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Chapter
Twenty-two:
Entrustment
At that time Shakyamuni Buddha rose from his Dharma seat and, manifesting
his great supernatural powers, with his right hand patted the heads
of the immeasurable bodhisattvas and mahasattvas and spoke these
words: "For immeasurable hundreds, thousands, ten thousands,
millions of asamkhya kalpas I have practiced this hard-to-attain
Law of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Now I entrust it to you. You must
single-mindedly propagate this Law abroad, causing its benefits
to spread far and wide."
Three
times he patted the bodhisattvas and mahasattvas on the head and
spoke these words: "For immeasurable hundreds, thousands, ten
thousands, millions of asamkhya kalpas I have practiced this hard-to-attain
Law of anuttara-samyak-sambodhi. Now I entrust it to you. You must
accept, uphold, recite, and broadly propagate this Law, causing
all living beings everywhere to hear and understand it. Why? Because
the Thus Come One has great pity and compassion. He is in no way
stingy or begrudging, nor has he any fear. He is able to bestow
on living beings the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Thus
Come One, the wisdom that comes of itself. The Thus Come One is
a great giver of gifts to all living beings. You for your part should
respond by studying this Law of the Thus Come One. You must not
be stingy or begrudging.
"In
future ages if there are good man and good women who have faith
in the wisdom of the Thus Come One, you should preach and expound
the Lotus Sutra for them., so that others may hear and understand
it. For in this way you can cause them to gain the Buddha wisdom.
If there are living beings who do not believe or accept it, you
should use some of the other profound doctrines of the Thus Come
One to teach, benefit and bring joy to them. If you do all this,
then you will have repaid the debt of gratitude that you owe to
the Buddha."
When
the bodhisattvas and mahasattvas heard the Buddhas speak these words,
they all experienced a great joy that filled their bodies. With
even greater reverence than before, they bent their bodies, bowed
their heads, pressed their palms together and, facing the Buddha,
raised their voices in unison, saying: "We will respectfully
carry out all these things just as the World-Honored One has commanded.
We beg the World-Honored One to have no concern on this account!"
The
multitude of bodhisattvas and mahasattvas repeated these words three
times, raising their voices in unison and saying: "We will
respectfully carry out all these things just as the World-Honored
One has commanded. Therefore we beg the World-Honored One to have
no concern on this account!"
At
that time Shakyamuni Buddha caused the Buddhas who were emanations
of his body and had come from the ten directions to return each
one to his original land, saying: "Each of these Buddhas may
proceed at his own pleasure. The tower of Many Treasures Buddha
may also return to its former position."
When
he spoke these words, the immeasurable emanation Buddhas from the
ten directions who were seated on lion seats under the jeweled trees,
as well as Many Treasures Buddha, Superior Practices, and the others
of the greater multitude of boundless asamkhya of bodhisattvas,
Sâriputra and the other voice-hearers and four kinds of believers,
and the heavenly and human beings, asuras and others in all the
worlds, hearing what the Buddha had said, were all filled with great
joy.
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