Chapter 20 : The Former Affairs of the Bodhisattva Medicine King

At that time, the Bodhisattva Star Constellation King Flower (Naksatrarajasamkusumitabhijna) said to the Buddha, “O, World-honoured One! How does the Bodhisattva Medicine King travel in the Saha world? O, World-honoured One! How many hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of nayutas of difficult deeds and painful deeds does the Bodhisattva Medicine King have to suffer? Excellent, O, World-honoured One! Hope you will explain a little bit, so that the gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kinnaras, mahoragas, and human-like beings, as well as the bodhisattvas come from other lands and this multitude of sravakas, on hearing this, shall all rejoice.”

Thereupon the Buddha declared to the Bodhisattva Star Constellation King Flower, “Of yore, in the past, beyond kalpas as numerous as the sand of innumerable Ganges rivers, there was a Buddha named Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon (Candrasuryavimalaprabhasri). That Buddha had eighty kotis of great bodhisattva-mahasattvas and a great assembly of sravakas as numerous as the sand of seventy-two Ganges rivers. The life span of that Buddha was forty-two thousand kalpas, and the life span of the bodhisattvas was the same. In his domain, there were not any women, hells, hungry ghosts, beasts, or asuras, or any disasters whatsoever. Its land was as flat as the palm of one's hand, made of lapis lazuli, adorned with jewelled trees, covered with jewelled curtains, hung with banners of jewelled flowers, and jewelled vases and censers were everywhere in the country. Terraces were there of the seven jewels, with a tree for each terrace, the tree distant from the terrace a full arrow's strength. Under these jewelled trees, there were bodhisattvas and sravakas sitting. All those jewelled terraces each had atop them a hundred million gods making divine music and singing the praises to the Buddha as an offering.

“At that time, the Buddha preached the Sutra of the Dharma Blossom to the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings (Sarvasattvapriyadarsana) and all the bodhisattvas and the multitude of sravakas. This Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings had rejoiced to follow the course of suffering. In the dharma of the Buddha Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon, he had made zealous progress and single-mindedly sought the Buddhahood for fully twelve thousand years. After that he attained the Samadhi of Revelation of All Forms. Having attained this samadhi he was very joyful and reflected thus, ‘My attainment of the Samadhi of Revelation of All Forms is entirely due to the power resulting from hearing the Sutra of the Dharma Blossom. Let me now pay homage to the Buddha Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon and to the Sutra of the Dharma Blossom.’

“Straightaway he entered into this samadhi and rained from the sky mandarava flowers, maha-mandarava flowers, and finely powdered, hard and black candana, which filled the sky and descended like a cloud. He also rained incense of inner-sea-shore candana, where six karshas of this incense are worth a Saha World. All these he did in paying homage to the Buddha.

“After he had made this offering, he arose from samadhi and thought to himself, ‘Though by resort to transcendental power I have paid homage to the Buddha, it is not as if I had made an offering of my own body.’ Straightaway he partook of various kinds of incense - candana, kunduruka, turuska, prikka, aloes, and resin incense; and he also drank the fragrant oils of campaka-flowers. After fully twelve hundred years, he painted his body with fragrant oil and, in the presence of the Buddha Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon, wrapped his body in a garment adorned with divine jewels, anointed himself with fragrant oils, with the vow of transcendental power, he burned his own body. The glow gave light all around to world-spheres equal in number to the sand of eighty millions of Ganges rivers. Within them the Buddhas all at once praised him, saying, ‘Excellent, excellent, good man! This is true zeal. This is called a true dharma-offering to the Tathagata. Offerings of flowers, incense, necklaces, burnt incense, powdered incense, paint incense, divine banners, parasols, the incense of the candana of the inner-sea-shore, offerings as such various things as these cannot match it, nor can the giving of countries, cities, wives, and children match it. Good man, this is called the prime gift, the most honoured and supreme of all gifts, because it is the dharma-offering to the Tathagatas.’ After making this statement they all became silent.

“His body continued burning for twelve hundred years, after which his body came to an end. Because the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings had made such a dharma-offering, after his life had ended he was born again in the realm of the Buddha Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon, where, in the household of King Pure Virtue (Vimaladatta), he was born suddenly, by transformation, sitting cross-legged. Straightaway to his father he proclaimed a gatha, saying:

‘Know, O, Great King!
Sojourning in that other abode,
I instantly attained the Samadhi of
The Revelation of All Forms,
And devotedly performed a deed of great zeal
By sacrificing the body I loved.’

“When he had proclaimed this gatha, he said to his father, ‘The Buddha Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon is still present. Having formerly paid homage to that Buddha, I have already contrived to understand the dharani of the speech of all living beings. I have also heard of this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom, eight hundred thousands of myriads of millions of nayutas of kankara, vivara, aksobhya, and the like, of gathas. O, Great King! I will now go back and pay homage to that Buddha!’ When he had spoken thus, he straightaway sat on a platform made of the seven jewels, and rose up into open space to a height of seven tala-trees. He went into the Buddha's presence, made obeisance to his feet with head bowed, joined his ten fingernails, and with a gatha praised the Buddha:

‘Countenance most wonderful,
Radiance illuminating the ten directions;
Formerly I paid homage to you,
Now again I return to behold.’

“Then the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, having proclaimed this gatha, said to the Buddha, ‘O, World-honoured One! O, World-honoured One! You are still in the world!’

“Thereupon the Buddha Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon addressed the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, ‘O, good man! The time of my nirvana has come. The time of my extinction has arrived. You may arrange my bed. Tonight I shall enter parinirvana.’ Again he commanded the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, ‘Good man, I entrust the Buddha-dharma to you. Also, bodhisattvas and chief disciples, as well as the dharma of Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, also the seven-jewelled world-spheres of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, its jewelled trees and jewelled terraces, and the gods who wait upon it, I entrust entirely to you. After my passage into extinction, whatever sarira there may be, I entrust to you also. You are to spread them about and broadly arrange for offerings to them. You are to erect several thousand stupas.’ In this way the Buddha Pure and Bright Excellence of Sun and Moon, having commanded the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, in the last watch of the night entered nirvana.

Thereupon, the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings, seeing the Buddha was extinct, was deeply moved and distressed, and ardently longed for the Buddha. Then piling up a pyre of inner-sea-shore candana, he paid homage to the body of the Buddha and burned it. After the fire died out he gathered the sariras and made eighty four thousand jewelled urns. Then the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings again reflected within himself, ‘Though I have maid this offering, my mind is not yet satisfied. Let me make further offering to the sariras.’ Thereupon he addressed the bodhisattvas and chief disciples, as well as gods, dragons, yaksas, and all the host, saying, ‘Pay attention with all your mind. I am now about to pay homage to the sariras of the Buddha.’ Having said this, he thereupon, before the eighty four thousand urns, burned his arms, with their hundred felicitous signs, for seventy two thousand years in homage to them, and led a numberless host of former seekers of sravakas and countless asamkhyeyas of people to set their mind on Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, enabling them all to abide in the Samadhi of Revelation of All Forms.

“At that time, the bodhisattvas and gods, seeing that he was without arms, grieved and mourned, then they said, ‘This Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings is our master, the one who teaches and converts us. Yet, now he has burnt his arms, his body is deformed.’ Thereupon the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings in the great assembly made this vow, saying, ‘Having given up both my arms, I shall yet assuredly obtain a Buddha's golden body. If this assurance is true and not false, let both my arms be restored as they were before.’ As soon as he had made this vow, his arms were of themselves restored, an achievement due to the abundance of this bodhisattva's merit, virtue and wisdom. At that moment the earth trembled in six different ways and the sky rained down jewelled flowers. Gods and men all attained what they had never experienced before. After that the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings erected eighty four thousand stupas with various adornments.”

The Buddha then addressed the Bodhisattva Star Constellation King Flower, “What is your opinion? Can the Bodhisattva Seen with Joy by All Living Beings be someone else? It was indeed the present Bodhisattva Medicine King. Gifts of his own body, such as this one, number in the incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of nayutas. O, Star Constellation King Flower! If anyone with his mind set on and aiming at Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, is able to burn the fingers of his hand or ever a toe of his foot in paying homage to the Buddha's stupa he will surpass him who pays homage with countries, cities, wives, children, and his three-thousand-great-thousandfold land and all the precious things.

“Again, if anyone offers a three-thousand-great-thousandfold world full of the seven jewels in homage to Buddhas, great bodhisattvas, pratyekabuddhas, and arhats, the merit this man gains is no match to that of one who receives and keeps but a single fourfold gatha of this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom, for the latter's merit is the greatest because this sutra is the supreme amongst all the sutras.

“O, Star Constellation King Flower! Just as, for example, among all brooks, streams, rivers, canals, and all other waters, the sea is the supreme, so is it also with this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom, which is the deepest and greatest among the sutras preached by the Tathagata. And just as amongst all mountains - the Earth Mountain, the Black Mountain, the Small Iron Rim Mountain, the Great Iron Rim Mountain, the Ten Jewelled Mountain, and other mountains - it is Mount Sumeru which is the supreme, so is it also with this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom; amongst all sutras it is the highest. Further, just as among a multitude of stars, the moon, child of the gods, is the supreme, this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom, also in the same way, is the most illuminating among a thousand myriads of millions of kinds of scriptural dharmas. Further, just as the sun, child of the gods, can clear away all darkness, this sutra, also in the same way, can demolish the obscurities of all kinds of unwholesomeness. Again, just as amongst all minor kings the Holy Wheel-rolling King is the supreme, so is it also with this sutra; amongst all the sutras it is the most honourable. Again, just as what Sakra is the king amongst the gods of the thirty-three heavens, so is it also with this sutra; it is the king of all sutras. Again, just as the Great Brahma Heavenly King is the most honourable of all the Brahma beings, so is it also with this sutra; it is the most honourable of all the wise and holy men, of those learners of adepts, and of the bodhisattva-minded. Again, just as amongst all the common people, srota-apanna, sakrdagamin, anagamin, arhat, and pratyekabuddha are the foremost, so is it also with this sutra; amongst all the sutras preached by the Tathagatas, preached by bodhisattvas, or preached by sravakas, it is the supreme. So is it also with those who are able to receive and keep this sutra - among all the living beings they are the supreme. Amongst all sravakas and pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas are the supreme; so is it also with this sutra; amongst all the sutras, it is the supreme. Just as the Buddha is the king of the dharmas, so is it also with this sutra; it is the king amongst the sutras.

“O, Star Constellation King Flower! This sutra can save all the living beings. This sutra can deliver all the living beings from pains and sufferings. This sutra is able to greatly benefit all the living beings and fulfill their wishes; just as a clear and cool pool is able to satisfy all those who are thirsty. It is also as the cold who obtain a fire, as the naked who find clothing, as merchants who find a leader, as a child who finds his mother, as a passenger who catches the boat, as a sick man who finds a doctor, as in the darkness one who obtains a lamp, as a poor man who finds a jewel, as citizens who find a king, as merchant venturers who gain the sea. And as a torch which dispels the darkness, so is it also with this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom - it is able to deliver all the living beings from all sufferings and all diseases, and is able to unloose all the bonds of birth and death. If a man contrives to hear this Sutra of the Dharma Blossom, and if he writes it down himself, or causes another to write it, then the merits that he shall gain, measured by the Buddha's wisdom, its limit cannot be reached.

“O, Star Constellation King Flower! With transcendental power, you are to protect this sutra. Wherefore? This sutra, for the people of Jambudvipa, is a good medicine for their sicknesses. If a man has an illness and can hear this sutra, his illness shall immediately vanish. He shall neither grow old nor die. O, Star Constellation King Flower! If you see anyone who receives and keeps this sutra, you should strew upon him green lotus flowers full of sandal powder, and after strewing them thus reflect: ‘This man not long will accept the bundle of grass and take his seat on the Platform of the Path. He will break the Mara host. And blowing the conch of the Dharma and beating the drum of the Great Dharma, he will deliver all living beings from the sea of birth, old age, sickness, and death.’ Therefore he who seeks the Buddha Path, on seeing a man who receives and keeps this sutra, should thus beget a reverent mind.”