妙法蓮華經文句 釋如來神力品

At this point in the sutra, everything that had to be taught had been taught. Only one question remained: to whom would these words be entrusted?

The Buddha did not speak at once.

He first performed ten acts.

He extended his tongue as far as the Brahmā heaven. Every pore of his body emitted light that illuminated the ten directions. He gently cleared his throat. He snapped his fingers. The earth beneath him quaked in six ways. Everyone suddenly saw the entire Dharma assembly. A voice sounded in empty space. Immeasurable beings joined their palms and chanted, “Homage to Śākyamuni Buddha.” Offerings scattered from afar throughout the ten directions gathered like clouds. Finally, the worlds of the ten directions opened unobstructedly into one another, like a single buddha-land.

Only after completing these ten acts did the Buddha speak.

What he said was astonishingly brief. He gathered the entire sutra into four phrases: all the Tathāgata’s dharmas, all his sovereign supernormal powers, all his treasury of secrets and essentials, and all his extremely profound matters are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly taught in this sutra.

Then he entrusted it.

When explaining the first sign, the root treatise is very concrete: a person of merit can touch the nose with the tongue; the Buddha of the Tripiṭaka Teaching can reach the hairline; here the tongue reaches the Brahmā heaven and passes beyond ordinary beings and sages. Since the sign differs from the ordinary, the words spoken become all the more credible.

That sentence reveals the whole event.

What the Buddha is about to say carries immense weight, while those who hear it must preserve it alone after he is gone. The weightier the words, the weightier the proof required; and the proof cannot merely repeat the words—it must be something beyond speech.

We do the same when we entrust something important. A truly consequential entrustment rarely rests on a sentence alone.

There is another sequence worth noticing: the bodhisattvas first vow; only then does the Buddha entrust.

The Buddha does not unilaterally thrust something upon them. The disciples first step forward and say, “I am willing”—willing after the Buddha’s extinction, willing in the lands of the buddhas who are his emanations, willing not merely to benefit others under command but also to vow personally to propagate this true and pure Great Dharma. Only after they speak does the Buddha manifest his supernormal powers, gather the essentials, and entrust them.

At the end, the sutra says that wherever a scroll of the sutra is found, a stūpa should be erected.

The root treatise explains this deeply. A stūpa means that attaining awakening is the Dharma-body, turning the Dharma-wheel is prajñā, and entering nirvāṇa is liberation. These three dharmas accomplish the treasury of secrets, and the Buddha abides within it.

The four traditional stūpa sites—where the Buddha was born, attained the way, turned the Dharma-wheel, and entered nirvāṇa—are scattered across four places. Now all four are present in the one place where the sutra scroll rests.

It is therefore not an architectural regulation. It is a statement: where the sutra is, the Buddha is there.

Perhaps the most important thing in reading this chapter is not remembering the ten supernormal powers, but asking: if someone places what matters most in my hands, am I ready to say, “I am willing”?

[Fahua Wenju, latter half of fascicle ten. Taught by Tiantai Master Zhizhe.]

I. Explaining the Chapter Title and Its Place

The term “Tathāgata” has been explained above. “Supernormal” means beyond measurement, and “power” means capacity and use. Beyond measurement indicates the profundity of the innate essence; capacity and use indicate the vastness of transformative power. Ten great powers are manifested here in order to entrust the profound Dharma, so the chapter is called “The Supernormal Powers.”

The eight chapters from this one onward concern entrustment and circulation. The present chapter explains how the bodhisattvas accept the command to propagate the sutra; the next explains how the Tathāgata strokes their crowns and entrusts it to them.

II. The Three Divisions of the Prose and the Assemblies Addressed

The sutra has prose and verse. The prose is divided into three parts: first, the bodhisattvas accept the command; second, the Buddha manifests his supernormal powers; third, he gathers the essentials and exhorts them to uphold.

At the beginning, the compiler of the sutra narrates the ceremony of reverence; next, the bodhisattvas vow to propagate the sutra. Propagation has three matters: first, the time—after the Buddha’s extinction; second, the place—the lands of the emanation-buddhas; third, the vow—not merely to benefit others under command, but also personally to vow to propagate this true and pure Great Dharma, combining aid to others with the beauty of one’s own aspiration.

The passage beginning “At that time” is the second part, manifesting ten supernormal powers, and has two levels: first the assemblies addressed, then the formal manifestation of those powers. “Mañjuśrī and the others” are the assembly transformed through the Trace; “those long dwelling here” are the assembly from below transformed through the Origin; and “all” refers to those who came from other directions and those who accompanied the emanation-buddhas.

Question: Only the bodhisattvas from below are seen vowing; Mañjuśrī and the others are not. Why?

Answer: The preceding text says, “My land itself has bodhisattvas able to uphold this sutra,” which includes them as well.

III. The Ten Supernormal Powers

First, the sign of extending the tongue. This sutra teaches opening the three to reveal the One, keeping the inner secret while appearing outwardly, and discarding the near to reveal the distant, disclosing that the benefit given to beings throughout the three times is sincere and never false. A person of merit can reach the nose with the tongue; the Buddha of the Tripiṭaka Teaching can reach the hairline; here the tongue reaches the Brahmā heaven, beyond ordinary beings and sages, to the summit of the Pure Heaven. Since the sign differs from the ordinary, the words spoken are all the more credible.

Second, every pore throughout the body emits light that shines throughout the ten directions, leaving no place unilluminated. This indicates the complete exhaustion of wisdom and its objects. Earlier, light from the white curl first shone only eastward, indicating that people of the seven expedient means first saw the one principle. Now that the Origin Gate has been fully taught, all kinds of light illuminate all lands, enabling those at the initial causal stage through equal awakening to perfect buddha-wisdom. The emanation-buddhas do likewise.

Third, clearing the throat. This is the sign of being about to speak and also a sign of free flow. The true meaning hidden for more than forty years can now extend and unfold without residue or obstruction. The great affair for which I appeared in the world has flowed freely, so I clear my throat. Again, I wish to entrust this Dharma to the bodhisattvas so they may guide and benefit beings in later ages; because I am about to speak of this, I clear my throat. It has two meanings: one clearing says that the affair is complete; the other says that it is entrusted to others.

Fourth, snapping the fingers. This is joyful acceptance: rejoicing that those of the seven expedient means enter the perfect path together; rejoicing that the perfect path increases wisdom and reduces birth; rejoicing that the bodhisattvas preserve the true and pure Great Dharma; and rejoicing that later beings attain the unsurpassed treasure. This one snap penetrates the three times vertically and spans the ten directions horizontally.

Fifth, the earth quakes in six ways. This indicates six movements of ignorance from the initial mind to the later mind; it now further indicates moving every person’s six faculties so that they attain purity.

Sixth, the entire assembly is universally seen. This indicates that the way of all buddhas is the same and will remain so from now onward. Earlier the five thousand rose and departed, and during the three transformations of the lands they were moved elsewhere. Having lost their original minds, they could not gain present benefit. It is fitting to manifest extinction though extinction is not the origin, so that through the bodhisattvas’ propagation of the sutra they attain the way, enter buddha-wisdom, and become no different from today’s assembly. This also indicates future unity of capacity.

Seventh, a voice calls out from empty space. This indicates that in the future there will be unity of teaching.

Eighth, beings utter “homage,” take refuge, and become the Buddha’s disciples. This indicates that in the future there will be unity of person.

Ninth, various objects scattered from afar gather like clouds. This indicates that in the future there will be unity of practice.

Tenth, the ten directions communicate as one buddha-land. This indicates unity of principle.

Question: How do we know the ten signs indicate both the present and the future?

Answer: The sutra says, “Even were I to use the Tathāgata’s supernormal powers for the sake of entrusting this sutra, I could not finish speaking.” Its indication of present and future is therefore clear.

IV. Gathering the Essentials and Entrusting Them

The passage beginning “At that time the Buddha addressed Superior Practice” is the third part, gathering the essentials and entrusting them. Its wording has four levels: first, praise and entrustment; second, gathering the essentials and entrustment; third, encouragement and entrustment; fourth, explanation and entrustment. The initial praise is as the sutra states.

The gathering of essentials has four phrases. “All dharmas” means that all are Buddha-Dharma and gathers the name “all is wondrous.” “All powers” means unobstructed penetration and possession of the eight forms of sovereignty and gathers wondrous function. “The entire treasury of secrets” means that the true mark pervades every place and gathers wondrous essence. “All profound matters” means that causes and fruits are profound matters and gathers wondrous principle. The phrase “all are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly taught in this sutra” concludes that the whole sutra contains only these four—taking up its pivotal handle and entrusting it.

The passage beginning “Therefore, you” is the third level, encouragement and entrustment, as the sutra states.

The passage beginning “Why is this?” is the fourth level, explanation and entrustment. Above it says, “Wherever a scroll of the sutra is found, a stūpa should be erected.” The sutra’s essentials lie in four matters: “the site of awakening” explains the profound matters stated above; “attaining awakening” explains the treasury of secrets; “turning the Dharma-wheel” explains all dharmas; and “entering nirvāṇa” explains the supernormal powers. These four essentials encompass the sutra’s wording completely, so stūpas should be erected at them all.

What “essential” means is this: attaining awakening is the Dharma-body, turning the Dharma-wheel is prajñā, and entering nirvāṇa is liberation. These three dharmas accomplish the treasury of secrets, and the Buddha abides within it. This is the meaning of the stūpa. The Āgama Sutra says, “When a buddha appears in the world, stūpas are erected at only four places: the place of birth, the place of attaining the way, the turning of the Dharma-wheel, and entry into nirvāṇa.” Sitting at the site of awakening is the birthplace of the Dharma-body; the remainder is as the sutra states.

V. Sixteen Lines of Verse

The verse has sixteen lines. The first four recapitulate the ten supernormal powers; the next twelve recapitulate the gathering of essentials. The two lines beginning with “entrustment,” together with the phrase “this person’s qualities,” generally recapitulate the four dharmas.

The passage beginning “one who can uphold it has already seen me” is the second part, eight and a half lines that separately recapitulate the four dharmas. The first one and a half lines recapitulate all dharmas: upholding the Dharma is precisely upholding the Buddha’s body. The two verses beginning “cause me and my emanations” recapitulate the supernormal powers: those powers exhort the buddhas and cause them to rejoice. The one verse beginning “the buddhas sit at the site of awakening” recapitulates the secret and essential meaning, which can be understood. The four verses beginning “concerning the meaning of all dharmas” recapitulate the profound matters: teaching the Dharma, dispelling darkness, and entering the One Vehicle are precisely the Buddha’s profound matters. The final one and a half verses conclude the recapitulation.

The Origin Gate has been taught in full. Distant attainment of the way, constant abiding without extinction, and the benefits gained from hearing the Dharma—everything that had to be taught has been taught. The question now is not “What remains to be said?” but “To whom, and how, are these words to be entrusted?”

This chapter stands at the moment just before entrustment. Before speaking that entrustment, the Buddha first performs ten acts: he extends his tongue to the Brahmā heaven, emits light from his pores, clears his throat, snaps his fingers, causes the earth to quake, lets the assembly be universally seen, produces a voice in empty space, receives the beings’ homage, gathers offerings scattered from afar, and makes the ten directions communicate like a single buddha-land.

Only after the ten acts are complete does the Buddha speak. What he says is brief: he gathers the whole sutra into four phrases and then entrusts it.

The root treatise makes a judgment here that governs the whole closing movement: the eight chapters from this one onward concern entrustment and circulation. This chapter is therefore not merely the Origin Gate’s conclusion; it is the beginning of the sutra’s final road.

I. Why Does the Buddha Act Before He Speaks?

One easily overlooked detail is that this chapter contains almost no teaching. It is composed almost entirely of actions.

The root treatise shows why this matters when explaining the title. “Supernormal” means beyond measurement, while “power” means capacity and use. Being beyond measurement means the innate essence is profound; capacity and use mean the power of transformation is vast. Only essence and function appearing together can bear the profound Dharma about to be entrusted.

The first of the ten signs is the extension of the tongue. The root treatise explains it concretely: a person of merit can reach the nose with the tongue, the Buddha of the Tripiṭaka Teaching reaches the hairline, and now the tongue reaches the Brahmā heaven, beyond ordinary beings and sages. It then states the intent directly: because the sign differs from the ordinary, the words spoken are all the more credible.

The logic is simple. What the Buddha is about to say—entrusting the entire sutra—carries immense weight, and the hearers must preserve it after his extinction. Weighty words require commensurate proof, and that proof cannot merely repeat the words; it must be something beyond speech.

The ten supernormal powers are therefore not a display of marvels but a guarantee.

II. Why Are the Ten Signs Divided into Two Halves?

In explaining the ten signs, the root treatise clearly treats the first five differently from the latter five.

It explains each of the first five individually: the extended tongue indicates that what is taught is credible; light from the pores indicates exhaustion of wisdom and its objects; clearing the throat indicates impending speech and free flow; snapping the fingers indicates joyful acceptance; and the earth’s movement indicates six movements that stir ignorance as well as the six faculties so that they become pure. The latter five are far more regular and are each named: the sixth indicates unity of capacity, the seventh unity of teaching, the eighth unity of person, the ninth unity of practice, and the tenth unity of principle.

The latter five correspond to the four unities plus unity of capacity—the complete field of “one” established by this sutra. The root treatise places them in the future: the seventh expressly says “it indicates that in the future there will be unity of teaching,” and the eighth “it indicates that in the future there will be unity of person.”

The arrangement is deliberate. The first five concern what happens before the assembly now—the Buddha’s tongue, his light, his throat-clearing, his finger snap, and the earth beneath his feet. The latter five concern what lies outside and after this assembly: in the future there will still be capacity, teaching, persons, practice, and principle.

The ten signs thus span present and future. The root treatise immediately fixes this point with a question and answer: how do we know the ten signs indicate both present and future? It cites the sutra—the Buddha says that even were he to use the Tathāgata’s supernormal powers for “the sake of entrustment,” he could not finish speaking of the sutra’s qualities. Because the signs are manifested for entrustment, they necessarily point toward what has not yet arrived.

III. Why Does the Pivot of the Entire Sutra Consist of Only Four Phrases?

Once the ten signs have appeared, the Buddha speaks. The root treatise calls the heart of his words “gathering the essentials and entrusting them”—drawing out the essentials in order to hand them over.

The essentials are four phrases: all the Tathāgata’s dharmas, all the Tathāgata’s sovereign supernormal powers, all the Tathāgata’s treasury of secrets and essentials, and all the Tathāgata’s extremely profound matters are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly taught in this sutra.

The root treatise then does something elegant: it aligns these four phrases with the sutra’s name, essence, principle, and function. All dharmas are the wondrous name; all powers, wondrous function; the entire treasury of secrets, wondrous essence; and all profound matters, wondrous principle. It then concludes that the whole sutra contains only these four: its pivotal handle is taken up and entrusted.

When a twenty-eight-chapter sutra is entrusted, it remains as four phrases. This is not simplification but distillation. Name, essence, principle, and function are the four points by which a sutra is judged; since the four phrases occupy all four points, they naturally “encompass it completely.”

The root treatise next gathers the four phrases one level further. The sutra says that a stūpa should be erected wherever a scroll of the sutra is found, because that place is itself the site of awakening, where buddhas attain awakening, turn the Dharma-wheel, and enter parinirvāṇa. The root treatise maps these four matters back to the four phrases: the site of awakening explains the profound matters; attaining awakening, the treasury of secrets; turning the Dharma-wheel, all dharmas; and entering nirvāṇa, the supernormal powers.

The four phrases become four matters, and the four matters then become three dharmas: attaining awakening is the Dharma-body, turning the Dharma-wheel is prajñā, and entering nirvāṇa is liberation. The three dharmas accomplish the treasury of secrets, and the Buddha abides within it. This is the meaning of the stūpa.

Thus “a stūpa should be erected” is not a ritual regulation but a statement: where the sutra scroll is found, the Buddha abides.

IV. Can a Śrāvaka Scripture Be Cited to Prove a Mahāyāna Meaning?

After explaining the stūpa, the root treatise cites the Āgama: when a buddha appears in the world, stūpas are erected at only four places—the place of birth, the place of attaining the way, the turning of the Dharma-wheel, and entry into nirvāṇa.

This citation deserves a pause. The root treatise has been discussing the name, essence, principle, and function of the Perfect Teaching, yet suddenly cites a śrāvaka scripture as proof.

Its function is clear. The four stūpa sites are among Buddhism’s oldest and least disputed shared facts of event. The root treatise uses that shared ground to explain that the sutra’s statement that “a stūpa should be erected” is not a new institution, but gathers the older meaning of the four places into one scripture: the site of awakening is the birthplace of the Dharma-body, while attaining awakening, turning the Dharma-wheel, and entering nirvāṇa each have their own place within the correlation.

The traditional four sites are dispersed across four places; now they are all present in the single place where the sutra scroll rests. This moves the stūpa from geography into text.

V. Why Are the Finger Snap and Earthquake Correlated So Far Beyond Themselves?

Of the ten signs, two look most like simple actions, yet the root treatise carries their explanations the farthest.

A finger snap is a minute action. The root treatise calls it joyful acceptance and then lists four levels at once: rejoicing that people of the seven expedient means all enter the perfect path; rejoicing that the perfect path increases wisdom and reduces birth; rejoicing that the bodhisattvas preserve the true and pure Great Dharma; and rejoicing that later beings attain the unsurpassed treasure. Having listed the four, it concludes that this single finger snap penetrates the three times vertically and spans the ten directions horizontally.

One finger snap is aligned with four kinds of rejoicing, then with the three times and ten directions. Without a basis, such a reading would become exaggeration; its basis lies in the word suixi (“joyful acceptance”) itself. To rejoice is not to gain something oneself, but to delight in another’s gain. The wider the object of that delight, the wider the joy. The first two levels rejoice in those who have already entered the path; the latter two in those who uphold the Dharma and those who gain the treasure in the future—from the present all the way into the future.

The sixfold earthquake works in the same way. The root treatise says it indicates six movements of ignorance from the initial to the later mind, then adds that it now also indicates moving the six faculties of all people so that they become pure.

The same “six” is aligned on one side with six occasions of breaking ignorance along the stages of practice and on the other with beings’ six faculties. Both correlations remain without replacing one another: what the earth’s movement shakes is both ignorance and the six faculties. The first concerns progress along the path; the second, the bodies and minds of the hearers here and now.

These two signs therefore demonstrate the root treatise’s way of reading marvels: it does not ask how astonishing they are, but what they indicate. The farther and more comprehensively a sign points, the greater its weight.

VI. Why Does the Sixth Sign Bring Up the Five Thousand People?

Among the ten signs, the explanation of the sixth, “the entire assembly being universally seen,” is the longest and ranges farthest afield. Here the root treatise suddenly brings up the five thousand people who left the assembly earlier.

It says that the five thousand previously rose and departed and were moved elsewhere when the lands were transformed three times. Having lost their original minds and being unable to gain present benefit, they should be led through manifesting extinction though extinction is not the origin, so that they attain the way through the bodhisattvas’ propagation of the sutra, enter buddha-wisdom, and become no different from today’s assembly.

At first this seems unrelated to “universal seeing,” yet it is precisely the point. If universal seeing meant only that everyone now present could see this assembly, it would be no more than a temporary spectacle. The root treatise says that even those who once left and were moved away will ultimately see. It therefore continues: this indicates that the way of all buddhas is the same and will remain so from now onward.

This is exactly why the sign is judged to “indicate future unity of capacity.” Unity of capacity does not ask how many are presently seated, but how many will still be gathered back in the future. The departure of the five thousand is the most visible wound in the entire sutra; by raising it at the moment of entrustment, the root treatise says that the Dharma being entrusted must finally receive every capacity, including theirs.

VII. Carrying Forward: The Bodhisattvas Vow Before the Buddha Entrusts

The chapter’s sequence deserves attention: first the bodhisattvas accept the command and vow to propagate the sutra; then the Buddha manifests his supernormal powers; finally he gathers the essentials and entrusts them.

Entrustment is therefore not a unilateral act by the Buddha. Acceptance of the command comes first and entrustment afterward: the disciples first say that they are willing, and only then does the Buddha hand it over. In explaining their vow, the root treatise distinguishes three matters—the time is after the Buddha’s extinction; the place is the lands of his emanation-buddhas; and the vow is not merely to benefit others under command, but also personally to propagate this true and pure Great Dharma, combining aid to others with the beauty of one’s own aspiration.

The root treatise also addresses a small question: only the bodhisattvas from below are seen vowing, so why are Mañjuśrī and the others not seen doing so? It answers that the Buddha previously said, “My land itself has bodhisattvas able to uphold this sutra,” which includes them as well. The brief answer reconnects this chapter with the scene of emerging from the earth: those accepting the command are precisely those who were summoned there.

This unit ends with the summary in verse. Immediately below it is the “Entrustment” chapter, where the Buddha personally strokes their crowns and hands it over. At the chapter’s opening, the root treatise has already announced the sequence: the present chapter explains the bodhisattvas’ acceptance of the command to propagate the sutra; the next, the Tathāgata’s crown-stroking entrustment. The path of reading turns from “the disciples vow of themselves” to “the Buddha personally entrusts it.”

Through the Eye of the Wenjuji

Zhanran’s Mirror explanation adds two matters that the root treatise does not explicitly state and presents one judgment not marked there.

First is the division into essence and function when explaining the title. The root treatise says “supernormal” is beyond measurement and “power” is capacity and use; Zhanran then places them within the sutra’s four pivots: what is supernormal within is essence and principle, while power as capacity and use is function. He also explains why the chapter manifests bodily signs. The Buddha has already completed teaching the doctrines of Origin and Trace through the wheel of speech; now, through the wheel of the body, he manifests this superior function so the assembly may circulate the teachings of Origin and Trace. The contrast between speech-wheel and body-wheel is an additional Mirror layer, and it explains precisely why this chapter contains so little speech.

Second is the correlation of the ten signs, where the Mirror clearly differs from the root treatise. The root treatise correlates the four unities with the latter five signs, while Zhanran says the first five directly explain present circulation of Origin and Trace and the latter five generally indicate that the future will not cease. Within the first five he further divides them: the first causes the assembly generally to trust Origin and Trace; the next four are the four present unities—the second indicates unity of principle, the third unity of teaching, the fourth unity of person, and the fifth unity of practice.

Thus the root treatise derives one set of four unities from the latter five signs, while the Mirror derives another from the first five. Both sets remain. They do not simply contradict because the two readers take different axes: the root treatise distinguishes present and future, whereas the Mirror pairs the four present unities with the four future unities. But the two judgments genuinely differ, so they are recorded side by side without adjudication, and the root treatise is not altered through the Mirror.

Zhanran also explains why the latter five say only “one” without saying Origin and Trace: because they concern the future, which has not yet entered the real, so who could discuss its origin? If one can see the real, one thereby sees the origin. The conclusion therefore says only “indicating the present and indicating what is to come.” He specifically notes that “what is to come” means “what will be.”

Concerning the Āgama cited by the root treatise, he speaks directly: the Lesser is borrowed to prove the Great; there the matter is stated through events, while here it is borrowed to prove principle; because opening the Lesser is itself the Great, it can serve as proof. This sentence answers the earlier question directly.

Finally, he judges the verse. The root treatise says its first four lines recapitulate the ten supernormal powers, but Zhanran points out that the verse actually recapitulates only the first five and omits the latter five. The reason is that the first five are visibly present and each essential is retained, while the two sets of five differ only as present and future: adducing present examples allows the future to be inferred, so it is abbreviated. The root treatise does not mark an omission; that judgment belongs to the Mirror and also explains why four verse lines do not recapitulate all ten signs.