Chapter 17 : The Merits of Appropriate Joy

At that time, the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Maitreya asked the Buddha, “O, World-honoured One! If there is a good man or good woman who, hearing this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom, rejoices appropriately, how much merit shall he or she obtain?” Then he proclaimed a gatha, saying,

“After the World-honoured One's passage into extinction,
If there is one who hears this sutra
And if he can rejoice appropriately
How much merit shall he obtain?”

At that time, the Buddha declared to the Bodhisattva-mahasattva Maitreya, “O, Ajita! After the Tathagata's passage into extinction, if bhikshu, bhikshuni, upasaka, upasika, or any other wise person, old or young, having heard this sutra and rejoiced appropriately, leaves the assembly of the dharma and, going to another place, whether monasteries, solitary places, cities, towns, alleyways, footpaths, settlements, or rustic villages, expounds what he heard to the limit of his ability to his father and mother, close kin, or good friends and acquaintances, and if these persons, having heard it, rejoice appropriately and go in turn and teach it to others who likewise, having heard it, rejoice appropriately, and if it goes on in this way until it reaches the fiftieth person, then O, Ajita, I will now tell you about the merits of appropriate joy of that fiftieth good man or good woman. Do you listen well!

“Suppose that in the four hundred myriads of millions of asamkhyeyas of world-spheres, among the living beings of the six destinies and the four kinds of birth, whether formed or formless, whether conscious or unconscious, or neither conscious nor unconscious, whether legless, two-legged, four-legged, or many-legged, and the like, suppose that among these many living beings there is a man who, seeking merits, gives them whatever enjoyable things they desire, if to every living being giving a whole Jambudvipa full of gold, silver, lapis lazuli, moonstone, agate, coral, amber, and all sorts of wonderful jewels, as well as elephants, horses, carriages, palaces and towers fashioned of the seven jewels. If this great donor, having spread gifts about in this way for full eighty years, then thinks, ‘I have bestowed on all these living beings articles of pleasure according to their desires, but now they have all grown old and worn over eighty years of age, with hair white and faces wrinked, and death is not far off - I ought to instruct and guide them in the Buddha-dharma.’

“Thereupon he assembles these living beings, expounding conversion through dharma, demonstrating and teaching, benefiting and delighting them, so that at once all gain the path of the arhat, exhausting whatever outflows there may be, all acquiring the self-mastery in the profound dhyana-concentration and perfecting the eight deliverances. What is your opinion? Shall the merits gained by this great donor be abundant or not?”

Maitreya answered the Buddha, saying, “O, World-honoured One! This man's merit shall be very great, incalculable and limitless. If this donor were but to give the living beings all those articles of pleasure, his merit would be incalculable and boundless. How much more if he were to enable them to gain the fruit of the arhat!”

The Buddha declared to Maitreya, “I now tell you clearly. This man gives all articles of pleasure to living beings of the six destinies in four hundred myriads of millions of asamkhyeyas of world-spheres, and also enables them to obtain the fruit of the arhat. The merits that he gains is no compare to the merits gained by the fiftieth person who after hearing a single gatha of the Sutra of the Dharma Blossom, rejoices appropriately, not even one-hundredth, not one-thousandth, not one-hundred-thousand-myriad-millionth part. Even any number or parable cannot be compared to one part of it. O, Ajita! If the merit of such a fiftieth person who in turn hears the Sutra of the Dharma Blossom and rejoices appropriately, is incalculable and limitless asamkhyeya times the merits of the donor who teaches and leads, how much more is the merit of him who first hears it in the assembly and rejoices appropriately! His merit shall be even more. Even incalculable and limitless asamkhyeya-fold or any number or parable-fold of the fiftieth person's merit cannot be compared.

“Further, O, Ajita, if a man for the sake of this sutra goes to a monastery and, whether siting or standing, listens and accepts for but a moment, then, by virtue of this merit, the body into which he is reborn shall acquire lovely, superior, and fine elephants, horses, and carriages, as well as palanquins fitted with precious gems, and shall ride in divine palaces. If, again, a person is siting in a place where the Dharma is preached, and if yet another man comes, and the former urges the latter to sit and listen, or offers him a share of his own seat, through his merits this former man upon the rebirth of this body shall gain the seat of the great God Sakra, or the seat of the Brahma King, or the place where sits a Holy Wheel-rolling King. O, Ajita! If, again, there is a man who says to others, ‘There is a sutra named Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma. Let us go together and listen to it!’ And if straightaway they accept his advice and hear it but for a moment, this man's merits shall be such that upon his bodily rebirth, he shall be able to be born in the same place as dharani (pratilabdha) bodhisattvas; he shall be wise and of keen faculties. In birth after birth through generations he shall see the Buddha and hear the Dharma, believing and accepting the teachings. O, Ajita! Just notice this - if the merits obtained from encouraging one person to go and listen to the Dharma is such as this, how much more is that of one who with single mind listens to, reads and recites it, in the assembly explains it broadly to the people, and practises what it preaches.

“If anyone in the dharma-assembly
Hears this scriptural canon
Though only one gatha
But rejoices appropriately and proclaims it to others
And if in this way it is taught by turns
Till it reaches the fiftieth,
The merits obtained by the last person
I will explain:
If there is a great donor
Who provides for a countless throng
For full eighty years
According with their desires;
If he sees their aged and decrepit appearance,
Their hair white and their faces wrinkled,
Their teeth sparse and forms withered,
And thinks their death approaches,
‘Now, I must teach them
To obtain the fruits of the Path.’
If straightaway he then preaches to them by resort to expedient devices
The real dharma of nirvana,
‘The world is in no way firm or secure,
But it is like water-bubbles, like a will-o’-the-wisp!
Do you all hasten to beget
A spirit turning in disgust from them.’
If men, hearing this dharma,
All gain arhatship,
Perfecting the six transcendental faculties
The three clarities, and the eight deliverances;
If the last, the fiftieth,
Hearing a single gatha, rejoices appropriately
This man's merits shall exceed the former
So that no likeness is possible.
If one hears it thus indirectly,
One's merits are even so incalculable,
How much more shall his be who in the dharma-assembly
First hears and rejoices appropriately!
If there is one who encourages a single person,
Guiding him to listen to the Dharma Blossom,
Saying, ‘This sutra is profound and subtle,
Hard to encounter in a thousand myriads of kalpas!’
If he straightaway, accepting the advice, goes and listens,
Hearing it but for a moment,
This man's reward of merits
I will now state in specific details:
Everywhere he meets Buddhas
Never fails to be the dharma-partner.
Suppose one on purpose visits a monastery
Wishing to hear the Sutra of the Dharma Blossom,
And hearing it but for a moment rejoices;
Let me now tell of his merits:
He will hereafter be born among gods and men,
Have fine elephants, horses and carriages,
Jewelled palanquins and litters,
And also ride in the divine palaces.
If in a place where the Dharma is preached
He encourages others to sit and listen to the sutra,
Then, by virtue of this merit, he shall gain
The thrones of Sakra, Brahma, and the Wheel-rollers.
How much more shall this be of one who single-mindedly listens to
And explains its purport,
Practising it according to its teaching -
For his merits shall be boundless.”