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CHAPTER XVII. INDICATION OF THE MERITORIOUSNESS OF JOYFUL
ACCEPTANCE.
Thereupon the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya said to the
Lord: O Lord, one who, after hearing this Dharmaparyâya being preached,
joyfully I accepts it, be that person a young man of good family or a young
lady, how much merit, O Lord, will be produced by such a young man or young
lady of good family?
And on that occasion the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya
uttered this stanza:
1. How great will be the merit of him who, after the
extinction of the great Hero, shall hear this exalted Sûtra and joyfully accept
it?
And the Lord said to the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya: If
any one, Agita, either a young man of good family or a young lady, after the
complete extinction of the Tathâgata, hears the preaching of this Dharmaparyayâ,
let it be a monk or nun, a male or female lay devotee, a man of ripe
understanding or a boy or girl; if the hearer joyfully accepts it, and then
after the sermon rises up to go elsewhere, to a monastery, house, forest,
street, village, town, or province, with the motive and express aim to expound
the law such as he has understood, such as he has heard it, and according to
the measure of his power, to another person, his mother, father, kinsman,
friend, acquaintance, or any other person; if the latter, after hearing,
joyfully accepts, and, in consequence, communicates it to another; if the
latter, after hearing, joyfully accepts, and communicates it to another; if
this other, again, after hearing, joyfully accepts it, and so on in succession
until a number of fifty is reached; then, Agita, the fiftieth person to hear
and joyfully accept the law so heard, let it be a young man of good family or a
young lady, will have acquired an accumulation of merit connected with the
joyful acceptance, Agita, which I am going to indicate to thee. Listen, and
take it well to heart; I will tell thee.
It is, Agita, as if the creatures existing in the four
hundred thousand Asankhyeyas of worlds, in any of the six states of existence,
born from an egg, from a womb, from warm humidity, or from metamorphosis,
whether they have a shape or have not, be they conscious or unconscious,
neither conscious nor unconscious, footless, two-footed, four-footed, or
many-footed, as many beings as are contained in the world of creatures,-(as if)
all those had flocked together to one place. Further, suppose some man appears,
a lover of virtue, a lover of good, who gives to that whole body the pleasures,
sports, amusements, and enjoyments they desire, like, and relish. He gives to
each of them all Gambudvîpa for his pleasures, sports, amusements, and
enjoyments; gives bullion, gold, silver, gems, pearls, lapis lazuli, conches,
stones (?), coral, carriages yoked with horses, with bullocks, with elephants;
gives palaces and towers. In this way, Agita, that master of munificence, that
great master of munificence continues spending his gifts for fully eighty
years. Then, Agita, that master of munificence, that great master of
munificence reflects thus: All these beings have I allowed to sport and enjoy
themselves, but now they are covered with wrinkles and grey-haired, old,
decrepit, eighty years of age, and near the term of their life. Let me
therefore initiate them in the discipline of the law revealed by the Tathâgata,
and instruct them. Thereupon, Aota, the man exhorts all those beings,
thereafter initiates them in the discipline of the law revealed by the
Tathâgata, and makes them adopt it. Those beings learn the law from him, and in
one moment, one instant, one bit of time, all become Srotaâpannas, obtain the
fruit of the rank of Sakridâgâmin and of Anâgâmin, until they become Arhats,
free from all imperfections, adepts in meditation, adepts in great meditation
and in the meditation with eight emancipations. Now, what is thine opinion,
Agita, will that master of munificence, that great master of munificence, on
account of his doings, produce great merit, immense, incalculable merit?
Whereupon the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva Maitreya said in reply to the Lord:
Certainly, Lord; certainly, Sugata; that person, Lord, will already produce
much merit on that account, because he gives to the beings all that is
necessary for happiness; how much more then if he establishes them in
Arhatship!
This said, the Lord spoke to the Bodhisattva Mahâsattva
Maitreya as follows: I announce to thee, Agita, I declare to thee; (take) on
one side the master of munificence, the great master of munificence, who
produces merit by supplying all beings in the four hundred thousand
Asanikhyeyas of worlds with all the necessaries for happiness and by
establishing them in Arhatship; (take) on the other side the person who,
ranking the fiftieth in the series of the oral tradition of the law, hears,
were it but a single stanza, a single word, from this Dharmaparyâya and
joyfully accepts it; if (we compare) the mass of merit connected with the
joyful acceptance and the mass of merit connected with the charity of the
master of munificence, the great master of munificence, then the greater merit
will be his who, ranking the fiftieth in the series of the oral tradition of
the law, after hearing were it but a single stanza, a single word, from this
Dharmaparyâya, joyfully accepts it. Against this accumulation of merit, Agita,
this accumulation of roots of goodness connected with that joyful acceptance,
the former accumulation of merit connected with the charity of that master of
munificence, that great master of munificence, and connected with the
confirmation in Arhatship, does not fetch the 1/100 part, not the 1/100,000,
not the 1/10,000,000 not the 1/1000,000,000 not the 1/1000 x 10,000,000 not the
1/100,000 x 10,000,000, not the 1/100,000 x 10,000 x 10,000,000 part; it admits
of no calculation, no counting, no reckoning, no comparison, no approximation,
no secret teaching. So immense, incalculable, Agita, is the merit which a
person, ranking the fiftieth in the series of the tradition of the law,
produces by joyfully accepting, were it but a single stanza, a single word,
from this Dharmaparyâya; how much more then (will) he (produce), Agita, who hears
this Dharmaparyâya in my presence and then joyfully accepts it? I declare,
Agita, that his accumulation of merit shall be even more immense, more
incalculable.
And further, Agita, if a young man of good family or a young
lady, with the design to hear this discourse on the law, goes from home to a
monastery, and there hears this Dharmaparyâya for a single moment, either
standing or sitting, then that person, merely by the mass of merit resulting
from that action, will after the termination of his (present) life, and at the
time of his second existence when he receives (another) body, become a
possessor of carriages yoked with bullocks, horses, or elephants, of litters,
vehicles yoked with bulls, and of celestial aerial cars. If further that same
person at that preaching sits down, were it but a single moment, to hear this
Dharmaparyâya, or persuades another to sit down or shares with him his seat, he
will by the store of merit resulting from that action gain seats of Indra,
seats of Brahma, thrones of a Kakravartin. And, Agita, if some one, a young man
of good family or a young lady, says to another person: Come, friend, and hear
the Dharmaparyâya of the Lotus of the True Law, and if that other person owing
to that exhortation is persuaded to listen, were it but a single moment, then
the former will by virtue of that root of goodness, consisting in that
exhortation, obtain the advantage of a connection with Bodhisattvas who have
acquired Dhâranî. He will become the reverse of dull, will get keen faculties,
and have wisdom; in the course of a hundred thousand existences he will never
have a fetid mouth, nor an offensive one; he will have no diseases of the
tongue, nor of the mouth; he will have no black teeth, no unequal, no yellow,
no ill-ranged, no broken teeth, no teeth fallen out; his lips will not be
pendulous, not turned inward, not gaping, not mutilated, not loathsome; his
nose will not be flat, nor wry; his face will not be long, nor wry, nor
unpleasant. On the contrary, Agita, his tongue, teeth, and lips will be
delicate and wellshaped; his nose long; his face perfectly round; the eyebrows
well-shaped; the forehead well-formed. He will receive a very complete organ of
manhood. He will have the advantage that the Tathâgata renders sermons
intelligible to him and soon come in connection with Lords, Buddhas. Mark,
Agita, how much good is produced by one's inciting were it but a single
creature; how much more then by him who reverentially hears, reverentially
reads, reverentially preaches, reverentially promulgates the law!
And on that occasion the Lord uttered the following stanzas:
2. Listen how great the merit is of one who, the fiftieth in
the series (of tradition), hears a single stanza from this Sûtra and with
placid mind joyfully adopts it.
3. Suppose there is a man in the habit of giving alms to
myriads of kotis of beings, whom I have herebefore indicated by way of
comparison'; all of them he satisfies during eighty years.
4. Then seeing that old age has approached for them, that
their brow is wrinkled and their head grey (he thinks): Alas, how all beings
come to decay! Let me therefore admonish them by (speaking of) the law.
5. He teaches them the law here on earth and points to the
state of Nirvana hereafter. 'All existences' (he says) 'are like a mirage;
hasten to become disgusted with all existence.'
6. All creatures, by hearing the law from that charitable
person, become at once Arhats, free from imperfections, and living their last
life.
7. Much more merit than by that person will be acquired by
him who through unbroken tradition shall hear were it but a single stanza and
joyfully receive it. The mass of merit of the former is not even so much as a
small particle of the latter's.
8. So great will be one's merit, endless, immeasurable, owing
to one's hearing merely a single stanza, in regular tradition; how much more
then if one hears from face to face!
9. And if somebody exhorts were it but a single creature and
says: Go, hear the law, for this Sûtra is rare in many myriads of kotis of Æons;
10. And if the creature so exhorted should hear the Sûtra
even for a moment, hark what fruit is to result from that action. He shall
never have a mouth disease;
11. His tongue is never sore; his teeth shall never fall
out, never be black, yellow, unequal; his lips never become loathsome;
12. His face is not wry, nor lean, nor long; his nose not
flat; it is well-shaped, as well as his forehead, teeth, lips, and round face.
13. His aspect is ever pleasant to men; his mouth is never
fetid, it constantly emits a smell sweet as the lotus.
14. If some wise man, to hear this Sûtra, goes from his home
to a monastery and there listen, were it but for a single moment, with a placid
mind, hear what results from it.
15. His body is very fair; he drives with horsecarriages,
that wise man, and is mounted on elevated carriages drawn by elephants and
variegated with gems.
16. He possesses litters covered with ornaments and carried
by numerous men. Such is the blessed fruit of his going to hear preaching.
17. Owing to the performance of that pious work he shall,
when sitting in the assembly there, obtain seats of Indra, seats of Brahma,
seats of kings.
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