Mahayana vow. It is said that Kumarajiva omitted this part from his
Chinese version, or, if he included it, that for a time it was omitted
from the copies made. The hermit referred to in the opening incident
of our Chapter XII is named, in the verse section, Asita. Now it is
recorded that after the birth of Gautama a certain saint Asita took the
infant into his arms, as Simeon did the child Jesus in the Gospel, and
foretold his destiny. The chapter is styled Devadatta. This was the
name of the cousin and rival of Śakyamuni Buddha, whom he is accused
of trying to kill, for which it is reported he was swallowed up in
hell. Nevertheless there was a sect which worshipped him as a Buddha
up to A.D. 400, but his story is unreliable. By some he is said to be
a reincarnation of Asita, which naturally is beyond proof. Here the
Buddha is made to announce that it was Devadatta who had taught him
The Lotus Sutra. The devout consider this chapter to prove that even
a wicked creature like Devadatta, though doomed to hell for trying to
kill the Buddha, may still be converted and become Buddha.
The chapter opens by Śakyamuni recounting that, in a former
incarnation when he was a king, he devoted himself to a tireless search
for the Supreme Wisdom. During long kalpas he gave alms of every kind
with the utmost self-sacrifice. At last he, the king, offered to become
the menial follower of any one who would reveal to him the Truth.
Then it was that the hermit Devadatta called him to be his disciple,
promising to teach him The Lotus Truth. He responded with joy and
became his servant, for love of the wonderful truth revealed by the
hermit. Śakyamuni now foretells the glorious future of Devadatta.
Soon, one of the attendants on the Ancient Buddha from a lower region,
evidently a-weary, invites his master to dismiss the durbar and return
home. On this Śakyamuni intervenes, requesting the attendant to await
the arrival of Manjuśri who will tell of the marvellous effect of
The Lotus Sutra during his preaching of it. Manjuśri arrives on a
thousand-petal lotus flower and, after paying his homage to the two
Buddhas, tells the story of his adventures in the Dragon Palace of the
sea, where, in the deep, he has converted infinite numbers. At his call
myriads of bodhisattvas arise from the ocean and are assembled on the
mountain side seated on jewelled lotuses, after which they ascend into
the sky to join the great multitude. Later a greater marvel occurs,
for the daughter of the Dragon-king attains to The Lotus wisdom and
thereby is instantly changed into a young man. It amazes the assembly
for “the body of a woman is filthy and not a vessel of the Law”,
whereas here, by immediate conversion, a female can enter into all
the privileges of the man, even to that of becoming a king, a Brahma,
a Buddha. The moral is easy to draw, that The Lotus doctrine knows no
distinction of male or female, but that even a woman may enter into the
fullness of Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi, or Perfect Enlightenment.
In Chapter XIII the Lord of Healing bids Śakyamuni Buddha, who is
going to his Nirvana, not to have any anxiety, for he and his twenty
thousand Bodhisattvas now take a vow to make The Lotus Sutra their
charge. During the evil age to come they will faithfully preach it to
all creatures, unsparing of body or life. Other countless followers of
the Buddha take a like vow. Then the Buddha’s aunt, his foster-mother,
leading her six thousand nuns, stands before him, looking sadly on
his face. Realizing that they think they have been overlooked, he
asks them why they have not understood? Has he not promised perfect
enlightenment to _all_ his disciples, and does not this include
them? Then he promises that they also will in turn become Buddhas.
His foster-mother will become a Buddha called Loveliness, and all her
disciples will become perfectly enlightened. His wife, the mother of
his son Rahula, he foretells will become a Buddha entitled The Perfect
One of the Myriad Rays. All the women thereupon vow to preach The Lotus
Sutra in all lands. Following this, the countless number of spiritual
bodhisattvas, as with a lion’s roar, vow to preach the Sutra in all
worlds in every direction.
The following Chapter XIV, called “A Serene Life”, is an
instruction how the vow is to be kept. Rules of life for the disciple
are laid down in considerable detail. His virtues are patience,
gentleness, a mind unperturbed, seeing all things in their reality,
or, as we might say fluid, or spiritual. There must be no intimacy
with kings and rulers as such, nor with heretics, nor with authors of
worldly literature or poetry, nor with players, boxers and jugglers,
nor with butchers, hunters or fishermen, nor with women; he may preach
to them, but have no intimacy with them of any kind. To all and in
all circumstances he must show charity. Let him fear not staves nor
swords, for he will be divinely protected on every hand. Then follows
the parable of the king, who rewards his faithful soldiers with all his
possessions, save only the lustrous jewel he wears on his brow. At last
even this he cannot keep for himself but bestows it also. Thus is it
with the Buddha and his priceless jewel The Lotus.
“Springing up out of the Earth” is the title of the next, the fifteenth
chapter. The host of Bodhisattvas from other realms offer to Śakyamuni
to remain in his realm and preach the Sutra. No need, is his reply, and
from the earth spring vast, countless numbers of bodhisattvas, each of
them leading forth disciples many as the sands of Ganges, who all make
obeisance to the two Buddhas, the Ancient One and Śakyamuni, and walk
in procession round them. Fifty kalpas, or myriads of years pass while
thus they march, though it seems but as half a day. Whence came they?
ask the disciples. Then the Buddha calls forth Maitreya, who is the
Buddha-to-come, and to him announces that these are the disciples he
has taught through vast ages, who now dwell in a vast realm below the
earth in the Space-region of the world. But, how is it possible that
Śakyamuni in so short a lifetime can have taught such a vast multitude?
ask the disciples astonished. Through Maitreya they express their doubt
while depicting in detail the brief life and period of Śakyamuni.
This leads in Chapter XVI to the climax of the drama, where he reveals
that his life is hemmed in by no bounds of time and space, for he
is eternal. The chapter is called The Revelation of the Buddha as
Eternal. “Since I veritably was Buddha, infinite, boundless, hundreds,
thousands, myriads, kotis, nayutas of kalpas have passed.” With much
illustration, as will be found in this volume, he tries to explain
the incalculable meaning of eternity and claims that he has always
been Buddha. He describes his eternal being, his omniscience and
his omnipresence. He tells them he must leave them for their own
good, because even a Buddha may only appear at rare intervals, for
familiarity breeds contempt, even for a Buddha. All this he shows in
the Parable of the Good Physician, whose sons drink poison and refuse
his remedies till he temporarily departs and leaves them.
In the next Chapter XVII, he tells Maitreya that, during the time that
he has been proclaiming the Eternity of his Life, beings countless as
the sands of Ganges have been saved, and numberless others attained
enhanced powers. Flowers, incense, jewels rain down from heaven upon
the two Buddhas in the heavenly shrine, while all the Bodhisattvas
sing countless praises with heavenly voices. Vast and eternal are the
rewards promised to the true believer, all expressed with a wealth of
detail impossible to repeat here.
In Chapter XVIII, called The Merits of Joyful Accordance, the
Buddha recounts still further the reward that will follow the merit
of believing in The Lotus Sutra. Other merits of untold value are
discussed, but the merit of faith in The Lotus surpasses all these
myriad-fold. On earth the believer will be free from every ailment,
for instance, “his teeth will never be dirty, black or yellow, nor in
gaps, nor fall out, nor be irregular, nor crooked, his lips will not
be pendulous, nor twisted and shrunk, nor coarse and rough, nor have
sores and pustules, nor be cracked and broken, nor awry and out of
shape, neither thick nor big, neither sallow nor black, having nothing
loathsome; his nose will not be flat, nor crooked and distorted,” and
so on in further detail. Hereafter he will be born among gods or men,
possessing elephants, horses and carriages, jewelled palanquins and
litters, and every other luxury.
Further rewards are promised in Chapter XIX—rewards for merits of
eye, of ear, of nose, of tongue, of body and of mind, all which are
separately described. With his ear he will hear the sounds of his
entire universe, from its highest heaven to its lowest hell, the
sounds of elephants, horses, oxen, carriages, wailing, lamentation,
conches, drums, gongs, bells, laughter, speech, men, women, boys,
girls, the lawful, the unlawful, pain, pleasure, and so on, the sounds
of its Bodhisattvas and Buddhas being included. In like manner are the
other organs presented in unstinted detail.
This is followed by Chapter XX on the Bodhisattva “Never despise”.
Wherever he met a person, good or bad, he always addressed him with
reverence, as one whose final destiny was buddhahood. Ignorant of
everything else, and always repeating “You are to become buddhas”, he
stirred people to anger. They beat him severely, while he still saluted
them and told them they were destined to buddhahood. As he drew near
the end of his normal term of life, he acquired control over the six
organs referred to in the last chapter and became possessed of the
rewards attached thereto. So influential did he become that all those
who had despised and beaten him, chief among whom were his fellow-monks
and nuns, became his disciples. After his translation he entered the
company of myriads of Buddhas in Light. Then the Buddha, after telling
this story, says, I myself was that Buddha “Never Despise.” The
persecuting monks are, of course, those of the Hinayana, the persecuted
those of the Mahayana.
In Chapter XXI the “Divine Power of the Buddha is revealed”. The method
of the revelation of power is startling and far from attractive to the
Western mind, but it indicates the value of lingual enlightenment.
All living beings in all the universes now assemble together before
the Celestial Shrine, and flowers, incense, garlands, canopies, jewels,
and every precious thing fill the sky like gathering clouds, being
transformed into a mighty jewel-canopy above the Buddhas. Śakyamuni
again addresses the gathered host in praise of this Sutra, which he
declares contains all the law of the Buddha, all his sovereign powers,
all the mystery of his treasury.
“The Final Commission” is the title of Chapter XXII. Śakyamuni by
supernatural power places his hand on the heads of the countless
Bodhisattvas present, entrusting to them The Lotus law of Perfect
Enlightenment. The Tathagata is described as the Great Lord of Giving
and they in like manner must give this Sutra to all. Thereupon
Śakyamuni dismisses all the Buddhas from all the other Buddha-realms:
“Buddhas! Peace be unto you. Let the stupa of the Buddha, Abundant
Treasures, be restored as before.” On this all depart rejoicing greatly
that they have heard the preaching of Śakyamuni.
It seems probable that the author here ended his drama, though it is
noteworthy that this chapter is not done into verse and that, with the
exception of Chapter XXV, no further verse portion is found. Nothing is
said about the entry of Śakyamuni into his Nirvana, but that may be an
artistic and intentional omission. Six more chapters follow, by which
presumably some later writer or writers thought to improve the work.
They serve no such purpose, and Buddhism would lose nothing by their
omission That they formed part of the work as it reached China need
not be doubted, but the dismissal of the Celestial Assembly seems the
natural conclusion for a work revealing such dramatic skill and power.
It may be added that this Chapter XXII is not, in the Sanskrit version,
found here, but as the final chapter, and also in Jñanagupta’s Chinese
translation. In Dharmaraksha’s version, Chapter XXV on Avalokiteśvara,
or Kuan-yin, precedes it. This may be an indication of the position
already gained in the third century A.D. by Kuan-yin, the Regarder
of Cries. The remaining chapters are, however, clearly _hors
d’œuvre_, and spoil the drama. Whether it was for this reason that
Kumarajiva placed the Final Commission here, or whether such was
its position in the text he used, can at present only be matter of
conjecture. In the Sanskrit version our Chapters XXIII to XXVIII are
interpolated, or so it would appear, the present chapter being put
last. That Chapters XXIII to XXVIII have been considered as additions
seems also evident from the different order in which they appear. Kern
points out that the Sanskrit and Jñanagupta’s versions take as their
order our Chapters XXVI, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVII, XXVIII, and XXII;
while Dharmaraksha’s order is our Chapters XXV, XXII, XXIII, XXIV,
XXVI, XXVII, and XXVIII.
Assuming then, what is doubtful, that our Chapter XXII is the final
chapter of the original apocalypse, and that the remaining six are
by later writers, though as early as the third century A.D., we find
in Chapter XXIII “The Story of the Bodhisattva King of Healing”.
It may be noted that sickness and religious healing are closely
associated in Buddhism. The King of the Constellation-flower asks
Śakyamuni-Buddha why the King of Healing wanders through, and suffers
in this universe, healing countless diseases. The Buddha in reply tells
him that, in ages gone by, there was a Buddha called Brilliance of
the Sun and Moon, who finally preached The Lotus Truth to one of his
numberless Bodhisattvas called Beautiful. Beautiful thereupon entered
into the samadhi known as the Revelation of all forms, or things. In
thank-offering he resolved to offer up his body to Buddha Brilliance.
Before doing so for full twelve hundred years, he partook of all the
fragrant flowers, oils, resins, and incense, and also anointed himself
with sweet unguents. Finally, he bathed in perfumed oil, wrapped
himself in a celestial garment and, by his transcendent will, burnt his
body as a sweet-smelling offering to the Buddha who had revealed to
him The Lotus. Its brightness illumined worlds numerous as the sands
of millions of Ganges rivers. It is in this chapter that we first meet
with dharanis, or magic spells. When the Buddha Brilliance enters
Nirvana, it is to his disciple Beautiful that he commits The Lotus Law,
bidding him distribute his relics and erect over them thousands of
stupas. After burning the Buddha’s body, the disciple collected 84,000
relics and over each built an immense and beautiful stupa. Still not
satisfied, he burnt off his arms in homage, but after a vast interval,
during which he was honoured of gods, men, and demons, his arms
were restored to him. Therefore, if any one “is able to burn a finger
of his hand, or even a toe of his foot, in homage to a Buddha’s stupa,
he will surpass him who pays homage with domains, cities, wives,
children” and so on. It was this disciple Beautiful who became the King
of Healing, and such is said to be the power of this his sutra, that
“if a man be sick, on hearing it his sickness will instantly disappear,
and he will neither grow old nor die”.
The next Chapter XXIV tells the story of the Bodhisattva Wonder-Sound,
in the realm of the Buddha, King Wisdom of the Pure-flower
Constellation. He had attained to a great number of samadhis, or
trance-like concentrations, the names of which are given. Seeing
the ray of light from Śakyamuni Buddha’s brow, he seeks permission
to visit this world. The Buddha-king warns him that this is a world
of great ruggedness, “full of earth, stones, hills, and filth, the
body of the Buddha is short and small, and all his Bodhisattvas are
small of stature”. Then Wonder-Sound enters into a samadhi, and first
projects 84,000 jewel lotus-flowers, with stalks of gold, on to Mount
Gridhrakuta, a sign which Śakyamuni recognizes as portending a visit
from Wonder-Sound with his 84,000 disciples. Manjuśri asks the reason,
whereupon the Ancient Buddha, Infinite Treasures, (who departed in