Today, I would like to tell the story about the child who copied the Lotus Sutra. Some members might know this story. Once upon a time in China, there was an expert in calligraphy whose name was Wolung. He had the reputation of being the best calligrapher in China, and copied many characters from Confucian books and poetry. But Wolung disliked Buddhism so much that he decided not to copy the Sutras. He never copied any part of any sutra during his lifetime. When he contracted a serious illness and knew the end was near, he called his child, Yilung to his bedside and said, “You are my child. You are a better calligrapher than I am. Promise me that you will succeed me and never quit. But remember this-even when you get in a difficult situation, never copy the Lotus Sutra. This is my deathbed request.” These were Wolung’s last words. Fresh blood began to gush out of his eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and all of his body, just like spring water. His tongue split into eight parts, and his body broke into pieces and was scattered. His child and relatives were very surprised at what they saw, but they did not know that Wolung would fall into hell.

One day, the Emperor who believed in Buddhism called Yilung and said, “You are one of the greatest calligraphers in China. I order you to copy the Lotus Sutra.” Yilung replied, “I would be happy to obey your orders on anything else, but I cannot copy the Lotus Sutra. It was my father’s deathbed request that I never copy it. Please forgive me.”

Yilung didn’t want to be disrespectful, but he couldn’t find a way to escape from the Emperor’s order. Seeing no other way out, Yilung obeyed the command, copying only the title of the Lotus Sutra and presented it to the Emperor. When he returned home, he visited his father’s grave and began to cry. “I cannot disobey the Emperor’s strict order. In spite of your request, I copied the title of the Lotus Sutra.” Yilung stayed at the grave without food for three days. In the early morning of the third day, he seemed to have a dream. Looking up at the sky, he heard a voice from the sky. “I am your father, Wolung. I have fallen into hell. Because I disliked Buddhism, I made an enemy of the Lotus Sutra during my life as a man. I have been tortured by having my tongue pulled out, pierced by needles, thousands of times a day. I have died and been revived innumerable times. I looked up at the sky, prostrated myself to the ground, and lamented over my situation, but there was nothing I could do. I wanted to tell someone about this, but had no means to do it. When you said, “I will not copy the Lotus Sutra, according to my father’s request, the words turned into flames and burned my body, the words into swords and fell down from the sky. I have no one to blame but myself, these tortures were from a seed I had sown in life.” Then a golden Buddha appeared in hell. The Buddha said, “However sinful he is, if he hears the Lotus Sutra once, he will certainly gain enlightenment. When the Buddha entered hell, my tortures were eased slightly, like rain falling on a huge fire.” And I asked the Buddha with Gassho, “Could you tell me your name ?“ The Buddha answered, “I am Myo, one of the syllables in the title of the Lotus Sutra, Myo-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo, which your son, Yilung coppied. Each Chinese character in the title of the Lotus Sutra represents a Buddha. Hearing this, Yilung was very surprised, but he was still half in doubt and asked again. “I copied the Lotus Sutra with my hand. But why would my father be saved by this one action ? Besides, I did not copy it wholeheartedly. His father answered, “Don’t you understand ? Your hand are my hands. Your body is my body. So the characters that you copied, I copied, too. Although you don’t believe in the Lotus Sutra, I could be saved from hell because you copied the Lotus Sutra with your hand. It’s just like a child who plays with matches, and burns something without intending to. Your copying of the Lotus Sutra was just like that. You should keep this in mind, and never again slander the Lotus Sutra.” The dream was a sign of his wish, was hospitable to Yilung, and believed in the Lotus Sutra even more.

The story in NJCHJREN Dai Shonin’s letter “A Response to Ueno Ama Gozen” teaches us that we can accumulate great merit by coping the Lotus Sutra. In the Lotus Sutra, we often see the sentence, “You should keep (juji), read (doku), recite (ju), expound (gesetsu) and copy (shosha) this sutra.” These activities are called the Five Kinds of Practice for a Teacher of the Dharma (goshufashi) and is the basis of faith in the Lotus Sutra. It teaches us that, if you believe in the Lotus Sutra, recite the Odaimoku. Na-Mu-Myo-Ho-Ren-Ge-Kyo, read it both with your body and your mind, expound the essence of the Sutra, and copy the sutra, the posture we project in gassho will reflect the form of the Buddha, and enlighten the Buddha’s mind. It means that the Lotus Sutra is the teaching of Sokushin Jobutsu (to obtain Buddhahood within the present lifetime).

The Lotus Sutra is formally called the Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law. The Lotus Sutra is compared to a lotus flower because a lotus flower can have a flower and a fruit simultaneously, and Buddhahood bears fruit as soon as the flower of faith blooms.