Ch.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27
CHAPTER XVII.
INDICATION OF THE MERITORIOUSNESS OF JOYFUL ACCEPTANCE.
Thereupon
the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya said to the Lord: O
Lord, one who, after hearing this Dharmaparyâya being
preached, joyfully I accepts it, be that person a young
man of good family or a young lady, how much merit, O
Lord, will be produced by such a young man or young lady
of good family?
And on that occasion the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya
uttered this stanza:
1. How great will be the merit of him who, after the
extinction of the great Hero, shall hear this exalted
Sûtra and joyfully accept it?
And the Lord said to the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya:
If any one, Agita, either a young man of good family or a
young lady, after the complete extinction of the
Tathâgata, hears the preaching of this Dharmaparyayâ, let
it be a monk or nun, a male or female lay devotee, a man
of ripe understanding or a boy or girl; if the hearer
joyfully accepts it, and then after the sermon rises up
to go elsewhere, to a monastery, house, forest, street,
village, town, or province, with the motive and express
aim to expound the law such as he has understood, such as
he has heard it, and according to the measure of his
power, to another person, his mother, father, kinsman,
friend, acquaintance, or any other person; if the latter,
after hearing, joyfully accepts, and, in consequence,
communicates it to another; if the latter, after hearing,
joyfully accepts, and communicates it to another; if this
other, again, after hearing, joyfully accepts it, and so
on in succession until a number of fifty is reached;
then, Agita, the fiftieth person to hear and joyfully
accept the law so heard, let it be a young man of good
family or a young lady, will have acquired an
accumulation of merit connected with the joyful
acceptance, Agita, which I am going to indicate to thee.
Listen, and take it well to heart; I will tell thee.
It is, Agita, as if the creatures existing in the four
hundred thousand Asankhyeyas of worlds, in any of the six
states of existence, born from an egg, from a womb, from
warm humidity, or from metamorphosis, whether they have a
shape or have not, be they conscious or unconscious,
neither conscious nor unconscious, footless, two-footed,
four-footed, or many-footed, as many beings as are
contained in the world of creatures,-(as if) all those
had flocked together to one place. Further, suppose some
man appears, a lover of virtue, a lover of good, who
gives to that whole body the pleasures, sports,
amusements, and enjoyments they desire, like, and relish.
He gives to each of them all Gambudvîpa for his
pleasures, sports, amusements, and enjoyments; gives
bullion, gold, silver, gems, pearls, lapis lazuli,
conches, stones (?), coral, carriages yoked with horses,
with bullocks, with elephants; gives palaces and towers.
In this way, Agita, that master of munificence, that
great master of munificence continues spending his gifts
for fully eighty years. Then, Agita, that master of
munificence, that great master of munificence reflects
thus: All these beings have I allowed to sport and enjoy
themselves, but now they are covered with wrinkles and
grey-haired, old, decrepit, eighty years of age, and near
the term of their life. Let me therefore initiate them in
the discipline of the law revealed by the Tathâgata, and
instruct them. Thereupon, Aota, the man exhorts all those
beings, thereafter initiates them in the discipline of
the law revealed by the Tathâgata, and makes them adopt
it. Those beings learn the law from him, and in one
moment, one instant, one bit of time, all become
Srotaâpannas, obtain the fruit of the rank of
Sakridâgâmin and of Anâgâmin, until they become Arhats,
free from all imperfections, adepts in meditation, adepts
in great meditation and in the meditation with eight
emancipations. Now, what is thine opinion, Agita, will
that master of munificence, that great master of
munificence, on account of his doings, produce great
merit, immense, incalculable merit? Whereupon the
Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya said in reply to the
Lord: Certainly, Lord; certainly, Sugata; that person,
Lord, will already produce much merit on that account,
because he gives to the beings all that is necessary for
happiness; how much more then if he establishes them in
Arhatship!
This said, the Lord spoke to the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva
Maitreya as follows: I announce to thee, Agita, I declare
to thee; (take) on one side the master of munificence,
the great master of munificence, who produces merit by
supplying all beings in the four hundred thousand
Asanikhyeyas of worlds with all the necessaries for
happiness and by establishing them in Arhatship; (take)
on the other side the person who, ranking the fiftieth in
the series of the oral tradition of the law, hears, were
it but a single stanza, a single word, from this
Dharmaparyâya and joyfully accepts it; if (we compare)
the mass of merit connected with the joyful acceptance
and the mass of merit connected with the charity of the
master of munificence, the great master of munificence,
then the greater merit will be his who, ranking the
fiftieth in the series of the oral tradition of the law,
after hearing were it but a single stanza, a single word,
from this Dharmaparyâya, joyfully accepts it. Against
this accumulation of merit, Agita, this accumulation of
roots of goodness connected with that joyful acceptance,
the former accumulation of merit connected with the
charity of that master of munificence, that great master
of munificence, and connected with the confirmation in
Arhatship, does not fetch the 1/100 part, not the
1/100,000, not the 1/10,000,000 not the 1/1000,000,000
not the 1/1000 x 10,000,000 not the 1/100,000 x
10,000,000, not the 1/100,000 x 10,000 x 10,000,000 part;
it admits of no calculation, no counting, no reckoning,
no comparison, no approximation, no secret teaching. So
immense, incalculable, Agita, is the merit which a
person, ranking the fiftieth in the series of the
tradition of the law, produces by joyfully accepting,
were it but a single stanza, a single word, from this
Dharmaparyâya; how much more then (will) he (produce),
Agita, who hears this Dharmaparyâya in my presence and
then joyfully accepts it? I declare, Agita, that his
accumulation of merit shall be even more immense, more
incalculable.
And further, Agita, if a young man of good family or a
young lady, with the design to hear this discourse on the
law, goes from home to a monastery, and there hears this
Dharmaparyâya for a single moment, either standing or
sitting, then that person, merely by the mass of merit
resulting from that action, will after the termination of
his (present) life, and at the time of his second
existence when he receives (another) body, become a
possessor of carriages yoked with bullocks, horses, or
elephants, of litters, vehicles yoked with bulls, and of
celestial aerial cars. If further that same person at
that preaching sits down, were it but a single moment, to
hear this Dharmaparyâya, or persuades another to sit down
or shares with him his seat, he will by the store of
merit resulting from that action gain seats of Indra,
seats of Brahma, thrones of a Kakravartin. And, Agita, if
some one, a young man of good family or a young lady,
says to another person: Come, friend, and hear the
Dharmaparyâya of the Lotus of the True Law, and if that
other person owing to that exhortation is persuaded to
listen, were it but a single moment, then the former will
by virtue of that root of goodness, consisting in that
exhortation, obtain the advantage of a connection with
Bodhisattvas who have acquired Dhâranî. He will become
the reverse of dull, will get keen faculties, and have
wisdom; in the course of a hundred thousand existences he
will never have a fetid mouth, nor an offensive one; he
will have no diseases of the tongue, nor of the mouth; he
will have no black teeth, no unequal, no yellow, no
ill-ranged, no broken teeth, no teeth fallen out; his
lips will not be pendulous, not turned inward, not
gaping, not mutilated, not loathsome; his nose will not
be flat, nor wry; his face will not be long, nor wry, nor
unpleasant. On the contrary, Agita, his tongue, teeth,
and lips will be delicate and wellshaped; his nose long;
his face perfectly round; the eyebrows well-shaped; the
forehead well-formed. He will receive a very complete
organ of manhood. He will have the advantage that the
Tathâgata renders sermons intelligible to him and soon
come in connection with Lords, Buddhas. Mark, Agita, how
much good is produced by one's inciting were it but a
single creature; how much more then by him who
reverentially hears, reverentially reads, reverentially
preaches, reverentially promulgates the law!
And on that occasion the Lord uttered the following
stanzas:
2. Listen how great the merit is of one who, the fiftieth
in the series (of tradition), hears a single stanza from
this Sûtra and with placid mind joyfully adopts it.
3. Suppose there is a man in the habit of giving alms to
myriads of kotis of beings, whom I have herebefore
indicated by way of comparison'; all of them he satisfies
during eighty years.
4. Then seeing that old age has approached for them, that
their brow is wrinkled and their head grey (he thinks):
Alas, how all beings come to decay! Let me therefore
admonish them by (speaking of) the law.
5. He teaches them the law here on earth and points to
the state of Nirvana hereafter. 'All existences' (he
says) 'are like a mirage; hasten to become disgusted with
all existence.'
6. All creatures, by hearing the law from that charitable
person, become at once Arhats, free from imperfections,
and living their last life.
7. Much more merit than by that person will be acquired
by him who through unbroken tradition shall hear were it
but a single stanza and joyfully receive it. The mass of
merit of the former is not even so much as a small
particle of the latter's.
8. So great will be one's merit, endless, immeasurable,
owing to one's hearing merely a single stanza, in regular
tradition; how much more then if one hears from face to
face!
9. And if somebody exhorts were it but a single creature
and says: Go, hear the law, for this Sûtra is rare in
many myriads of kotis of Æons;
10. And if the creature so exhorted should hear the Sûtra
even for a moment, hark what fruit is to result from that
action. He shall never have a mouth disease;
11. His tongue is never sore; his teeth shall never fall
out, never be black, yellow, unequal; his lips never
become loathsome;
12. His face is not wry, nor lean, nor long; his nose not
flat; it is well-shaped, as well as his forehead, teeth,
lips, and round face.
13. His aspect is ever pleasant to men; his mouth is
never fetid, it constantly emits a smell sweet as the
lotus.
14. If some wise man, to hear this Sûtra, goes from his
home to a monastery and there listen, were it but for a
single moment, with a placid mind, hear what results from
it.
15. His body is very fair; he drives with horsecarriages,
that wise man, and is mounted on elevated carriages drawn
by elephants and variegated with gems.
16. He possesses litters covered with ornaments and
carried by numerous men. Such is the blessed fruit of his
going to hear preaching.
17. Owing to the performance of that pious work he shall,
when sitting in the assembly there, obtain seats of
Indra, seats of Brahma, seats of kings.