Samantabhadra's Encouragement
普賢菩薩勸發品第二十八
The sūtra's final chapter. Samantabhadra arrives from a distant land riding a six-tusked white elephant, asking how anyone will be able to hold onto this teaching once the Buddha is no longer present to teach it directly. His answer is a vow: he will personally appear, on that same elephant, before anyone who upholds this sūtra in the ages to come, teaching them whatever verse they have forgotten and guarding them from every obstacle. The Buddha blesses this vow, and the entire assembly — bodhisattvas, arhats, gods, and every being present since the opening chapter — bows and departs.
- This part covers
- Samantabhadra's arrival from a distant land, riding a six-tusked white elephant with an immeasurable retinue, and his question to the Buddha: how will a good son or good daughter be able to obtain this sūtra after the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa? The Buddha's answer in four conditions; Samantabhadra's own vow, in response, to appear personally before anyone who upholds this sūtra in the ages to come, teaching them any forgotten verse and guarding them from every obstacle, sealed with a final protective dhāraṇī; the Buddha's blessing of this vow, and his own description of the practitioner's resulting character; and the sūtra's closing lines, in which the entire assembly — present since Part 1 — rejoices, bows, and departs.
- Why it matters
- Zhiyi reads this closing chapter as the third and final wave of this sūtra's own case for why it will endure: first the sūtra's own power was described (Parts 18–22), then the power of bodhisattvas who teach it in every form beings need (Parts 24–27), and now, closing the whole text, the vow of a single bodhisattva to personally meet any future reader who takes this teaching seriously enough to hold onto it. The sūtra that opened with a wordless samādhi on Vulture Peak closes with a promise addressed, quite plainly, to whoever is reading it now.
1. Samantabhadra Arrives, and Asks How This Sūtra Can Be Kept
爾時普賢菩薩，以自在神通力，威德名聞，與大菩薩無量無邊不可稱數，從東方來。所經諸國，普皆震動，雨寶蓮華，作無量百千萬億種種伎樂。又與無數諸天、龍、夜叉、乾闥婆、阿修羅、迦樓羅、緊那羅、摩睺羅伽、人非人等，大眾圍繞，各現威德神通之力，到娑婆世界耆闍崛山中，頭面禮釋迦牟尼佛，右繞七匝，白佛言：「世尊，我於寶威德上王佛國，遙聞此娑婆世界說法華經，與無量無邊百千萬億諸菩薩眾共來聽受，唯願世尊當為說之。若善男子、善女人，於如來滅後，云何能得是法華經？」 佛告普賢菩薩：「若善男子、善女人，成就四法，於如來滅後，當得是法華經：一者、為諸佛護念，二者、殖眾德本，三者、入正定聚，四者、發救一切眾生之心。善男子、善女人，如是成就四法，於如來滅後，必得是經。」
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva, by the power of his own sovereign spiritual penetration, his majestic virtue renowned everywhere, together with an immeasurable, boundless, uncountable host of great bodhisattvas, came from the east. Every land he passed through shook entirely, rained down jeweled lotus flowers, and made immeasurable hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of every kind of music. He came, too, surrounded by a great assembly of countless gods, nāgas, yakṣas, gandharvas, asuras, garuḍas, kiṃnaras, mahoragas, humans and nonhumans, each manifesting their own power of majestic virtue and spiritual penetration, and arrived at Vulture Peak in the sahā world, bowed his head before Śākyamuni Buddha, circled him seven times to the right, and said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! In the land of Ratnategovairocanaviṣayakusumasaṃkusumitarāja Buddha, I heard from afar that the Lotus Sūtra was being taught in this sahā world, and I have come here, together with an immeasurable, boundless host of hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of bodhisattvas, to hear and receive it. I beg only that the World-Honored One teach it now. Should there be a good son or good daughter, after the Tathāgata's own parinirvāṇa, how might they be able to obtain this Lotus Sūtra?" The Buddha said to Samantabhadra Bodhisattva: "Should a good son or good daughter accomplish four things, after the Tathāgata's own parinirvāṇa, they shall obtain this Lotus Sūtra: first, being held in the mindful protection of every buddha; second, having planted every root of merit; third, having entered the company of those assured of reaching awakening; and fourth, having brought forth the resolve to save every being. Should a good son or good daughter accomplish these four things in this way, after the Tathāgata's own parinirvāṇa, they shall surely obtain this sūtra."
Zhiyi reads Samantabhadra's own name — "universally worthy," or, in his gloss, one whose practice pervades every level of the path (普) while bordering on final sagehood itself (賢) — as fitting for the bodhisattva who closes this sūtra, since his arrival here is itself an act of practice reaching everywhere at once: every land he passes through shakes and rains flowers, not as spectacle, but as this same universality made visible. Zhiyi maps the Buddha's four conditions onto the room, robe, and seat named back in Part 11 for a third time across this sūtra's second half: bringing forth the resolve to save every being is the room, entering the company of those assured of awakening together with being held in the buddhas' own mindful protection is the robe, and planting every root of merit is the seat — the same three disciplines, restated once more, as this sūtra's very last word on what carrying this teaching forward actually requires.
2. Samantabhadra's Vow of Protection
爾時普賢菩薩白佛言：「世尊！於後五百歲、濁惡世中，其有受持是經典者，我當守護，除其衰患，令得安隱，使無伺求得其便者，若魔、若魔子、若魔女、若魔民、若為魔所著者，若夜叉、若羅剎、若鳩槃茶、若毘舍闍、若吉遮、若富單那、若韋陀羅等，諸惱人者，皆不得便。是人若行、若立讀誦此經，我爾時乘六牙白象王，與大菩薩眾俱詣其所，而自現身，供養守護，安慰其心，亦為供養法華經故。是人若坐思惟此經，爾時我復乘白象王現其人前，其人若於法華經有所忘失一句一偈，我當教之，與共讀誦，還令通利。爾時受持讀誦法華經者，得見我身，甚大歡喜，轉復精進，以見我故，即得三昧及陀羅尼，名為旋陀羅尼、百千萬億旋陀羅尼、法音方便陀羅尼，得如是等陀羅尼。 「世尊！若後世後五百歲、濁惡世中，比丘、比丘尼、優婆塞、優婆夷，求索者、受持者、讀誦者、書寫者，欲修習是法華經，於三七日中，應一心精進。滿三七日已，我當乘六牙白象，與無量菩薩而自圍繞，以一切眾生所憙見身，現其人前，而為說法，示教利喜，亦復與其陀羅尼呪，得是陀羅尼故，無有非人能破壞者，亦不為女人之所惑亂，我身亦自常護是人。唯願世尊聽我說此陀羅尼呪。」即於佛前而說呪曰： 「阿檀地(途賣反)(一)檀陀婆地(二)檀陀婆帝(三)檀陀鳩舍隷(四)檀陀修陀隷(五)修陀隷(六)修陀羅婆底(七)佛馱波羶禰(八)薩婆陀羅尼阿婆多尼(九)薩婆婆沙阿婆多尼(十)修阿婆多尼(十一)僧伽婆履叉尼(十二)僧伽涅伽陀尼(十三)阿僧祇(十四)僧伽波伽地(十五)帝隷阿惰僧伽兜略(盧遮反)阿羅帝婆羅帝(十六)薩婆僧伽三摩地伽蘭地(十七)薩婆達磨修波利剎帝(十八)薩婆薩埵樓馱憍舍略阿㝹伽地(十九)辛阿毘吉利地帝(二十)」 「世尊！若有菩薩得聞是陀羅尼者，當知普賢神通之力，若法華經行閻浮提，有受持者，應作此念：『皆是普賢威神之力。』若有受持、讀誦，正憶念，解其義趣，如說修行，當知是人行普賢行，於無量無邊諸佛所深種善根，為諸如來手摩其頭。若但書寫，是人命終，當生忉利天上，是時八萬四千天女作眾伎樂而來迎之，其人即著七寶冠，於婇女中娛樂快樂；何況受持、讀誦，正憶念，解其義趣，如說修行。若有人受持、讀誦，解其義趣，是人命終，為千佛授手，令不恐怖，不墮惡趣，即往兜率天上彌勒菩薩所。彌勒菩薩，有三十二相大菩薩眾所共圍繞，有百千萬億天女眷屬，而於中生，有如是等功德利益。是故智者，應當一心自書、若使人書，受持、讀誦，正憶念，如說修行。 「世尊！我今以神通力故，守護是經，於如來滅後閻浮提內，廣令流布，使不斷絕。」
At that time Samantabhadra Bodhisattva said to the Buddha: "World-Honored One! In the five hundred years to come, in this turbid and evil age, should there be anyone who upholds this sūtra, I shall protect them, remove every affliction from them, and cause them to dwell in peace, so that no one watching for an opportunity against them shall find one — whether a māra, a māra's son, a māra's daughter, a māra's own people, or one possessed by a māra, or a yakṣa, a rākṣasa, a kumbhāṇḍa, a piśāca, a kṛtya, a pūtana, or a vetāla, or any other being that troubles people, none of them shall find their opportunity. Should this person, whether walking or standing, read and recite this sūtra, I shall at that time mount my six-tusked white elephant king, and, together with a great assembly of bodhisattvas, go to that very place, manifesting my own body, making offerings, protecting them, and setting their heart at ease, for the sake, too, of making an offering to the Lotus Sūtra itself. Should this person, sitting, reflect upon this sūtra, I shall at that time, once more mounting the white elephant king, manifest myself before them, and should this person have forgotten even a single phrase or verse of the Lotus Sūtra, I shall teach it to them, reciting it together with them, until it becomes fluent once more. At that time, whoever upholds and recites the Lotus Sūtra, on seeing my own body, shall be filled with great joy, growing ever more diligent, and, because they have seen me, shall at once attain samādhis and dhāraṇīs — named the revolving dhāraṇī, the dhāraṇī of hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of revolutions, and the dhāraṇī of the Dharma-sound's skillful means — attaining dhāraṇīs such as these. "World-Honored One! Should there be, in the five hundred years to come, in this turbid and evil age, a monk, a nun, a layman, or a laywoman who seeks out, upholds, reads and recites, or copies this sūtra, wishing to practice and cultivate it, they should, for three sets of seven days, be diligent with a single mind. Once these three sets of seven days are complete, I shall mount the six-tusked white elephant, surrounded by immeasurable bodhisattvas, and, in a body pleasing for every being to behold, manifest myself before this person, and teach the Dharma for their sake, revealing, teaching, benefiting, and delighting them, and shall, further, give them a dhāraṇī spell; having attained this dhāraṇī, no nonhuman being shall be able to harm them, nor shall they be led astray or confused by any woman, and I myself shall constantly protect this person as well. I beg only that the World-Honored One permit me to speak this dhāraṇī spell." He then spoke this spell before the Buddha — again transmitted in Kumārajīva's own Chinese phonetic transliteration, presented here as the received text preserves it rather than rendered into an uncertain reconstruction. "World-Honored One! Should any bodhisattva come to hear this dhāraṇī, they should know that this is the power of Samantabhadra's own spiritual penetration. Should the Lotus Sūtra circulate through Jambudvīpa, and there be those who uphold it, they should think to themselves: 'All of this is by the power of Samantabhadra's own majesty.' Should there be one who upholds it, reads and recites it, holds it rightly in mind, understands its true meaning, and practices exactly as it teaches, they should be known to be practicing Samantabhadra's own conduct, having planted good roots deeply in the presence of immeasurable, boundless buddhas, and having their heads touched by the hands of every tathāgata. Should they only copy it, this person, at the end of their life, shall be born into the Trāyastriṃśa heaven, where eighty-four thousand goddesses, making every kind of music, shall come to welcome them, and this person shall at once don a crown of the seven jewels, and take their pleasure among the palace women — how much more so, then, one who upholds it, reads and recites it, holds it rightly in mind, understands its true meaning, and practices exactly as it teaches. Should there be one who upholds it, reads and recites it, and understands its true meaning, this person, at the end of their life, shall have their hand taken by a thousand buddhas, causing them to be free of fear, and not to fall into any evil destiny, but to go at once to Maitreya Bodhisattva's own place in the Tuṣita heaven. Maitreya Bodhisattva, possessed of the thirty-two marks, surrounded by a great assembly of bodhisattvas, having a retinue of hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of goddesses — it is among these that this person shall be born, gaining merit and benefit exactly such as this. For this reason, the wise should, with a single mind, copy this sūtra themselves, or cause others to copy it, uphold it, read and recite it, hold it rightly in mind, and practice exactly as it teaches. "World-Honored One! I shall now, by the power of my own spiritual penetration, protect this sūtra, and, after the Tathāgata's own parinirvāṇa, cause it to be spread broadly throughout Jambudvīpa, so that it is never broken off."
Zhiyi reads Samantabhadra's vow as covering two distinct kinds of protection at once: guarding the person of the practitioner from the eleven or twelve kinds of hostile beings named at the vow's opening, and guarding their actual practice — appearing not as a distant blessing but as a teacher who will, quite specifically, help someone recite a verse they have forgotten. The condition of "three sets of seven days" of single-minded diligence before this appearance he reads as the same discipline this sūtra has asked of its readers since the Four Peaceful Practices of Part 15: not passive waiting for a vision, but sustained, deliberate practice that this bodhisattva's own presence answers rather than replaces.
3. The Buddha's Blessing, and the Sūtra's Final Words
爾時釋迦牟尼佛讚言：「善哉，善哉！普賢！汝能護助是經，令多所眾生安樂利益。汝已成就不可思議功德，深大慈悲，從久遠來，發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提意，而能作是神通之願，守護是經。我當以神通力，守護能受持普賢菩薩名者。 「普賢！若有受持、讀誦、正憶念、修習、書寫是法華經者，當知是人則見釋迦牟尼佛，如從佛口聞此經典；當知是人供養釋迦牟尼佛；當知是人，佛讚善哉；當知是人為釋迦牟尼佛手摩其頭；當知是人為釋迦牟尼佛衣之所覆。如是之人不復貪著世樂，不好外道經書、手筆，亦復不喜親近其人及諸惡者——若屠兒、若畜猪羊雞狗、若獵師、若衒賣女色；是人心意質直，有正憶念，有福德力；是人不為三毒所惱，亦復不為嫉妬、我慢、邪慢、增上慢所惱；是人少欲知足，能修普賢之行。 「普賢！若如來滅後後五百歲，若有人見受持、讀誦法華經者，應作是念：『此人不久當詣道場，破諸魔眾，得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，轉法輪、擊法鼓、吹法螺、雨法雨，當坐天人大眾中師子法座上。』 「普賢！若於後世，受持、讀誦是經典者，是人不復貪著衣服、臥具、飲食、資生之物，所願不虛，亦於現世得其福報。若有人輕毀之，言：『汝狂人耳，空作是行，終無所獲。』如是罪報，當世世無眼；若有供養讚歎之者，當於今世得現果報。若復見受持是經者，出其過惡，若實、若不實，此人現世得白癩病。若有輕笑之者，當世世牙齒踈缺，醜脣、平鼻，手腳繚戾，眼目角睞，身體臭穢，惡瘡、膿血、水腹、短氣、諸惡重病。是故，普賢！若見受持是經典者，當起遠迎，當如敬佛。」 說是普賢勸發品時，恒河沙等無量無邊菩薩，得百千萬億旋陀羅尼；三千大千世界微塵等諸菩薩，具普賢道。 佛說是經時，普賢等諸菩薩，舍利弗等諸聲聞，及諸天、龍、人非人等，一切大會，皆大歡喜，受持佛語，作禮而去。
At that time Śākyamuni Buddha praised him, saying: "Excellent, excellent, Samantabhadra! That you should be able to protect and assist this sūtra, bringing peace and benefit to so many beings. You have already accomplished inconceivable merit, profound and great compassion, and, from a time long, long past, have brought forth the resolve for unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening, and are able, further, to make a vow of spiritual power such as this, to protect this sūtra. I too shall, by the power of my own spiritual penetration, protect whoever is able to uphold Samantabhadra's own name. "Samantabhadra! Should there be one who upholds, reads and recites, holds rightly in mind, practices and cultivates, or copies this Lotus Sūtra, know that this person has thereby seen Śākyamuni Buddha, exactly as though hearing this sūtra from the Buddha's own mouth; know that this person has made an offering to Śākyamuni Buddha; know that this person has been praised by the Buddha as excellent; know that this person has had their head touched by Śākyamuni Buddha's own hand; know that this person has been covered by Śākyamuni Buddha's own robe. Such a person shall no longer be attached to the pleasures of this world, shall take no delight in the texts and writings of other paths, and shall take no pleasure in drawing near to such people, or to any other evildoers — butchers, or those who raise pigs, sheep, chickens, or dogs, or hunters, or those who trade in women's beauty; this person's heart and mind shall be honest and upright, holding right mindfulness, possessed of the strength of merit; this person shall not be troubled by the three poisons, nor troubled by envy, self-conceit, false pride, or arrogance; this person, with few desires and knowing contentment, shall be able to cultivate Samantabhadra's own conduct. "Samantabhadra! In the five hundred years after the Tathāgata's parinirvāṇa, should anyone see one who upholds and reads and recites the Lotus Sūtra, they should think: 'This person shall, before long, go to the very place of awakening, break every host of māras, and attain unsurpassed, perfect and complete awakening; they shall turn the wheel of the Dharma, beat the Dharma drum, blow the Dharma conch, and rain down the Dharma's own rain, and shall sit upon the lion's Dharma seat, amid the great assembly of gods and humans.' "Samantabhadra! Should there be, in the age to come, one who upholds and reads and recites this sūtra, this person shall no longer be attached to clothing, bedding, food and drink, or the ordinary means of livelihood, and what they wish for shall not be in vain, gaining, too, its reward of good fortune in this very life. Should anyone treat them with contempt and revile them, saying: 'You are nothing but a madman, practicing this to no purpose, gaining nothing in the end' — the offender shall, as retribution for this offense, be born blind in life after life. Should there be, on the other hand, those who make offerings to such a person and praise them, they shall receive their reward manifestly in this very life. Should anyone, further, seeing one who upholds this sūtra, expose their faults and misdeeds, whether true or false, this person shall, in this very life, contract leprosy. Should anyone treat them with mockery and laughter, they shall, in life after life, have gapped and broken teeth, ugly lips, a flattened nose, twisted hands and feet, crossed eyes, a foul-smelling body, and evil sores oozing blood and pus, a swollen belly, shortness of breath, and every kind of serious and evil disease. For this reason, Samantabhadra, should you see one who upholds this sūtra, you should rise and go far to welcome them, revering them exactly as you would revere the Buddha himself." When this chapter, Samantabhadra's Encouragement, was taught, Ganges-sands of immeasurable, boundless bodhisattvas attained the dhāraṇī of hundreds of thousands of myriads of koṭis of revolutions, and bodhisattvas equal to the fine dust of the three-thousand-great-thousandfold world became complete in Samantabhadra's own conduct. When the Buddha had finished teaching this sūtra, Samantabhadra and the other bodhisattvas, Śāriputra and the other śrāvakas, and the gods, nāgas, humans and nonhumans, and the whole great assembly, were all filled with great joy, and, upholding the Buddha's own words, bowed to him and departed.
The warnings closing this final chapter — that mocking or slandering someone who upholds this sūtra brings blindness or disease across future lifetimes — are stated with the same bluntness this site's commentary has flagged before, in Part 24's treatment of self-immolation and Part 26's promise to women who uphold a particular chapter: this text does not soften its own claims for a modern reader's comfort, and this page will not soften them either. What is worth setting alongside that bluntness is the instruction immediately following it, and immediately preceding the sūtra's very last words: to rise and go out to welcome anyone who upholds this sūtra, "revering them exactly as you would revere the Buddha himself" — the same instruction, essentially, that Never-Disparaging Bodhisattva enacted in Part 22 toward every single person he met, whether they welcomed it or drove him off with stones.
The sūtra's closing sentence — the whole assembly rejoicing, receiving the Buddha's words, bowing, and departing — is the standard formula that closes a great many Buddhist sūtras, and it is worth pausing on here simply because this project now closes with it too. Kumārajīva's twenty-eight chapters, translated across this site in twenty-eight parts over four fascicles' worth of pages, began in Part 1 with an assembly gathered on Vulture Peak, uncertain what six auspicious signs might mean; it ends here, many chapters and one immeasurably long-delayed disclosure later, with that same assembly — joined by bodhisattvas risen from beneath the earth, by a Buddha extinct for immeasurable kalpas, and by a bodhisattva who rode in from the east on a six-tusked white elephant — simply bowing, and going on their way.