Bhaiṣajyarāja's Former Life

At that time Bhadravyūhamati Bodhisattva said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! How does Bhaiṣajyarāja Bodhisattva journey through this sahā world? World-Honored One, this Bhaiṣajyarāja Bodhisattva has undertaken so many hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas of difficult ascetic practices — I beg you, World-Honored One, to explain this a little for us." Every god, nāga, spirit, yakṣa, gandharva, asura, garuḍa, kiṃnara, mahoraga, human and nonhuman, and the bodhisattvas who had come from other lands, and this assembly of śrāvakas, hearing this question, were all filled with joy. At that time the Buddha said to Bhadravyūhamati Bodhisattva: "Long ago, past immeasurable Ganges-sands of kalpas, there was a buddha named Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī Tathāgata, Worthy of Offerings, Perfectly and Fully Awakened, Complete in Understanding and Conduct, Well-Gone, Knower of the World, Unsurpassed Being, Tamer of Those to be Tamed, Teacher of Gods and Humans, Buddha, World-Honored One. This buddha had eighty koṭis of great bodhisattva-mahāsattvas, and seventy-two Ganges-sands of great śrāvakas; the buddha's own lifespan was forty-two thousand kalpas, and the bodhisattvas' lifespans were equal to it. In that land there were no women, no hells, no hungry ghosts, no animals, no asuras, and none of the other difficult states of being; the ground was level as the palm of a hand, made entirely of lapis lazuli, adorned with jeweled trees, covered above with jeweled canopies, hung with jeweled flower banners, its jeweled vases and censers filling the whole land, with a platform of the seven jewels beside every tree, each tree standing the distance of a single arrow's flight from its platform. Beneath every one of these jeweled trees sat bodhisattvas and śrāvakas. On every jeweled platform, a hundred koṭis of gods made heavenly music, singing the buddha's praises as an offering to him. At that time this buddha, for the sake of Sarvasattvapriyadarśana Bodhisattva, and the assembly of bodhisattvas and śrāvakas, taught the Lotus Sūtra. "This Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana delighted in practicing austerities, and, within the teaching of Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī, diligently walked in meditation, seeking buddhahood with a single mind, and, after a full twelve thousand years, attained the samādhi of manifesting every form. Having attained this samādhi, his heart filled with great joy, and he thought to himself: 'That I have attained this samādhi of manifesting every form is entirely due to the power of hearing the Lotus Sūtra — I should now make an offering to Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī, and to the Lotus Sūtra itself.' At once he entered this samādhi, and in the sky above, rained down mandārava and mahā-mandārava flowers, and finely powdered, firm black sandalwood, filling the sky, falling like clouds, and rained down, too, the fragrance of sandalwood from beyond the sea — a fragrance of which a mere six śāṇas in weight was worth the whole sahā world — as an offering to the buddha. Having made this offering, he rose from the samādhi, and thought to himself: 'Though I have made this offering to the buddha by spiritual power, it is not equal to making an offering with my own body.' He then consumed every kind of fragrant substance — sandalwood, frankincense, tūrukka, pṛkkā, aloeswood, and gum resin — and drank, besides, the fragrant oil of campaka and other flowers, and after a full twelve hundred years had passed, anointed his own body with fragrant oil, and, before Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī, wrapped his own body in a heavenly jeweled robe, poured fragrant oil over it, and, by the power of his own spiritual penetration and his own vow, set his body ablaze, its light illuminating eighty koṭis of Ganges-sands of worlds entirely. Every buddha within those worlds, with one voice, praised him, saying: 'Excellent, excellent, good son! This is true diligence — this is called a true offering of the Dharma to the Tathāgata. Were one to make an offering of flowers, incense, necklaces, burning incense, powdered incense, ointment incense, heavenly silk, banners and canopies, and even the fragrance of sandalwood from beyond the sea, and every other kind of thing such as these, it could not equal this; even were one to give away one's own kingdom, cities, wife, and children, it could not equal this either. Good son, this is called the foremost form of giving, the most honored and supreme among every form of giving, because it is an offering of the Dharma itself to every tathāgata.' Having spoken these words, they all fell silent. His body burned in flames for twelve hundred years, and only after this had passed was his body at last consumed."

"Having made this offering of the Dharma, Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, after his death, was reborn once more within the land of Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī, born instantly, by transformation, seated cross-legged in the house of King Vimaladatta. He at once spoke this verse to his father: 'Great King, you should now know: I once walked in meditation in that place, and at that very time attained the samādhi of manifesting every form. Diligently practicing great effort, I gave up the body I loved, making an offering to the World-Honored One, seeking the unsurpassed wisdom.' "Having spoken this verse, he said to his father: 'Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī still remains in the world even now. Having once made my offering to the buddha, I attained the dhāraṇī of understanding the language of every being, and heard, besides, eight hundred thousand myriad koṭis of nayutas of kaṅkara, bimbara, and akṣobhya verses of this Lotus Sūtra. Great King, I shall now go once more to make an offering to this buddha.' Having said this, he seated himself upon a platform of the seven jewels, rose into the sky to a height of seven tāla trees, and went to where the buddha was, bowing his head to the buddha's feet, joining the tips of his ten fingers, and praising the buddha in verse: 'Your countenance is wondrous indeed, your light illuminating the ten directions; I made you an offering once before, and now return again to draw near you.' "At that time, having spoken this verse, Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana said to the buddha: 'World-Honored One! The World-Honored One still remains in the world.' At that time Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī said to Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana: 'Good son! The time of my own parinirvāṇa has come, the time of my extinction has arrived — you may now prepare my resting couch, for this very night I shall enter parinirvāṇa.' He further charged Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana: 'Good son! I entrust to you the Buddha's own Dharma, and to the great bodhisattva disciples besides, together with the Dharma of unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening; I entrust to you, too, the whole three-thousand-great-thousandfold world of the seven jewels, its jeweled trees, its jeweled platforms, and the gods who attend and serve there. After my own parinirvāṇa, I entrust my relics to you as well — you should cause them to be spread abroad, make broad offerings to them, and raise up several thousand stūpas.' Having charged Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana in this way, Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī, in the latter part of that very night, entered parinirvāṇa. "At that time, Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, seeing the buddha's own parinirvāṇa, grieved and mourned, longing for the buddha, and at once gathered sandalwood from beyond the sea into a pyre, made an offering of the buddha's own body, and burned it. Once the fire had gone out, he gathered the relics, made eighty-four thousand jeweled urns, and raised eighty-four thousand stūpas from them, each three worlds in height, their spires finely adorned, hung with banners and canopies, and hung, too, with every kind of jeweled bell. "At that time Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana thought to himself once more: 'Though I have made this offering, my heart is still not satisfied — I should now make a further offering to these relics.' He then said to the great bodhisattva disciples, and to the gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and the whole great assembly: 'You should, with a single mind, take note: I shall now make an offering to the relics of Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśrī.' Having said this, before the eighty-four thousand stūpas, he set ablaze his own arms, adorned with the marks of a hundred merits, for seventy-two thousand years, as an offering — causing countless śrāvaka-seekers, and immeasurable asaṃkhyeyas of people, to bring forth the resolve for unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening, and every one of them to attain and abide in the samādhi of manifesting every form. "At that time, the bodhisattvas, gods, humans, and asuras, seeing that he had no arms, grieved in sorrow, and said: 'This Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana is our own teacher, the one who taught and guided us — and now he has burned his own arms, and his body is no longer whole.' At that time Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana made this vow before the great assembly: 'I have given up both my arms; I shall surely attain the buddha's own body of golden color — if this is true, and not false, may my two arms be restored exactly as they were before.' Having made this vow, his arms were restored of themselves, entirely through the depth of this bodhisattva's own merit and wisdom. At that very time, the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world shook in six ways, the heavens rained down jeweled flowers, and every human and god gained what they had never known before."

The Buddha said to Bhadravyūhamati Bodhisattva: "What do you think — was that Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana at that time some other person? He is none other than Bhaiṣajyarāja Bodhisattva of today. The offerings he made of his own body, giving it up in this way, number immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of nayutas. "Bhadravyūhamati! Should there be one who has resolved to attain unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening, and is able to burn a finger, or even a single toe, as an offering to a buddha's stūpa, this surpasses making an offering of one's own kingdom, cities, wife, and children, or of the mountains, forests, rivers, and ponds of the whole three-thousand-great-thousandfold world, and every precious treasure besides. Should there be, further, one who fills the whole three-thousand-great-thousandfold world with the seven jewels, and offers it to the Buddha, to great bodhisattvas, to pratyekabuddhas, and to arhats, the merit such a person gains does not equal the merit of upholding this Lotus Sūtra, even a single four-line verse of it — that merit is the greatest of all. "Bhadravyūhamati! It is like every stream, river, and waterway — among all these waters, the ocean is foremost; this Lotus Sūtra, too, is exactly the same, the most profound and vast among every sūtra any tathāgata has taught. It is like the earthen mountains, the black mountains, the lesser and greater iron ring-mountains, and the ten jeweled mountains — among all these mountains, Sumeru is foremost; this Lotus Sūtra, too, is exactly the same, uppermost among every sūtra. It is like the moon, foremost among the stars; this Lotus Sūtra, too, is exactly the same, the most illuminating among thousands of myriads of koṭis of every kind of teaching. It is like the sun, able to dispel every darkness; this sūtra, too, is exactly the same, able to break through the darkness of every unwholesome thing. It is like the wheel-turning sage-king, foremost among every lesser king; this sūtra, too, is exactly the same, the most honored among every sūtra. It is like Śakra, king among the gods of the Trāyastriṃśa heaven; this sūtra, too, is exactly the same, king among every sūtra. It is like the great Brahmā king, father of every being; this sūtra, too, is exactly the same, father of every noble one, in training and beyond it, and of every one who has brought forth the bodhisattva's own resolve. It is like the stream-enterer, the once-returner, the non-returner, the arhat, and the pratyekabuddha, foremost among every ordinary person; this sūtra, too, is exactly the same, foremost among every teaching taught by any tathāgata, any bodhisattva, or any śrāvaka. Whoever is able to uphold this sūtra is, in exactly this way, foremost among every being. It is like the bodhisattva, foremost among every śrāvaka and pratyekabuddha; this sūtra, too, is exactly the same, foremost among every teaching there is. It is like the Buddha, king of every teaching; this sūtra, too, is exactly the same, king among every sūtra."

"Bhadravyūhamati! This sūtra is able to save every being; this sūtra is able to free every being from every kind of suffering and affliction; this sūtra is able to greatly benefit every being, and satisfy every one of their wishes. It is like a cool, clear pool, able to satisfy every one who thirsts; like fire to one who is cold, like clothing to one who is bare, like a caravan-leader to merchants, like a mother to a child, like a boat to one crossing a river, like a physician to the sick, like a lamp in darkness, like a treasure to the poor, like a king to the people, like the ocean to a trader, like a torch that dispels the dark — this Lotus Sūtra, too, is exactly the same, able to free beings from every suffering, every sickness and pain, able to loosen every bond of birth and death. Should a person come to hear this Lotus Sūtra, and copy it themselves, or cause others to copy it, the merit they gain could not be measured to its very limit even by the Buddha's own wisdom. Should one, having copied this sūtra scroll, make offerings to it with flowers, incense, necklaces, burning incense, powdered incense, ointment incense, banners, canopies, robes, and every kind of lamp — lamps of ghee, of oil, of every kind of fragrant oil, of campaka oil, of sumanā oil, of pāṭala oil, of vārṣika oil, of navamallikā oil — the merit gained from this, too, is immeasurable. "Bhadravyūhamati! Should anyone hear this chapter on Bhaiṣajyarāja's former life, they too shall gain immeasurable, boundless merit. Should a woman hear this chapter on Bhaiṣajyarāja's former life, and be able to uphold it, this shall be her very last female body — she shall not receive one again. Should there be, in the five hundred years after the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa, a woman who hears this sūtra and practices exactly as it teaches, at the end of this present life she shall go at once to the World of Bliss, to the dwelling place of Amitābha Buddha, surrounded by his great bodhisattvas, born within a lotus flower, upon a jeweled seat, no longer troubled by greed and desire, no longer troubled by anger or folly, no longer troubled by the defilements of pride or envy, and shall attain a bodhisattva's own spiritual powers, and the acceptance that things are unborn. Having attained this acceptance, her eye faculty shall become pure, and with this pure eye faculty, she shall see seven million two thousand koṭis of nayutas of Ganges-sands of buddha-tathāgatas. At that time these buddhas, from far away, shall together praise her, saying: 'Excellent, excellent, good daughter! That you should be able, within Śākyamuni Buddha's own teaching, to uphold, read, recite, and reflect upon this sūtra, and teach it to others — the merit you gain from this is immeasurable and boundless; fire cannot burn it, water cannot sweep it away; your own merit could not be told to its end even were a thousand buddhas together to describe it. You are now already able to break the bandit-hordes of every demon, destroy the very army of birth and death, and every other enemy besides is entirely overcome. Good daughter! Hundreds of thousands of buddhas, by the power of their own spiritual penetration, together protect and guard you; among every being in the world, gods and humans alike, none is your equal, save the Tathāgata himself — not even the wisdom and meditative concentration of any śrāvaka, pratyekabuddha, or bodhisattva can equal your own.' Bhadravyūhamati! This is the power of merit and wisdom this bodhisattva has accomplished. Should anyone hear this chapter on Bhaiṣajyarāja's former life, and be able to rejoice in it and praise it as good, that person's own mouth, in this very life, shall constantly emit the fragrance of the blue lotus, and the pores of their body shall constantly emit the fragrance of ox-head sandalwood — the merit they gain is exactly as described above. For this reason, Bhadravyūhamati, I entrust this chapter on Bhaiṣajyarāja's former life to you. In the five hundred years after my own parinirvāṇa, spread and proclaim it broadly throughout Jambudvīpa, and let it never be broken off, lest evil demons, the demons' own followers, gods, nāgas, yakṣas, and kumbhāṇḍas find their opportunity against it. "Bhadravyūhamati! You should protect this sūtra with the power of your own spiritual penetration. Why is this so? Because this sūtra is, for the people of Jambudvīpa, a fine medicine for their every sickness. Should a person have some illness, and come to hear this sūtra, that illness shall vanish at once, and they shall neither age nor die. Bhadravyūhamati! Should you see anyone who upholds this sūtra, you should fill a blue lotus flower with powdered incense, and scatter it over them as an offering. Having scattered it, you should think to yourself: 'Before long, this person shall surely take up a seat of grass at the very place of awakening, break every demon army, blow the Dharma conch, beat the great Dharma drum, and bring every being across the sea of old age, sickness, and death.' For this reason, those who seek the buddha-path, on seeing anyone who upholds this sūtra, should give rise to a reverent heart such as this." When this chapter on Bhaiṣajyarāja's former life was taught, eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas attained the dhāraṇī of understanding the language of every being. Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata, from within the jeweled stūpa, praised Bhadravyūhamati Bodhisattva, saying: "Excellent, excellent, Bhadravyūhamati! You have accomplished inconceivable merit, able to ask Śākyamuni Buddha of a matter such as this, benefiting immeasurable beings without limit."