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.