Chapter 23 : The Transcendental Powers of the Tathagata

At that time the Bodhisattva-mahasattvas who had welled up out of the earth, equal in number to the dust in a world, all in the Buddha's presence with one mind joined their palms, looked up at the August Countenance, and said to the Buddha, “O, World-honoured One! After the Buddha's extinction, in those lands wherein are the emanations of the World-honoured One, in those places where they have passed into extinction, we will broadly preach this sutra. Wherefore? We also wish to gain this truly pure Great Dharma ourselves, to receive and keep it, to read and recite it, to explain it, to copy it, and to pay homage to it.”

At that time, in the presence of Manjusri and the others, of the whole multitude of incalculable hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of bodhisattva-mahasattvas who had long resided in the Saha World, as well as all the fourfold multitude, gods, dragons, human-like beings and others, the World-honoured One displayed great transcendental power, putting forth his long and broad tongue, which reached upwards as far as the Brahma-world, while his pores emitted rays in incalculable, numberless colours, all universally illuminating the world-spheres in all ten directions. The Buddhas on the lion thrones at the foot of the multitudinous jewelled trees also in the same way put out their long and broad tongues and emitted incalculable rays of light.

After a hundred thousand years had passed, they drew back their tongues and at once coughed and snapped their fingers. These two sounds reached throughout the world-spheres of the Buddhas in all ten directions, and in all of them the earth trembled in six different ways. The living beings in those world-spheres, gods, dragons, human-like beings and others, thanks to the Buddhas' transcendental power, saw the Buddhas seated on lion thrones at the foot of a multitude of incalculable, limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of jewelled trees in the Saha World, and saw Sakyamuni Buddha together with the Tathagata Abundant Treasures seated on a lion throne within a jewelled stupa. They also saw incalculable, limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of bodhisattva-mahasattvas and fourfold multitudes surrounding Sakyamuni Buddha in humble reverence. When they had seen this, they were all overjoyed, having gained something they had never had before. Straightaway in the sky the gods with a loud voice declared, “Beyond these incalculable, limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of asamkhyeyas of world-spheres there is a realm called Saha. Within it there is a Buddha named Sakyamuni. To all Bodhisattva-mahasattvas he is now preaching the Mahayana Sutra, titled the Lotus Blossom of the Wonderful Dharma, the Dharma by which Bodhisattvas are instructed and which the Buddhas watch over and keep in mind. You must all rejoice profoundly in your hearts. You must also worship and pay homage to Sakyamuni Buddha.”

When those living beings had heard the voice from the sky, they faced the Saha World, and with palms joined they said, “Namah Sakyamuni Buddha! Namah Sakyamuni Buddha!” Taking sundry flowers, incense, necklaces, banners, parasols, and other accouterments of bodily adornment, precious gems, and fine objects, all together they scattered them from afar on the Saha World. The things they scattered came from all ten directions, like clouds gathering, and, turning into jewelled canopies, completely covered the Buddhas in this region. At that time, through the world-spheres in all ten directions passage was unobstructed, as if they had been one Buddha-land.

At that time the Buddha declared to Superior Conduct and the great multitude of other bodhisattvas, “The transcendental powers of the Buddhas are as incalculable, as limitless, as far beyond thought and expression as this. If by means of these transcendental powers I were to preach the merits of this sutra for incalculable, limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of millions of asamkhyeya kalpas, with the purpose of entrusting it to others, I could still not exhaust those merits. Essentially speaking, all the Tathagatas' dharmas, all the Tathagatas' transcendental powers of self-mastery, all the Tathagatas' secret treasury, all the Tathagatas' profound matters are entirely proclaimed, demonstrated, revealed, and preached in this sutra. For this reason, after the extinction of the Tathagata, you all must with one mind receive and keep, read and recite, explain and copy, practise as preached. In any land, if there is anyone who accepts and keeps, reads and recites, explains and copies, and, practises as preached, whether in a place where scriptural rolls are lodged, or in a garden, or in a grove, or at the foot of a tree, or in a monastery, or in the home of a white-clad layman, or in a palace, or on mountains, or in valleys, or in open fields, there, in every case, is to be erected a stupa to pay homage. Wherefore? Be it known that the place is the Platform of the Path; that the Buddhas were there to achieve Anuttarasamyaksambodhi; that the Buddhas were there to turn the Dharma-wheel; that the Buddhas were there to enter parinirvana.

“The Buddhas, the Saviours of the world,
Dwelling in mighty transcendence,
In order to gladden the living beings,
Display incalculable transcendental powers.
A tongue-mark (jihvendriya) reaching to the Brahma-heavens,
A body that emits countless rays of light -
For those who seek the Buddha Path
These are the rare things they display.
The Buddhas' sound as they cough
And the sound of the snapping of their fingers
Throughout the realms of the ten directions,
Whose lands all tremble in six different ways.
After the Buddha's extinction,
Anyone is able to keep this sutra,
The Buddhas will all rejoice
And show infinite transcendental powers.
In order to entail this sutra,
They praise those who accept and keep it,
Throughout incalculable kalpas
Still unable to exhaust the praise.
Those men's merits
Shall be limitless and inexhaustible;
They shall be like open space in all ten directions,
Having no possible limit or end.
Those who keep this sutra
Shall have already seen me,
They also shall have seen the Buddha Abundant Treasures,
And those who are emanations of my body.
They also shall have seen me this day
Teaching and converting the bodhisattvas.
Those who can keep this sutra
Will cause me and the emanated Buddhas,
As well as the Buddha Abundant Treasures, now passed into extinction,
All of us entirely to rejoice.
The Buddhas of the present in all ten directions,
As well as those of past and future,
They shall both see and shower with offerings,
Enabling them, too, to rejoice.
What the Buddhas seated on the Platform of the Path
What secret, essential dharmas they attain,
He who can keep this sutra
Shall in no long time also attain.
He who can keep this sutra,
Shall the meaning of the dharmas
With their terms and expressions,
Delightedly expound without end;
Like the wind in the sky
Is unobstructed by anything.
After the extinction of the Tathagata
He shall know the sutra preached by the Buddha,
The causes and conditions, and the order of sequence,
And preach them in accordance with their meaning and reality.
Just as the light of the sun and the moon
Can dispel all darkness and obscurity,
So this man, going through the world,
Can dispense the gloom of the living beings,
And teach incalculable bodhisattvas
To dwell absolutely in the Ekayana.
Therefore he who has wisdom,
Hearing the benefits of these merits,
After my extinction
Should receive and keep this sutra.
This man, with respect to the Buddha Path,
Shall assuredly have no doubts.”