Lotus Sutra, Lecture No. II-13

Shunryu Suzuki Transcript

Fall 1968
Zen Mountain Center

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—bodhisattvas and arhats. “Subhuti—Subhuti, the Venerable Rahula.” Rahula is, as you know, Buddha's son. “With them yet other great disciples, as Venerable Ananda, still under training—still under training, and two thousand other monks—other monks, some of whom still under training, the others masters; with six thousand nuns having at their head Mahapragapati—” Mahaprajapati—Mahaprajapati is Buddha's aunt. “—and the nun Yasodhara.” Of course she is Buddha's wife, the mother of Rahula. Rahula is Yasodhara's, you know, son and Buddha's son.

“Along with her—along with her train; further, with eighty thousand Bodhisattvas, all unable to slide back, endowed with the spell of supreme, perfect enlightenment, firmly standing in the—in wisdom; who moved onward the never deviating wheel of law; who had propitiated many hundred thousands of Buddhas; who under many—who under many hundred thousands of Buddhas had planted the root of goodness, had been intimate with many hundred thousands of Buddha, were in body and mind fully penetrated with the feeling of charity;” and so on.

Devadatta. Devadatta is famous because he tried to kill Buddha [laughs, laughter]. There were also famous King Ajatashatru. His father was King Bimbisara—Bimbisara. But his son, he, because he had no—he had for a long time no son, a princes—a prince; so he asked a old fortune teller—what do you say [laughs], “fortune teller”? Not fortune cookies [laughs], fortune [laughter] teller, okay? Asked about his prince. He says, “Yes, you have—you may have princes, but he is now in the mountain, but soon he may come.”1

So, the king sent someone to kill him, you know, he was so eager to have his princes. If he is going—his future life—next life will—is—his prince, it may be better to kill him [laughs], so that he can have his prince earlier. So, he sent someone to kill him. And he got a beautiful boy. And he—but—and again, the king asked his old fortune teller what will be his next—his life. And he said, “You killed him, you know, so, he may be; he—he may kill you [laughs] you know. Because you killed him, so he is very dangerous.” So, he wanted to kill him again, and he want to—he wanted to throw him from the high tower. But he couldn't kill him, so he treated him very well so that he may not have any—he may give up notion of killing him or he may not give him any chance to kill him. And so, another name for him was, you know, Michorin [Japanese word?]. Michorin, I don't know how to—who has some—who has—a man who has in his mind a bad feeling or, not revenge, but what you say —“grudge?” Yeah. So, as the fortune—the old fortune teller said, when he became quite—a good youth—he put his father in prison and made him starve to death. And he took over his father's throne and became a king.

And Devadatta—Devadatta, the Buddha's disciple, also wanted to take over his—Buddha's seat. Devadatta was also from the family of Shakya. Shakyamuni Buddha's family. So, he wanted to take over Buddha's seat. And Devadatta helped Bimbisara to kill his father, and—no, not Bimbasara, Ajatasattu to kill Bimbisara, and Bimbisara, after he became a king, helped Devadatta to kill Shakyamuni Buddha. But he couldn't do so. Anyway, there is many stories, but he, Buddha get injured, his toe only, when Devadatta and his men throw a stone on the cliff when Buddha was passing the path. He is anyway famous for his, you know atrociously bad notion [laughs] to kill Buddha. That is one of the worst—worst violence of the precepts.

Ananda is Buddha's jisha—jisha for more, maybe 20 or more years. Twenty-five. Some—some says twenty-five, some says twenty. Anyway, for a long time. One day Buddha asked him—asked jisha, only one jisha without changing, because he was, he became so old that he wanted to have someone always help him. And Ananda was—became a jisha at that time when he said, “I will take care of various people who come from remoted countries to meet Buddha. I will—I will introduce them without fail if they come from remoted country. And I will remember all what Buddha said. If Buddha say something when I was not with him, I will ask him to tell it again.”

Buddha was very pleased, and he became his jisha. And there were some more things which he told him. “What I get from people is yours; and I will not take anything which was given to Buddha,” or something like that. But the most impressive, most important point, maybe two points: that he will remember what he said, and that he will be very good for the people who want to meet with Buddha.

And Mahaprajapati, this is—this is Buddha's aunt and who after his mother passed away, he raised Buddha. Mahaprajapati and Yasodhara, the mother of Rahula, along with her train. ??? this sutra is described as if Buddha himself told his story, but actually it is not so. And this, as I said before, this sutra is told all—in such a form as Buddha himself told it, but actually two, maybe two, three hundred after Buddha passed away, this scripture was told by someone, we don't know who. But the thought is based on Mahayana teaching. And Buddha who is telling this story is actually Sambhogakaya Buddha, not Nirmanakaya Buddha. But here it says they are still under training; “along with her train; further, with eighty thousand Bodhisattvas.” Bodhisattvas is Mahayana, who practice Buddhism with Mahayana spirit, to help others rather than to help themselves. “Bodhisattvas all unable to slide backs.” Unable to slide back means if you really understand something, you know, you cannot forget it. What you attain, in its true sense you cannot, you know, lose it. Real attainment cannot be lost. So, we says, “no slide black.” “All unable to slide back, endowed with the spell—spells of supreme, perfect enlightenment.” This is so called dharani. Do you know mantra? Dharani. A kind of spell or holy words which has mystic power. Or it means essence of the teaching, essential, you know—essential teaching. Chinese translation of it is sogi. So means “good merit,” and gi means “to observe sila or precepts.” It means, anyway, the essence: essential teaching.

“Endowed with spells of supreme, perfect enlightenment,” translated—here it is translated in this way. Spells, you know, some words which has some important, essential word. “Spells of supreme, perfect enlightenment, firmly standing in wisdom.” Wisdom is not knowledge, but more intuitive knowledge, which is his own. Wisdom which is not learned, which should be, which could be learned from others but which comes out from himself with, and “Who moved onward the never deviating wheel of the law.” Wheel of the law, this idea came from the wheel of, you know, when the battlefield, a king, you know, when king turn the wheel of army, that which is very strong and which never be pushed back. It will go always on and on and on. The Buddha's teaching like a wheel of the army, or wheel of the force. So “never deviating wheel of the law; who had propitiated many hundred thousands of Buddhas.” Propitiate—propitiation we have tech—this is a kind of tech—technical term. In Japanese, ku yo—ku yo. If you consult with dictionary, you will find out full meaning of it. Ku yo, K U Y O—ku yo. There are three ways of—there are three way in ku yo. One is to give teaching, to offer teaching, like to recite sutra: one. And to pay respect is the second one. And to offer some materials: food or flowers or incense. Those are the three ways of making propitiation. “Who had propitiated many hundred thousands of Buddhas; who under—who under many hundred thousands of Buddhas had planted the root of goodness.” This is—in Chinese also—we have technical term, zenmon[?]. Zenmon—”good root.” Zen is “good.” Mon is “root.” Who “had planted the root of goodness.” In—I don’t know, in—as English, you know, this is—whether it makes sense to you or not, but it has a kind of technical term. “Good root of—roots of goodness, had been intimate with many hundred thousands of Buddhas.” This is also, you know, technical term.

“Were in the body and mind fully penetrated with the feeling of charity.” And this is, you know: body and mind, you know, this is—one is missing here, you know. Body, mind. You know, we say—when we say body, mind, we usually say body, mind and mouth, you know. Talk. This is also important. Body. Mind—even though you think something good, it will be a merit—if you say something, that is also give you a merit. And action by body, we—in Japanese or Chinese this is also a technical term. Three, so three karmic action. Good karma or bad karma. Bad karma or good karma will be created by mouth and mind and body. So here one is missing, but in some other translation—some other original text, the word is also here. “Were in body and mind fully penetrated with the feeling of charity; able in communicating the wisdom of Tathagata—Tathagatas.” Tathagatas is synonymous with Buddha, but this is—for what, you know—I don't know what. Tathagata is the third person, you know. Buddha himself do not call Tathagata. Tathagata is the third person, you know. Someone is Tathagata. Or second person—you may be Tathagata. To myself, anyway, Tathagata. “Wisdom of the Tathagata; very wise, having reached the perfection of wisdom.” [Laughs] this is also technical term, “perfection of the wisdom.” Anatta samyak sambhodai in Japan—Japanese.

“Renowned in many hundred thousands of worlds; having saved many hundred thousand—thousand myriads of kotis of being; such as the Bodhisattva Mahasattva.” Now we have many names here [laughs] again. This is the—it means that, you know, Sambhogakaya Buddha, within himself, he include many things, you know. As he is one with every being. So there should be various name. This is not name—is not—those are not enough, but anyway we have here many names such as Bodhisattva Mahasattva Manjushri. Manjushri or Avalokitesvara is a most important Bodhisattvas. Those Bodhisattvas like Manjushri appeared two, three thousand—two, three hundred years after Buddha passed away, like Manjushri. “Manjushri as a prince royal” prince royal, we say. Well, why we say prince royal is: in scriptures, he told various teaching for Buddha—instead of Buddha. Or he discussed the holy teaching with Buddha, you know. So, he is like a prince for Buddha. So, we say prince. Prince royal, Manjushri. And—and there are many stories how he—who was his father or mother, where he was born; but so many stories were told about him [laughs] so we don't know which is right or which is wrong, you know. We don't know whether he is historical person or not, we don't know. But anyway, he is—he—his character represents Buddha’s—one of the Buddha's character: wisdom. He is very much like Shariputra. And he—he is sitting on his right, Buddha's right. Here, Manjushri is sitting. And the other side, Fugen Bosatsu is sitting. Manjushri—and the Fu—is the symbol of wisdom, and Fu—Fugen—Fu is symbol of practice.

“The Bodhisattva Mahasattva Avalokitesvara—Avalokitesvara—Avalokitesvara.” This is Bodhisattva—Bodhisattva of Mercy. We have, you know, I must—here—about him there is special chapter for her—for him. [Tape is rumpled here, but S.R. goes on with sutra.] And “Mahasthamaprapta—Mahasthamaprapta.” He is in Japanese Daiseishi Bosatsu. “Sarvarthanaman—Sarvarthanaman” like he is—in Chinese he is ??? always making—Bodhisattva always making a great effort. And next one, Nityodyukta. “Nityodyukta.” This is Bodhisattva who do not rest [laughs]. Who make constant effort: Nityodyukta. “Anikshiptadhura,” this is Bodhisattva who make—who have treasure in his hands. “Ratnapaṇi,” this is seventh one. Oh, excuse me. Ratnapaṇi2 has—the Bodhisattva who has always treasure in his hand. And this is the seventh one. By the way, there is, according to the translation or original text they translated, there is some difference in order and number too. Here we have maybe twenty-two, twenty-three. Should be twenty-four. Next one “Pradanasura.” Pranadasura is Bodhisattva of—to give you courage. Bodhisattva who give you, who give us courage, or faith, or strong way-seeking mind. And next one, tenth, is “Ratnachandra—Ratnachandra.” Chandra means the moon. The round, beautiful Bodhisattva, Ratnachandra Bodhisattva. Ratnaprabha Bodhisattva, the eleventh one. It is a beautiful light Bodhisattva, who gives everything—who is giving always beautiful light—light.

Anantavikramin. Anantavikramin—Anantavikramin who gives us endless, limitless power, Anantavikramin. And next one is missing in Chinese translation. Both old translation and new translation. And old translation and new translation—the original text looks like different. But anyway, this one is missing in Chinese translation—translation. But this translation very similar Chinese translation, so it is—for me it is easier. Fifteenth, next—next one is Mahapratibhana—Mahapratibhana. This is missing in Chinese translation. And I must find out, but I haven't find out what does it mean. Padmasri[?]—Padmasri. He is also missing in Chinese translation. He is translated in other scripture—oh, in other scriptures translated as who—Bodhisattva who has virtue of a flower, lotus— Padmasri[?].

“Nakshatraraja.” Twenty ???. This is also missing in Chinese translation. “Bodhisattva Mahasattva Maitreya.” This is Miroku who appears after Buddhism fades away. “The Bodhisattva Mahasattva Simha.” The, you know, here Bodhisattva Mahasattva Simha it says. Bodhisattva Mahasattva Maitreya. And that —for the first one, Bodhisattva Mahasattva Manjusri. And for the next one there is no this type. But, they skipped, you know, to repeat same title over and over again, instead of giving the same title for those Bodhisattva—Bodhisattvas, they gave that title for the first one and the last one. So, some people say Bodhisattva Mahasattva Simha was added later. It may be so; I don't know. Simha means, anyway, “lion,” so, but—Bodhisattva Mahasattva Maitreya looks like the last one. And Bodhisattva Mahasattva—it repeats same title again, here. So, I don't know. Anyway, this kind of study is very [laughs] complicated study still, but they are studying. They do not feel so good [laughs, laughter] until they have some definite conclusion [laughs].

“With them were also sixteen virtuous men to begin with Bhadrapala.” Bhadrapala—Bhadrapala is the Bodhisattva who we bow, you know, each time when we take bath. We have his sixteen—fifteen of his friend all was enlightened in bathroom [laughter, laughs]. I don't know [laughs], I don’t say enlightenment, but in their previous life they were good friend. And they took bath—bath together. And this Bodhisattva—Badabara in Japanese—in Sanskrit, Bhadrapala—attained enlightenment in his, you know, former life. And under Shakyamuni Buddha they also appeared as a good friend and studied under him, under Shakyamuni Buddha, and attained enlightenment.

There is in—in Blue Cliff Record, there is a koan about him. When this Bodhisattva attained enlightenment he said: “Myo jako Zen myo.” “Myo jako Zen myo” means: “myo” is when he took bath, he—his mind and body became clear and felt so good. And he realized the water—he realized that water as well as various being, has no self-nature. The koan is “What does it mean by “myo jako Zen myo?” How he—this Bodhisattva attained enlightenment? This is the koan in the Blue—Blue Cliff Record.

Water has, you know, important [laughs]. Reverend Katagiri's father—teacher or master. I think he is—he must be a very good teacher because people in that village—when—I don't remember exactly what Reverend Katagiri said, but, anyway, at that temple, he get water by pipe—by bamboo—bamboo pipe from pretty—from a spring pretty far away from temple. You know, bamboo pipe. And for—for that they have pail—wooden pail. And they sent that pail to mend—to get mended. And he—the—and when they get it back to the temple, the pail was still leaking [laughs]. Still—it was still leaking. And so Reverend Katagiri took it to the store or shop to make it perfect. And the old man who—who is working on it said, “Maybe water in the temple, in your temple, should be very different [laughs] different water—from the water we have [laughs] in the village. You see, I think—I think if you see Reverend Katagiri, what he—the way he does is very [laughs] special, you know [laughs]. Way he hit mokugyo, the way he—he recites sutra. His manner is anyway very gentle and precise and gives us good feeling—special, I think, his teacher, in that way. So, I think his father, his master should be like him, or must be like him. “So [laughs] water you use is quite different, must be quite different [laughter, laughs], to the water we [laughs]—we have in—in our village [laughs]. That is why it leaks [laughs, laughter].”

Anyway, I think that kind of enlightenment [laughs] he may have when he took bath. So Yasutani Roshi, you know, when Yasutani Roshi came and took his bath, he enjoyed, you know, completely the hot spring bath. And he wrote some poem about myo jyko Zen myo—about this koan. You know, water penetrate, you know, everything with hole or without hole, it doesn't matter, you know. Even through the stone [laughs]—penetrate into even a hard stone.

Still, why water penetrate into everything is: it has no self-nature. You know, if you have self-nature you cannot penetrate into everything. That is the, you know, the koan we study about this Bodhisattva.

“Sixteen virtuous men.” This is also a technical term. Sixteen virtuous men we call—we have several rendering. Kai shi juroku. When we say juroku, sixteen men, it means sixteen men—sixteen—fifteen friend of Bhadrapala. And here we have also many names which I don't know, of which I am not so familiar. But Bhadrapala is the Bodhisattva who is enshrined in our bathroom.


Thank you very much.
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1 See www.nichirenlibrary.org/en/dic/Content/A/27 for this story.

2 "Ratnakandra" in Kern translation, but this is probably a mistake there because that name is listed twice.

This transcript was a retyping of the existing City Center transcript. It was not verbatim. The City Center transcript was entered onto disk by Jose Escobar, 1997. It was reformatted by Bill Redican (7/17/01). Verbatim version based on Engage Wisdom audio by Peter Ford 3/2025.
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File name: 68-10-00-L: Lotus Sutra, Lecture No. II-13 (Verbatim) Changed "Along with then" to "Along with them"; "you will him" to "you kill him"; "No we have" to "Now we have"; "tow, three hundred" to "two, three hundred" 3-5-2015 by DC.

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