The Lotus Sutra
Chapter One - The Introduction
Text, Part One

Like this I have heard. One time the Buddha was at Vulture's Peak in Rajagriha, with a great assembly of Bhiksus, twelve thousand all together, all of them arhats. Having extinguished their afflictions, they were without emotional distress. For their own benefit they had extinguished all attachments to existence and attained mastery of the mind.

Their names included Ajnata Kaundinya, Maha Kasyapa, Uruvilva Kasyapa, Gaya Kasyapa, Nadi Kasyapa, Sariputra, Great Maudgalyayana, Maha Katyayana, Aniruddha, Kapphina, Gavampati, Revata, Pilindavatsa, Vakkula, Maha Kausthila, Nanda, Sundara Nanda, Purna the son of Maitrayani, Subhuti, Ananda and Rahula. All of these great arhats were well known to everyone.

There were another two thousand people who were either trainees or adepts.

There was also the Bhiksuni Maha Prajapati with her six thousand followers, and there was the Bhiksuni Yasodara, the mother of Rahula, with her followers.

There were Bodhisattva Mahasattvas, eighty thousand in all, none of them regressing in their quest for supreme universal enlightenment. They all attained dharanis with eloquence and skill, and they all turned the wheel of the Dharma without regressing, offering service to limitless hundreds of thousands of Buddhas. In the presence of the Buddhas they had planted roots of virtue and they were always praised by them. By cultivating a life of compassion they had skillfully entered into the spiritual insight of the Buddhas, penetrating their great wisdom and reaching to the other shore. Their names were known everywhere in the immeasurable worlds and they were able to deliver countless living beings.

Their names included the Bodhisattva Manjusri, the Bodhisattva Observing the Sounds of the World, the Bodhisattva Endowed With Great Power, the Bodhisattva Ever Diligent, the Bodhisattva Never Resting, the Bodhisattva Treasure at Hand, the Bodhisattva Medicine King, the Bodhisattva Valiant Offering, the Bodhisattvas Precious Moon, Moonlight and Full Moon, the Bodhisattvas Greatness of Courage, Limitless Courage and Courage in the Threefold Realm, the Bodhisattva Bhadrapala, the Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Bodhisattva Gathering of Treasure, and the Bodhisattva Guide & Teacher.

There were many Bodhisattva Mahasattvas such as these, eighty thousand all together.

• Then there was also Sakra Devendra with his followers, twenty thousand gods in all.
• There were the gods of heaven called The Moon, The Universal Fragrance & The Precious Light and the The Four Heavenly Kings, all with their followers, ten thousand gods in all.
• There were the gods of heaven called The Master and The Great Master, with their followers, thirty thousand gods in all.
• There was the Lord of the Saha World, Brahma the King of Heaven, The Great Brahma Sikhin, The Great Brahma of the Clear Light and the others, each with their followers, twelve thousand gods in all.

• There were The Eight Dragon Kings;
• The Dragon King Nanda,
• The Dragon King Upananda,
• The Dragon King Sagara,
• The Dragon King Vasuki,
• The Dragon King Taksaka,
• The Dragon King Anavatapta,
• The Dragon King Manasvin and
• The Dragon King Utpalaka, each with hundreds of thousands of followers.

• There were The Four Kinnara Kings;
• The Kinnara King Of the Dharma,
• The Kinnara King Of the Wonderful Dharma,
• The Kinnara King Of the Great Dharma, and
• The Kinnara King Embracing the Dharma, each with hundreds of thousands of followers.

• There were The Four Gandharva Kings;
• The Gandharva King Of Pleasure,
• The Gandharva King Of Music,
• The Gandharva King Of Beauty and
• The Gandharva King Of Beautiful Music, each with hundreds of thousands of followers.

• There were The Four Asura Kings;
• The Asura King Bali,
• The Asura King Kharaskandha,
• The Asura King Vemacitrin and
• The Asura King Rahu, each with hundreds of thousands of followers.

• There were four Garuda Kings;
• The Garuda King Greatness of Majestic Virtues,
• The Garuda King Greatness of Body,
• The Garuda King Greatness of Fulfillment and
• The Garuda King As One Wishes, each with hundreds of thousands of followers.

And there was Ajatasatru, the son of Vaidehi, with hundreds of thousands of followers.

Each of the members of the assembly bowed to the Buddha's feet, withdrew and sat to one side.

At this time the World Honored One was surrounded by the four kinds of believers who offered service to him, revered him and honored him with praise.

• For the Bodhisattvas the Buddha taught the Great Vehicle Sutra called Limitless Meanings, instructing them in the spirituality of the Bodhisattvas, which is protected and kept in mind by the Buddhas.
• Having taught this Sutra, the Buddha sat with legs locked in lotus position and entered into the Samadhi that is The Sphere of Limitless Meanings, his body and mind unmoving.
• The heavens then rained down mandarava blossoms, maha-mandarava blossoms, manjushaka blossoms and maha-manjushaka blossoms, scattering them over the Buddha and the great assembly.
• Everywhere the world of the Buddha shook and trembled six ways.
• Then, having experienced that never before seen, the monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen, the gods, dragons, yaksas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kinnaras and mahoragas, those human and not human, the petty kings, the noble wheel turning king and all the others in the great assembly rejoiced and pressed their palms together, observing the Buddha with a single mind.
• A ray of light then issued forth from the white whorl of hair in the middle of the Buddha's brow, illuminating eighteen thousand worlds in the east. There was nowhere that the light did not penetrate, from the lowest Avici Hell up to the highest Akanistha Heaven.

• And then they could see all the living beings of the six spiritual destinies in these lands.
• They could see the Buddhas that were present in these lands, and
• They could hear these Buddhas teaching the Dharma in the Sutras.
• At the same time they could see monks, nuns, laymen and laywomen there cultivating their practice and attaining the path of enlightenment.
• And they could see Bodhisattva Mahasattvas practicing the Bodisattva path there, all with different kinds of causes and conditions, different kinds of faith and understanding and different kinds of forms and appearances.
• And they could see the Buddhas entering into Pari-Nirvana, and the erecting of towers with the seven treasures for the relics of these Buddhas that had entered into Pari-Nirvana.

At this time the Bodhisattva Maitreya had this thought:

What is the reason for these signs of spiritual transformation that the World Honored One has just presented ? And now the Buddha, the World Honored One, has just entered into Samadhi. An unimaginable event such as this is rare to encounter. Who should I ask about this? Who would be able to answer me?

And then he had this thought:

There is a Prince of the Dharma, Manjusri, who has already been intimately close and offered service to countless Buddhas from the past. Surely he should have seen these rare signs. I now must ask him.

At this time the monks, the nuns, the laymen and laywomen, the gods, the dragons, the demons and all the other spirits had this thought:

Who should we ask about this bright ray of light issuing forth from the Buddha and all these other spiritual signs?

The Bodhisattva Maitreya, desiring to resolve his own doubts, and also observing the minds of the monks, the nuns, the laymen and laywomen, the gods, the dragons, the demons, and all the other spiritual beings in the assembly, posed a question to Manjusri:

What is the reason for these omens, these spiritual signs, and the emanation of a great ray of light that illuminates 18,000 lands in the east, enabling us see all the adornments in the lands of the Buddhas?

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