Outline

1. Opening: The setting is described and the Buddha is surrounded by all classes of disciples and beings. (3-4)

   1. The Buddha preaches sūtra called “Immeasurable Meanings” (Mahānirdeśa) (4)

2. Buddha enters samādhi “Abode of Immeasurable Meanings” (Anantanirdeśapratiṣṭhāna) (5)

3. Māndarava flowers rain down, earth trembles, Buddha emits ray of light from between his brows into the east. From there, light illuminates entire universe. (5)

4. Maitreya asks Mañjuśrī why this happened, then repeats question in verses. (5-12)

• 1. Mañjuśrī explains:  

     1. The Buddha will teach the great Dharma. (13)

  2. Buddhas in the past used the same portents. (13)

  3. Candrasūryapradīpa Buddhas taught the True Dharma. (13-15)

     2. 1. Had eight princely sons who became bodhisattvas.

• • 1. Preached the sūtra called “Immeasurable Meaning,” entered samādhi called “Abode of Immeasurable Meanings,” had displayed the same portents as Śākyamuni Buddha.

    2. Then he preached the Lotus Sutra.

    3. Was revealed to Varaprabha Bodhisattva.

• 4. Exited samādhi and entered nirvāṇa the same night. (15)

5. Mañjuśri reveals that he was Varaprabha, and Maitreya was one of Candrasūryapradīpa’s sons, Yaśaskāma. All the other princes attained Buddhahood. The last one was Dīpaṃkara—who in turn was Śākyamuni Buddha’s teacher. (16)

6. Mañjuśri recites verses: (16-22)

• 1. Before Candrasūryapradīpa entered nirvāṇa, he said that there is no reason to fear, because one of the Bodhisattvas will afterwards become a Buddha.

  2. The disciples create his stūpas after nirvāṇa, and Varaprabha/Mañjuśri recites the Lotus Sutra for aeons leading countless beings to Buddhahood.

  3. Yaśaskāma/Maitreya, was a lazy student of Varaprabha in the past.

Interpretation

The Buddha is said to hide nothing from his students. However, Mahāyāna Sūtras usually have a deeper layer of meaning than is initially present. This is no less the case with the Lotus Sūtra. The numbers below correspond to sections above.

• 1. The first implication of this introduction is that the Dharma is universal. It reaches all beings and applies to all beings.

  2. The introduction is also used to establish the sūtra as belonging to that genre, starting with “thus have I heard.” In Śrāvakayāna Sūtras, this is said to be Ānanda’s recollection. Haribhadra’s commentary on the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras explains that in the Mahāyāna, this is actually the recitation of Vajrapāni. Vajrapāni embodies the power of all Buddhas. The Āgamas were recited at the three rehearsals of the Tripiṭaka, but not the Mahāyāna Sūtras. To say that they emerge from the power of all Buddhas is to say that they are inspired. Knowledge of omniscience put into action as teaching. While composed or written by disciples of the Buddha, they are still the word of the Buddha because of this. As the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras say, “Whatever, Venerable Śāriputra, the Lord’s Disciples teach, all that is to be known as the Tathāgata’s work. For in the dharma demonstrated by the Tathāgata they train themselves, they realise its true nature, they hold it in mind. Thereafter nothing that they teach contradicts the true nature of dharma. Whatever those sons of good family may expound as the nature of dharma, that they do not bring into contradiction with the actual nature of dharma.”

  3. The Sūtra of Immeasurable Meanings is a shorter sūtra that is sometimes read prior to the Lotus Sutra. It establishes only that until that point, the Buddha had not taught the highest teaching to his disciples: the teaching of one vehicle, Buddha nature, and the transcendent Buddha. The Avataṃsaka teaches these, but it was addressed to celestial beings and Bodhisattvas only. The teaching of the one vehicle is not taught in that sūtra, but in this sūtra, which immediately follows it.

  4. According to Tao-sheng, this samādhi is intended to consummate realisation of the nature of the principle of the Dharma.

  5. According to Tao-sheng, the portents have the following meaning: flowers = unreality of four kinds of fruition; trembling = nature of the impermanence of four kinds of fruition; ray of light = the middle path (between brows) is the one vehicle that illuminates all and is identical with the other three (the light goes to the east, but also illuminates worlds in north, south, and west). This also symbolises that the Dharma and the process of its teaching occur in all space and at all time (the worlds illuminated include Buddhas teaching and passing away, etc.). We can realise the principle of the Dharma in everyday life, in the mundane and the sublime.

  6. Maitreya has to ask Mañjuśri because he is the wisest and almost a Buddha. In addition, this mirrors their past lives, where Mañjuśri was always the teacher of Maitreya.

  7. Mañjuśri’s recollection is important, because, as with the parable of the city, it establishes that the events not only occur with every Buddha, but that both of them, and Śākyamuni Buddha, were all present when this was taught in the past.

  8. It also establishes that the Lotus Sutra is preached prior to the Nirvana Sūtra. This is not an historical claim; it is a claim of importance: this teaching is consummate because the Buddha left it to the end to reveal. The Nirvana Sutra is about Buddha nature and the eternal, omnipresent nature of the Buddha, and the Lotus Sutra is about the eternal and omnipresent nature of the Dharma. Just as the Buddha encompasses everything, likewise, the Dharma does—it is all one path—it is all one Buddha.

  9. Every time a Buddha arises in the world, he engages in the same twelve great deeds, and teaches the same Dharma. This is a principle, or a metaphor. As the Lotus Sutra explains, the teaching in practice differs for each individual according to their inclinations. Although the Dharma appears to be different each time, ultimately, it is the same.

  10. This revelation links the story to the present.

  11. Maitreya went all that time, even being a son of Candrasūrapradīpa, but still did not attain Buddhahood. Finally, this is the last time he will have to hear the Lotus Sutra.

  12. Even though the Buddha is dead in the past, in many ways, he is still alive in the Dharma. The Dharma continues to be taught even after he is gone. This is just the same with Śākyamuni Buddha—also emphasised with the Nirvana Sutra. Just because the Buddha entered nirvana, does not mean he is gone and is not still teaching.

  13. We probably encountered the Dharma or the Lotus Sutra countless times in the past, but still did not get the message properly. The conditions may not have been right. Finally, we have also been given the opportunity to hear it again.