Observations placeholder

The Lotus sutra – translated by Burton Watson

With the ears received at birth from one's parents,
pure and without stain or defilement,
with these ordinary ears one can hear
the sounds of the three thousand worlds,
elephant, horse, carriage, ox sounds,
bell, chime, conch, drum sounds,
lute and harp sounds,
pipe and flute sounds;
the sound of pure and beautiful singing
one can hear without becoming attached to it.

The countless varieties of human voices-
one can hear and understand all these.

Again one can hear the voices of heavenly beings,
subtle and wonderful song sounds,
and one can hear men and women's voices,
the voices of young boys and young girls.

In the midst of hills, rivers and steep valleys
the voice of the kalavinka,
the jivakajivaka and other birds-
all these sounds he will hear.

From the tormented multitudes of hell
the sounds of various kinds of suffering and distress,
sounds of hungry spirits driven by famine and thirst
as they search for food and drink,
of the asuras
who live on the shores of the great sea
when they talk among themselves
or emit loud cries-
he who preaches the Law
can dwell safely among all these,
hearing these many voices from afar
without ever impairing his faculties of hearing.

In the worlds of the ten directions
when beasts and birds call to one another
this person who preaches the Law
hears them all from where he is.

In the Brahma heaven and above,
the Light Sound heaven, the All Pure heaven,
and up to the Summit of Being heaven,
the sounds of the voices talking there-
the teacher of the Law, dwelling here,
can hear them all.