The Tathāgata’s Miracles

20.1Then those hundreds of millions of quintillions of bodhisattvas who had emerged from the ground, as numerous as the atoms in a world realm, placed their hands together in homage and said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, we will teach this Dharma teaching in all the buddha realms where the Tathāgata has passed into nirvāṇa, and in the buddha realms where the Bhagavān will pass into nirvāṇa.

“Bhagavān, we will possess this vast Dharma teaching, and read it, teach it, explain it, and write it out.”

20.2At this, many hundred thousands of quintillions of bodhisattvas, such as Mañjuśrī, who dwelled in the world realm Sahā, as well as bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas, upāsikās, devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, nonhumans, and bodhisattva mahāsattvas as numerous as the grains of sand in the Ganges River, said to the Bhagavān, “Bhagavān, when the Tathāgata has passed into nirvāṇa, we shall teach this Dharma teaching. Bhagavān, without a body we will reside in the air and we will proclaim it with our voices. We will make beings who are without roots of merit create roots of merit.” [F.144.a]

20.3Then the Bhagavān said to the bodhisattva mahāsattva Vi­śiṣṭa­cāritra‍—the one who was foremost among the previously described multitudes, great multitudes, and masters of the multitudes of bodhisattva mahāsattvas‍—and said to the multitudes, great multitudes, and masters of the multitudes of bodhisattva mahāsattvas, “Excellent, Vi­śiṣṭa­cāritra, excellent! Do so! The Tathāgata ripened you for the sake of this Dharma teaching.”

20.4At that moment both the bhagavān, tathāgata Śākyamuni and the bhagavān who had passed into nirvāṇa, the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Prabhūtaratna, who were seated on a lion throne inside the stūpa, smiled. From the mouths of both, the organs of their tongues emerged. Those tongues extended as far as the realm of Brahmā, and from both those tongues many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of light rays radiated. From those light rays, from each light ray, there emanated many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of bodhisattvas whose bodies were the color of gold, who possessed the thirty-two signs of a great being, and were seated upon lion thrones in the center of lotuses. Those bodhisattvas went to hundreds of thousands of world realms in the main and intermediate directions. In those main and intermediate directions they taught the Dharma while remaining in midair.

20.5Just as the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Śākyamuni and the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Prabhūtaratna performed this miracle with their tongues, tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas in other hundreds of thousands of quintillions of world realms, [F.144.b] who were seated on their individual lion thrones at the foot of precious trees, also performed this miracle with their tongues.

20.6The Bhagavān Śākyamuni, Tathāgata Prabhūtaratna, and all those tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas performed this miracle for a hundred thousand years. Then, after a hundred thousand years had passed, the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas concluded their miracle, and simultaneously, in the same instant, the same moment, the same second, made the great sound of clearing their throats and the sound of snapping their fingers once. That great sound of clearing their throats and the great sound of their finger snaps shook all the hundreds of thousands of quintillions of buddha realms in the ten directions. They shook, shook strongly, shook intensely; shuddered, shuddered strongly, shuddered intensely; and quaked, quaked strongly, and quaked intensely. All the devas, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans, and nonhumans who were in those buddha realms, while remaining there, through the power of the buddhas saw this Sahā world realm. They saw the hundreds of thousands of quintillions of tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas seated on their individual lion thrones at the foot of precious trees, the bhagavān, the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Śākyamuni and the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Prabhūtaratna seated upon a lion throne in the center of the stūpa, and the fourfold assembly. [F.145.a] Seeing them they were astonished, amazed, and overjoyed, and they heard these words that came from the air: “Oh friends, beyond countless, innumerable hundreds of thousands of quintillions of world realms the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Śākyamuni is teaching to bodhisattva mahāsattvas the Dharma teaching, the extensive sūtra called The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, which is an instruction for bodhisattvas that is possessed by all buddhas. You should, with a superior motivation, rejoice in this! Pay homage to the bhagavān, the tathāgata, the arhat, the perfectly enlightened buddha Śākyamuni! Make offerings to him!”

20.7All those beings, having heard those words from the air, while remaining in their worlds now said, “We pay homage to the bhagavān tathāgata Śākyamuni!” In order to make offerings to the bhagavān tathāgata Śākyamuni and this Dharma teaching of The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, they placed their hands together in homage and scattered in the direction of this Sahā world realm many flowers, incenses, perfumes, garlands, ointments, powders, monastic robes, parasols, banners, divine flags, and banners of victory. They also scattered jewelry, clothing, long necklaces, short necklaces, jewels, and many kinds of precious materials. All those flowers, incenses, perfumes, garlands, ointments, powders, robes, parasols, banners, divine flags, banners of victory, long necklaces, short necklaces, jewels, and precious materials came to this Sahā world realm. [F.145.b] All those flowers, incenses, perfumes, garlands, ointments, powders, robes, parasols, banners, divine flags, banners of victory, long necklaces, short necklaces, jewels, and precious materials covered the all-inclusive Sahā world realm. At the same time they also covered those other hundred thousand quintillion world realms. In those hundred thousand world realms where those tathāgatas were present, the skies above them were each completely covered by a vast canopy of flowers.

20.8Then the Bhagavān said to Vi­śiṣṭa­cāritra and the other bodhisattva mahāsattvas, “Noble ones, the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas have inconceivable power. Noble ones, in order to bestow upon you this Dharma teaching, I could teach the many kinds of benefits through many aspects of the Dharma for many hundreds of thousands of quintillions of eons; but even if I were to teach these benefits, I would not have finished describing the many kinds of benefits of this Dharma teaching.

“Noble ones, in brief, all the dharmas of the Buddha, all that is preeminent from the Buddha, all the great secrets of the Buddha, all the profundities of the Buddha, I teach within this Dharma teaching.

20.9“Therefore, noble ones, after the Tathāgata has passed into nirvāṇa you should be in possession of this Dharma teaching. You should teach it, write it out, read it, explain it, meditate upon it, and make offerings to it.

“Noble ones, wherever this Dharma teaching is read, taught, explained, [F.146.a] written out, contemplated, spoken about, chanted, or made into texts, whether it is a park, a temple, a palace, the foot of a tree, a house, or a cave, a caitya for the Tathāgata should be erected in that place. Why is that? It is because that place should be perceived as being the Bodhimaṇḍa of all the tathāgatas. It should be perceived as the place where all the tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly enlightened buddhas attain the highest, complete enlightenment of complete buddhahood. It should be perceived as the place where all the tathāgatas turn the wheel of the Dharma, and the place where all the tathāgatas pass into nirvāṇa.

20.10Thereupon the Bhagavān spoke these verses:

20.24This concludes “The Tathāgata’s Miracles,” the twentieth chapter of the Dharma teaching of “The White Lotus of the Good Dharma.” [B12]