Observations placeholder

The Lotus sutra – translated by Burton Watson

ln a thousand, ten thousand, a million lands
I will manifest my pure and durable body
and for immeasurable millions of kalpas
will expound the Law for living beings.

If after I have entered extinction
there are those who can expound this sutra,
I will send the four kinds of believers, magically conjured,
monks and nuns
and men and women of pure faith,
to offer alms to the teachers of the Law;
they will lead and guide living beings,
assemble them and cause them to listen to the Law.

If someone thinks to do evil to the preachers
with swords and staves or with tiles and stones,
I will dispatch persons magically conjured
who will act to guard and protect them.

If those who expound the Law
are alone in an empty and silent place,
and in that stillness where no human voice sounds
they read and recite this sutra,
at that time I will manifest
my pure and radiant body for them.

If they forget a passage or a phrase
I will prompt them so they will be thorough and effective.

If persons endowed with these virtues
should expound to the four kinds of believers
and read and recite the sutra in an empty place,
I will enable all of them to see my body.

And if the expounders are in an empty and silent place
I will send heavenly beings, dragon kings,
yakshas, spirits and others
to be an assembly and listen to the Law.

Persons such as this will delight in expounding the Law,
making distinctions and encountering no hindrance.
Because the Buddhas guard and keep them in mind,
they will be able to bring joy to the great assembly.

If one stays close to the teachers of the Law
he will speedily gain the bodhisattva way.
By following and learning from these teachers
he will see Buddhas as numerous as Ganges sands.