DESCRIPTION

In Chapter Eleven, the conflating of text and reader that occurs in the previous chapter becomes instantiated in the image of the stupa made of the seven treasures that emerges from the ground and hovers in the air. The Buddha tells the bodhisattva Mahāpratibhāna (Great Eloquence) that the stupa contains the bodily relics of a buddha named Prabhūtaratna (Many treasures). This Buddha made a vow that, after passing into extinction, whenever and wherever the Lotus Sutra is being spoken this relic-filled stupa would go to hear it.

The assembly wishes to see the body of the buddha Prabhūtaratna. In order for that to occur, all of the division-bodies of Śākyamuni must gather from all directions. After all the division bodies have gathered and are situated on thrones under jeweled trees, Śākyamuni uses his right finger to open the door of the stupa, making a great sound like unlocking and opening the gate of a great city, and the entire assembly sees Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata seated on a lion throne within the jeweled stupa, his whole body intact and undispersed, as if in meditation. Śākyamuni then joins Prabhūtaratna inside the stupa for the unprecedented event of two buddhas sharing a lion throne.