DESCRIPTION

Chapter Twenty-One weaves together several parts of the Lotus Sutra up to this point, from the bodhisattvas that emerged from the earth in Chapter Fifteen to all the transformation bodies of Śākyamuni that gathered upon the appearance of the Jewel Stupa in Chapter Eleven.

The center piece of this chapter is the ‘miracle of the Buddha’s tongue.’ In front of Mañjuśrī and countless others, he extends his broad and long tongue upward to the Brahma world, and from all his pores emitted countless rays of light of various colors, illuminating all the worlds in the ten directions. Then all the transformation bodies do likewise, extending their broad and long tongues and emitting immeasurable light. And they do so for a hundred thousand years!

Then they withdraw their tongues, clear their throats, and snap their fingers together. These two sounds reach throughout all the Buddha worlds in the ten directions, and the earth quakes in six ways. All living beings in all worlds can then see in this Sahā world the countless, boundless hundreds of thousands of millions of billions of Buddhas seated on lion thrones beneath jeweled trees, and they also saw Śākyamuni Buddha together with Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata seated on the lion throne in the jeweled stupa.

The Chapter concludes with the Buddha addressing the great assembly of bodhisattvas led by Viśiṣṭacāritra (Superior Practice), the first of four bodhisattvas mentioned in Chapter Fifteen, and summarizing in verse.