Concerning the Statue of Shakyamuni Buddha Fashioned by Nichigen-nyo Chapter4

In the five thousand or seven thousand volumes of sutras expounded by the Buddha in the course of his preaching life, it is nowhere stated that a woman can attain Buddhahood. Only in the Lotus Sutra did he say that women could become Buddhas. The Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che in his commentary says, “[The other sutras predict Buddhahood only for men], but not for women.”⁵ He means by this comment that in all the other sutras women are said to be incapable of attaining Buddhahood. But then he says, “This [Lotus] sutra predicts Buddhahood for all.”⁶ For in “this sutra,” the Lotus, we see how the dragon king’s daughter becomes a Buddha.

This man known as the Great Teacher T’ien-t’ai Chih-che appeared in the land of China fifteen hundred years after the demise of the Buddha. Fifteen times he read through the entire body of sutras, and he declared that nowhere outside of the Lotus Sutra was it stated that women could attain Buddhahood. The Great Teacher Miao-lo in his commentary says that the Buddha “made this prediction only once in his preaching life.”⁷ By this he means that this doctrine is to be found nowhere else in the entire body of sutras.

Among the heavenly bodies [at night], the Lotus Sutra is comparable to the moon; among persons it is comparable to the king. Among mountains it is Mount Sumeru, among waters, the great ocean. And if so wonderful a sutra as this declares that women may attain Buddhahood, then what does it matter whether all the other sutras look down on them? Though thieves, housebreakers, burglars, beggars, or lepers may despise you, if the ruler of the nation praises you, you should rather rejoice, should you not?

———————————-（to be continued to Chapter5)———————————-

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