha split open, and Devadatta fell into the great citadel of the Avīchi hell. There was not a single being in the entire major world system who did not witness the event.

One would suppose that, as a result, Devadatta would never be able to escape from the great citadel of the hell of incessant suffering, even though as many kalpas should pass as there are the dust particles of the land. And yet, amazing as it is, and admirable as well, in the Lotus Sutra he became a Thus Come One called Heavenly King. And if Devadatta could become a Buddha, then all the countless other evil people who were enticed by him, since they shared with him the same karmic cause and effect, must surely have been able to escape from the pains of the hell of incessant suffering.

This is entirely due to the benefit and blessing of the Lotus Sutra. Thus Devadatta and all the countless persons who attended him can now dwell in the house of the practitioners of the Lotus Sutra [in order to protect them]. What a comforting thought!

Notes

20. The “thousand-spoked wheel pattern” is one of the thirty-two features that a Buddha is said to possess, appearing as a mark on the sole of each foot. The “tuft of white hair” is another of a Buddha’s thirty-two features. It is said to radiate light. The “sixty thousand and eighty thousand jeweled teachings” refers to the teachings of Brahmanism and the teachings of Buddhism, respectively.