Lotus Sūtra No. I-4
Shunryu Suzuki Transcript
February 1968
Zen Mountain Center
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"Now, young men of good family, long before the time of Tathagata Kandrasuryapradipa, the Arhat, the perfectly enlightened one, there had appeared a Tathagata, perfectly enlightened one, likewise called Kandrasuryapradipa, after whom, O Ajita, there were twenty thousand Tathagatas, perfectly enlightened one, all of them bearing the name of Kandrasuryapradipa, of the same lineage and family name, to wit, of Bharadvaga. All those twenty thousand Tathagata, O Agita, from the first to the last, showed the law, revealed the course which is holy at the—at its commencement, holy in its middle, holy at the end."1
This Kandrasuryapradipa Buddha, one after another appeared in the same name and left the same teaching. What does it mean? [Laughs] Before Buddha, you know, even before Buddha start to talk, you know, Lotus Sutra, Kandrasuryapradipa appeared and told same teaching. And one after another, in—Buddha appeared in the same name and taught the same teaching. Even Buddha, you know, started to talk—started to tell it. That is what Manjusri saw, actually, in his previous life. This is your [laughs] homework [laughter, laughs]. What does it mean? You may—you may think this is just—maybe just a fairy tale or does it mean something? This is, I think, good homework for you. And if you want to ask the final day of the training period, [laughs] in question and answer, you can ask me [laughs, laughter], if you want to. Be careful not to get big slap [laughs, laughter], okay? What does it mean? [Laughs] one after another, Buddha appeared in the same name, Kandrasuryapradipa, and told the same sutra as Saddharma Pundarika Sutra.
"The foresaid[?] and the aforesaid—the forementioned Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one, when a young prince and not yet having left home—when a young prince and not yet having left home (to embrace the ascetic life), had eight sons, namely the young prince Sumati, Anantamati, Ratnamati, Viseshamati, Vimatisamudghatin, Ghoshamati, and Dharmamati.” There were eight sons. “These eight young princes, Ajita, son of the Lord—son—sons.” Excuse me. “These eight young princes, Ajita, sons to the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, had an immense fortune. Each of them was possession of four great continent, where they exercised the kingly sway. When they saw that the Lord had left his home to become an ascetic, and heard that he had attained supreme, perfect enlightenment, they forsake all of them the pleasure of royalty and followed the example of the Lord by resigning the world; all of them strove to reach superior enlightenment and become preachers of the law. While constantly leading a holy life, these young princes planted roots of goodness under many thousands of Buddhas."
Kandrasuryapradipa Bodhisattva, when he was at home, when—before he become ascetic, he had eight sons, and they were, you know—when they heard, you know, of her mother attained enlightenment and giving supreme teaching, they followed father—father's way. And they also attained enlightenment and left supreme teaching like his—their father.
“Thereupon, Agita, the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathigata, the perfectly enlightened one, predestinated the Bodhisattva called Srigarbha Bodhisattva—Srigarbha perfectly enlightened one, and—and then spoke to thus the whole assembly: O monks, this Bodhisattva Srigarbha here shall immediately after me attain supreme, perfect enlightenment, and become Vimalanetra, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one."
Now—hai. [Barely audible student’s question which partially sounds like "I have a problem in..."] Twenty-two. [Inaudible question.] Hmm. [Laughter] Twenty-two, did I skip you? Oh! [Laughter] Oh, I see [laughs, laughter]. Ah, excuse me. [Laughter] I—I wanted to skip, but [laughs, laughter] it was too much [laughter]. Excuse me [laughter, laughs]. And—okay [laughter, turning pages]. There were, you know, eight—there were eight princes or sons for the Kandrasuryapradipa, and they also attained enlightenment, like his father.
And next paragraph. Actually, this paragraph is the same, same exactly—not exactly, but almost same. Ninety-nine percent same [laughter, laughs]. As you have—as we had at page 6, from second paragraph—page 6, second paragraph.
“It was at that time, Ajita, that the Lord,” the name is different. “The Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one…” If you change Lord Kandrasuryapradipa for the—what was it? What was his name? If you change his name, it is exactly the same. So, it may not be necessary even to read it, but [laughter]. Ajita, that’s “the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one, after expounding the—the Dharmaparyaya called 'the Great Exposition,' a text of great extension, serving to instruct Bodhisattvas and proper to all Buddhas, at the same moment and instant, at the same gathering of the classes of hearers, sit—sat across—sat cross legged on the same seat of the law, and entered upon the meditation termed 'the Station of exposition of Infinity;' his body was motionless, and his mind had reached the perfect tranquility. And as soon as the Lord had entered upon the meditation, there fell a great rain of divine flowers, Mandaravas—Mandaravas and great Mandaravas, Manjushakas and great Manjushakas, covering the Lord and the four classes of hearers, while the whole—while the Lord and the four classes of hearers, while the whole Buddha field shook round[?].” Excuse me. “While the whole Buddha field shook in the six ways; it moved, removed, trembled, trembled—trembled from one end to the other, tossed, tossed along.” Exactly the same.
And "Then did those who were assembled and sitting together at the congregation—at that congregation, monks, nuns, male and female lay devotees, gods, Nagas, goblins, Gandharvas, demons, Garudas, Kinnaras, great serpents, men and being—men and being not human, as well as governors of the region, rulers of armies and rulers of four continents, all of them with their followers gazed on the Lord in astonishment, in amazement, in ecstasy.
"At that moment there issued a ray from within the circle of hair between the eyebrow of the Lord. It extended over eighteen hundred thousand Buddha field in the eastern quarter, so that all those Buddha field appears wholly illuminated by radiance, just like the Buddha field do now, O Ajita."
Just—it was just same thing happened as it—as it happening now, O Ajita, he said.
"At the juncture, Ajita, there was twenty kotis of Bodhisattvas following the Lord. All hearer of the law in that assembly, on seeing how the world was illuminated by luster of that ray, felt astonishment, amazement, ecstasy, and curiosity.
"Now it happened, Ajita, that under the rule of the aforesaid Lord—aforesaid Lord”—ah, excuse me. “Ajita, that—Now it happened, Ajita, that under the rule of the aforesaid Lord there was Bodhisattva called Varaprabha—Varaprabha, who had eight hundred pupils. It was to this Bodhisattva Varaprabha that the Lord [laughter], on raising from this—from his meditation, revealed the Dharmaparyaya called 'the Lotus of the True Law.'"
Here at last appears the name of the Sutra.
Before, you know. "He spoke during fully sixty intermediate kalpas, always sitting on the same seat with the immovable body and tranquil mind. And the whole assembly continued sitting on the same seat, listening to the preaching of the Lord for sixty intermediate kalpas, there being not a single creature in that assembly who felt fatigue of body or mind." [Laughs] great difference [laughter] from my—from my lecture [laughs, laughter]. What does it mean, by the way? Do you understand what does it mean?
"As the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one, during sixty intermediate kalpas had been expounding the Dharmaparyaya called The Lotus of the True Law, a text of great development, serving to instruct Bodhisattva and proper to all Buddhas, he instantly announced his complete Nirvana to the world, including the gods, Maras and Brahmas, to all creatures, including ascetics, Brahmans, gods, men and demons, saying: Today, O monks, this very night, in this middle watch, will the Tathagata, by entering the element of absolute nirvana, become wholly extinct."
After Kanrasuryapradipa giving out this Lotus Sutra, he took Nirvana—he announced Nirvana. Before he took Nirvana, he appointed his successor.
"Thereupon, Ajita, Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one, predestinated Bodhisattva called Srigarbha—Srigarbha to assume perfectly enlightenment, and then spoke…” Oh, excuse me. “To supreme, perfectly enlightened, and then spoke—spoke thus to the whole assembly, “O monks, this Bodhisattva Srigarbha—Srigarbha here shall immediately after me attain supreme, perfect enlightenment, and become Vimalanetra, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one."
So he announced that—he appointed Srigarbha Bodhisattva to be his successor, and his name should be Vimalanetra. And this is—this kind of, you know, appointment—not appointment, but this kind of—to—to give—to talk about someone’s future, and to assure his enlightenment in the future is called juki in Japanese. And in Shobogenzo there is the fascicle called Juki. And what does it mean by juki, you know? And he explain in his own way what is juki. And also his interpretation of this sutra in another chapter: Turn the Lotus Sutra. Turn the Lotus Sutra. But anyway this kind of style of description is called juki. Juki—I have found something to explain here maybe. Juki is called [turning pages]. I don’t know Sanskrit, but here there is some translation. Juki in Sanskrit: vyakarana—vyakarana. Vy and a is prefix, and kar means to divide. So, in scripture—if there is some part, you know, question and answer—this part was called vyacarana. So, after it means that to give some title to the disciples, when they attained enlightenment, or where he will be born after his life. Especially this kind of description is called juki—vyakarana. Here Buddha gave Srigarbha Bodhisattva the name of Vimalanetra, and he will attain enlightenment, and he will be his successor. This kind of description is called juki.
And here you have intermediate kalpas ???. This, you know, sutra was continued by the surya—by the Kandrasuryapradipa for sixty intermediate kalpas of time. Intermediate—kalpas is a unit of the time, actually. One kalpa. There is many ways of explaining how long one kalpa is. No one knows how long, you know. It is so long a time—no one knows. But in Buddhism, right[?] in—in all time Buddhist think human being had—once have limitless age [possible gap in audio here].
…you know. We didn't die at the age of ninety or one hundred; we had limitless age—we had. But more and more we become busy [laughs], in this life, and our life became shorter and shorter. So, if our life—our life average life become ten years. That is one kalpa [laughs]. You know, one kalpa. So, I—we don't know how long it is. And human life is limitless, so this is almost limitless unit of time. And then when our life reach ten years, you know, our life limit come to ten years, our life will increase little by little, you know. We will [laughs] be around, you know. In this way, we will—there will be no human nature. Why it happens in that way to us? And they will think more, and they will improve their way of life. And by this kind of effort, our life will be extended, you know, more and more until it come to eight—eighty thousand years [laughs, laughter]. So, eighty thousand years, [laughs] and when it comes to eighty thousand years, you know, human—as we are human being, we become more and more lazy [laughs]. And inventing airplane [laughs], and everything—every mechanics. And we will lose our, you know, life, our life become shorter and shorter till it come to ten years per life [laughter]. So, [laughs] this is one kalpa, you know. In this way we will have ???—first kalpa is the time of the years. Our life come to limitless to the ten years. That is first one kalpa. And we’ll repeat, you know, same thing over and over again [laughs] eighteen times. Eighteen times increasing, decreasing, increasing, decreasing, all of our life will be repeated eighteen times.
And the last kalpa will be the time when our life—when everything will gone, [laughs] including human life. That is so-called-it juko. Juko means—juko means the kalpas of time when everything consisted pretty firmly, without losing its form, and eko [samvarta kalpa] means the time, you know, at the end of the juko everything will, you know—how do you say? Dis—[student: disappear] disintegrate-disintegrate. And that is, you know, eko[?]. And before that we have joko[?] integration age—and integrated age and disintegrated age. An integrated age would—is twenty kalpas, and one kalpa is up and down[?], around ten to eight hundred—eighty thousand.
Student 1: Roshi, will there still be Buddhas?
SR: Hmm?
Student 1: Will there still be Tathagatas after the disintegration?
SR: [Laughs] yeah, there is a koan [laughter] exactly the same koan as you ask.
Student 1: What is the answer [laughter] to the koan?
SR: That is also koan, so homework [laughter]. Your homework. Very interesting—interesting question.
Student 2: I didn’t understand. I thought you just said that they can go eighteen times up and down from ten to eighty thousand, and that’s eighteen kalpas, and then there’s the disintegration and the whole thing’s over.
SR: No, eighteen—after eighteen we have, you know, time to come up again to—to, you know, eighty thousand—eighty thousand in a life.
Student 2: And then does this disintegration take place?
SR: Yeah.
Student 2: Well then how can they talk about after twenty intermediate kalpas and twelve intermediate kalpas? The number of kalpas they give as examples go way over eighteen?
SR: Yeah, eighteen, but—it is explained just eighteen, you know, eighteen kalpas. [Possibly a gesture, then laughter.] A kalpa, you know, that is[?] innumerable, you know. Kalpa is already innumerable, you know, but even so there must be—it is—it means some length of time, you know. And some length of time—eighteen times of some, or twenty times of some length of time is juko, integrated kalpa. Hai.
Student 3: The footnote [see below] said that a kalpa is a half an hour. [There was lots of laughter during this section.]
SR: No, no.
Student 3: In the book it says so.
SR: No, no, it doesn't say so. It is—says it is…
Student 3: It says in Sanskrit a lot of intermediate kalpas, and it says in the footnote that it's an afternoon.
SR: No, I don't think so. Where is it?
Student 4: It's just the translator. He's not a Buddhist.
SR: No, no, no, he—he—I don't know where it is, but....
Student 5: I think there was a piece of symbolism, on....
[Footnote #5 on p. xxvi of Kern's Saddharma Pundarika says: "One intermediate kalpa is, in the system, equal to 8 yugas. As 4 yugas number 4,320,000 years, it follows that the pause (of 50 intermediate kalpas) lasted 432 millions of years. Esoterically, kalpa has certainly denoted a short interval of time, but even if we take the 'intermediate kalpa' to mean, in reality a lapse of time equal to a few hours the pause would not refer to an historical event.]
SR: And this is—this is one of many, you know, example of kalpas—idea of kalpas.
Student 6: Roshi…
SR: Did you—did I explain rather way of understanding of one kalpa? There is a big rock, you know, like Tassajara. And every five hundred years, maybe, or more [laughs], angel come to the rock, and she may, you know, her sleeve may rub off some of stone. And when that stone vanished, you know, by the sleeve of the angel, it is one kalpa. So, there is many ways of explaining what is one kalpa.
But here especially intermediate kalpa, so I must follow this, you know, idea of intermediate. And the explanation is here—immediately, three times, you know, this—??? Where was—maybe what you—what you are saying is immediately, and they repeat same thing, you know. So that is the explanation to it [the half hour kalpa?]. I think I will—will come to that paragraph—that sentence—that clause.
“At the—as the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one, during sixty intermediate kalpas had been expounding the Dharmaparyaya called 'the Lotus of the True Law,' a text of the great development, serving to—to instruct Bodhisattva and proper to all Buddhas, he instantly announced that—” oh, I—I didn’t—we didn’t… [some versions of the audio end here].
“[his complete] Nirvana to the world, including the gods, Maras and Brahmas, to all creatures, including ascetics, Brahmans, gods, men and demons, saying: To-day, O monks, this very day—very night, in the night—in the middle watch, will the Tathagata, by—by entering the element of absolute Nirvana, become wholly extinct.” And then the paragraph of appointing her—his successor Vimalanetra Bodhisattva.
"Thereafter, Ajita, that very night—very night, at that very watch, the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one, become extinct by entering the element of absolute Nirvana. And the aforementioned Dharmaparyaya, termed 'the Lotus of the True Law,' was kept in memory by Bodhisattva Mahasattva Varaprabha—Varaprabha Bodhisattva; [during eighty intermediate kalpas did the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Varaprabha] kept and revealed the commandment of the Lord who had entered Nirvana. Now it is so happened, Ajita, that the eight son of the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, Mati and the rest, were pupil to that very Bodhisattva Varaprabha. They were by him made ripe for supreme, perfect enlightenment, and in after times they saw and worshipped many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Bodhisattva, all of whom had attained supreme, perfect enlightenment, the last of them being Dipankara, the Tathagata, the perfectly enlightened one."
Here appears Dipankara. Usually, as you know, Dipankara Bodhisattva is the oldest, you know, on Bodhisattva—of all the Bodhisattva. But before—even before according to this sutra, before even Dipankara there were so many Bodhisattvas, like Srigarba, whose enlightened name is Vimalanetra, or Varaprabha, or Kandrasuryapradipa. There were so many Bodhisattvas according to this sutra. And what does it mean [laughs]? Actually, there is no first bodhisattva. Actually, everyone is bodhisattva. It—this sutra suggest this kind of teaching.
"Amongst those eight pupils there was one Bodhisattva who attached an extreme value to gain” [laughs, says something off mike].
“Amongst those eight pupils there was a Bodhisattva who attached an extreme value to gain, honor and praise, and was fond of glory, but all the words and letters one taught him faded (from his memory), and did not stick. So, he got the appellation of Yasaskama—Yasaskama. (Desirous of Glory) Yasaskama. And he had propitiated many hundred thousand myriads of kotis of Buddhas by that root of goodness…"
Even so, he served many buddhas, and planted good root. "...and afterwards esteemed, honored, respected, relevant[?]—revered, venerated, worshipped them. Perhaps, Ajita, thou feelest some doubt—some doubt, perplexity or misgiving that in those days, at that time, there was another Bodhisattva Mahasattva Varaprabha, preacher of the law. But do not think so. Why? Because it is myself who in these days, at that time, was the Bodhisattva Mahasattva Varaprabha, a preacher of the law; and that Bodhisattva named Yasaskama, the lazy one, it is thyself, Ajita,..."
Maitreya was once lazy, you know, 'Desirous of Glory' –bodhisattva named ‘Desirous of Glory’ Yasaskama—Yasaskama.
"...it is thyself, Ajita, who in those days, at that time, were—wert the Bodhisattva named Yasaskama—Yasaskama, the lazy one. And also, Ajita, having once seen the similar foretoken of Lord, I infer from a similar ray being emitted just now, that the Lord is about to expound the Dharmaparyaya called 'the Lotus of the True Law.'
"And on that occasion, in order to treat the subject more copiously, Manjusri, the prince royal, uttered the following stanzas:"
So, in form of—and in Manjusri, you know, give same talk in form of stanzas. And in those stanzas, you know, those are—there is some difference between prose part of this sutra and gatha form of this sutra. But it is nearly the same, and there will be no need to repeat it again. So, I want you to read it. This is also your homework.
And—but I want to give you some important notice. Several of people don't know this. [Sound of turning pages.] Page 22, the last paragraph, "Amongst—amongst those eight pupils there was a Bodhisattva who attached to extreme value to gain, ..." This part, you know, wants some explanation. “Honor and praise,” the "praise" here it says, but this praise, the original Sanskrit word for this praise—supposed to be jnati—jnati[?]. Jnati means many things. But it means—sometime it means—it’s supposed to mean to be—try to be protected by their kinsmen—kinsman or family, you know. Things, you know, happened in this way, you know. If—because—for an instance, a man and—a wife and husband is usually, you know, very intimate, so naturally they help with each other. That is alright, but sometime, you know, he or she cannot be fair to everyone, so this is not so good. And this—in this way many things will happen.
And another interpretation of this word, if it mean—if it—and this original words for this is jnati, it means that some talent, or sagaciousness—or what do you—sagacity? [Student: um hmm] sagacity or talent, or, or witty minded, or cleverness in hand, or in his way of doing things. This is also may create some trouble for community or society. And in gatha 90, you know, same thing is repeated, and here in 90 the translation is different, but the same thing is told. But here in 90: "Among the pupils of Varaprabha, the son of Jina, at the—at the time of his teaching the law of the—one slothful, covetous, greedy of gain and cleverness." You see, here it is translated "gain and cleverness." The cleverness is—here in—here it is translated as cleverness, and in prose part—prose part it is translated like “praise” you know, same word—same word is translated in two ways. And if it is the original word is jnati, it means protection from his kinsmen. And if it means cleverness, the original word should be—original Sanskrit word should be jnata[?].
Anyway, both, you know, point is very subtle, and subtle point to which we should be very careful. And there is many instance—similar teaching in many scriptures. In Dharmapada it says, for the fool—for the fool, cleverness will invite the loss, and it will destroy the happiness of the—merit of the—the fool, or it will cut off his—his head. This is Dharmapada. And in the explanation in Pali, it’s—there is a parable. If there is a man who is good at hitting, you know, something by stone, and because of his art of hitting something by stone, he gained a big prize. Someone was watching it, you know, so he studied how to hit something by stone, and—but that one was killed [laughs] by hitting something by the stone, you know. And in some sutra says, if, you know, again this is Mahayana—Hinayana teaching. If—no, no— heretics and Buddhist. If heretics study—heretics—clever—clever heretics will lose his life, but clever Buddhist will gain by his cleverness. This kind of story is all over.
And in Shobogenzo, Dogen Zenji says whether he is clever or dull doesn't matter. If we practice zazen, we will gain the same attainment. This is a Buddhist, you know, understanding, or Buddhist ideal of the character—human character. Especially for the intelligent one, this point should be always remembered. And when, you know, clever one does not help, you know, others, the Sangha will be destroyed. Only when clever and talented people help others, the Sangha will last long. This is our teaching.
And ???. And another difference between prose part and gatha part is in gatha #87 it says—it runs[?], "He had eight hundred pupils, who all of them were by him brought to full development. They saw many kotis of Buddhas, great sages, whom they worshipped." This is a similar—in prose part it–it says "eight disciples, you know, who was the son of Kandrasuryapradipa—Kandrasuryapradipa." And here, you know, it says eight hundred pupils instead of eight sons or eight pupils. This is a difference. But maybe scholars says "eight hundred pupils" may be right, and prose part is, you know, added, more interesting way. But no one knows.
Student: Roshi?
SR: Hai.
Student: Wasn't there a part in the prose part that you read about someone who had eight hundred pupils?
SR: Hmm?
Student: Wasn’t there someone in the prose part that you read about a Bodhisattva who had eight hundred pupils?
SR: Prose part?
Student: Yeah. Someone in the prose part I think had eight hundred pupils too.
SR: No. It says, eight—no eight—"who all of them were by him brought to proven[?] development, they saw many kotis of Buddhas, great sages, by whom they worshipped." See? Same thing.
Student: Roshi?
SR: Hai.
Student: It’s almost ten.
SR: Okay. [Long pause.] Yeah, here, eight hundred disciples. This is the—you noticed is—what you noticed: "Now it happened, Ajita, that under the rule of the aforesaid Lord there was Bodhisattva called Varaprabha, who had eight hundred pupils, you know. It was to this Buddha—Bodhisattva that the Lord, on rising from the meditation, revealed the Dharmaparyaya called 'the Lotus of the True Law.'" But this is a different part. What I mean is about Kandrasuryapradipa who had eight sons and all of them, and this part: "The aforementioned Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, when a young prince and—and not yet having left home, had eight sons," namely, (so and so)... “These eight young princes, Ajita, sons of the Lord Kandrasuryapradipa, the Tathagata, had immense fortune. Each of them was [in] possession of four great continents,” and so—when, and so on. “When they saw that the Lord had left his home become an ascetic,” and they all of them, you know, reached, hearing his father attained enlightenment—reached supreme enlightenment and become preachers of the law, and, “While constant—constantly leading all holy life, those young prince planted roots of goodness under many thousands of bodhisattvas.” This part—this part, the—it’s a similar part to the 87th. And Chinese rendering—one of the Chinese rendering says “eight disciples,” you know, the same place—number 87. Kumarajiva’s translation says, "He had eight—eight pupils." He means—he does not mean Kandrasuryapradipa, but he mean—he means the—Vimalanetra, who—whose disciple? Those eight sons became this bodhisattva's disciples. Do you understand?
Student: Yes.
SR: OK.
Student: Roshi, what is the meaning of their leaving home just because their father became a monk? Why did they do it?
SR: Leaving home—in India, you know, when their—after their householder life, he went into aranya or forest, you know, and practiced religious way. That is their custom here. Everyone did so.
Student: The sons go too, if their father goes?
SR: Yeah—yes, because like, you know, this is a kind of exception maybe, as Buddha, you know. When Buddha attained enlightenment, his son and his father and his mother-in-law and his aunt, who raised him, became—joined his order. And same thing happened, you know. This is…
Student: I thought first it was some deep meaning. [Laughter.]
SR: Deep meaning, it is—it is because he was so great, you know; some—he is exception. But usually even laymen left their home and practiced their way in the forest with many people who finished his household life. That is their—that was their custom. Anyway, they’re—they are very religious people.
And—now, I am supposed to finish this lecture, okay [laughs] by this—tonight [laughs, laughter]. Yeah, too many, maybe there are many things to say. This is not so easy study, because it—it’s very complicated. And still many scholars are studying—continuously studying. And, day by day, the meaning of this sutra become clearer and clearer. So, it is rather difficult to, you know, to make it absolutely clear. So, what I said will not be, you know absolutely right [laughs]; there must be many mistakes, naturally.
Thank you very much.
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1 Suzuki was reading from the Kern translation, but there are a few minor differences. It is available online at www.buddhism.org/Sutras/2/Lotus_Sutra.htm.
1st half checked, transcribed, and edited by Brian Fikes. Old file name 68-02-LS.4. Prepared for digital archive by DC 9-12. Verbatim version created November 2023 by Peter Ford and Wendy Pirsig using audio by EngageWisdom and Audio-2013 Complete.
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Lotus Sūtra No. I-4
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