The White Lotus of the Good Dharma
The Dharmabhāṇakas
Toh 113
Degé Kangyur, vol. 51 (mdo sde, ja), folios 1.b–180.b
- Surendrabodhi
- Yeshé De
Imprint
Translated by Peter Alan Roberts
under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha
First published 2018
Current version v 1.2.19 (2024)
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84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha is a global non-profit initiative to translate all the Buddha’s words into modern languages, and to make them available to everyone.
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Table of Contents
Summary
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, popularly known as the Lotus Sūtra, is taught by Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak to an audience that includes bodhisattvas from countless realms, as well as bodhisattvas who emerge from under the ground, from the space below this world. Buddha Prabhūtaratna, who has long since passed into nirvāṇa, appears within a floating stūpa to hear the sūtra, and Śākyamuni enters the stūpa and sits beside him. The Lotus Sūtra is celebrated, particularly in East Asia, for its presentation of crucial elements of the Mahāyāna tradition, such as the doctrine that there is only one yāna, or “vehicle”; the distinction between expedient and definite teachings; and the notion that the Buddha’s life, enlightenment, and parinirvāṇa were simply manifestations of his transcendent buddhahood, while he continues to teach eternally. A recurring theme in the sūtra is its own significance in teaching these points during past and future eons, with many passages in which the Buddha and bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra describe the great benefits that come from devotion to it, the history of its past devotees, and how it is the Buddha’s ultimate teaching, supreme over all other sūtras.
Acknowledgements
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma Sūtra was translated from Tibetan with reference to the Sanskrit by Peter Alan Roberts. Ling Lung Chen was the consultant for the Chinese versions. Emily Bower was the project manager and editor. Ben Gleason was the proofreader.
The translation was completed under the patronage and supervision of 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha.
The generous sponsorship of May & George Gu, which helped make the work on this translation possible, is most gratefully acknowledged.
Text Body
The White Lotus of the Good Dharma
The Dharmabhāṇakas
Then the Bhagavān said to the bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja and eighty thousand other bodhisattvas, “Bhaiṣajyarāja, do you see this assembly’s numerous devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans and nonhumans, bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas and upāsikās, and followers of the Śrāvakayāna and the Bodhisattvayāna who have heard this Dharma teaching directly from the Tathāgata?” [F.84.a]
“Bhaiṣajyarāja,” said the Bhagavān, “these are all bodhisattvas, mahāsattvas. Whoever among them has heard even one verse, or heard one line of a verse, or with just one aspiration has rejoiced in this sūtra, for all those in the fourfold assembly, Bhaiṣajyarāja, I prophesy that they will attain the highest, complete enlightenment.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, if anyone after my nirvāṇa hears this Dharma teaching, or hears just one verse of it, or with just one aspiration rejoices in it, I prophesy that those noble men or noble women will attain the highest, complete enlightenment.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, those noble men or noble women will have served a full hundred thousand quintillion buddhas.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, those noble men or noble women will have prayed to many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddhas.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, know that those noble men or noble women will have taken birth as humans in this Jambudvīpa out of compassion for beings.
“Whoever retains even just one verse from this Dharma teaching, or reads it, or teaches it, or recites it,346 or writes it, or having written it remembers it, or from time to time looks at it; and whoever has the same veneration for the text as one would have for the Tathāgata, and honors, venerates, and makes offerings to it, venerating it as if it were the Teacher; and whoever offers flowers, incense, perfume, garlands, ointments, powders, clothing, parasols, banners, divine flags, [F.84.b] the sound of music, and so on, to the text, while bowing down and putting hands together in homage; and those noble men or noble women, Bhaiṣajyarāja, who rejoice in just one verse from this Dharma teaching, Bhaiṣajyarāja, I prophesy that all of them will attain the highest, complete enlightenment.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, if any man or woman asks, ‘What kind of beings are these who will become tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas in the future?’ Bhaiṣajyarāja, those men or women, those noble men or noble women should be taught in this way: ‘Behold! Whoever possesses or hears even one four-line verse from this Dharma teaching, or teaches it, or honors this Dharma teaching, it is that noble man or noble woman who in the future will come into the world as a tathāgata, arhat, perfectly enlightened buddha.’
“Why is that? Bhaiṣajyarāja, any noble man or noble woman who retains just one verse from this Dharma teaching should be seen by the world and its devas as tathāgatas and be honored by them as if they were tathāgatas, let alone someone who obtains the entirety of this Dharma teaching and retains it, teaches it, recites it, writes it, or having written it remembers it, and honors it by making offerings of flowers, incense, perfume, garlands, ointments, powders, clothing, parasols, banners, divine flags, the sound of music, and so on, to the text, and with hands together in homage bows down to it.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, that noble son or noble woman should be known to have attained the highest, complete enlightenment. [F.85.a] They should be known to have seen the tathāgatas. They have, out of compassion, in order to benefit the world, been born as humans in this Jambudvīpa through the power of prayer in order to teach this Dharma teaching. Know that they will leave behind vast Dharma activity and rebirth in buddha realms, in order to perfectly teach this Dharma teaching, and after my nirvāṇa they will be born here out of compassion for beings and in order to benefit them.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, after the Tathāgata’s passing into nirvāṇa, the one who teaches this Dharma teaching, even someone who secretly and deviously teaches it to just one being, Bhaiṣajyarāja, that noble man or noble woman should be known to be the Tathāgata’s messenger. That noble man or noble woman should be known to have been sent to do the Tathāgata’s work.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, I state that if someone speaks badly to dharmabhāṇakas who hold this sūtra, be they laypeople or renunciants, and whether what is said be true or not, the bad karma will be much more dreadful than if a being with an angry mind, an evil mind, and a wrathful mind were to speak badly to the Tathāgata to his face for an entire eon. Why is that? Bhaiṣajyarāja, it is because that noble man or noble woman should be known to be an adornment that adorns the Tathāgata.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, those who write out this Dharma teaching to create a text and carry it on their shoulder carry the Tathāgata on their shoulder. Wherever they go, there beings should honor, venerate, and make offerings to them, and with hands together in homage, they should honor those dharmabhāṇakas by making offerings to them of flowers, incense, perfume, garlands, ointments, powders, clothing, parasols, [F.85.b] banners, divine flags, the sound of music, food and drink—hard food and soft food—carriages, and supreme, divine heaps of jewels. They should offer heaps of divine jewels to those dharmabhāṇakas. Why is that? It is because through this Dharma teaching being taught just once, through hearing it, countless, innumerable beings will quickly attain the highest, complete enlightenment.”
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, I declare to you, I proclaim to you350 that I, Bhaiṣajyarāja, have given, am giving, and will give many Dharma teachings, but from among all those many Dharma teachings, Bhaiṣajyarāja, it is this Dharma teaching that is unacceptable to the entire world, and which will not be believed by the entire world.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, this is the great secret from the higher knowledge351 of the Tathāgata that has been kept through the power of the Tathāgata and has not previously been revealed, has not previously been told. Bhaiṣajyarāja, many beings will reject this Dharma teaching while the Tathāgata lives, let alone after the Tathāgata has passed into nirvāṇa.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, the noble men or noble women who, after I have passed into nirvāṇa, have faith in this Dharma teaching, read it, write it, honor it, and make others hear it, should be known to be wearing the Tathāgata’s Dharma robes. The tathāgatas who are present in other world realms will see them and bless them. [F.86.b] They will have the power of their faith, the power of their roots of merit, and the power of their prayers.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, those noble men and noble women dwell in the same temple as the Tathāgata. The Tathāgata places his hand upon their heads.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, wherever this Dharma teaching is spoken, or taught, or written, or recited for oneself, or chanted for others, in that place, Bhaiṣajyarāja, one should build a great caitya of the Tathāgata that is made from precious materials. However, it is not necessary to place the relics of the Tathāgata within it. Why is that? It is because the relics of the Tathāgata have all been combined into one within it. The stūpa that is in352 that place where this Dharma teaching has been spoken, taught, recited for oneself, chanted for others, or written out and made into a text that is kept there, should be honored, venerated, shown respect, and offerings made to it. One should make offerings of all flowers, incense, perfume, garlands, ointments, powders, cloths, parasols, banners, flags, banners of victory, songs, music, dance, and the sounds of musical instruments, and of percussion instruments.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, the beings who come to that caitya of the Tathāgata in order to pay homage to it, or to see it, should all be known, Bhaiṣajyarāja, to be close to the highest, complete enlightenment. Why is that? Bhaiṣajyarāja, many bodhisattvas, both householders and renunciants, even though they have practiced bodhisattva conduct, have never encountered listening to, writing, or making offerings to this kind of Dharma teaching.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, as long as they have not heard this Dharma teaching they are not skilled in bodhisattva conduct. [F.87.a] When they listen to and hear this Dharma teaching, and aspire to it, engage in it, understand it, and possess it, then at that time they have come near to the highest, complete enlightenment—they are close to it.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, it is like this: There is a man who wants water and is searching for it. In order to find water, he digs a well in an arid land. While he is digging, but sees that the soil being dug out is dry and pale, he will know, ‘The water is still farther down than this.’ But when, at another time, that man digs out wet earth and mud dripping with water, and sees that the bodies of men digging the well are covered in mud, that man, Bhaiṣajyarāja, will take those sights as a sign, and without any uncertainty or doubt he will think, ‘The water is near.’
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, in that way, while bodhisattva mahāsattvas do not hear, do not possess, do not comprehend, do not practice, and do not contemplate this Dharma teaching, those bodhisattva mahāsattvas are far from the highest, complete enlightenment.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, when the bodhisattva mahāsattvas hear, possess, comprehend, practice, recite, contemplate, and meditate on this Dharma teaching, at that time they are near to the highest, complete enlightenment. Why is that? It is because this Dharma teaching is the supreme elucidation of the teachings that have an implied meaning of the secret aspect of the Dharma taught by the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas so that the bodhisattva mahāsattvas may attain complete accomplishment.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, if a bodhisattva is frightened of this Dharma teaching, is afraid and terrified of it, then you should know that bodhisattva to be new to the Bodhisattvayāna. [F.87.b] Also, if a follower of the Śrāvakayāna is frightened of this Dharma teaching, is afraid and terrified of it, then, Bhaiṣajyarāja, you should know that this individual who is following the Śrāvakayāna is conceited.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, if in the later times, after the Tathāgata has passed into nirvāṇa, a bodhisattva mahāsattva teaches this Dharma teaching to the fourfold assembly, then, Bhaiṣajyarāja, that bodhisattva has entered the residence of the Tathāgata, wears the Dharma robe of the Tathāgata, sits upon the seat of the Tathāgata, and then teaches this Dharma teaching to the fourfold assembly.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, what is the residence of the Tathāgata? Bhaiṣajyarāja, it is the vihāra of love for all beings.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, what is the Dharma robe of the Tathāgata? Bhaiṣajyarāja, the Tathāgata’s Dharma robe is great patience and gentleness.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, what is the Dharma seat of the Tathāgata? Bhaiṣajyarāja, it is entering the emptiness of all phenomena.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, that noble man will sit upon the Dharma seat of the Tathāgata. Having sat there he will teach this Dharma teaching to the fourfold assembly. The bodhisattva without any lack of confidence will teach before the fourfold assembly, which is a gathering of bodhisattvas who have entered the Bodhisattvayāna.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, I will be residing in another world realm but I will emanate to be that noble man’s assembly. I shall send emanations as bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas and upāsikās to listen to the Dharma. [F.88.a] They will not turn away or reject that dharmabhāṇaka’s teaching. If he is in the forest, I will emanate as many devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, and mahoragas to listen to the Dharma.
“Bhaiṣajyarāja, although I reside in another world realm I will reveal my face353 to that noble man. Whatever sentences and syllables of this Dharma teaching that are taught I will myself repeat and recite them.”
This concludes “The Dharmabhāṇakas,” the tenth chapter of the Dharma teaching of “The White Lotus of the Good Dharma.” [B8]
Colophon
Translated, revised, and finalized by the Indian Upādhyāya Surendrabodhi and the chief editor Lotsawa Bandé Nanam Yeshé Dé.
Bibliography
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