DESCRIPTION
In this chapter the text of the Lotus Sutra ‘breaks the fourth wall’ completely and concatenates the reader by giving the prediction of enlightenment to the one reading the sutra.
It should be noted that the bodhisattva Bhaiṣajya-rāja (Medicine King) does not speak but is simply the one to whom the Buddha is speaking, again conflating the text and the reader.
The title of the chapter, ‘Dharmabhānaka’ (法師 Dharma Teacher) appears toward the end of the chapter in the Buddha’s concluding poem, being a name for the one who upholds, reads, recites, etc. the sutra, as per the Buddhas request in the chapter. Again, the very act of reading the text is a fulfillment of the text.