Sutra on the Lotus Flower of the
Wondrous Dharma
"The Universal Door Of The Bodhisattva Who Listens
To
The Sounds Of All The World"
(Translated from the Sanskrit into
Chinese
by Tripitaka Dharma Master
Kumarajiva of the Yao Chin Dynasty.
Translated from Chinese into English
by
the Buddhist Text Translation Society, Dharma Realm Buddhist University.)
Namo Fundamental Teacher Shakyamuni Buddha (3 times).
Verse for Opening
a Sutra
"The unsurpassed, deep, profound, subtle, wonderful Dharma,
In
a hundred thousand million eons, is difficult to encounter;
Now that I've come
to receive and hold it, within my sight and hearing,
I vow to fathom the Thus
Come One's true and actual meaning.
At that time, Bodhisattva Infinite
Resolve rose from his seat, bared his right shoulder, joined his palms, and facing
the Buddha, said, "O World Honored One, how did Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva
get the name Gwan Shr Yin?"
The Buddha answered Bodhisattva Infinite Resolve,
"Good
Man, if all the countless hundreds of thousands of millions of living beings tormented
by misery and pain hear of Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva, and with all their hearts
invoke his name, Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva will immediately respond to their prayers
and set them free.
If those who hold the name of Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva should
fall into a great fire, the fire will not burn them, because of Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva's
awesome spiritual power. If they are being tossed about in deep and treacherous
waters and call his name, they will quickly reach the shallows.
Hundreds of
thousand of myriads of millions of men in search of gold, silver, lapis lazuli,
moonstones, and carnelian, coral, amber, pearls, and other precious treasures,
may run afoul of violent squalls that blow their ships to the lands of Rakshashas.
But
if one man among them calls the name of Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva, then the entire
group will all be saved from the throes of the Rakshashas. For this reason he
is called "The Enlightened One Who Listens to the Sounds of All the World."
If
someone facing deadly harm recites Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva's name, the weapons
of the assailants will break apart and he will get away.
Even if the entire
three-fold, great, thousand-world system were teeming with Yakshas and Rakshashas
bent on vexing men, when the evil demons hear the name of Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva
called out by these men, they will not be able to see them with their wicked eyes,
much less do them in!
If there is a person, whether innocent or guilty, who
is locked in stocks or shackled by ropes and chains, his fetters will snap and
fall away, letting him go free as soon as he invokes Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva's
name.
Suppose vicious thieves in legions that could fill a three-fold, great,
thousand-world system infest a perilous road along which a merchant chief guides
a traders' caravan laden with precious jewels.If one man among them proclaims:
"Good Men, do not be afraid! With all your hearts invoke the name of Gwan
Shr Yin Bodhisattva, the Enlightened One Who Gives Courage to All Beings! If we
beseech this Bodhisattva, we will surely escape these thieves".
Upon hearing
this exhortation, if all the traders in unison cry out, 'Namo Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva!'
By virtue of calling out Gwan Shr Yin's name, they will immediately go free.
Infinite
Resolve! How imposing is the awesome spiritual power of the Great Bodhisattva
Who Listens to the Sounds of All the World!
If any living being with weighty
desires can constantly revere and keep in mind Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva, his passions
will subside. If someone with much anger can constantly revere and keep in mind
Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva, then his anger will subside. If someone dull and foolish
can constantly revere and keep in mind Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva, he will leave
stupidity behind.
Infinite Resolve! The Bodhisattva Who Listens to the Sounds
of All the World, with his magnificent spiritual power, confers such abundant
benefits as these. And so, living beings should always keep him in their hearts
and hold his name in mind.
If women seeking sons bow to and make offerings
to the Bodhisattva Gwan Shr Yin, they will give birth to sons happy, virtuous,
and wise. If instead, they wish for daughters, they will bear gifted daughters
with deep-rooted, wholesome characters, beloved and respected by all.
Infinite
Resolve! Such is the power of the Bodhisattva Who Listens to the Sounds of All
the World. Any living being who worships and makes offerings to Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva
will never take a loss
Therefore, every single living being should hold Gwan
Shr Yin Bodhisattva's name in mind. Infinite Resolve! Suppose someone held the
names of Bodhisattvas to the number of grains of sand in sixty-two million Ganges
Rivers, and for this person's entire life, made offerings to them all of food
and drink, clothes, bedding, and medicine. What is your opinion? Would the merit
and virtue accrued by that good man or woman be abundant?"
Infinite Resolve
replied, "Extremely abundant, World Honored One, very great indeed!"
The
Buddha said, "Yet if someone else held the name of Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva,
bowed and made an offering but one time, the blessings of these two people would
be identical, the same in every way, and would endure for quadrillions of aeons.
Infinite
Resolve! Holding the name of Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva brings blessings and benefits
as limitless and boundless as these."
Again, the Bodhisattva Infinite
Resolve asked the Buddha, "World Honored One, how does Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva
wander in this Saha World? How does he speak Dharma for living beings, and what
manner of resourcefulness does he command?"
The Buddha answered Bodhisattva
Infinite Resolve, "If there is a living being in some country who can be
liberated by a Buddha, Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva appears as a Buddha and teaches
him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by a Pratyeka Buddha, he appears as
a Pratyeka Buddha and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by a
Sound-hearer, he appears as a Sound-hearer and teaches him the Dharma. If someone
can be liberated by a Brahma-heaven King, he appears as a Brahma-heaven King and
teaches him the Dharma.
If someone can be liberated by Shakra, he appears as
Shakra and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by the God of Comfort,
he appears as the God of Comfort and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be
liberated by the God of Great Comfort, he appears as the God of Great Comfort
and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by a mighty General of
the Gods, he appears as a mighty General of the Gods and teaches him the Dharma.
If someone can be liberated by the God Vaisravana, he appears as Vaisravana and
teaches him the Dharma.
If someone can be liberated by a minor king, he appears
as a minor king and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by an
elder, he appears as an elder and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated
by a lay-person, he appears as a lay-person and teaches him the Dharma. If someone
can be liberated by a minister of state, he appears as a minister of state and
teaches him the Dharma.
If someone can be liberated by a Brahman, he appears
as a Brahman and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by a monk
or nun, a layman or a laywoman, he appears as a monk or nun, a layman or laywoman
and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by the wife of an elder,
layman, minister of state, or Brahman, he appears as a wife and teaches him the
Dharma.
If someone can be liberated by a lad or maiden, he appears as a lad
or maiden and teaches him the Dharma. If someone can be liberated by a god, dragon,
yaksha, or gandharva, an asura, garuda, kinnara, or mahoraga, a human, nonhuman,
and so forth, he appears accordingly and teaches him the Dharma. And if someone
can be liberated by a Vajra-wielding Spirit, he appears as a Vajra-wielding Spirit
and teaches him the Dharma.
Infinite Resolve! Such are the meritorious deeds
done by Gwan Shr Yin, the Bodhisattva who roams throughout the world and appears
in various forms to rescue living beings. Therefore you should all wholeheartedly
make offerings to the Bodhisattva Who Listens to the Sounds of All the World.
In
times of terror, crisis, and trouble, the Great Bodhisattva Gwan Shr Yin can bestow
courage and dispel all fears. Therefore, all throughout the Saha world we call
him Giver of Courage.
The Bodhisattva Infinite Resolve said to the Buddha,
"World Honored One, I will now make an offering to the Bodhisattva Gwan Shr
Yin."
And so saying, he removed his rosary of pearls, worth hundreds of
thousands of taels of gold and presented it to the Bodhisattva with these words:
" O Humane One, please accept my offering of Dharma, this rosary of precious
pearls."
But Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva would not accept the pearls. Infinite
Resolve once more entreated Gwan Shr Yin,
"O Humane One, out of pity for
us, please receive the rosary."
Then the Buddha said to Gwan Shr Yin,
"Out of compassion for Infinite Resolve and the Four Assemblies, for the
gods, dragons, yakshas, gandharvas, asuras, garudas, kinnaras, mahoragas, humans,
and nonhuman beings, and the rest, accept this rosary."
Then Gwan Shr
Yin Bodhisattva, out of pity for the Four Assemblies, for the gods, dragons, humans,
non humans, and the rest, accepted the rosary and divided it into two parts. One
strand he offered to Shakyamuni Buddha, the other to the stupa of the Buddha Many
Jewels.
Infinite Resolve! With such sovereign spiritual powers does the Bodhisattva
Gwan Shr Yin traverse the Saha World. Then the Bodhisattva Infinite Resolve put
his questions into verses and asked them once again:
"World Honored One,
Complete
with Wondrous Hallmarks,
Several questions I would ask again.
How did this
disciple of the Buddha,
Earn the name Gwan Shr Yin?
Then the World
Honored One, his every feature full, answered in melodious verse to Infinite Resolve:
Come
listen and I'll tell you Gwan Yin's story
How deftly he responds to every side;
Spanning
ages past the ken of numbers,
With oceanic vows both deep and wide.
Serving
ancient Buddhas, several billions,
His pure and lofty vows in brief I'll tell.
Whoever
sees his face or learns about him,
Who can hold this Bodhisattva's name,
Will
leave behind the sorrows of existence,
And so this cultivation's not in vain!
Should you be pushed into a raging fire,
By enemies so harmful, mean, and
cruel,
Evoke the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva
The blaze will turn into
a limpid pool.
If cast adrift upon the mighty ocean,
Where dragons,
ghosts, and sharks in turn surround,
Evoke the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
You'll
float atop the waves and will not drown.
Suppose an evil person pushed
you headlong,
From atop the peak called Wondrous Tall,
Evoke the strength
of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
And like the sun in space you will not fall.
Perhaps
you tumble down from Vajra Mountain,
Fleeing wicked ruffians who pursue,
Evoke
the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
And not the slightest harm will come
to you.
Surrounded by a mob of heartless bandits,
Their weapons drawn,
with murder on their minds,
Evoke the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
Their
evil hearts will soften and turn kind.
If you are on the verge of execution,
Sentenced
by the State, condemned to die,
Evoke the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
The
sword will break to pieces just in time.
If bound and chained, restrained
by ropes and shackles,
With hands and feet confined in stocks and gyves,
Evoke
the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
The fetters by themselves will fall aside.
Hexes, poison, magic spells, and voodoo,
Cast by those who plot to do you
in,
Return to curse the sorcerer who sent them,
When you invoke the power
of Gwan Shr Yin.
If you meet with evil Rakshashas,
Lethal dragons,
ghosts, and vicious beasts,
Evoke the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
None
will dare to harm you in the least.
Circled round and trapped by savage
creatures,
With razor fangs and claws that terrify,
Evoke the strength of
Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
And they will quickly flee to every side.
Facing
vipers, scorpions, and pythons,
Belching poisons, fumes, and scorching flames,
Evoke
the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
They'll shrink and turn away before his
name.
When thunder-clouds explode and lightning crackles,
Dumping sleet,
and hail, and heavy rains,
Evoke the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
The
skies will clear, the storms will drift away.
Living beings harassed and
vexed, and troubled,
By countless sorrows, burdened without cease,
This
Bodhisattva's wondrous wisdom-power.
Can help the suffering world obtain relief.
Perfect and complete in psychic power,
Widely versed in wisdom's subtle
skills,
In lands throughout the ten directions,
The Bodhisattva manifests
at will.
The agony amid the Evil Pathways,
The torments of the ghosts,
the beasts, the hells,
The pains of birth, the aged, sick, and dying,
The
Bodhisattva gradually dispels.
O Thou of true regard, of pure regard,
Regard
far-reaching, wise, and truly great,
Thy loving-kindness, sympathy, and deep
regard,
I vow to ever laud and venerate.
Your wisdom-sun can break
apart the darkness,
Immaculate, your virgin light unfurls,
To quell disasters,
winds, and storms, and fires,
A universal light for all the world.
Wellspring
of compassion, precepts' thunder,
Your wondrous cloud of kindness covers all.
Extinguishing
the fires of life's afflictions,
As the rain of sweet-dew Dharma falls.
In trials, suits, and civil confrontations,
When fear runs high, when warring
armies near,
Evoke the strength of Gwan Yin Bodhisattva,
Vengeance and bad
feelings disappear.
Fine and wondrous sound: Gwan Shr Yin!
Brahma-sound,
steady as the tides.
A name transcending every worldly sound,
Gwan Yin!
Stay forever in my mind.
Let not a single doubt arise to haunt us,
For
Gwan Yin Bodhisattva, Holy Sage,
Amid life's troubles, and the pains of dying,
Will
ever be our refuge, and our aid.
O Holy One! Replete with every virtue,
Your
kindly gaze beholds all living beings.
A boundless sea you are, of every blessing.
And
let us bow to offer our esteem!"
Then Bodhisattva, Guardian of the
Earth arose from his seat, went before the Buddha and proclaimed, "O! World
Honored One, living beings must have abundant merit and virtue to hear this chapter
on Gwan Shr Yin Bodhisattva's sovereign deeds, and how he universally responds
with his spiritual power."
And while the Buddha spoke this Universal Door
Chapter, eighty-four thousand living beings from among the assembly set their
minds on achieving Anuttara-samyak-sambodhi!
(Recite the Great Compassion Mantra)
(3 times or 7 times)
Copyright
© 1997 Buddhist Text Translation Society,
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