The Lotus Sūtra 3.15

3.15

「大雄猛世尊，諸釋之法王，
哀愍我等故，而賜佛音聲。
若知我深心，見為授記者，
如以甘露灑，除熱得清涼。
如從饑國來，忽遇大王饍，
心猶懷疑懼，未敢即便食；
若復得王教，然後乃敢食。
我等亦如是，每惟小乘過，
不知當云何，得佛無上慧。
雖聞佛音聲，言我等作佛，
心尚懷憂懼，如未敢便食；
若蒙佛授記，爾乃快安樂。
大雄猛世尊，常欲安世間，
願賜我等記，如飢須教食。」

spoke these verses in unison:

O Bhagavat, Great Hero!

O King of the Dharma of the Śākyas!

Bestow the Buddha’s words upon us

Out of your compassion for us.

If, knowing the depths of our hearts,

You give us your predictions,

It will be like cooling our fevers

By sprinkling us with the Dharma of immortality.

It is as though someone coming

From a country suffering from famine

Were suddenly to find

A great king’s feast spread before him,

Yet is stricken with doubt

And does not venture to eat,

Until, being instructed by the king,

He dares at last to do so.

We are exactly like this.

We have been constantly thinking

About the faults of the inferior vehicle,

And so we had no knowledge of the way

To obtain the highest wisdom of the Buddha.

Although we hear the Buddha’s voice

Saying that we will become buddhas,

We still have doubt in our minds

As if we dare not eat the meal.

If we receive the Buddha’s prediction

It will immediately put us at ease.

The Bhagavat, the Great Hero,

Always wants to put the world at ease;

And so we entreat you to bestow

Upon us your predictions,

As though to starving people

Waiting for permission to eat.

Then the Bhagavat, knowing what lay in the thoughts of the great disciples, addressed the monks saying: “This Subhūti in the future will meet, respect, venerate, praise, and pay homage to three hundred myriads of koṭis of nayutas of buddhas; and he will always practice the pure path of discipline and integrity, and complete the bodhisattva path. In his last body he will become a buddha called Yaśasketu, a Tathāgata, Arhat, Completely Enlightened, Perfect in Knowledge and Conduct, Well-Departed, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed, Tamer of Humans, Teacher of Devas and Humans, Buddha, Bhagavat.

“His land will be called Ratnasaṃbhava in the kalpa called Ratnāvabhāsa. The land will be even and the earth will be made of crystal and adorned with jeweled trees. It will be without pits, pebbles, thorns, or the filth of excrement. The earth will be covered with precious flowers and will be everywhere pure.

“The people in this world will all live in wonderful towers with jeweled terraces. The śrāvakas, the disciples there will be innumerable and limitless, beyond calculation and metaphor, and there will also be innumerable thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of bodhisattvas.

“The lifespan of this buddha will be twelve intermediate kalpas. The True Dharma will last in the world for twenty intermediate kalpas and the Semblance Dharma will also last for twenty intermediate kalpas. This Buddha will always dwell in the air, teaching the Dharma for the multitude, and he will save incalculable bodhisattvas and śrāvakas.”

Thereupon the Bhagavat, wanting to explain the meaning of this further, spoke these verses: