Chapter XXII) is reintroduced calling on Wonder-Sound to reveal

himself. Then is told the story of his previous existences, how he had

lived as a god or a demon, a king or a citizen, a monk or a woman.

He is able to transform himself at will in order to save the living

through The Lotus doctrine.

[Illustration: 2. Monks returning from worship, Hangchow]

The importance of Chapter XXV lies chiefly in its being the oldest

reference we have to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, translated into

Chinese as Kwan-yin, into Japanese as Kwannon, and commonly known among

Occidentals as The Goddess of Mercy. Being asked by the Bodhisattva,

Infinite Thought, why this Bodhisattva is known as Kwan-si-yin,

“Regarder of the Cries of the World”, the Buddha replies, it is

because whoever in pain and distress call upon Kwan-yin their cries

will instantly be heard and answered. If they fall into fire it will

not burn them, nor floods drown, nor gales destroy. The cry of one

will save all the company. The menacing sword will be snapped, and the

wicked demon be unable to see the suppliant; the prisoner, guilty or

innocent, will be released; the jewel-trader in peril on the road will

be protected; the sufferer from carnal passion, anger, infatuation or

other moral difficulties will be freed from them; women desiring sons

will bear them, happy, virtuous, and wise; or, if daughters, then good

in looks and character, beloved by all. Whoever worships myriads of

other Bodhisattvas has vast merit, but whoever only worships Kwan-yin

equals the other in merit. Kwan-yin appears in infinite forms according

to the need of those to be saved, and those forms are described without

reserve.

Dharanis, or Spells, are the subject of Chapter XXVI. They are

described as spells for the protection of preachers of The Lotus.

The first are put into the mouth of the King of Healing, and the Buddha

extols them. Some are spoken of as spells used by Buddhas numerous as

the sands of sixty-two kotis of Ganges. Other spells are offered, even

the demons bringing their contribution to protect the Preacher of The

Lotus.

The story of King Resplendent is the burden of Chapter XXVII. He dwelt

in the realm of the Buddha Thunder Voice. His wife named Pure Virtue

had two sons, Pure Treasury and Pure Eyed. He himself at first was a

heretic, though his wife and sons were devout Buddhists. The sons were

earnestly desirous of going to hear The Lotus preached, but the mother

urged them first to obtain their father’s permission. To convince

him of their powers and fitness for the undertaking, they performed

supernatural deeds, springing high into the sky, walking, sitting,

lying there; the lower part of their bodies emitting fire, the upper

water, or vice versa; vanishing, appearing, walking on water and so on.

Convinced at last, the father decides to accompany them to hear the

Buddha Thunder Voice, whereupon all the 84,000 ladies of the King’s

court hail The Lotus truth. King Resplendent at once makes over his

domain to his younger brother, while he, his queen, his two sons and

all their retinue forsake home and follow the Way of the Buddha. The

two sons who have done this Buddha-deed of converting their father are

richly rewarded, one becomes the King of Healing, the other the Lord of

Healing.

The final Chapter XXVIII is devoted to Encouragement of the

Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. He had come from the eastern quarter

with all his vast train of countless gods, dragons, yakshas, and all

the beings of his realm, to hear The Lotus preached. On his arrival

he vows to guard all who believe this Sutra, so that wherever any

such a one walks or stands, reading or reciting this Sutra, he will

at once mount his royal six-tusked elephant and with a host of great

Bodhisattvas go to that place and, revealing himself, will protect

him and comfort his mind; moreover, if any one forgets a single word

or verse he will put it again into his memory. He will also give him

dharanis, or magic spells, to ward off all foes, and to these spells

he now gives utterance. All such disciples of The Lotus will ever do

the works of Universal Virtue and their heads will be caressed by the

Tathagatas. If any recite or copy the Sutra they will avoid every evil

destiny and go straight to Maitreya’s heaven. To him the Buddha replies

in similar terms, adding that any one who recites or copies this Sutra,

is in reality attending on the Buddha; moreover is as if hearing him

speak it with his lips, and as if covered with his robe. Such a one

will later sit on a lion throne amid a great assembly of gods and men.

By the power of this Sutra such disciples will no longer be attached

to clothes, bed-covers, drink, food, or other transient things. If any

one contemn them he will be blind for generation on generation, if he

tells their faults, true or false, he will be smitten with leprosy; if

he ridicules them, his teeth for generations will be sparse and

missing, his lips vile, his nose flat, his hands and feet contorted,

his eyes asquint, his body stinking and filthy with evil scabs and

bloody pus, he will be dropsical and short of breath and have every

evil disease. But those that bless and reverence him who reads or

recites the Sutra will receive abundant rewards here and now.

_Doctrine_

Reverence for the Bible in the West has its counterpart among Far

Eastern Buddhists in the reverence shown to the Sutras, especially to

The Lotus. There is, perhaps, less restraint there in the expression of

devotion. Such reverence is a natural consequence of the belief that

The Lotus is the Ultimate Truth preached by every Buddha, once only in

every Buddha-world, past, present, and to come. To the Mahayanist it

is therefore the Eternal Gospel of Buddhism in all worlds and through

all time. The Sutra is declared to be the last will and testament

of Śakyamuni before his departure; it is his final bequest to this

world. All his previous teaching is postulated as interim doctrine,

that is, during the time of the disciples’ ignorance and while their

minds were still bound by earth-ties and myopic vision. This final

revelation is said to have been reserved by him until the eve of his

Nirvana. In it he at last makes known the All-Truth, which confers

Perfect Enlightenment and Final Nirvana, or Liberation. This supreme

liberation cannot be attained by self-discipline and works; it can

only be attained by faith and invocation. Salvation by Faith is

then the fundamental doctrine of the Mahayana School. According to The

Lotus teaching no sacrifice is required, no expiation, no atonement, no

remorse, no repentance in the sense of contrition, nothing but faith in

the infinite mercy and infinite power of the Infinite Buddha who lives

and reigns for ever.

It is manifest, then, that the spiritual message of the book is

revolutionary in its character. Not only are these doctrines of

salvation given, but there is presented the panorama of unlimited

universes, all of them ever-changing manifestations of the All-Buddha,

of whom Śakyamuni is but one expression in one of infinite worlds; the

assurance that the Eternal Buddha is both transcendent and immanent;

the teaching that every world, every universe, is a flower of the

Eternal Lotus; the call to faith as a greater force than disciplinary

or ascetic works; the proclamation of the Eternal Buddha, and of his

Salvation for all, even to the devils in hell; the assurance of the

ultimate enlightenment of all; the universality of buddhahood for all,

because all are potential buddhas, or enlightened ones—such is the

inspiration of this masterpiece of literature.

The author is clearly conscious that he is boldly putting into the

Buddha’s lips doctrines to which he never gave utterance, and which

are not found in the orthodox scriptures. So eager is he to explain,

or explain away, this fundamental discrepancy, that he devotes several

chapters and parables to elucidation of and excuse for the Buddha’s

complete reversal of his earlier teaching. At times he openly fears

that the Buddha will be accused of having deceived his disciples and

even lied to them. Unbiased minds, as well as the biased minds of the

orthodox, cannot fail to recognize that the orthodox doctrines and

those of The Lotus are diametrically opposed. There is, therefore, good

reason why the author, who so skillfully foists the new doctrine on to

Śakyamuni, should endeavour to defend his position by pretending that

all the Buddha’s life had been spent in teaching an interim doctrine,

using the methods of a tactician or a casuist. The author is indeed in

serious difficulty. He wishes to father on to Śakyamuni, the founder of

Buddhism, doctrines he would have repudiated, and to use Śakyamuni’s

name and authority to change entirely the character of his religion.

If this view be correct, then the pious fraud has been remarkably

successful, for it is this form of Buddhism that has tamed savage

tribes such as the Mongols and Tibetans, inspired people like the

Chinese and Japanese to a higher spiritual and artistic development,

established a cult with many resemblances to Christianity, and is now

reacting, chiefly through theosophical publications, on certain lines

of thought in the West. Orthodox Buddhism has had no such influence. It

is the heterodox school that has prevailed.

Needless to say, the above explanation is not acceptable to the devout

Mahayanist. Like the Fundamentalist in the West he refuses to have his

faith shaken in the letter of the Law. The Lotus, in his estimate,

was spoken by Śakyamuni on earth during his last years, all his

previous teaching having been preparatory. Many disciples, who are

represented as unable to receive his ultimate Truth, left him as is

shown in Chapter II, where they turn away from the higher revelation.

Bound to the letter of his scripture, the devout Mahayanist refuses to

see in this dramatic work a brilliant apocalypse, in which the earthly

Buddha and his disciples are used as figures to portray a new religion

of Salvation for all. That in reality is the term which indicates the

character of the new and revolutionary doctrine. It accounts also for

the division between Mahayanist and Hinayanist, the broad and the

narrow schools, the believer in universal salvation by faith and the

believer in the salvation of the few by works. It is self-evident that

these two terms are not the creation of the orthodox, for they would

never dub themselves Hinayanists, men of the “small cart”. That term is

a Mahayanist creation, and the influence of The Lotus Sutra in fixing

the contrasted terms is undoubted.

The author of The Lotus drama puts into the mouth of Śakyamuni the

statement:

“In the Buddha-lands of the Universe

There is only the One-Vehicle Law, (Mahayana)

Neither a second, nor a third.”

The other ways, or wains, he says are only “provisional terms”, meant

“To lead all living beings

Toward the true Buddha-wisdom”;

because a Buddha

“Never by a small vehicle (Hinayana)

Really saves the living;”

for, being in the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) himself, he says:

“If by a small vehicle

I converted but one human being,

I should thereby fall into selfishness,

A thing that cannot be.”

Having vowed to lead all beings into perfect buddhahood along

with himself, he must do so by the highest means, by the fullest

enlightenment, by buddhahood; it was only as a temporary expedient that

he had led his disciples by partial truths on the way to the All-Truth.

This idea is especially brought out in the parables of The Burning

House, Chapter III, and the Magic City, Chapter VII.

Leaving then “this pious fraud”, as the Orthodox believe, to implicate

itself by its own excuses, let us turn to certain other doctrines of

the book, which differentiate it from the orthodox school.

I. Buddhism, whose awakening is placed under the shelter of the bo or

bodhi-tree (_ficus religiosa_), the Buddhist tree of knowledge,

bases its existence on gnosis. Mental awakening, or awareness,

intelligence, mind, knowledge, wisdom, are all implicit within the

term. To what extent the Gnostics were indebted to Buddhism is not yet

clearly elucidated. Mind to both was the supreme factor. But though

mind was fundamental to his doctrine, Śakyamuni, according to the

Orthodox school, recognized no Mind behind mind. Like Socrates he

treated, and was justified in treating, the theistic conceptions of his

day as of inferior value. He did not deny the existence of the gods,

but placed them beneath the position attained by a Buddha, that is a

truly enlightened man. This Mindless system is entirely changed in

Mahayanism, in which the Eternal Buddha, who may be described as the

Eternal Mind and Eternal Soul, becomes the very foundation of the new

structure.

In The Lotus, when the Ancient Buddha appears, who resembles “The

Ancient of Days”, it is evident that He is a Person and the devout

see in him the Mind behind the All. The Lotus itself, in its complete

aspect, is considered as but a metaphor for the Universe, each flower a

world; it is used also for the nidus of a soul, as from the spiritual

Lotus-flower springs a soul or a life. That the Mahayanists believe

in the Mind behind The Lotus, or the All, is clear from the emphasis

they lay on the Eternal Buddha. He is in and through all things, which

in a sense is the Buddhist form of Pantheism, although, in fact,

transcendence rather than immanence is the doctrine of our Sutra. It

is manifest, for instance, that the Ancient Buddha is transcendent;

when he appears all beings are shown to be his rather than in him; all

must assemble to hear Śakyamuni, his earthly counterpart, proclaim The

Lotus, with its gospel of universal salvation. It may be argued that

the Ancient Buddha here revealed was only one form of the Eternal

Buddha, but, even so, the accepted interpretation is that he is the

Eternal Buddha. At any rate Nirvana, as extinction of existence, is

demonstrated by Mahayanists to be a false doctrine of the Hinayana

School.

Chapter XVI is considered to be the supreme declaration of the Buddha,

in its Revelation of the eternity of his life. It is Śakyamuni, the

earthly form of Buddha, who speaks. After telling of his earthly

enlightenment, he goes on to say that though his hearers, who have

been his disciples during his brief earthly career, may think such

enlightenment a comparatively recent event, yet in reality since he

veritably became Buddha, infinite, boundless, hundreds, thousands,

myriads, kotis, nayutas, of kalpas, or aeons, had passed. In other

words, he who on earth was Śakyamuni had already been Buddha, the

Enlightened One, through infinite ages. The doctrine bears resemblance

to the doctrine of Eternal Sonship in certain forms of Christian

theology. This idea of the infinite is shown in meticulous terms, which

to the Western mind may seem puerile. The word “infinite” might cover

all our needs. But the story-teller knew his hearers. A single word

would pass meaninglessly over their minds. To an unlettered audience

his method of detailed illustration had greater value.

The Buddha, then, is conceived of in terms of Omniscience and Eternity.

His omnipotence also is shown, by his power to call all creatures to

his assembly and to shake all creation. While transcendent, he is

also in a sense omnipresent, in that he can send his searchlight

ray into every world, and can appear anywhere at will. Little stress

is laid in this Sutra on his creative and destroying power. This may

be taken as assumed, for every Buddha-world springs as a flower,

flourishes and perishes, only to be resurrected in some other form.

In this sense the Eternal Buddha is creator, destroyer, and eternal

re-creator of worlds.

Perhaps the most interesting reference to the character of the

Tathagata, or Buddha, in his power of spiritual omnipresence, is seen

in the beautiful saying in Chapter X, “The Dwelling of the Tathagata

is the great compassionate heart within all living beings; the Robe of

the Tathagata is the gentle and forbearing heart; the Throne of the

Tathagata is the spirituality of all existence”. Again: “Though I am

in another domain, yet will I reveal myself from time to time to the

preacher of The Lotus. If he forgets any detail of this Sutra I will

return and tell him, so that he may perfectly possess it.”

II. Not only is there an Eternal Mind behind the All, but Mahayanism

goes further. It places this Eternal Mind, or Eternal Buddha, in the

relationship of Father. The Lotus in Chapter II says that the Buddha

is “the Father of all worlds, who forever brings to an end all fear,

despondency, distress, ignorance, and enveloping gloom, and brings to

perfection boundless knowledge, strength, and courage. He is born in

the world to save all living creatures from the fires of birth, age,

disease, death, grief, suffering, infatuation, darkness, and the three

poisons, and teach them to obtain perfect enlightenment”.

III. The Eternal Buddha limits his omnipotence by the freewill of his

offspring. He may not, for instance, use force to save them. In the

parable of the Burning House, in Chapter III, though the lord of the

house is strong in body and limb he may not carry out his children.

They must come out of their own will. This is shown again in Chapter

IV, in the parable of the Prodigal Son, who leaves his father, and runs

away. For long he wanders and the father seeks him in vain. After a

vain search, the father settles in a certain city, builds a palatial

home, amasses great wealth, and is surrounded by innumerable servants

and every luxury; but still he is sore at heart, mourning his lost son.

The son meanwhile wanders from town to village and village to town,

all his money gone, clad in rags, and hiring out his services for a

wretched meal. At last, one day, his travels lead him to his father’s

mansion and grounds, where he sees his unrecognized father surrounded

with honour and glory. Fearing lest he be seized as a slave he turns

hastily away, but not before his father has seen and known him. Then

comes the account of the son’s arrest, his terror, his liberation, his

being persuaded to undertake work, the most menial work, his gradual

rise to be major-domo, and the climax when he is declared as son and

heir.

One feature clearly evident in this parable is that the freewill of the

son is recognized, persuasion being the only method the father might

use.

IV. In the above parable the relationship of sonship is clearly

shown. To summarize the long and detailed reply of the disciples, the

rich lord is the Buddha and we are all the Buddha’s sons. The Buddha

has always declared us as his sons. We, too, have wandered away and

gone through all the miseries of life, being attached to lower things,

but now the Buddha-wisdom is revealed to us, and we know that we are

Buddha-sons. No longer must we hanker after the smaller vehicles, the

hinayana, for now we are in the Great Vehicle, the mahayana; no longer

are we, so to speak, struggling children of earth, but sons of the

Omniscient. The Great Treasure of the King of Truth unsought has come

to us, and we have obtained all the inheritance of Buddha-sons.

V. Again, the love of the Buddha to all creatures is equal and

universal. This finds expression in various places, as, for instance,

in the Parable of the Trees and Grasses in Chapter V. On these the

Buddha-rain falls impartially, as does his saving truth on all

creatures. His truth and his salvation are equally for all beings

universally.

VI. Karma and Anatman are fundamental doctrines of original Buddhism.

To the Buddha there was no such entity as the atman, which may be

expressed as the eternal, individual soul. Personality during life was

recognized. It was, however, only a bundle of sensations; at death

when these sensations ceased for lack of organs, the bundle or person

ceased to exist as such. But there remained karma, or the deeds done,

which may in a sense be described as character without a rigid

personality; this remainder entered into a new bundle linked, even

consciously, with the past.

“The Karma—all that total of a soul

Which in the things it did, the thought it had,

The self it wove—with woof of viewless time.”

_The Light of Asia._

Therefore, it might be said that the sinner suffered, while the saint

rose to the condition of nirvana, or extinction, though whether

annihilation of existence or merely cessation of reincarnation was

meant is disputed. In Mahayanism, however, the atman or immortal soul

is restored, and is no longer karma or character without continued

personality, merely the progressive resultant of all previous deeds in

infinite past existences. While cause and effect remain in the ethical

realm, factors of saving power and even of something resembling works

of supererogation are introduced. These are not opposed to the law of

causation but fulfil it vicariously, or by a process of substitution.

Moral good and evil remain essential to life, but they can be attained

without struggle and effort by the process of faith. Faith can thus

change the entire aspect and force of karma. Instantaneous conversion

of the whole nature is assured by faith and invocation, through the

medium of a new relationship. Old infrangible determinist bonds snap

like tow under the liberating influence of a new personal relationship

with a personal, all-loving Buddha-Father. The likeness to the

doctrines of the Fatherhood of God and Salvation by faith of the Four

Gospels and the Johannine Epistles is even more remarkable than is

the Buddhist ritual to the Roman rite, that “invention of the devil

to embarrass Mother Church”. The fundamental truth in the Mahayanist

texts, as in Christian dogma, has been of course decked out with

trappings ill suited to its original simplicity.

VII. The Bodhisattvas, throughout The Lotus, are shown as Enlighteners

and Saviours. That is their office and, in consequence, every true

disciple becomes a bodhisattva, a being of enlightenment. A distinction

is made between Great Bodhisattvas in the spirit world, and ordinary

bodhisattvas in this and other similar worlds. The past transmigrations

of certain of the more prominent Bodhisattva-disciples, as well as

their future, are told; but, in the main body of the narrative,

we are spared the more extravagant and even repulsive stories of

self-sacrifice by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Something of it occurs in

the apocryphal chapters about the imaginary Bodhisattvas, such as the

Lord of Healing and Kwan-yin. The fact of their mention in Kumarajiva’s

Chinese version is evidence of the existence of their cult early in our

era. The Bodhisattvas are qualified to enter the bliss of the Buddhas,

but delay for themselves this privilege by the vow they make to save

every living being in the Buddha-realm in which they dwell. The one

who is most famous in the Far East is Amitabha, of Eternal Light and

Eternal Life, possibly a conception derived from Western Asia; his name

does not appear in The Lotus. Maitreya, a name suggestive of a Mithraic

origin, is foretold in The Lotus as the next earthly Buddha. It

may be mentioned here that every earthly Buddha-period is of limited

duration. It is said to last through three stages, that of the true

law, that of semblance of the true law (or formalism, the form without

the power), and that of final decadence and disappearance, after which

a new Buddha with a new Buddha-period appears. Maitreya, or in Chinese

Mi-le Fo, is the Bodhisattva who is to appear as the Buddha of the new

period, and he is constantly invoked now as the Coming Buddha, the

Messiah who will restore all things.

VIII. Salvation by Faith or Invocation. According to the teaching of

The Lotus, while the earthly Buddha did, until near his end, teach

the law of salvation by works, it was only because his disciples

were earth-bound and their spiritual eyes were not yet opened, nor

as yet could be opened. The author knows well that he is introducing

a revolution in Buddhism. He sees clearly that the new doctrine of

salvation by Faith as the ultimate, indeed the only way, or vehicle,

is a very different method from that which in India was accepted

as the doctrine of Śakyamuni. The clearest evidence that can be

offered of this fact, indubitable to all but the interested, lies

in the repudiation of the new doctrine by the Orthodox school, as a

contradiction of the essential teaching of the Founder. The “Northern”

School may dub it Hinayana, if they wish; it prefers to stand by

the documents, and to be fundamentalist with its Master, Śakyamuni,

than universalist dependent on pious fiction. The author himself

realizes that he is confronted with serious difficulty in defending

his apocalyptic Buddha from the charge of deception and lying, terms

he himself uses. He labours hard with statement and parable to show

that the Buddha had not been guilty of falsehood, but had given

his disciples such glimpses of truth as they were temporarily able

to realize, until they could bear the full light. Consequently, he

declares salvation by works to have been but a tactical and temporary

teaching, in preparation for the revelation of the doctrine of

universal salvation by faith, especially by faith in The Lotus Sutra.

The Mahayanist admits all the Hinayana texts and honours them, though

they are to him but an interim ethic; in addition he has his own vast

treasury of sutras and other works. It is the teaching of these, of

which this Sutra is to most the chief, that revelation is made of the

All-truth which brings liberation, liberation not by works of the law,

but by faith. Salvation by faith is then the foundation doctrine of the

Mahayana School. This doctrine easily degenerated into Salvation by

invocation through the teaching of the Sutra itself. Such teaching is

seen in Chapter X. It produced a degeneration which reduced Buddhist

prayer, or rather invocation, to machine-like repetition. It is often

literally machine-made, as witness the prayer-wheels or rotatory

prayer-drums, large and small, stationary or portable, of the Lamaistic

sect. Indeed, invocation flags float in every breeze in the fields of

China in protection of the crops. The rosary—is it parent or child

of the Western rosary?—is carried by monks and nuns and by the

devout, and Namo Amitabha is repeated millions of times daily. The

Buddhist rosary is perhaps as useful a mode of emptying the mind and

reaching the “void” as any other, if we may judge by results. Here is

a quotation from Chapter X of The Lotus on the value of invocation and

especially of the repetition of the Sutra:

“The Buddha addressed the Lord of Healing saying: ... if there be

any who hears but a single verse, or a single word of the Wonderful

Law-flower Sutra, and by a single thought delights in it, I also

predict for him complete and perfect enlightenment. And let there

be any who receive and keep, read and recite, or expound and copy

even a single verse in the Lotus Sutra, or devoutly look upon the

Sutra with reverence as if it were the Buddha, or make offerings to

it in various ways with flowers, perfumes, garlands, sandal-powder,

perfumed unguents, incense for burning, silk-canopies, banners, flags,

garments, music, or even revere it with folded hands; know, Lord of

Healing, (this is evidence that) such people have already (in past

transmigrations) paid homage to ten myriad kotis of Buddhas and under

those Buddhas performed their vows. (Hence they are born among men and)

these are the people who will certainly be first to become Buddhas in

future worlds. These are the people to be honoured even now, for they

have recognized the infinite value of The Lotus Sutra. If such people

should be able even by stealth to preach to one person but one word of

the Sutra, they reveal thereby that they are Tathagata messengers

sent by the Tathagata to perform Tathagata deeds. Any one who sins

other grievous sins, even blasphemy against the Buddha, is only a light

sinner compared with him who with a single ill word defames the devotee

of this Sutra (for that is the sin so to speak against the Holy Ghost).

The preacher of the Lotus should be honoured above all men and gifts

showered upon him, for the Lotus is the Treasury of the mystic secret

of all Buddhas, guarded by all Buddhas and seldom divulged. Wherever

it is preached, there a stupa of precious materials should be erected,

which should be served with all kinds of flowers &c., &c., music and

hymns.”

The supreme value of The Lotus is shown in Chapter XIV, in the parable

of the King who, to reward his brave soldiers, shares with them

everything he possesses, only reserving to himself the superb jewel

on his brow. At last, seeing the splendid deeds of his soldiers, he

decides to give them also even this supreme gift. So is it with the

Tathagata; seeing his followers fight so bravely against the hosts of

Mara, he at length gives them the greatest reward of all—the entry into

Salvation by faith and sonship in the priceless Jewel of his forehead,

The Lotus Sutra, the Sutra which can only be preached once in a Buddha

realm. The obtaining of this jewel will bring infinite enlightenment,

ultimate wisdom, the full and complete Way of the Buddha.

IX. It has already been shown that a permanent personal soul has

taken the place of the Buddha’s anatman, or no-soul. The bundle

of sensations is no longer a temporary organism dissolved at death,

but an entity personal and lasting. To the school which postulates

Nirvana as the final extinction of existence, the Mahayanist opposes

the doctrine of eternal life. Transmigration and the hells remain, for,

as seen in Chapters I and VII, the projection of the Buddha-ray reveals

the hells of every world with their suffering creatures; nowhere are

the appalling sufferings in hell portrayed more realistically than in

Mahayanist temples. A universalist doctrine logically requires that the

hells of every world shall come to an end in the ultimate salvation

of all its creatures, especially when they hear and respond to the

proclamation of The Lotus gospel. The hells and transmigrations through

all grades of existence, whether gods, devils, men, or creatures of

every species, are still necessary in every world, though all may

escape on responding to the good news of The Lotus. Their escape is

not to extinction, but to the glories of other Buddha-realms, which in

this Sutra are shown to be infinite in variety, number, and splendour.

While all will attain to perfect enlightenment and happiness it is

given to some to progress to even higher offices. During infinite

time in infinite worlds there are infinite Buddhas and Buddha-realms.

The most exalted positions therefore are open to those who have the

spiritual capacity for them. Take, for instance, the prediction in

Chapter VI of the future of the disciple Maha-Kaśyapa. It is foretold

that he will pay homage (as disciple) to three hundred myriad kotis

of universally-honoured Buddhas, serving, revering, honouring,

extolling them, and widely proclaiming the infinite Truth of those

Buddhas. Presumably he is a disciple of each Buddha separately one

after another, thus continuing through incalculable aeons. In his final

transmigration it is prophesied that he also will become a Buddha

in human form, whose name will be Radiance Tathagata, worshipful,

all-wise, of perfectly enlightened conduct, well-departed, understander

of the world, peerless leader, controller, teacher of gods and men,

Buddha, world-honoured one, whose domain is named Radiant Virtue, and

whose Buddha-kalpa, or epoch, is named Magnificence. His lifetime as

Buddha will be for twelve kalpas. His law in its correctness will abide

(after him) for twenty kalpas and the Semblance of his law, before it

begins its final decay, will also abide for twenty kalpas. The period

given to Maha-Kaśyapa, as happy disciple of incalculable numbers of

Buddhas and himself as a Buddha, is certainly beyond human conception,

but whether he then goes into the retirement of some final Nirvana,

endlessly radiant and happy, is not foretold. This, however, seems to

be the meaning of the author’s Buddha (Śakyamuni) when he speaks of his

own immediate Nirvana, which evidently does not mean non-existence,

but a state of super-existence, such as that of the Ancient Buddha

of Chapter XI. At any rate, it may be said that the Buddha-domain of

Kaśyapa, as of the other disciples, while described in all the glories

of an oriental paradise, is never depicted in terms of sensuality.

We may say, then, that the soul continues its personal life, if

not endlessly, yet in duration beyond the calculation of mundane

arithmetic, that the hells and suffering are impermanent; that bliss is

ultimately universal in every Buddha-realm; that infinite possibilities

in infinite realms and infinite time are open to all; and that for the

highest, that is, those who attain to ultimate perfect enlightenment,

there is a supreme Nirvana, ineffable, beyond human definition or

conception.

X. The clerical order has due encouragement in the Sutra. Monks and

nuns of all types, good, bad, and indifferent, receive mention. The

type commanding praise is the devoted preacher of The Lotus doctrine,

and him the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas will always defend, support, and

inspire. In Chapter XIV the character of such a one is depicted and in

Chapter XX special attention is drawn to a certain long-suffering monk

called “Never-despise”, because he saw in every creature a prospective

buddha and revered it accordingly, to the annoyance of his fellow

monks, at whose hands he suffered much ill-treatment, until at length

he himself became Buddha.

In conclusion, it is just to say that, although The Lotus Sutra is

undoubtedly a fundamental classic in Mahayanism, as well as the

most popular, the number of its readers is small in relation to the

population. This is especially the case in China, where it is known

to relatively few; at least 95 per cent, of Chinese adults are quite

unable to read it, as is probably also the fact among the monks

themselves. The same remark would probably apply to Tibet and

Mongolia. In Japan both people and monks are better educated, and

therefore must be classed in a different category. In consequence,

the number of monks and people in China possessed of any working

acquaintance with the Sutra is very small. Moreover, simple though

the language is, much of it is still beyond the apprehension of the

ordinary reader, partly because of the numerous Sanskrit terms, partly

because of the special meaning read into ordinary Chinese terms, and

partly because the book needs an interpreter with insight. Apocalyptic

literature is necessarily mystical, even paradoxical and occult. The

literalist will either be repelled or attracted by the mystery. His

vision is held by minor detail. He is devoid of capacity for seeing

with the eyes of the apocalyptic author, the religious dramatist.

For this reason the devotee of The Lotus Sutra in the East, like

the literalist interpreter of The Bible in the West, rarely gets

within sight of the stage and the play. The individual actor and his

individual movements, even his individual words rivet the attention,

and the drama is lost in its detail.

Here, then, is one of the great religious dramas of the world. The

composer knows that he is offering a new Buddhism in place of the

religion of the Founder. He conceives that Founder as declaring a new

Gospel, but places him on the stage of the Vulture Peak, where in India

he had often addressed his disciples. There he discloses, by means of

the all-revealing Buddha-ray, the concept of infinite worlds in

infinite space and time, with vast numbers of Buddhas teaching their

infinite numbers of disciples. Yet these Buddhas later are revealed

as the offspring of the one eternal Buddha. The scene changes and,

awakening from a trance, the Buddha of, or in, this world announces his

intention to reveal a truth that will shake the universe and also turn

from him many of his disciples. Then, hesitatingly and with reluctance,

he makes the great revelation that Buddhahood, like to his own, is

of immediate attainment and within the ready reach of all. We see a

host of disciples, the Hinayanists, shocked by this _volte-face_,

withdraw from the august assembly, because the Buddha has shattered

all the doctrine he has taught them in the past, and is no longer to

be trusted. Then we see the Buddha explaining, even excusing himself,

to the faithful who remain. After this he predicts the future of his

disciples, and prepares them for the great truths they are to retell,

in the parables of the Burning House, the Seeking Father, or Prodigal

Son, the Rain, the Magic City, and others. The supreme scene opens with

the appearance of the great jewelled shrine in the sky, from which

comes the voice of the Buddha of old. The stage is then filled by the

arrival of Buddhas, with their train, from every part of the universe.

And, at last, the Buddha of old is revealed to the assembled host in

dramatic fashion, by the ascent into the sky of Śakyamuni Buddha.

The great drama proceeds in the raising of the whole assembly of his

disciples from the mountain peak into the air, to join the celestial

durbar. Still others arrive from other universes, and the sky is

thronged with a glorious company from all worlds and in all stages of

existence. Marvels appear, miracles are performed, Bodhisattvas as the

sands of innumerable Ganges come to make manifest the incalculable

number of Śakyamuni’s disciples. The climax of the drama is reached

when Śakyamuni makes the declaration that in reality he, too, is the

Eternal Buddha. After a certain interlude, he dismisses the assembly

who are seen withdrawing from the celestial stage, and finally the

shrine of the Ancient of Days disappears from the sky.

The doctrine taught, whatever its origin, is as revolutionary to

Buddhism as was the doctrine of Our Lord to Judaism. In the Gospels

we have a human figure treading the human stage of action, commanding

the affection of the common people, disturbing the vested interests

of ceremonialists and legists, ending in a cruel death, and a further

revelation to certain disciples. In the Hinayana texts we have a

human teacher who, having diagnosed the cause of the disease of

transmigration, teaches his disciples an ethical remedy by mental

control and discipline. In Mahayana, especially as portrayed in The

Lotus Sutra, we have a dramatic presentation, reminding us of the

Revelation of St. John at Patmos, with his vision of “One like unto the

Son of Man” who was yet “Alpha and Omega”, “the first and the last”,

together with the angels and the heavenly host, the sealed book, the

vials, and so on. In this great Sutra we have a dramatic presentation

of a glorified earthly Buddha, who is yet a Buddha from of old, an

eternal Buddha, together with an incalculable host of Buddhas and of

all intelligent beings in the universe, assembled at a vast meeting in

the sky, when the revelation of the last and ultimate Lotus doctrine is

made. The whole is the creation of a brilliant dramatist whose name is

unknown, but who has left behind if not the greatest, then one of the

greatest religious dramas in the world.

THE LOTUS SUTRA

[Illustration: 3. Maya’s conception of her son, the Buddha, who

arrives for reincarnation on a white elephant]

I

“Once the Buddha (Śakyamuni) was staying at the City of Royal Palaces

(Rajagriha), and on the Vulture Peak (Gridhrakuta) assembled a great

host of his greater monks, in all twelve thousand ... emancipated from

every bond and free in mind.”

There follows a list of names of his well-known disciples, together

with the names of his foster-mother and the mother of his son, with

their train of disciples. Assembled also were eighty thousand Great

Bodhisattvas who had attained to perfect enlightenment. A number of

their names are given, including Manjuśri, Kwan-yin, the Lord of

Healing and Maitreya. There were present also twenty thousand of the

gods, including Brahma; also Dragon-kings, Kinnara-kings,

Gandharva-kings, Asura-kings, Garuda-kings, all kings of the lower

worlds and lower orders of being, each with hundreds of thousands of

followers. The disciples, and the others, who might almost be

described as angels, archangels, and all the hosts of the heavens

and the hells, fall down in worship at the Buddha’s feet.

“At that time the World-honoured One, surrounded, worshipped, revered,

honoured and extolled by the four groups of disciples, preached for all

bodhisattvas, the Mahayana sutra called ‘The Meaning of Infinity’.”

Immediately afterwards he entered into the trance, or contemplation,

described as “The Station of the Meaning of Infinity”, the heavens

raining down on him divine flowers and the whole universe being

shaken.

While the vast assembly looked on the Buddha in amaze, he

“sent forth from the curl of white hair between his eyebrows a ray

of light, which illuminated eighteen thousand worlds in the eastern

quarter, so that there was nowhere it did not reach, downwards to the

lowest hell and upward to the highest heaven of each world. Here,

in this our own world, were then made visible in those vast domains

their living beings in the six states of existence; likewise were seen

the Buddhas at present existing in those lands. The doctrines those

Buddhas were preaching could be clearly heard; and in those worlds were

revealed the monks, nuns and disciples of both sexes”,

also their Bodhisattvas, their Buddhas who had attained Nirvana, and

the Stupas for the relics of those Buddhas erected after their

respective departures.

Maitreya is now presented inquiring of Manjuśri the meaning of this

wonderful manifestation, while he describes to him, first in prose

then in verse, the marvels they are beholding:

“The ray from between his brows

Illumines the eastern quarter

Of the eighteen thousand worlds,

Colouring them all with gold.

From their Avici-hells

To the Summit of All-Existence,

The living in those worlds,

The destinies of unborn and dying,

I behold them all from here.

In those distant lands I see

Bodhisattvas like sands of Ganges,

Who in every varying degree

Seek the Buddha-Way.

Some there are who give alms,

Gold, silver and coral,

Pearls and felicitous gems,

Moonstones and cornelian,

Diamonds and precious things,

Male and female slaves,

Fine carriages and horses,

Jewelled palanquins and litters,

These alms they give with joy,

Turning to the Buddha-way,

Seeking to gain this Vehicle,

The supreme in the Triple World.

. . . . .

Also I see bodhisattvas

Give their flesh, hands and feet,

And their wives and children, as alms,

To find the Supreme Way.

Again I see bodhisattvas

Giving their heads, eyes, bodies,

Cheerfully as alms,

To find the Buddha-wisdom.”

He sees also kings leaving their palaces, shaving their heads, and

putting on the monk’s robe to seek the Buddha-way. He sees

bodhisattvas who

“Enter the depths of the mountains

To ponder the Buddha-way.”

And

“Dwellers in secluded wilds

In profoundest concentration

To obtain transcendent powers.”

Others

“Profoundly wise and resolute,

Are able to question the Buddhas

And apprehend all they hear.

. . . . .

I see, too, Buddha-sons

Expounding the Truth to the multitude,

Cheerfully preaching the Law,

Converting bodhisattvas

And, having defeated the army of Mara,

Beating the drum of the Law.”

He sees other bodhisattvas, who

“Dwelling in forests, emit radiance

That saves the sufferers in hell,

Leading them into the Buddha-way.”

He sees also Buddha-sons who,

“Abiding in the strength of long-suffering,

Though men of utmost arrogance

Hate, abuse and beat them,

Are able through all to endure,

To find the ♦Buddha-way.”

♦ “Puddha-way” replaced with “Buddha-way”

Others are seen bestowing dainties, drink and food, medicines, and

robes of priceless value, precious buildings of sandal-wood,

flowers, fruits, and bathing-pools on the Buddhas while seeking the

Supreme Way. Buddha-sons are seen building numberless stupas,

adorned with precious jewels, bells, and streamers, in homage to the

Buddhas, the light from such stupas illuminating their lands.

Though the Buddha has emitted but one solitary ray, and only in one

of the six directions of space, yet all these worlds are revealed.

Why, asks Maitreya, has he shed so wondrous a light? Is it that he

is now about to reveal some mystic truth? The host of gods, men, and

spirits of the underworld yearn for an answer.

Manjuśri replies that he believes the Buddha is now about to make

his final revelation, “to preach the Great Law, to pour the rain of

the Great Law, to blow the conch of the Great Law, to beat the drum

of the Great Law, to expound the meaning of the Great Law”. He says

that whenever in the past such a Buddha-ray has been emitted it has

always preceded the declaration of the Wonderful Law to all

creatures. He says he has seen this before, under a Buddha named

Light-of-the-Sun-and-Moon, and under twenty thousand successive

Buddhas of the same name. The last of these, before leaving home to

become Buddha, had eight royal sons, whose names and story he gives;

they all became Buddhas. Before the Buddha Sun-moon-light withdrew

to Nirvana, he first entered into the trance-like meditation on the

meaning of Infinity, whereupon flowers fell from heaven and the

whole universe was shaken. On awaking from his trance he preached,

through his disciple Mystic-light, “The Lotus Flower of the

Wonderful Law, by which bodhisattvas are instructed”, and which is

under the special guardianship of the Buddhas themselves. Manjuśri

thereupon reveals to the assembly that it was he himself who was

Mystic-light in a previous incarnation. This is told, in both prose

and verse, with a wealth of detail and in splendour of language.

II

The World-honoured One, coming calmly and deliberately out of his

trance, now addresses his disciple Śariputra, and through him the

assembled company:

“The wisdom of Buddhas is profound and infinite. Their school of wisdom

is difficult to enter and to understand.” Ascetics and those who cleave

to the law of works “cannot apprehend it”. But a Buddha has been in

fellowship with countless numbers of Buddhas, and knows all things.

“Only a Buddha with a Buddha can fathom the reality of All-Existence.”

In verse he says:

“Of yore I followed countless Buddhas,

And perfectly trod the Ways

Of the profound and mystic Law,

Hard to perceive and perform.

During infinite kotis of kalpas,

Having followed all these Ways,

Attaining fruition on the Wisdom-throne

I could perfectly understand

The meaning of every nature and form.

I and the Buddhas of the universe

Alone can understand these things—

The Truth beyond demonstration,

The Truth beyond the realm of terms.”

The wisest of his disciples, he says, will not be able to understand

it, but they can apprehend it by faith. This ultimate, or absolute

Truth can only be understood by Buddhas. His disciples should at

once “beget great strength of faith, for at length, after his

preparatory teaching, he must now proclaim the perfect Truth”. His

previous teaching had only been tactical and expedient, during the

time of their ignorance, but now a higher Truth must be proclaimed.

Thereupon doubts arise among the strictest set of his disciples,

those who by arduous effort have made the greatest progress in his

previous teaching.

“For what reason”, ask they one of another, “does the World honoured

One now so earnestly extol this Way of expediency and utter these

words: ‘The Truth which the Buddha has obtained is most profound and

difficult to comprehend. The meaning of what he is about to proclaim

is so hard to understand that it will be beyond the grasp even of his

most disciplined followers.’ We have already attained to his principle

of emancipation and have reached the stage of Nirvana. Now we know not

whither his new principle will lead.”

Śariputra voices their discontent by asking the Buddha what is his

reason for extolling this method of expediency, which now is to end

in the declaration of a Truth, profound and mysterious, such as they

have never before heard the Buddha mention.

“O Wisdom-Sun! Great Holy Honoured One!

. . . . .

These fault-eliminated Arhats

And those who seek Nirvana

Have fallen into nets of doubt.”

These workers of the Law, these disciples, gods, dragon-kings,

spirits, and other beings “scan each the other in perplexity”. Is

all that they have learnt and done in vain?

“The Buddha’s mouth-born sons

With folded hands expectant wait.

Be pleased to send forth the mystic sound

And now proclaim the Truth in reality.

Gods, nagas, spirits and others,

Numerous as sands of Ganges,

Bodhisattvas aspiring to be Buddhas,

Fully eighty thousand in number,

Also, from myriads of kotis of lands,

Holy Wheel-rolling Kings are here,

With folded hands and reverent hearts

Desiring to hear the Perfect Way.”

The Buddha replies: “Enough! enough! say no more. Were I to explain

this matter, the worlds of gods and men would be startled and

perplexed.”

Śariputra pleads:

“King of the Law, Honoured One Most High?

Be pleased to explain without misgiving!

In this assembly are countless beings

Able respectfully to believe.”

Again the Buddha protests that at his preaching “all the worlds of

gods, men, and demons would be startled and perplexed and the

haughty among his disciples might fall into the great pit”.

Once more Śariputra appeals in pleading terms, whereupon the Buddha

responds to the thrice-repeated prayer. But, before he can open his

mouth to speak, five thousand of his (hinayana) disciples rise from

their seats, salute him, and withdraw. “The root of sin was deep in

them, and their haughty spirit was so enlarged that they imagined

they had already attained.” The Buddha remains silent and does not

stop them.

“Now, in this congregation,” he says at last, “I am free from twigs

and leaves, and have none but the true and real. It is good that

such extremely haughty ones as these are gone away.” Such is the

author’s dramatic way of exposing the pride of the Hinayana

Buddhists in rejecting the Mahayana doctrine of universal salvation

by faith, rather than by works.

Rare is the appearance of a Buddha. Like the udumbara, which is

seldom seen in flower, so is it with the Buddhas. But when one

appears, though he must use various expedients in his teaching, “no

word of his is false”. “The Buddhas seek to open (the eyes of) the

living to the true Buddha-knowledge, so that they may attain to the

pure (Way.”) Universal attainment of buddhahood is his meaning, and

he repeats, in a variety of forms, that a Buddha appears in the

world in order that all living beings may apprehend and enter into

“the Way of Buddha-knowledge”, in other words, the mind and life of

the Buddhas themselves. The Buddha can only teach his Way to

bodhisattvas, that is, to those capable of receiving the higher

Truth, so that they in turn may transmit it to all the living. He

teaches but one Way, one Vehicle; for a Hinayana, or Small Vehicle,

is not big enough for his Truth, only the Mahayana can hold it. Only

the Great Vehicle is capacious enough to hold all creatures. Such,

he declares, is the Buddha-law taught in “countless hundreds,

thousands, myriads, kotis of Buddha-lands in the universe”. “All

things are for the One Buddha-Vehicle, and living beings who hear

the Law from the Buddhas, all finally obtain Perfect Enlightenment.”

This is the fundamental revelation of the Sutra, repeated in a

plenitude of language.

“I am also like the other Buddhas,” he says. “Knowing that all the

living have many and various desires deep-rooted in their minds, I

have, according to their capacity, expounded the various laws (by

which these could be overcome) with various reasonings, parabolic

expressions, and expedients.” But this tactical method was only in

order to lead them onwards till they were capable of “attaining to

the Perfect Knowledge of the One Buddha-Vehicle”, for “in the whole

universe there are not even two Vehicles, how much less a third”.

That is to say there are no two ways of salvation, none but that of

the Mahayana.

He proceeds to say that a Buddha only appears in a period of decay,

when “all the living are vile, covetous and envious, bringing to

maturity every root of badness”. Then a Buddha appears and, while

still in the One Vehicle, expounds it as Three Vehicles. There is

dispute as to the exact meaning of the three, but they are

understood as sravakas, pratyekabuddhas, and bodhisattvas, and these

may be described as disciples still under the law of works,

disciples who have accomplished their works, and Mahayana disciples

who receive the true spiritual revelation in faith. If disciples of

the first two types refuse to abandon their lower wisdom and the

merits which they treasure, and to become bodhisattvas in the higher

school, these can no longer be accounted faithful disciples.

This is repeated in many pages of verse, from which the following

excerpts are taken:

“Monks and nuns

Obsessed by utmost arrogance,

Men-disciples in self-conceit,

Women-disciples in unbelief,

Such four groups as these

Five thousand in number,

Perceiving not their errors

And faults in the moral law,

Caring only for their flaws,

These little-wits having gone,

These husks of the assembly who withdraw

Because of the Buddha’s majesty,

These men of minor virtues,

Unable to receive this Law—

(Now) has this assembly nor twigs nor leaves,

But only the true and real.”

He proceeds to show how, by reading the hearts and lives, past,

present, and future, of all men, he adapts his teaching to their

needs, telling them stories, or poems, or transmigrations, or

marvels, and in parables leading them on.

“The dull, who delight in petty rules,

Who are greedily attached to mortality,

Who have not, under countless Buddhas,

Walked the profound and mystic Way,

Who are harassed by all the sufferings—

To these I (at first) preach Nirvana.

Such is the expedient I employ

To lead them to Buddha-wisdom.

Not yet could I say to them,

‘You all shall attain to Buddhahood’,

For the time had not yet arrived.

But now the very time has come

And I must preach the Great Vehicle.”

He declares that the nine divisions of the Law, which he had

previously preached, were but the approach to the Mahayana, and in

it he assures his bodhisattva-disciples of their ultimate buddhahood.

“The Buddha appears in the world

Only for this One Reality,

The other two not being real;

For never by a smaller Vehicle (Hinayana)

(Could a Buddha) save any creature.

The Buddha himself is in the Great-Vehicle (Mahayana)

And accordant with the Truth he has attained,

Enriched by meditation and wisdom,

By it he saves all creatures.

I, having proved the Supreme Way,

The universality of the Great Vehicle,

If, by a Small Vehicle, I converted

Were it but one human being,

I should fall into grudging selfishness,

A thing that cannot be.

If men turn in faith to the Buddha,

The Tathagata will not deceive them,

Having no selfish, envious desires,

Being free from all sins of the Law.

Hence, the Buddha, in the universe,

Is the One being perfectly fearless.”

In this passage we have clearly stated the distinctive character of

Mahayana—its two prominent features of Universality and of Faith.

The Buddha himself being universal, all beings must be included, for

the whole contains its parts. The Supreme Way is Universalism and

Faith in the sublime unselfishness of the Buddha.

It is quite apparent also that by the Buddha no merely human being

is meant. A distinction is necessary between the earth-born

Śakyamuni and the Buddha. As in the case of the divine-human nature

of the Christ, so in regard to the Buddha, Śakyamuni is considered

as a man who, when enlightened, became the human Buddha. His human

nature had been clothed upon by the Buddha-nature. When on earth,

though still human, the Buddha was more. He was even more than the

highest devas, in other words more than the beings commonly called

divine, for a Buddha, a truly enlightened one, was far greater than

the passion-torn gods of India. However powerful and happy they may

be as gods, they are still the subjects of mortality, and therefore

of reincarnation, but from this a Buddha is free. In sum, the Buddha

was in Śakyamuni reconciling all creatures unto himself, and thus

Śakyamuni was Buddha. The Buddha is universal; therefore all things

are in Buddha—and will be reconciled. But inferentially, as the

Buddha has freedom of will, so all creatures have freedom of choice,

and not till they choose to use their faculty of faith in the

Buddha, rather than to use their own feeble efforts at enlightenment

and moral control, will they reach the perfect enlightenment, in

unity of spirit with the Buddha.

“Know, O Śariputra!

Of yore I made a vow,

In desire to cause all creatures

To rank equally with me.

. . . . .

Whene’er I meet any of the living

I teach them the Buddha-Way;

The unwise remain confused

And, deluded, accept not my teaching.”

The Buddha-Way is the way to buddhahood, or perfect enlightenment;

the way is faith; the end is universal.

He proceeds to say:

“I know that all these creatures

Have failed in previous lives,

Are firmly attached to base desires

And, infatuated, are in trouble.

. . . . .

They suffer the utmost misery.

Received into the womb in embryo,

They pass from generation to generation,

Poor in virtue and of little happiness,

Oppressed by all the sorrows

And dwelling in the thickets of debate,

Such as, Existence? or Non-existence?

Relying on their propositions,

Sixty-two in number,

They become rooted in false philosophy,

Tenacious and unyielding,

Self-sufficient and self-inflated,

Suspicious, warped, without faith.

During thousands and milliards of kalpas

Such hear not the name of Buddha,

Nor ever learn of the Truth;

These men are hard to save.

For this reason, Śariputra,

I set up an expedient for them,

Proclaiming a Way to end suffering,

Revealing it as Nirvana.

Yet, though I proclaim Nirvana,

It is not real extinction;

All things from the beginning

Are ever of Nirvana nature.

When a Buddha-son fulfils (his) course,

In the world to come he becomes Buddha.

It is because of my adaptability

That I tell of a Three-Vehicle Law,

(But truly) the World-honoured Ones

Preach the One-Vehicle Way.”

Thus the author declares that the ignorant, prejudiced, and

warped condition of the human mind, with its logic-chopping and

philosophizing, only leads men away from simple faith in the Buddha. It

is difficult to make them believe this, and only by tactful, expedient

teaching (i.e. Hinayana) can men be led on to the truth as it is in

Mahayana. The other vehicles, or schools, are but temporary expedients.

The author, quite clearly, finds himself teaching a doctrine

fundamentally different from that which Śakyamuni had taught when on

earth, yet as he wishes to put the new teaching into Śakyamuni’s mouth,

he has to justify the change. In the meantime, he declares that, in

all past time and in all worlds, wherever the Buddhas—before their

final extinction from the lower realms, before their final Nirvana, or

blessedness—have preached their Supreme Truth, the creatures in each of

their domains have been able to attain to buddhahood:

“If there are any beings

Who have met the former Buddhas,

If, after hearing the Truth,

They have given kindly alms,

Or kept the commands, enduring,

Been zealous, meditative, wise,

Cultivating blessedness and virtue,

Such men and beings as these

Have all attained to buddhahood.

If, after the Nirvana of Buddhas,

Men have become gentle of heart,

All such creatures as these

Have all attained to buddhahood.

After the Nirvana of Buddhas,

Those who worshipped their relics,

And built myriads, kotis of stupas,

With gold, silver, and crystal,

With moonstone and with agate,

With jasper and lapis lazuli,

Purely and abundantly displayed,

Superbly shown on every stupa;

Or those who built shrines of stone,

Of sandal-wood or aloes,

Of eagle-wood or other woods,

Of brick and tiles, or clay;

Or those who, in the wilds,

Built Buddha-shrines of earth;

Even children who, in play,

Gathered sand for a Buddha’s stupa;

Such men and beings as these,

Have all attained to buddhahood.

If men, for the sake of Buddhas,

Have erected images of them,

Carved with the (sacred) signs,

They have all attained to buddhahood.”

[Illustration: 4. Buddha accepts from a child a handful of dust with

which it was playing, all it had to give ]

In like manner those who have used brass, lead, clay, lacquer to

make Buddha’s images, or painted them, or employed others to do so,

have also attained buddhahood.

“Even boys, in their play,

Who with reed, wood, or pen,

Or, even with finger-nail,

Have drawn Buddha’s images;

Such men and beings as these

Gradually accumulating merit,

And becoming pitiful in heart,

Have all attained to buddhahood,

And converted many bodhisattvas,

Saving countless creatures.”

Moreover:

“If men, to the stupas and shrines,

To a precious image or painting,

With flowers, incense, flags and umbrellas,

Have paid homage with respectful hearts;

Or employed others to perform music,

Beat drums, blow horns and conches,

Pan-pipes and flutes, play lutes and harps,

Gongs, guitars and cymbals,

Such mystic sounds as these,

Played by way of homage;

Or with joyful hearts have sung

Praise to the merits of Buddhas,

Though with but one small sound,

(These, too,) have attained to buddhahood.

Even one who, distracted of mind,

With but a single flower,

Has paid homage to a painted image,

Shall gradually see countless Buddhas.

Or, those who have offered worship,

Were it merely by folding the hands,

Or even by raising a hand,

Or by slightly bending the head,

By thus paying homage to the images,

Will gradually see countless Buddhas,

Attain the Supreme Way,

Widely save numberless creatures

And enter the perfect Nirvana.

. . . . .

(For) all Buddhas take the one vow:

‘The Buddha-way which I walk,

I will universally cause all the living

To attain this same Way with me.’

Though Buddhas in future ages

Proclaim hundreds, thousands, kotis,

Countless ways into the doctrine,

In reality there is but the One-Vehicle.

. . . . .

In the perilous round of mortality,

In continuous, unending misery,

Firmly tied to the passions

As a yak is to its tail;

Smothered by greed and infatuation,

Blinded and seeing nothing;

Seeking not the Buddha, the Mighty,

And the Truth that ends suffering,

But deeply sunk in heresy,

By suffering seeking riddance of suffering;

For the sake of all these creatures

My heart is stirred with great pity.”

The author then makes him refer to his enlightenment under the

bodhi-tree, when the supreme truth of Mahayanism is declared by the

author to have been revealed to him. So impossible did it seem to

Śakyamuni that the world could understand him, that he thought

straightway to proclaim the Mahayana Law once only, and immediately

betake himself to the bliss of Nirvana. But Brahma and the gods and

the heavenly throng earnestly implored him not to leave the world,

but to “roll the Wheel of the Law”, that is, proclaim the Good News

as the disk of the sun rolls through the sky. Finally, he decides

that, as it is impossible for ignorant and sinful man immediately to

apprehend this wonderful Truth, it is needful for him to use such

tactful or Hinayana teaching as may be expedient. Instantly the

former Buddhas applaud his decision, assuring him that such had been

their own method. Thus the Author gives him the authority of the

Buddhas of all past worlds.

“Know, Śariputra!

The stupid and those of little wit,

Those tied to externals and the proud,

Cannot believe this Truth.

But now I gladly and with boldness

In the midst of (you) bodhisattvas,

Straightway put aside expediency

And only proclaim the Supreme Way.

. . . . .

In the same fashion that the Buddhas,

Past, present, and future, preach the Law,

So also will I now proclaim

The one and undivided Law.

. . . . .

Even in infinite, countless kalpas,

Rarely may this Law be heard,

And those able to hearken to it,

Such men as these are rare.

. . . . .

Who hears and joyfully extols it,

Though but by a single word,

Has thus paid homage to

All Buddhas in the three realms.

. . . . .

Know, all of you, Śariputra,

That this Wonderful Law

Is the secret of all the Buddhas.

. . . . .

Rejoice greatly in your hearts,

Knowing that you will become Buddhas.”

III

Śariputra filled with a spirit of ecstasy, now addresses the Buddha,

reproaching himself that he has heretofore struggled in the straits

of the smaller vehicle, when, but for his own unbelief, he might

have known the liberation of the Mahayana; as also might his fellow

disciples.

“This is our fault, not the World-honoured One’s. Wherefore? Because

had we attended to his preaching in regard to Perfect Enlightenment, we

should certainly have been delivered by the Great Vehicle.... To-day

I indeed know that I am really a son of Buddha, born from the mouth

of Buddha, evolved from The Law, and have obtained a place in the

Buddha-Law.”

His address is again lengthily produced in verse:

“Now I hear the voice of Buddha

Opportunely preaching The Law,

Faultless and inscrutable,

By which all reach the Wisdom-throne.”

. . . . .

In the former days he thought he had already reached the stage that

brought Extinction (Nirvana);

“But now I have perceived

That was not real extinction.

When one becomes a Buddha,

Complete with all the signs,

And devas, men and yakshas,

Nagas and spirits revere him,

Then that may be called

Eternal, complete extinction,

Without any remainder.”

He means that he will attain to the eternal bliss of the Buddhas

without any remainder of reincarnation, or remainder of karma that

requires reincarnation. He expresses a fear lest the wonderful news

he now hears might be the invention of the devil; but he rejoices

that this cannot be the case, for—

“The World-honoured One preaches Truth,

Not so is it with the Evil One;

Henceforth I know for certain that

This is not Mara acting as Buddha.

’Twas through falling into nets of doubt,

I conceived it as the doing of Mara.

Now hearing Buddha’s gentle voice,

Profound and most refined,

Expounding the pure Law,

My heart is filled with joy,

My doubts and regrets are ended

As I rest in real Wisdom,

Assured of becoming Buddha,

Revered by devas and men,

And, rolling the supreme Law-wheel,

Convert many bodhisattvas.”

The Buddha then proceeds to tell them that this is not the first

world in which he has taught them. They have forgotten their

previous incarnations; not so the Buddha. It is, indeed, because he

has, in former incarnations, trained them that they are now born

into his Law here. Then he foretells the future destiny of

Śariputra, telling him he will be reborn as a prince, and like

Śakyamuni leave his palace to become a monk.

“O son of Śari! In a world to come, after infinite, boundless,

inconceivable kalpas, when you shall have served some thousands,

myriads, kotis of Buddhas, maintained the Right Law, and completed

the Way which Bodhisattvas walk, you shall become a Buddha, whose

title will be Flower-light Tathagata, Worshipful, All-wise, Perfectly

enlightened in conduct, Well-departed, Understander of the world,

Peerless Leader, Controller, Teacher of gods and men, Buddha,

World-honoured One, whose domain shall be named Undefiled, whose land

will be even and straight, pure and adorned, peaceful and prosperous,

filled with celestial people; the ground of lapis lazuli, having

eight intersecting roads with golden cords to set bounds to their

sides, flanked with trees of the Seven Precious things, always full

of flowers and fruits.... Its kalpa will be named Jewel-adorned ...

for its bodhisattvas are its great jewels. These bodhisattvas will be

infinite, boundless, inconceivable, beyond computation or compare, such

as none can apprehend who has not a Buddha’s wisdom. Wherever they walk

jewel-flowers will receive their feet.”

.....

“The Tathagata Flower-light, at the expiration of twelve

minor kalpas, will predict the Bodhisattva ‘Resolute’ to Perfect

Enlightenment and will declare to all the monks: ‘This Bodhisattva

Resolute will become the next Buddha, whose title will be

Flowery-footsteps’.”

.....

“Śariputra! After the extinction of Flower-Light Buddha, the Correct

Law will abide in his world during thirty-two minor kalpas, and then

the Semblance Law will also abide in his world during thirty-two

kalpas”; in other words, the usual formalism will set in, leading to

decay and disappearance.

Then the monks and nuns, male and female disciples, gods, nagas,

yakshas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kinnaras, mahoragas, and

others, all the great assembly of beings, human and not human,

rejoice greatly, each doffing his robe and offering it in homage to

the Buddha. Brahma and the gods offer celestial robes and celestial

flowers, their robes remaining aloft, circling around, while

countless celestial instruments make music in the sky.

“Of old, at Varanasi, Thou didst roll

The Law-wheel of the Four Noble Truths,

And discerningly preach the Laws

Of the rise and the extinction

Of the Five human Aggregates.

Now again Thou dost roll the most wonderful,

Mighty, Supreme, Wheel of the Law,

The Law beyond measure profound.

. . . . .

The great, wise Śariputra

Now has heard his prediction;

We also in like manner know

We too will become Buddhas,

Who in all worlds are ever

Most honoured and peerless.”

Again the troublesome question is raised, why the Buddha should have

taught the Hinayana doctrines, only now to repudiate them and offer

Mahayana doctrines in their stead. Śariputra says that while he

himself has no doubt or regrets, yet here are twelve hundred

disciples, “who of yore abode in the four stages of (hinayana)

learning, and were always told by the Buddha—‘My Law is able to give

freedom from re-birth, decrepitude, disease and death and the final

attainment of Nirvana’.” How is it that he now discards all this as

valueless? What becomes of the merit these disciples have laid up

with so much zeal and struggle? Has the Buddha indeed been deceiving

them is the meaning of his inquiry.

To this the Buddha replies:

“Have I not before said that the Buddhas, the World-honoured Ones, with

a variety of reasonings, parables and terms, preach the Law as may

be expedient, with the aim of final Perfect Enlightenment? All their

teachings are for the purpose of transforming (their disciples

into) bodhisattvas. But, Śariputra! Let me again in a parable make this

meaning still more clear, for intelligent people, through a parable,

reach understanding.”

_Parable of the Burning House._

“Śariputra! Suppose, in a (certain) kingdom, city, or town, there is

a great elder, old and worn, of boundless wealth, and possessing many

fields, houses, slaves, and servants. His house is spacious and large,

but it has only one door, and many people dwell in it, one hundred, two

hundred, or even five hundred in number. Its halls and chambers are

decayed and old, its walls crumbling down, the bases of its pillars

rotten, the beams and roof-trees toppling and dangerous. On every

side, at the same moment, fire suddenly starts and the house is in

conflagration. The boys of the elder, say ten, twenty, or even thirty,

are in the dwelling. The elder, on seeing this conflagration spring

up on every side, is greatly startled and reflects thus: ‘Though I am

able to get safely out of the gate of this burning house, yet my boys

in the burning house are pleasurably absorbed in amusements without

apprehension, knowledge, surprise, or fear. Though the fire is pressing

upon them and pain and suffering are instant, they do not mind or fear

and have no impulse to escape.’

“Śariputra! This elder ponders thus: ‘I am strong in my body and

arms. Shall I get them out of the house by means of a flower-vessel,

or a bench, or a table?’ Again he ponders: ‘This house has only one

gate, which moreover is narrow and small. My children are young,

knowing nothing as yet and attached to their place of play; perchance

they will fall into the fire and be burnt. I must speak to them on this

dreadful matter (warning them) that the house is burning, and that they

must come out instantly lest they are burnt and injured by the fire.’

Having reflected thus, according to his thoughts, he calls to his

children: ‘Come out quickly, all of you!’

“Though their father, in his pity, lures and admonishes with kind

words, yet the children, joyfully absorbed in their play, are unwilling

to believe him and have neither surprise nor fear, nor any mind to

escape; moreover, they do not know what is the fire (he means), or

what the house, and what he means by being lost, but only run hither

and thither in play, no more than glancing at their father. Then the

elder reflects thus: ‘This house is burning in a great conflagration.

If I and my children do not get out at once, we shall certainly be

burnt up by it. Let me now, by some expedient, cause my children to

escape this disaster.’ Knowing that to which each of his children is

predisposed, and all the various attractive playthings and curiosities

to which their natures will joyfully respond, the father tells them

saying: ‘(Here are) rare and precious things for your amusement—if you

do not (come) and get them, you will be sorry for it afterwards. So

many goat-carts, deer-carts, and bullock-carts are now outside the gate

to play with. All of you come quickly out of this burning house, and I

will give you whatever you want.’ Thereupon the children, hearing

of the attractive playthings mentioned by their father, and because

they suit their wishes, every one eagerly, each pushing the other, and

racing one against another, comes rushing out of the burning house.

“Then the elder, seeing his children have safely escaped and are all in

the square, sits down in the open, no longer embarrassed, but with a

mind at ease and ecstatic with joy. Then each of the children says to

the father: ‘Father! Please now give us those playthings you promised

us, goat-carts, deer-carts, and bullock-carts.’ Śariputra! Then the

elder gives to his children equally each a great cart, lofty and

spacious, adorned with all the precious things, surrounded with railed

seats, hung with bells on its four sides, and covered with curtains,

splendidly decorated also with various rare and precious things, draped

with strings of precious stones, hung with garlands of flowers, thickly

spread with beautiful mats, and supplied with rosy pillows. It is yoked

with white bullocks of pure (white) skin, of handsome appearance, and

of great muscular power, which walk with even steps, and with the speed

of the wind, and also has many servants and followers to guard them.

Wherefore? Because this great elder is of boundless wealth and all his

various store-houses are full to overflowing. So he reflects thus: ‘My

possessions being boundless, I must not give my children inferior small

carts. All these children are my sons, whom I love without partiality.

Having such great carts made of the seven precious things, infinite in

number, I should with equal mind bestow them on each one without

discrimination. Wherefore? Because, were I to give them to the whole

nation, these things of mine would not run short—how much less so to

my children! Meanwhile each of the children rides on his great cart,

having received that which he had never before had and never expected

to have.

“Śariputra! What is your opinion? Has that elder, in (only) giving

great carts of the precious substances to his children equally, been in

any way guilty of falsehood?”

“No, World-honoured One!” says Śariputra. “That elder only caused

his children to escape the disaster of fire and preserved their

bodies alive—he committed no falsity. Why? He thus preserved their

bodies alive, and in addition gave them the playthings they obtained;

moreover, it was by his expedient that he saved them from that burning

house! World-honoured One! Even if that elder did not give them one

of the smallest carts, still he is not false. Wherefore? Because that

elder from the first formed this intention, ‘I will, by an expedient,

cause my children to escape’. For this reason he is not false. How much

less so seeing that, knowing his own boundless wealth and desiring to

benefit his children, he gives them great carts equally!”

“Good! Good!” replies the Buddha to Śariputra. “It is even as you say.

Śariputra! The Tathagata is also like this, for he is the Father of

all worlds, who has for ever entirely ended all fear, despondency,

distress, ignorance, and enveloping darkness, and has perfected

boundless knowledge, strength, and fearlessness. He is possessed of

great supernatural power and wisdom-power, has completely attained

the Paramitas of adaptability and wisdom, and is the greatly merciful

and greatly compassionate, ever tireless, ever seeking the good, and

benefiting all beings. He is born in this triple world, the old decayed

burning house, to save all living creatures from the fires of birth,

age, disease, death, grief, suffering, foolishness, darkness, and the

Three Poisons, and teach them to obtain Perfect Enlightenment. He sees

how all living creatures are scorched by the fires of birth, age,

disease, death, grief, and sorrow, and suffer all kinds of distress by

reason of the five desires and the greed of gain; and how, by reason

of the attachments of desire and its pursuits, they now endure much

suffering and hereafter will suffer in hell, or as animals or hungry

spirits. Even if they are born in a heaven, or amongst men, there are

all kinds of sufferings, such as the bitter straits of poverty, the

bitterness of parting from loved ones, the bitterness of association

with the detestable. Absorbed in these things, all living creatures

rejoice and take their pleasure, while they neither apprehend, nor

perceive, are neither alarmed, nor fear, and are without satiety, never

seeking to escape, but, in the burning house of this triple world,

running to and fro, and although they will meet with great suffering,

count it not as cause for anxiety.

“Śariputra! The Buddha, having seen this, reflects thus: ‘I am the

Father of all creatures and must snatch them from suffering and

give them the bliss of the infinite, boundless Buddha-wisdom for them

to play with’.

“Śariputra! The Tathagata again reflects thus: ‘If I only use

supernatural power and wisdom, casting aside every tactful method, and

extend to all living creatures the wisdom, power, and fearlessness of

the Tathagata, the living creatures cannot by this method be saved.

Wherefore? As long as all these creatures have not escaped birth,

age, disease, death, grief, and suffering, but are being burnt in

the burning house of the triple world, how can they understand the

Buddha-wisdom?’

“Śariputra! Even as that elder, though with strength in body and arms,

yet does not use it, but only by diligent tact, resolutely saves his

children from the calamity of the burning house, and then gives each

of them great carts adorned with precious things, so is it with the

Tathagata. Though he has power and fearlessness, he does not use

them, but only by his wise tact does he remove and save all living

creatures from the burning house of the triple world, preaching the

Three-Vehicles, viz. the Sravaka, Pratyekabuddha, and Buddha vehicles.

And thus he speaks to them: ‘Ye all! Delight not to dwell in the

burning house of the triple world. Do not hanker after its crude forms,

sounds, odours, flavours, and contacts. For if, through hankering, ye

beget a love of it, then ye will be burnt by it. Get ye out with haste

from the triple world and take to the Three-Vehicles, viz. the Sravaka,

Pratyekabuddha, and Buddha Vehicles. I now give you my pledge for

this, and it will never prove false. Be only diligent and zealous!’

By these expedients does the Tathagata lure all creatures forth, and

again speaks thus: ‘Know ye! All these Three-Vehicles are praised by

sages: in them you will be free and independent, without wanting to

rely on aught else. Riding in these Three Vehicles, by means of perfect

faculties, powers, perceptions, ways, concentrations, emancipations,

and samadhis, ye will, as a matter of course, be happy and gain

infinite peace and joy.’

“Śariputra! If there are living beings who have a spirit of wisdom

within and, following the Buddha, the World-honoured One, hear the Law,

receive it in faith, and zealously make progress, desiring speedily to

escape from the triple world and seeking Nirvana for themselves—this

(type) is called the Sravaka-Vehicle, just as some of those children

come out of the burning house for the sake of a goat-cart. If there

are living beings who, following the Buddha, the World-honoured One,

hear the Law, receive it in faith, and zealously make progress, seeking

self-gained Wisdom, taking pleasure in becoming good and calm, and

deeply versed in the causes and reasons of the laws—this type is called

the Pratyekabuddha-Vehicle, just as some of those children come out

of the burning house for the sake of a deer-cart. If there are living

beings who, following the Buddha, the World-honoured One, hear the

Law, receive it in faith, diligently practise and zealously advance,

seeking the Complete Wisdom, Buddha-Wisdom, the Natural Wisdom, the

Masterless Wisdom, and Tathagata knowledge, powers, and fearlessness,

who take pity on and comfort innumerable creatures, benefit devas and

men, and save all beings—this type is called the Great-Vehicle. Because

bodhisattvas seek this vehicle, they are named mahasattvas. They are

like those children who come out of the burning house for the sake of a

bullock-cart.

“Śariputra! Just as that elder, seeing his children get out of the

burning house safely to a place free from fear, and pondering on

his immeasurable wealth, gives each of his children a great cart,

so also is it with the Tathagata. Being the Father of all living

creatures, if he sees infinite thousands of kotis of creatures, by

the teaching of the Buddha, escape from the suffering of the triple

world, from fearful and perilous paths, and gain the joys of Nirvana,

the Tathagata then reflects thus: ‘I possess infinite, boundless

wisdom, power, fearlessness, and other Law-treasuries of Buddhas. All

these living creatures are my children to whom I will equally give the

Great-Vehicle, so that none will gain an individual Nirvana, but all

gain Nirvana by the same Nirvana as the Tathagata. All these living

creatures who escape the triple world are given the playthings of

Buddhas, viz. concentrations, emancipations, and so forth, all of the

same pattern and of one kind, praised by sages and able to produce

pure, supreme pleasure.

“Śariputra! Even as that elder at first attracted his children by the

three carts, and afterwards gave them only a great cart magnificently

adorned with precious things and supremely comfortable, yet that

elder is not guilty of falsehood, so also is it with the Tathagata;

there is no falsehood in first preaching Three-Vehicles to attract all

living creatures and afterwards in saving them by the Great Vehicle

only. Wherefore? Because the Tathagata possesses infinite wisdom,

power, fearlessness, and the treasury of the laws, and is able to give

all living creatures the Great Vehicle Law; but not all are able to

receive it. Śariputra! For this reason know that Buddhas, by their

adaptability, in the One Buddha-Vehicle define and expound the Three.”

The embellishment in the verse section will be seen in the following

example:

“Suppose, there is an elder,

Who has a large house,

A house for long old,

And falling in decay;

Its lofty halls are tottering,

The pillar-bases rotting,

Beams and roof-trees toppling,

Foundations all collapsing,

Walls and partitions in ruins,

Their plaster crumbling away,

Thatch disordered and dropping,

Rafters awry and falling,

Fences bent and distorted,

Behind them a fullness of refuse;

Five hundred individuals

Are dwelling there within it.

Owls, hawks, and vultures,

Crows, magpies, pigeons, doves,

Black snakes, vipers, scorpions,

Centipedes and millipedes,

Geckos, galley-worms,

Weasels, ferrets, rats, and mice,

All sorts of evil creatures,

Run about in every direction;

Places stink with excrement,

Overflowing with uncleanness;

Dung-beetles and worms

Flock together in them.

Foxes, wolves, and jackals

Bite and trample each other

To gnaw human carcasses,

Scattering their bones and flesh.

Following these, troops of dogs

Come striving to snatch and grab,

And, gaunt with hunger, skulk about

Everywhere seeking food,

Quarrelling and scuffling,

Snarling and loud-barking.

Such is that house’s fearfulness

And its changed character.

Everywhere there are

Hobgoblins and ogres,

Yakshas and malign demons,

Who devour the flesh of men;

All sorts of venomous insects,

And evil birds and brutes

Hatch or suckle their broods,

Each hiding and guarding its own;

Yakshas come striving together,

To seize and eat them for food;

Having eaten their fill,

Their evil minds are inflamed,

And the sound of their wrangling

Stirs to utmost fear.

Kumbhanda-demons also

Crouch upon the mounds,

Springing from the ground

A foot or two feet high,

Wandering about to and fro,

Giving full rein to their tricks;

Seizing dogs by their feet,

Beating them to silence,

Throwing their legs over their necks,

Scaring them for amusement.

Also there are demons,

Of stature tall and large,

Naked, black, and lean,

Who always dwell therein,

Emitting horrible sounds,

Bellowing in search of food.

Again there are demons

With throats narrow as a needle.

And there are also demons,

With heads like a bullock’s;

Some which eat human flesh,

Others which devour dogs,

Their locks are dishevelled,

They are cruel and fiendish,

Oppressed by hunger and thirst,

They rush about crying and calling.

Yakshas and hungry ghosts,

Evil birds and beasts

Hungrily hurry in all directions,

Peeping through window and lattice.

Such are its plagues,

Fearful beyond measure.”

The author further defends the Buddha for his method of expediency

in the following lines:

“Though Buddhas, the World-honoured,

Convert by expedient methods,

Yet the living they convert

Are indeed all bodhisattvas.

To such as are of little wit,

Deeply attached to desire and passion,

The Buddha, for their sake,

Preaches the Truth about Suffering,

And all the living joyfully

Attain the unprecedented.

The Buddha’s Truth about Suffering,

Is real without distinction.

Those living beings who

Know not the root of suffering,

Cling to the cause of suffering,

Unable to leave it a moment.

Again, for the sake of these,

He preaches the Truth with tact (saying):

‘The cause of all suffering

Is rooted in desire.’

If desire be extinguished,

Suffering has no foothold.

To annihilate suffering

Is called the Third Truth.

For the sake of the Truth of Extinction,

To cultivate oneself in the Way,

Forsaking all ties to suffering,

This is called Emancipation.

From what then have these people

Attained Emancipation?

Merely to depart from the false

They call Emancipation;

But in truth that is not yet

Complete Emancipation.

So Buddha declares: These people

Have not reached real extinction;

Because these people have not yet

Gained the Supreme Way,

I am unwilling to declare

That they have attained extinction.

I am the King of the Law,

Absolute in regard to the Law,

For comforting all creatures

I appear in the world.

Śariputra! This,

My final Seal of the Law,

Because of my desire to benefit

All the world, is now announced;

Wherever you may wander,

Do not carelessly proclaim it.

If there be hearers who joyfully

Receive it with deep obeisance.

You may know those people

Are Avinivartaniyah.

If there be any who receive

This Sutra-Law in faith,

These people must already

Have seen Buddhas of past times,

Revered and worshipped them

And listened to this Law.

If there be any who are able

To believe in your preaching,

They must formerly have seen me,

And also have seen you,

And these bhikshu-monks,

As well as these bodhisattvas.

This Law-Flower Sutra

Is addressed to the truly wise;

Men shallow of knowledge hearing it,

Go astray not understanding.

All the Sravakas,

And Pratyekabuddhas,

Cannot by their powers

Attain unto this Sutra.

Śariputra!

Even you, into this Sutra

Enter only by faith,

Much more must the other Sravakas.

The other Sravakas,

By believing the Buddha’s words,

Obediently follow this Sutra,

Not by wisdom they have of their own.”

The terrible consequences of contemning the Mahayana, as offered by

The Lotus Sutra, are shown thus:

“Again, Śariputra!

To the haughty and indifferent

And those with self-centred views,

Do not preach this Sutra.

To common shallow people,

Deeply attached to the five desires,

Who hear but cannot apprehend,

Do not preach it to them.

If such people do not believe in,

But vilify this Sutra,

They cut themselves off from all

The Buddha-Seed in the world;

Or if, sullenly frowning,

They are harbourers of doubts,

Listen to my declaration on the

Recompense of their sin:

‘Whether during the Buddha’s lifetime,

Or after his extinction,

If there be any who slander

A Sutra such as this,

Who, seeing those who read, recite,

Write or hold this Sutra,

Despise, scorn, hate, or envy them

And cherish tenacious grudge;

To the ill reward of such,

Listen now again;

After their lifetime’s end,

They will enter the Avici-hell,

For a complete kalpa;

Reborn at each kalpa’s end,

They thus go on revolving

Unto innumerable kalpas;

When they come out of hell,

They will degrade into animals,

Such as dogs or jackals,

With lean-cheeked forms,

Blue-black with scabs and sores,

The sport of men;

Moreover by men

Hated and scorned,

Ever suffering hunger and thirst,

Bones and flesh withered up.

Alive, beaten with thorns,

Dead, with shards and stones;

By cutting themselves off from the Buddha-seed,

They receive such recompense.

Perhaps they become camels,

Or are born amongst asses,

Always carrying burdens,

Beaten and driven with sticks,

Thinking only of water and grass,

Knowing nothing else;

For slandering this Sutra,

Such is their punishment.

Some who become jackals,

Enter into a village,

Their bodies scabbed with sores,

Without even one whole eye,

By all the village boys

They are beaten and stoned,

Suffering bitter pains,

At times even to death.

When they have thus died,

Each receives a snake’s body,

Of shape as long as

Five hundred yojanas;

Deaf and stupid, without feet,

They wriggle about on their bellies,

By many kinds of insects

Stung and devoured,

Day and night in misery

Without cessation;

Because of slandering this Sutra,

Such is their punishment.

Should they become human beings,

Their natural powers are dull;

Dwarfed, ugly, palsied, and lame,

Blind, deaf, and humpbacked;

Whatever they say,

No one believes;

Their breath is vile,

They are demon-possessed,

They are needy and menial,

Ordered about by others.

Often ill and emaciated,

Having none on whom to rely;

Even those on whom they depend

Take no notice of them;

If they should get anything,

It is speedily forgotten;

If they practise means of healing

And follow the usual treatment,

Other ailments will be added,

Or, their patients will die;

If they themselves are ill,

None will save and cure them;

Though they take the best medicine,

They only grow worse.

Though it is others who run riot,

Pillaging and plundering,

For such crimes as these

On them falls perverse retribution.

Such sinners as these

Never see the Buddha,

The King of Sages,

Preaching the Law and transforming;

Such sinners as these

Are always born in distress;

Mad, deaf, and confused in mind,

They never hear the Law;

During kalpas innumerable

As the sands of Ganges,

In life they are deaf and dumb,

With deficient natural powers;

They ever dwell in the hells

As their only pleasure gardens;

Or in other evil states,

As their dwelling-places;

Among asses, hogs, and dogs,

Are the places to which they go;

Because of slandering this Sutra,

Such is their punishment.

If they become human beings,

They are deaf, blind, and dumb,

Poor, needy, and feeble,

For their adornment

Dropsy and scurf,

Scab, sore, and abscess,

All such ills as these

Are their apparel.

Their bodies are foetid abodes,

Filthy and unclean;

Deeply absorbed in themselves,

They swell with anger,

Carnal passions inflame them,

No better are they than beasts;

Because of slandering this Sutra,

Such is their punishment.’

I say to you, Śariputra!

Those who slander this Sutra,

To tell the tale of their evils,

A whole kalpa would not suffice.

For this cause and reason

I especially say to you:

‘Among unwise people,

Do not preach this Sutra’.”

Following this is a long account of those to whom The Lotus may be

preached; that is, to those who have understanding, are true seekers

of Buddhahood, unselfish, have left all, are reverent, upright,

patient, compassionate, and in general the sincere humble seeker,

who refuses all substitutes, such as other sutras, books, and

philosophies.

“I say to you, Śariputra,

Were I to detail all the kinds

Of seekers of the Buddhahood

I could not finish in a kalpa.

Such people as these are able

To believe and to discern.

Preach then to such as these

The Wonderful Law-Flower Sutra.”

IV

From among the throng on the stage of the Spiritual Vulture Peak,

four of the oldest disciples of Śakyamuni are now seen to approach

the Master. They come to say that, having fulfilled all the course

previously laid down by him, they considered they had reached the

stage of Nirvana; old and worn out they had not realized the

possibility of a still higher bodhisattva state with its supernal

joys. Now, hearing it so wonderfully portrayed, despite their

advanced years they are filled with delight and longing.

At the prospect of Perfect Enlightenment they rejoice, and ask

permission to make their meaning clear in a parable. This may be

styled the Buddhist parable of the Prodigal Son, though it might

even more correctly be called the parable of the Seeking Father. In

it appears another defence of the Buddha’s tactical method of

teaching.

_The Prodigal Son and the Seeking Father._

“It is like a youth who, on attaining manhood, leaves his father and

runs away. For long he dwells in some other country, ten, twenty, or

fifty years. The older he grows, the more needy he becomes. Roaming

about in all directions to seek clothing and food, he gradually wanders

along till he unexpectedly approaches his native country. From the

first the father searched for his son but in vain, and meanwhile

has settled in a certain city. His home becomes very rich; his

goods and treasures are incalculable; gold, silver, lapis lazuli,

corals, amber, crystal, and other gems so increase that his treasuries

overflow; many youths and slaves has he, retainers and attendants, and

countless elephants, horses, carriages, animals to ride, and kine and

sheep. His revenues and investments spread to other countries, and his

traders and customers are many in the extreme.

“At this time, the poor son, wandering through village after village,

and passing through countries and cities, at last reaches the city

where his father has settled. Always has the father been thinking of

his son, yet, though he has been parted from him over fifty years,

he has never spoken of the matter to any one, only pondering over it

within himself and cherishing regret in his heart, as he reflects: ‘Old

and worn, I own much wealth; gold, silver, and jewels, granaries and

treasuries overflowing; but I have no son. Some day my end will come

and my wealth be scattered and lost, for there is no one to whom I can

leave it.’ Thus does he often think of his son, and earnestly repeats

this reflection: ‘If I could only get back my son and commit my wealth

to him, how contented and happy should I be, with never a further

anxiety!’

“World-honoured One! Meanwhile the poor son, hired for wages here and

there, unexpectedly arrives at his father’s house. Standing by the

gate, he sees from afar his father seated on a lion-couch, his feet

on a jewelled footstool, revered and surrounded by brahmanas,

kshatriyas, and citizens, and with strings of pearls, worth thousands

and myriads, adorning his body; attendants and young slaves with white

chowries wait upon him right and left; he is covered by a rich canopy

from which hang streamers of flowers; perfume is sprinkled on the

earth, all kinds of famous flowers are scattered around, and precious

things are placed in rows for his acceptance or rejection. Such is his

glory, and the honour of his dignity. The poor son, seeing his father

possessed of such great power, is seized with fear, regretting that

he has come to this place, and secretly reflects thus: ‘This must be

a king, or some one of royal rank; it is no place for me to obtain

anything for the hire of my labour. I had better go to some poor

hamlet, where there is a place for letting out my labour, and food

and clothing are easier to get. If I tarry here long, I may suffer

oppression and forced service.’

“Having reflected thus, he hastens away. Meanwhile, the rich elder on

his lion-seat has recognized his son at first sight, and with great

joy in his heart has also reflected: ‘Now I have some one to whom my

treasuries of wealth are to be made over. Always have I been thinking

of this my son, with no means of seeing him; but suddenly he himself

has come and my longing is satisfied. Though worn with years, I yearn

for him as of old.’

“Instantly he dispatches his attendants to pursue him quickly and fetch

him back. Thereupon the messengers hasten forth to seize him. The

poor son, surprised and scared, loudly cries his complaint: ‘I

have committed no offence against you; why should I be arrested?’ The

messengers all the more hasten to lay hold of him and compel him to

go back. Thereupon, the poor son, thinking within himself that though

he is innocent yet he will be imprisoned, and that now he will surely

die, is all the more terrified, faints away and falls prostrate on

the ground. The father, seeing this from afar, sends word to the

messengers: ‘I have no need for this man. Do not bring him by force.

Sprinkle cold water on his face to restore him to consciousness and do

not speak to him any further.’ Wherefore? The father, knowing that his

son’s disposition is inferior, knowing that his own lordly position has

caused distress to his son, yet convinced that he is his son, tactfully

does not say to others: ‘This is my son.’

A messenger says to the son: ‘I now set you free; go wherever you

will.’ The poor son is delighted, thus obtaining the unexpected. He

rises from the ground and goes to a poor hamlet in search of food

and clothing. Then the elder, desiring to attract his son, sets up a

device. Secretly he sends two men, doleful and shabby in appearance,

saying—‘You go and visit that place and gently say to the poor

man—“There is a place for you to work here; you will be given double

wages.” If the poor man agrees, bring him back and give him work. If

he asks what work you wish him to do, then you may say to him—“We will

hire you for scavenging, and we both also will work along with you”.’

Then the two messengers go in search of the poor son and, having found

him, place before him the above proposal. Thereupon the poor son,

having received his wages beforehand, joins with them in removing a

dirt-heap.

His father, beholding the son, is struck with compassion for, and

wonder at, him. Another day he sees at a distance, through a window,

his son’s figure, gaunt, lean, and doleful, filthy and unclean with

dirt and dust; thereupon he takes off his strings of jewels, his soft

attire, and ornaments, and puts on a coarse, torn, and dirty garment,

smears his body with dust, takes a dust-hod in his right hand, and with

an appearance fear-inspiring says to the labourers: ‘Get on with your

work, don’t be lazy.’ By such a device he gets near to his son, to whom

he afterwards says: ‘Ay, my man, you stay and work here, do not go

again elsewhere; I will increase your wages; give whatever you need,

bowls, utensils, rice, wheat-flour, salt, vinegar and so on; have no

hesitation; besides there is an old and worn-out servant whom you shall

be given if you need him. Be at ease in your mind; I am, as it were,

your father; do not be worried again. Wherefore? I am old and advanced

in years, but you are young and vigorous; all the time you have been

working, you have never been deceitful, lazy, angry or grumbling; I

have never seen you, like the other labourers, with such vices as

these. From this time forth you shall be as my own begotten son.’

“Thereupon the elder gives him a new name and calls him a son. The poor

son, though he rejoices at this happening, still thinks of himself as a

humble hireling. For this reason, during twenty years he continues

to be employed in scavenging. After this period, there grows mutual

confidence between them, and he goes in and out and is at his ease,

though his abode is still the original place.

“World-honoured One! Then the elder becomes ill and, knowing that he

will die before long, says to the poor son: ‘Now I possess abundance

of gold, silver, and precious things, and my granaries and treasuries

are full to overflowing. The quantities of these things, and the

amounts which should be received and given, I want you to understand in

detail. Such is my mind, and you must agree to this my wish. Wherefore?

Because, now, I and you are of the same mind. Be increasingly careful

so that there be no waste.’

“The poor son accepts his instruction and commands, and becomes

acquainted with all the goods, gold, silver, and precious things, as

well as all the granaries and treasuries, but has no idea of expecting

to inherit so much as a meal, while his abode is still the original

place and he is yet unable to abandon his sense of inferiority.

“After a short time has again passed, the father, knowing that his

son’s ideas have gradually been enlarged, his aspirations developed,

and that he despises his previous state of mind, on seeing that his

own end is approaching, commands his son to come, and gathers together

his relatives, and the kings, ministers, kshatriyas, and citizens.

When they are all assembled, he thereupon addresses them saying: ‘Now,

gentlemen, this is my son, begotten by me. It is over fifty years

since, from a certain city, he left me and ran away to endure

loneliness and misery. His former name was so-and-so and my name was

so-and-so. At that time in that city I sought him sorrowfully. Suddenly

in this place I met and regained him. This is really my son and I am

really his father. Now all the wealth which I possess entirely belongs

to my son, and all my previous disbursements and receipts are known by

this son.’

“World-honoured One! When the poor son heard these words of his father,

great was his joy at such unexpected news, and thus he thought:

‘Without any mind for, or effort on my part, these treasures now come

of themselves to me.’

“World-honoured One! The very rich elder is the Tathagata, and we are

all as the Buddha’s sons. The Tathagata has always declared that we are

his sons. World-honoured One! Because of the three sufferings, in the

midst of births-and-deaths we have borne all kinds of torments, being

deluded and ignorant and enjoying our attachment to trifles. To-day

the World-honoured One has caused us to ponder over and remove the

dirt of all diverting discussions of inferior things. In these we have

hitherto been diligent to make progress and have got, as it were, a

day’s pay for our effort to reach Nirvana. Obtaining this, we greatly

rejoiced and were contented, saying to ourselves: ‘For our diligence

and progress in the Buddha-law what we have received is ample.’ But the

World-honoured One, knowing beforehand that our minds were attached

to low desires and took delight in inferior things, let us go our own

way, and did not discriminate for us, saying: ‘You shall yet have

possession of the treasury of Tathagata-knowledge.’ The World-honoured

One, in his tactfulness, told of the Tathagata-wisdom; but we, though

following the Buddha and receiving a day’s wage of Nirvana, deemed this

a sufficient gain, never having a mind to seek after the Great-Vehicle.

We, also, have declared and expounded the Tathagata-wisdom to

bodhisattvas, but in regard to this Great-Vehicle we have never had a

longing for it. Wherefore? The Buddha, knowing that our minds delighted

in inferior things, by his tactfulness taught according to our

capacity, but still we did not perceive that we were really Buddha-sons.

“Now we have just realized that the World-honoured One does not

grudge even the Buddha-wisdom. Wherefore? From of old we are really

sons of Buddha, but have only taken pleasure in minor matters; if we

had had a mind to take pleasure in the Great, the Buddha would have

preached the Great Vehicle Law to us. At length, in this Sutra, he

preaches only the One-Vehicle; and though formerly, in the presence of

bodhisattvas, he spoke disparagingly of sravakas who were pleased with

minor matters, yet the Buddha had in reality been instructing them in

the Great-Vehicle. Therefore we say that though we had no mind to hope

or expect it, yet now the Great Treasure of the King of the Law has of

itself come to us, and such things as Buddha-sons should obtain, we

have all obtained.”

The lengthy version in verse, while faithful to the ideas of the

prose section, is interesting for the further detail it gives. For

instance, the description of the father’s wealth:

“Very rich is his house,

Abundance of silver and gold,

Moonstones and agates,

Pearls and lapis lazuli,

Elephants, horses, oxen, and sheep,

Palanquins, litters, carriages,

Husbandmen, young slaves,

And a multitude of people;

His revenues and investments

Spread even to other countries;

His traders and his customers

Are everywhere to be found;

Thousands, myriads, kotis of people

Surround and honour him;

Constantly by the king

He is held in affection;

The ministers and noble families

Honour him most highly;

For all these reasons

His guests are many;

Such is the abundance of his wealth,

And the greatness of his power.

But his years are wearing away

And he mourns the more his son;

Morning and night he ponders:

‘The time of my death is approaching;

My foolish son has left me

For over fifty years;

The things in my storehouses—

What shall I do with them?’

At that time the poor son

Was seeking food and clothing

From city on to city.

From country on to country,

Sometimes getting something,

Sometimes finding nothing;

Famished, weak and gaunt,

Covered with scab and itch,

Gradually he passes along

To the city where dwells his father.

Hired for wages he roams,

At last reaching his father’s house.

At that very hour the elder,

Within his gate, has set up

A great costly canopy,

And sits on a lion-seat,

Surrounded by his attendants,

Every one caring for him,

Some are counting up

Gold, silver, and precious things;

Incoming and outgoing goods,

Noting and recording bonds.

The poor son, seeing his father

So noble, honoured and splendid,

Thinks: ‘This must be a king

Or one of royal rank.’

Alarmed and wondering, he says:

‘Why have I come here?’

Again he thinks to himself,

‘If I tarry here long,

I may suffer oppression

And be driven to forced labour.’

Having pondered thus,

He hurries away in haste

To seek some poorer place,

That he may hire his labour.

At that very time the elder,

Seated on the lion-seat,

Seeing his son from afar,

Secretly recognizes him,

And instantly orders servants

To pursue and fetch him back.

The poor son cries in alarm,

Faints and falls on the ground:

‘Ah! These men have caught me;

I shall certainly be killed;

Why did food and clothing,

Cause me to come here?’

The elder, knowing that his son.

Being foolish and inferior,

Will not believe in his word,

Nor believe he is his father,

With tactful method then

Again dispatches others,

One-eyed, squat, and common,

And unimposing, bidding them:

‘Go and tell him saying,

‘You be hired with us

To remove dirt and rubbish

And you shall have double wages.’

The poor son hearing this

Is glad, and comes with them,

For the purpose of moving dirt

And also cleansing outhouses.

The elder, through a lattice,

Constantly sees his son,

And thinks of him as simple

And pleased with humble things.

Thereupon the elder,

Donning a tattered garment,

Taking along a dirt-hod,

Goes to where his son is;

By this device he gets near him,

Bidding him be diligent:

‘I have decided to raise your wages,

And give you oil for your feet,

And plenty of food and drink,

And also thick warm mats.’

With sharp words he thus chides:

‘Get you on with the work.’

Again he speaks gently:

‘You are as it were my son.’

The elder, being wise,

Gradually has him go in and out,

And after twenty years,

Employs him as his steward,

Showing him his gold and silver,

His pearls and his crystal,

And the income and outgo of things,

All these he makes him know.”

The scene opens, as already shown, with the approach to the Buddha

of the elders, who tell the parable given above and now close, in

the verse section, as follows:

“We all, during a long night-time,

Neither coveted nor were allied

To the true Buddha-wisdom,

Nor had aspiration to it.

For we, in regard to the Law

Thought we had reached finality.

We, for a long night-time,

Keeping the law of the Void,

Escaped from the triple world’s

Harassing distresses,

And dwelt in the last bodily stage

Of Nirvana, where form only remains.

Taught by the Buddha we thought

We had attained, without doubt, the Way,

And that we had thereby

Repaid the Buddha’s grace.

. . . . .

But in the law of bodhisattva

We never had wish nor pleasure.

Our Leader saw and let us be,

For he looked into our minds,

And at first stirred not our zeal

By telling of the true Gain.

Just as the rich elder,

Knowing his son’s lower bent,

By his own tactfulness,

Moulds and subdues his mind,

And, only after that, gives him

The whole of his riches.

So is it with the Buddha

In the display of his rarities;

Knowing those pleased with trifles,

Yet by his tactfulness

He subdues their minds,

And teaches them the greater wisdom.

To-day we have obtained

What we never had before;

What we previously never looked for

We have unforeseen obtained,

Just as that poor son

Obtained inestimable treasures.

World-honoured One! Now we

Have got the Way and the Fruit,

And, in the faultless Law,

Attained to clear vision.

For long time have we kept

The Buddha’s pure commands,

To-day for the first time

We obtain its fruit and reward.

In the Law of the Law-King,

Having long practised arya deeds,

Now we attain the faultless,

Peerless great Fruit.

Now at last we are

Really hearers of the Sound,

Who take the news of Buddhahood

And make all creatures hear.

Now at last we are

Really Arahats,

Who, in all the worlds of

Gods, men, maras, and brahmans,

Universally by them

Are worthy of worship.

The World-honoured One, in great grace,

With rare and precious things,

Compassionates, instructs

And confers benefits on us;

Through countless kotis of kalpas,

Who could ever repay him?

Service of hands and feet,

Homage all prostrate,

Every kind of offering,

Are all unable to repay.

If one bore him on one’s head,

Or carried him on one’s shoulders,

Through kalpas as the sands of Ganges,

Revering him with the whole mind;

Or with the best of food,

Countless costly garments,

And all kinds of bed-things;

Or every sort of medicament;

Or, with Ox-head sandal-wood

And all kinds of jewels,

Erect stupas and monasteries,

Or carpet the ground with costly robes;

With such things as these,

To pay him homage

Through kalpas as sands of Ganges,

One still could not repay.

Buddhas, with their rare,

Infinite and boundless,

Inconceivably great

Powers transcendent,

Faultless and effortless,

Kings of the Law,

Are able, for inferior minds,

In this matter to be patient,

And, for common folk attached to externals,

To preach as may befit them.

Buddhas, in the Law,

Attain to supreme power,

Know all living beings,

With their desires and pleasures,

And their aspirations,

So, according to their capacity,

By innumerable parables,

To them they preach the Law.

According as all the living

Have in past lives planted good roots,

The Buddhas, discerning the mature

From the immature,

And taking account of each,

Discriminating and understanding,

As may be most befitting

In the One Vehicle preach the Three.”

V

The Buddha now praises the four elders for their discernment, but

adds that the Tathagata has numberless other qualities, which could

not be told if enumerated for infinite kotis of kalpas.

“Know, Kaśyapa! The Tathagata is the King of the Laws (i.e. the King

of all things). Whatever he says is entirely free from falsity. He

explains all laws (or things) by wise tactfulness. The laws preached

by him have Perfect Enlightenment as their aim. The Tathagata sees

and knows what is the goal of all laws, and also knows what all

living beings in their inmost hearts are doing, penetrating them

without hindrance. Moreover, in regard to all laws, having the utmost

understanding of them, he reveals to the living the wisdom of Perfect

Enlightenment.