The Lotus Sūtra 5.23

5.23

妙法蓮華經從地踊出品第十五

Complete enlightenment, saying:

O son of a virtuous family!

In the future you will attain immeasurable

Wisdom and the great path of the Buddha.

Your land will be pure and vast,

Beyond all comparison.

The fourfold assembly will also be there

Listening to the Dharma with their palms

Pressed together.

They who recite this sutra also see themselves

In mountain forests, practicing excellent teachings,

Experiencing the real aspect,

Deeply entering into concentration,

And looking at the buddhas in the ten directions,

All of whom have golden bodies

Adorned with a hundred auspicious marks.

They will always have such pleasant dreams And, hearing the Dharma taught, They will teach it to others. They will also dream about becoming The king of a realm who abandons his palace And retinue, and the highly pleasing Desires of the five senses, Approaches the terrace of enlightenment, Sits on the lion seat under the bodhi tree, Attains the wisdom of all the buddhas After seeking the path for seven days, And who, arising, turns the wheel of the Dharma After having attained the highest path. They will teach the Dharma to the fourfold assembly For thousands of myriads of koṭis of kalpas. Explaining the true and incorruptible Dharma, They will save innumerable sentient beings. Later they will enter nirvana Just as smoke dies away When the flame of a candle is extinguished. If anyone in the troubled world to come Teaches this highest Dharma They will attain great benefits Like the merits mentioned above.

Bodhisattvas Emerging

from the Earth

At that time the bodhisattva mahāsattvas, who had arrived from other lands and whose number exceeded that of the sands of eight Ganges Rivers, stood up in the great assembly, bowed with their palms pressed together, and then spoke to the Buddha, saying: “O Bhagavat! If you give us permission to diligently strive to preserve, recite, copy and pay homage to this [Lotus] Sutra after the parinirvāṇa of the Buddha in this sahā world, then we will extensively teach it in this land.”

Then the Buddha addressed the assembly of bodhisattva mahāsattvas, saying: “Enough, O sons of a virtuous family! There is no need for you to preserve this sutra. Why is this? In my sahā world there are bodhisattva mahāsattvas, equal to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers in number; and each of these bodhisattvas, in turn, has a retinue equal to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers. After my parinirvāṇa they can preserve, recite, and extensively teach this sutra.”

When the Buddha said this all the lands of the great manifold cosmos