At that time the World-Honored One, wishing to state his meaning once more, spoke in verse form, saying: If you wish to put aside all sloth and remissness, you must listen to this sutra. It is hard to get a chance to hear this sutra, and believing and accepting it too is hard. If a person is thirsty and wants water, he may dig a hole in the high plateau, but as long as he sees that the soil is dry, he knows that water is still far away. But, bit by bit he sees the soil grow damp and muddy, and then he knows for certain he is nearing water. Medicine King, you should understand that people are like this if they do not hear the Lotus Sutra, they will be far removed from the Buddha's wisdom. But if they hear this profound sutra, Which defines the Law of the voice-bearer, if they hear this king of the sutras and afterward carefully ponder it, then you should know that such persons are close to the wisdom of the Buddha. If a person expounds this sutra, he should enter the Thus Come One's room, put on the Thus Come One's robe, sit in the Thus Come One's seat, confront the assembly without fear and broadly expound it for the them, making distinctions. Great pity and compassion are the room, gentleness and patience are the robe, the emptiness of all phenomena is the seat, and from that position one should expound the Law for them. If when a person expounds this sutra there is someone who speaks ill and reviles him or attacks him with swords or staves, tiles and stones, he should think of the Buddha and for that reason be patient. In a thousand, ten thousand, a million lands I will manifest my pure and durable body and for immeasurable millions of kalpas (an extremely long period of time) will expound the Law for living beings. If, after I have entered extinction, there are those who can expound the sutra, I will send the four kinds of believers (monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen), magically conjured, monks and nuns and men and women of pure faith, to offer alms to the teachers of the Law; they will lead and guide living beings, assemble them and cause them to listen to the Law. If someone thinks to do evil to the preachers with swords and staves or with tiles and stones, I will dispatch persons magically conjured, who will act to guard and protect them. If those who expound the Law are alone in an empty and silent place, and in that stillness where no human voice sounds, they read and recite this sutra, at that time I will manifest my pure and radiant body for them. If they forget a passage or a phrase, I will prompt them so they will be thorough and effective. If persons endowed with these virtues should expound to the four kinds of believers and read and recite the sutra in an empty place, I will enable all of them to see my body. And if the expounders are in an empty and silent place, I will send heavenly beings, dragon kings, yakshas (a type of demon, one of the eight kinds of non-human beings who protect Buddhism), spirits and others to be an assembly and listen to the Law. Persons such as this will delight in expounding the Law, making distinctions and encountering no hindrance. Because the Buddhas guard and keep them in mind, they will be able to bring joy to the great assembly. If one stays close to the teachers of the Law, he will speedily gain the Bodhisattva way. By following and learning from these teachers, he will see Buddha as numerous as Ganges sand. (From the Lotus Sutra)