The Lotus Sutra
World-Honored One, fully endowed with subtle signs!
Now again I ask about that
Son of the Buddha for what reason
He is named the One Who Observes the Sounds of the World.
The Buddhia replied:
Listen you to the conduct of the Sound-Observer,
The one who responds well to all places in all directions!
His broad vows as deep as the ocean,
Throughout kalpas beyond reckoning or discussion
He has served many thousands of millions of Buddhas,
• Uttering great and pure vows.
I will tell it to you in brief.
The hearing of his name, the sight of his body,
The recollection of him in thought do no pass away in vain,
For he can extinguish the woes of existence.
Even if someone whose thoughts are malicious
Should push one into a great pit of fire,
By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer
The pit of fire would turn into a pool.
Or, one might be afloat in a great sea,
In which are dragons, fish, and sundry ghosts.
By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer
The waves could not drown one.
Or, being on the peak of Sumeru,
One might by another be pushed off.
By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,
Like the sun itself one would dwell in space.
Or, one might by an evil man be chased
Down from a diamond mountain.
By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer
He could not harm a single hair on one-s head.
Or, one might be surrounded by enemies,
Each carrying a knife and intending to inflict harm.
By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer
All would straightaway produce thoughts of good will.
Or, one might encounter royally ordained woes,
Facing execution and the imminent end of one’s life.
By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer
The knives would thereupon break in pieces.
Or, one might be confined in a pillory,
One’s hands and one’s feet in stocks.
By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer
One would freely gain release.
When either by spells, or by curses, or by poisonous herbs,
Someone wishes to harm his body, the victim,
By virtue of his constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,
Shall send them all back to plague their authors.
Or one might encounter evil raksasas,
Poisonous dragons, ghosts, and the like.
By virtue of one constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,
They would no dare to do one harm.
Or, one may be surrounded by malicious beasts,
Sharp of tooth and with claws to be dreaded.
By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,
They shall quickly run off to immeasurable distance
There may be poisonous snakes and noxious insects,
Their breath deadly, smoking and flaming with fire.
By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,
At the sound of one’s voice they will go away of themselves.
The clouds, rolling the thunder drums and
dispatching the lightning.
Send down the hail and pour forth the great rains.
By virtue of one’s constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer,
At that very moment one can dry up and dissipate them.
The beings suffer embarrassment and discomfort;
Incalculable woes press in upon them.
The Sound-Observer, by his unblemished knowledge
Can rescue the world from its woes.
He is fully endowed with supernatural penetration
And broadly cultivates wisdom and expedient devices;
In the lands of all ten quarters
There is no ksetra where he does not display his body.
The various evil destinies,
Those of hell, ghosts, and beasts,
As well as the pains of birth, old age, sickness, and death,
All little by little are extinguished.
O you of the true gaze, of the pure gaze,
Of the gaze of broad and great wisdom,
Of the compassionate gaze and the gaze of good will!
We constantly desire, constantly look up to,
The spotlessly pure ray of light,
The sun of wisdom that banishes all darkness,
That can subdue the winds and flames of misfortune
And everywhere give bright light to the world.
The thunder of the monastic prohibitions, whose
essence is good will,
And the great and subtle cloud, which is the sense of
compassion,
Pour forth the Dharma-rain of sweet dew,
Extinguishing and removing the flames of agony.
When disputes go through civil offices,
When they terrify military campus,
By virtue of constant mindfulness of Sound-Observer
• The multitude of enemies shall all withdraw and scatter.
The delicate-voiced one who observes
the sounds of the world
And the Brahma-voiced sound of the tide
Are superior to the sounds of the world.
Therefore one must ever be mindful of them.
From moment to moment conceive no doubts,
For the pure saint who observes the sounds of the world
In the discomforts of pain, agony, and death
Can be a point of reliance.
Fully endowed with all the merits,
His benevolent eye beholding the beings.
He is happiness accumulated, a sea-incalculable.
For this reason one must bow one’s head to him.
• At that time the bodhisattva Earth-Holder
(Dharanimdhara) straightaway rose from his seat
and, coming forward, addressed the Buddha, saying,
“O World-Honored One! If there is a living being
who shall hear this Chapter of the Bodhisattva He
Who Observes the Sounds of the World, the deeds
of self-mastery, the manifestation of the gateway
to everywhere, the powers of supernatural penetration,
be it known that that person’s merit shall not be slight.”
When the Buddha preached this Chapter of the
Gateway to Everywhere • within the multitude were
eighty-four thousand living beings all of whom
opened up their thoughts to unequaled
AnnutaraSammakuSambodhi!
