MindYourBuddha

We pick-up the story on Divine Vulture Peak where the Buddha has just concluded teaching the assembly the Law of Innumerable Meanings.  After a couple of pages describing the more notable luminaries in attendance, the Buddha enters contemplation - a meditative state where his mind and body remain motionless.  With the assembly settled in quiet reverence, the sky opens raining down flowers while the universal-buddha-world shook in six ways.

Then the Buddha sent forth from the circle of white hair between his eyebrows a ray of light, which illuminated eighteen thousand worlds in the eastern quarter, so that there was nowhere it did not reach, downward to the Avici hell and upwards to the Akanishtha heaven.  In this world were seen in those lands all their living creatures in the six states of existence; likewise were seen the buddhas existing at present in those lands; and there could be heard the sutra-laws those buddhas were preaching; there could also be seen there bhikshus, bhikshunis, upasakas and upasikas who had practiced and attained the Way; further were seen the bodhisattva-mahasattvas, who walked the bodhisattva-way from various causes, with various discernments in faith, and with various appearances; likewise were seen the buddhas who had entered final nirvana; and there were seen the stupas made of the precious seven for relics of the buddhas, which were erected after the buddhas entered final nirvana.

Wow, what an opening!  Maitreya Bodhisattva is the first to speak, not to the Buddha so as not to disturb him, but to Manjursi, who has been in the company of other buddhas.  Whats happening Manjursi - to which, as we have come to expect Manjursi repeats in flowing verse the situation and the question and concludes by saying, the Buddha has something important to say - he is preparing to preach the great law.

Manjursi continues by telling a story set in the "time of yore".  There once was a buddha named Sun Moon Light Tathagata who taught the law:

For those who sought to be sravakas he preached response to the Law of the Four Noble Truths for the overcoming of birth, old age, disease, and death and finally [leading to] nirvana; for those who sought pratyekabuddhahood he preached response to the Law of Twelve Causes; for the bodhisattvas he preached response to the Six Parimitas to cause them to attain Perfect Enlightenment and to accomplish perfect knowledge.

Now Sun Moon Light Tathagata was not alone, the story says there were twenty thousand buddhas all with the same name.  I'm guessing the reference here is to 20,000 rebirths of the same buddha.  The last of the Sun Moon Light Tathagatas, also a great teacher experienced a similar moment - addressing a large assembly of followers and emitting a beacon of light from his forehead and at that time there was one in the assembly, a bodhisattva named Mystic Light.  When the Sun Moon Light Tathagatas ended his contemplation, he announces that the Bodhisattva Virtue Treasury, also present, will be the next buddha, then he through Mystic Light, preaches The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, after which he enters nirvana.  Mystic Light having retained the  The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, in-turn taught it to all, including the sons of this Sun Moon Light Tathagata who all became buddhas - the last of which was Burning Light.  Among the eight hundred disciples of Burning Light was Fame Seeker, so named because although he had read and recited many sutra, he had retained none.

At this point Manjursi says to Maitreya, that Maitreya was in a former birth Fame Seeker and that he was Mystic Light.  What! Before I read this I never considered that Buddhists might have had there own particular sense of humor.  This stuck me as a kick in the pants, maybe even insulting, but I'm probably just projecting my own pride on poor Maitreya.  

In class, we learned that three of the characters hold a special significance.

Maitreya represent compassion
Manjursi represent wisdom
Virtue Treasury represent practice.

These three are different levels of advancement as bodhisattvas.  Out of compassion comes wisdom and from wisdom comes practice.  There is a nature progression when learning Buddhism.  First the sravaka - one who hears the voice of Buddha and thereby reaches enlightenment.  This is the the lowest of the four noble states.  The next holy state is pratyekabuddhahood - one who attains enlightenment by completely apprehending the Law of Twelve Causes.  The pratyekabuddhahood attain enlightenment through their own independent practice without a teacher.  The next noble state is the bodhisattva - a being in the final stage prior to attaining buddhahood. One who seeks enlightenment not for himself but for all sentient beings.  The last noble state is the buddha - one who is enlightened.

Just like the lotus flower, born in mud, ascending towards the light and emerging beautifully unspoiled by its origin, so the Lotus Flower Sutra promotes our evolution as Buddhists.

The chapter concludes with the verse.

Now the Buddha sends forth a ray
To help reveal the Truth of Reality.
Be aware, all of you!
Fold your hands and with all your mind await!
The Buddha will pour the rain of the Law
To satisfy those who seek the Way.
If those who seek after the three vehicles
Have any doubts or regrets,
The Buddha will rid them of them
So that none whatever remain