薩曇分陀利經

Thus have I heard. The Buddha was dwelling on Mount Gṛdhra-kūṭa (the Vulture Peak) at Rāja-gṛha, together with a great assembly of monks (Mahā-bhikṣu-saṃgha), forty-two thousand in number, who had come to attend.

There were the company of Samanta-bhadra (Universal Worthy) and the Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, eighty-four thousand in number. There was the company of the Bodhisattva Maitreya, gods and humans of the Bhadra-kalpa (the Auspicious Aeon). There was the company of Śakra, the Lord of Devas (Indra-rāja), together with the devas of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, beyond all counting. There was Brahma-rāja together with the Brahmā gods, beyond all counting. There was King Ajātaśatru together with the host of human kings (Nārendra) of Jambu-dvīpa, exceedingly many, beyond all counting.

The Buddha, in the very midst of the four groups of disciples — namely the monks (Bhikṣu), the nuns (Bhikṣuṇī), the laymen (Upāsaka), and the laywomen (Upāsikā) — expounded the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka [in Chinese called the Dharma Flower (Lotus)], and the Buddha spoke verses (gāthā) beyond all number.

At that time a Stūpa (a tower) of the seven treasures gushed forth from beneath the earth and rose upward as far as the realm of Brahmā. In the very center of the Stūpa (the tower) there was a great lecture hall of the seven treasures, hung with banners, pennants, parasols, and canopies, fragrant with pure and untainted incense. Within the beautiful lecture hall there was a couch of gold, and upon the couch there sat a Buddha named Bahu-ratna (or Prabhūtaratna: Abundant Treasures) [in Chinese called Great Treasures], who praised the Buddha Śākya-muni, saying: "Excellent!

Excellent! Since the time of My Parinirvāṇa (the Nirvāṇa of Quiescent Stillness, one of the three Dharma Seals) until now, I have passed through aeons as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, through Buddha-lands as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, abiding only in empty space; Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges have passed into the past. Through every such aeon I have passed, yet at first I did not return to those lands.

I have seen the Buddha Śākya-muni striving diligently in quest of the Buddha-Path, relying upon the people in the performance of His works; therefore in giving He has known no excessive aversion: He has not begrudged His hands, nor begrudged His eyes, nor begrudged His head; He has not begrudged His wife and children, nor His elephants, horses, and carriages; He has not begrudged His jewels and treasures, having no mind of covetous attachment.

I have deliberately come forth, wishing to make offerings to the Buddha Śākya-muni, and likewise to deliver those who are lowly and base. I pray that the Buddha Śākya-muni may sit upon My golden couch and expound the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra (the Dharma Flower Sūtra)."

Thereupon the Buddha Śākya-muni ascended to the lecture hall, came to the golden couch, and sat upon it, and at once expounded the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra (the Dharma Flower Sūtra). And He spoke verses beyond all number, saying:

"Hearing the Buddha of Joyful Treasure,

One who knows the name (the appellation)

Will not fear birth-and-death,

Nor will he suffer toil and hardship.

Hearing the Buddha Bhaiṣajya-rāja (the Medicine King),

One who knows the name

Need have no further care,

And of himself knows his former lives (Pūrva-nivāsa)."

At that time, the Buddha Śākya-muni spoke of incalculable asaṃkhyeya aeons. He spoke again of incalculable asaṃkhyeya aeons: "When I was practicing the Bodhisattva Path, I sought out the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra and gave alms to others. In the place where I made my quest, as for food, sustenance, clothing, wife, and children — toward these, from the very beginning, I had no mind of fond attachment.

When I was a king, in that age men lived very long. I then established the Crown Prince as king, cast aside the affairs of the realm, beat the drum and shook the bell, and offered up my own person, declaring: 'Who wishes to take me as a servant? I am seeking the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra; I wish to render service and make offerings.'

Then there was a certain Brahmin who said to Me: 'Come and be a servant to me, for I possess the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka Sūtra.'

I then followed that Brahmin and single-mindedly served him: drawing water, sweeping the ground, gathering flowers and fruits, and preparing food and drink for the Brahmin, for a thousand years without slackening or resting."

At that time the Buddha spoke a verse, saying:

"Beating the drum, shaking the bell, I made my vow,

Offering up myself: whoever has need,

Take me to be your servant;

I wish to render service and make offerings,

With a servant's mind, practicing a wholesome intention."

The Buddha said: "The king of that time was none other than My own self, and that Brahmin was Devadatta. Who was it that bestowed such grace, causing Me to fulfill the six Pāramitās (Ṣaḍ-pāramitā), the 32 Marks, and the 80 [Subsidiary] seeds? It was all the grace and merit of Devadatta. Devadatta is My good teacher. It was the good teacher who bestowed the grace that caused Me to fulfill the six Pāramitās, the 32 Marks, the 80 fine secondary characteristics, the majestic and venerable spiritual power, and the deliverance of beings in the ten directions — all of this was the grace of Devadatta.

After incalculable asaṃkhyeya aeons, Devadatta shall become a Buddha, with the title Deva-rāja [in Chinese, Heavenly King], and shall attain the ten kinds of Powers (Daśa-bala), the 32 Marks, and the 80 seeds. The land of the Buddha Heavenly King shall be called Devasopāna [in Chinese, the Land of Heaven-and-Earth]. The Buddha Heavenly King shall expound the Dharma for the people to the very end of the aeon, without slackening or resting.

At His first expounding of the Dharma He shall deliver beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges who shall attain the Path of the Arhat, beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges who shall attain the Path of the Pratyeka-buddha, and beings as numerous as the sands of the Ganges who shall give rise to the Mind of Anuttarā-samyaksaṃbodhi (Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment).

At that time the Buddha Heavenly King shall live for 20 aeons, and after His Parinirvāṇa the Dharma shall abide for 20 aeons. After the Parinirvāṇa of the Buddha Heavenly King, the relics (Śarīra) shall not be scattered, and there shall be raised a Stūpa of the seven treasures, 60 leagues in breadth and 80 leagues in length, and all the people of Jambu-dvīpa shall come to make offerings to the relics of the Buddha. At that time incalculable beings shall attain the Path of the Arhat, incalculable beings shall give rise to the Mind of the Pratyeka-buddha, and incalculable beings shall give rise to the Mind of Anuttarā-samyaksaṃbodhi.

Should good sons and good women hear this Dharma Flower Sūtra and believe in it, not slandering it, they shall extinguish the offenses of past and future, shut fast the gates of the three evil paths, and open the gates of the three good paths. Born among the gods, they shall ever be foremost; born among humankind, they shall ever be foremost; and born before the Buddhas of the ten directions, they shall be spontaneously born by transformation within a lotus of the seven treasures."

At that time, in a Buddha-land in the region below, there was a Bodhisattva named Prajñāṃkuśa, who addressed that Buddha, saying: "I shall soon return to my native land."

The Buddha Śākya-muni said: "O Prajñāṃkuśa! I have a Bodhisattva named Mañjuśrī. You may meet together with one another before you return to your former land (your native soil)."

At once Mañjuśrī sprang up from within the palace of the Dragon King Sāgara, seated upon a great lotus throne, the great flower as large as a chariot wheel, that flower having a thousand petals, with a great multitude of Bodhisattvas following after him. Mañjuśrī then brought the great lotus down, came and paid homage to the two Buddhas, and then turned back and, together with Prajñāṃkuśa, they inquired after one another.

Prajñāṃkuśa asked Mañjuśrī: "In the pool you entered, how many were delivered? Many or few?"

Mañjuśrī answered: "Their number is exceedingly great, beyond all counting. If I were to tell it by mouth, it would not be a thing in which the mind could place its trust; of itself there shall be a proof."

At that very moment, that pool gushed forth flowers from below, throughout the whole of that pool, into every place where they were scattered.

For those who had originally given rise to the Bodhisattva-mind (Bodhisattva-citta), those flowers, there in the midst of empty space, spoke only of the matters of the Mahāyāna (the Great Vehicle; or Mahā-jñāna: the Great Wisdom).

For those who had originally given rise to the [aspiration of the] Śrāvaka, those flowers, there in the midst of empty space, spoke only of the matter of severing birth-and-death.

When Mañjuśrī beheld the flowers thus, he answered the Bodhisattva Prajñāṃkuśa with a verse, saying:

"By the intent of the Benevolent One,

Discern of yourself that number."

The Bodhisattva Prajñāṃkuśa asked Mañjuśrī again: "By expounding the Dharma of which assembly was it that those delivered came to be so?"

Mañjuśrī answered: "In that pool, only the Saddharma-puṇḍarīka (the Dharma Flower) was expounded."

Prajñāṃkuśa asked again: "That Dharma is most exalted and precious; none can match it. Has there been any who could thereupon attain Buddhahood?"

Mañjuśrī answered: "The Dragon King Sāgara has a daughter, eight years old, whose wisdom is exceedingly great and whose resolve and vow are not to be slighted; she can thereupon attain Buddhahood."

The Bodhisattva Prajñāṃkuśa said to Mañjuśrī: "I have seen the Teacher of the Benevolent One seeking Buddhahood with diligence and bitter toil, amassing merit through aeons exceedingly many — therefore I do not believe that this girl can thereupon attain Buddhahood."

The girl in the pool at once sprang up, circumambulated the Buddha three times, joined her palms, and addressed the Buddha, saying: "The Buddha's marks are excellent, upright, and proper; His merit is supremely lofty; He is one whom the devas have served and revered, one whom all the gods, dragons, demons, spirits, the people, and the Sat-tva (beings) have honored. The Dharma that has been expounded is most exalted and precious. Now I make my vow: I would thereupon attain Buddhahood."

Śāriputra then said to the girl: "Though you make this vow, Buddhahood cannot be attained. Moreover, you are a woman; though you cultivate and amass merit, your Conduct (Caryā, or Carita) does not yet accord with that of a Bodhisattva."

The girl held up of herself a Maṇi-jewel worth the equal of an entire kingdom. The girl swiftly offered it up to the Buddha, and the Buddha likewise swiftly received it.

The girl said to Śāriputra and to the Bodhisattva Prajñāṃkuśa: "My offering of the jewel to the Buddha — was it slow or swift?"

They answered: "Exceedingly swift."

The girl said again: "The Buddha's receiving of my jewel — was it slow or swift?"

They answered: "Exceedingly swift."

The girl said: "My offering of the jewel to the Buddha was not slow, and the Buddha's receiving of my jewel was likewise not slow. Now my attaining of Buddhahood is exceedingly swift."

At that time, the female body was at once transformed into a Bodhisattva, and the whole assembly was astonished. Then it was transformed into the body of a Buddha, fully endowed with all the excellent marks, with a land and disciples, even as those things which the Buddha had brought about.

The whole assembly — gods, dragons, demons, spirits, and incalculable people — all gave rise to the Mind of the Supreme, True, and Right Path. The thousand-millionfold great-thousand lands quaked in the six manners, and thirty thousand Srota-āpannas attained the [stage of] Avaivartika (Non-retrogression).

THE SADDHARMA-PUṆḌARĪKA SŪTRA — IN ONE FASCICLE (The End)