Issue 292

Does Earth Store Bodhisattva have any regrets? No. The more living beings there are, the more work he has. If there are no living beings, he will have nothing to do but to become a Buddha. There is not much to do as a Buddha either, so Earth Store King Bodhisattva looks for things to do when there is not much to do. Originally, he could have been relaxed, but he would rather be busy all day saving living beings. This is Earth Store King Bodhisattva’s vows. Why did Earth Store King Bodhisattva make this kind of vow? He feels that he is one with living beings. If living beings do not become Buddhas, there is not much significance to his becoming a Buddha. Hence, he is here waiting for living beings because his causes and conditions are about always being one with living beings. Earth Store King Bodhisattva’s vows can never be fathomed or understood. What we have talked about is just one small portion of his inconceivable and ineffable vows.

If good men or women of the future hear this/span> Earth Store King Bodhisattva’s name/span>, praise him for his inconceivable vows, his inconceivable spiritual powers, his inconceivable kindness and compassion. They introduce Earth Store Bodhisattva to everyone. You have heard this sutra, so you should introduce the compassion and vows of Earth Store Bodhisattva to all your relatives, friends and colleagues.
You should all introspect, “Oh! Earth Store Bodhisattva can make such vows, so what should I do? Should I make a tiny vow, e.g. perhaps become a Buddha after I have delivered one living being to Buddhahood, or become a Buddha after I have delivered two living beings to Buddhahood. If you cannot make any great vows, even tiny vows will do. This will show that you have not listened to Earth Store Sutra in vain. However, if you listen to the sutra and take no action, it will effectively be like you have not heard of this sutra. As such, there is no kinship between you and the bodhisattva. The Bodhisattva is the bodhisattva; you are you, it will effectively be like you have not heard of this sutra.

For instance, men should make vows about saving their ex-girlfriends when they have become Buddhas. Women should consider this: I had a dearest boyfriend before. Now that I am cultivating, I am going to make sure he becomes a Buddha first, then I will follow. You should make such vows, and not “Amitabha Buddha takes his own; Mahasattvas care about no others.”

Maybe you’d say, “I am the youngest and have never had a boyfriend or girlfriend.” Well, you have your father and mother. You should make the vow to definitely cross them over to Buddhahood. What if your parents have passed away? Well, you have siblings. No sibling? You still have your circle of friends. Make a vow with a specific subject that you will focus on saving. If there is no one else, you can say, “I will make a vow to save my Dharma brother so that he becomes a Buddha for sure.”

You may laugh at me but I will tell you: if any disciple who has taken refuge with me does not become a Buddha, I will not become a Buddha either. I may not have vows as great as Earth Store Bodhisattva, wanting to save all beings so that they become Buddhas. All that I require is that they have taken refuge and have genuine faith in me. If they do not become Buddhas, I will wait for them. If they fall into the hells, I will go down to the hells to find them. Look, this is also great; it is not bad at all. It takes many lives of planting good roots to encounter a teacher like this.

Behold and bow to him, call his name. Recite the holy name of Great Vows Earth Store King Bodhisattva. As we now explain the Earth Store Sutra, I said, “Earth Store King Bodhisattva is really inconceivable.” This is praising. Incantations of “homage to the Great Vows Earth Store King Bodhisattva” are recitations calling his name. Make offerings to him. Now that we have invited the elder Earth Store King Bodhisattva here, every day we light incense and offer to him, bow to him, and offer fruits to him. This is making offerings.

Or if they draw a colored picture of Earth Store King Bodhisattva, not even on wood, but just a drawing of this Buddha image makes your appearance adorned and perfect. The Buddha has 32 hallmarks and 80 minor subsidiary characteristics. Draw one Buddha image and your looks will improve. Draw two, even better. Draw three, four, five…millions and millions, then you will have the 32 hallmarks and the 80 subsidiary characteristics. In general, drawing Buddha images and making Buddha images will make you very good looking.

Carve, cast, sculpt, or make lacquered images of him, such people will be reborn in the Heaven of the Thirty-Three one hundred times. The person who drew one Buddha image will be reborn in the Heaven of Thirty-Three for a hundred rounds. These hundred rounds are not limited to rebirth in the Heaven of Thirty-Three, but also rebirth in the Six Desire Heavens of the Desire Realm, the Eighteen Heavens of the Form Realm (the three First Dhyana Heavens, the three Second Dhyana Heavens, the three Third Dhyana Heavens, the nine Fourth Dhyana Heavens) and also the Formless Realm’s Heaven of the Station of Neither Thought nor Non-Thought, etc. This person will first go through rebirth a hundred times in each of these realms – Desire Realm, Form Realm, Formless Realm, then he will be reborn in the Heaven of Thirty-Three a hundred times. This involves a very lengthy period of time. And will never fall into the Evil Paths. As long as you praise, behold and bow to, recite the name of, make offerings to, or make different images of – Earth Store King Bodhisattva, then you will never fall into the evil paths.

Manjushri, indescribably many eons ago, during the time of a Buddha named Lion Sprint Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices Thus Come One, Earth Store Bodhisattva Mahasattva was the son of a great elder.

Manjushri Bodhisattva, Indescribably many eons ago. There is no way to say how long ago that is or how many eons that is. It is just as incalculable as the aforementioned analogy for a long period of time, e.g. if each blade of grass, tree, forest, rice plant, hemp stalk, bamboo, reed, mountain, rock, and dust mote in a Three Thousand Great Thousand World System was a Ganges River, then suppose each grain of sand in each of those Ganges Rivers was a world, and each dust mote in each of those worlds was an eon, and each dust mote accumulated in each of those eons was itself an eon… How can it be reckoned?

This figure is far bigger and more difficult to calculate in comparison to the number calculated for the amount of force required to send a rocket to the moon. We use mathematical calculations to estimate the force needed to shoot a rocket into a destination in space, how far it will go, and how it will follow the orbit in space. After utilizing accurate calculations, the rocket is shot into space. This is calculable. However, no matter how advanced mathematics has gotten and how wonderful science has become, there is no way to calculate the lengthy span of eons that Earth Store King Bodhisattva has gone through.

During the time of a Buddha named Lion Sprint Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices Thus Come One, Earth Store Bodhisattva Mahasattva was the son of a great elder. At that time, there was a Buddha in the world named Lion Sprint. Lions are the king among beasts. When a lion roars, all the beasts are immobilized by fear; they can neither run nor stand. They collapse on the ground. Even their feet turn numb. The name of this Buddha is likened to a lion. ‘Sprint’ indicates swiftness. It shows how fast lions run. The Buddha is named Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices because he is replete with the Six Paramitas and the myriad conducts.

That elder’s son, upon observing the Buddha’s hallmarks and fine features and how the thousand blessings adorned him, asked that Buddha what practices and vows made him so magnificent. Lion Sprint Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices Thus Come One then said to the elder’s son, ‘If you wish to have a body like mine, you must first spend a long time liberating beings who are undergoing suffering.’

That elder’s son, upon observing the Buddha’s hallmarks and fine features…He saw Lion Sprint Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices Thus Come One has 32 hallmarks, 80 subsidiary characteristics and a thousand blessings that adorn. How come he has 32 hallmarks and 80 subsidiary characteristics? It is due to thousand blessings that adorn him. Cultivating the Five Precepts and the Ten Good Deeds generates a hundred blessings. When each one of the hundred turns into ten, it becomes a thousand. This is called one goodness, one blessing. Accumulate a thousand blessings, and this becomes the thousand blessings that adorn.

He asked that Buddha what practices and vows made him so magnificent. Seeing how perfect and wonderful the Buddha’s features are, the elder’s son asked Lion Sprint Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices Thus Come One, “In the past, what practices did you cultivate and what vows did you make that enable you to have such features?” Lion Sprint Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices Thus Come One then said to the elder’s son, ‘If you wish to have a body like mine, let me tell you, you must first spend a long time liberating beings who are undergoing suffering. After you have saved all beings who are in suffering leave behind their suffering, then your appearance will be perfect; meaning to say, once you save living beings so that they become Buddhas, you become a Buddha.’

Manjushri, that comment caused the elder’s son to make a vow: ‘From now until the end of future time throughout uncountable eons, I will use expansive expedient means to help beings in the Six Paths who are suffering for their offenses. Only when they have all been liberated, will I myself become a Buddha.’ From the time he made that great vow in the presence of that Buddha until now, hundreds of thousands of nayutas of inexpressibly many eons have passed, yet he still is a Bodhisattva.

Manjushri Bodhisattva, that comment caused the elder’s son to make a vow. After listening to what Lion Sprint Complete in the Ten Thousand Practices Thus Come One said, the elder’s son made a vow, saying, ‘I (the elder’s son addressed himself as I), from now until the end of future time…, till the end of future time refers to the incalculable number of eons in the future, throughout uncountable eons‘. How can there be an end to future eons? This will never occur, that is why the number of eons is incalculable.