Chapter 11. The Appearance of theTreasured Tower
Prior to this point, the Buddha had been continuously bestowing predictions of future Buddhahood upon his Sravaka disciples. These disciples, in turn, shared various parables with the Buddha as he elucidated why he first taught the vehicles of the Sravaka and the Pratyekabuddha rather than directly revealing the One Buddha Vehicle. Deeply moved by these predictions, the Sravaka disciples repented for their past failure to aspire toward Supreme, Perfect Enlightenment. The first ten chapters primarily cover these themes. Beginning with Chapter Eleven, the assembly reaches a climax. This chapter describes how, at this stage of the gathering, a massive tower made of the seven treasures suddenly emerges before Shakyamuni Buddha.
The tower is described as being five hundred yojanas high and two hundred and fifty yojanas wide. It rose from the earth and remained suspended in mid-air, adorned with countless priceless treasures. Surrounding the tower were five thousand railings, tens of thousands of shrines, and innumerable banners and streamers. Precious jeweled necklaces and billions of jeweled bells hung from it. From all four sides, it emitted the fragrance of tamalapattra-candana, which filled the entire world.
All the banners and canopies on the tower were composed of the seven treasures: gold, silver, lapis lazuli, giant clam shell, agate, pearl, and carnelian. These banners and canopies were so tall that they reached the palaces of the Four Heavenly Kings. Mandarava flowers rained down from the Trayastrimsa Heaven as an offering to the tower. Most wondrously, a voice emerged from within the tower, saying: “Excellent, excellent! Shakyamuni, the World-Honored One, is able to use his great, impartial wisdom to teach the Dharma for instructing Bodhisattvas, and to proclaim to the great assembly the Lotus Sutra, which is protected and remembered by all the Buddhas of the ten directions. It is just so! It is just so!” In other words, this Treasured Tower emitted a voice praising Shakyamuni Buddha, affirming that he preaches the Lotus Sutra with impartial wisdom and bearing witness to the truth of his words.
At that time, all the beings in the assembly found it strange. The emergence of such a massive and magnificent tower was already astonishing, but then they heard a voice from within and smelled its fragrance. This sound filled everyone with the joy of the Dharma. A Bodhisattva named Mahapratibhana (Great Eloquence), representing all the curious beings, asked Shakyamuni Buddha: “World-Honored One, by what cause and condition has this Treasured Tower emerged from the earth and remained in the air? Why did such a voice emerge from the tower?” The Buddha then told Mahapratibhana: “Within this tower sits the whole-body relic of a Buddha.” This is similar to the whole-body relic of the Sixth Patriarch that we see at Nanhua Temple.
What were the origins of this relic? In the remote past, in a world far to the east called Treasure Purity, there was a Buddha named Prabhutaratna (Abundant Treasures). While he was practicing the Bodhisattva path, he made a great vow: “If I attain Buddhahood, then after my parinirvana, wherever in the lands of the ten directions the Lotus Sutra is preached, my funeral tower shall emerge and appear before the teacher for the sake of hearing this sutra, bearing witness to it and praising it.” This was his vow. Prabhutaratna Buddha told his disciples that whoever wished to make offerings to his whole body after his passing should erect a great tower. Through his supernatural powers and the force of his vow, his tower emerges from the earth in any world in the ten directions where the Lotus Sutra is being taught, appearing before the Buddha of that world to praise their proclamation of the sutra. This is the origin of the Tower of Prabhutaratna Buddha.
At this point, Mahapratibhana Bodhisattva, on behalf of the many disciples in the assembly, made a request to Shakyamuni Buddha, saying: “World-Honored One, we all wish to behold the body of Prabhutaratna Buddha. We hope the World-Honored One will open the tower for us so that we may gaze upon him, pay our respects, and worship him.” Shakyamuni Buddha told Mahapratibhana that Prabhutaratna Buddha had another profound vow: “If my Treasured Tower appears at an assembly and disciples wish to see my whole body, the Buddha who is currently preaching must first gather all his emanation Buddhas—who are preaching the Dharma in the ten directions—into one place. Only then will my whole body manifest before the assembly.” Shakyamuni Buddha told Mahapratibhana: “My emanation Buddhas are currently preaching in the worlds of the ten directions. If you must see Prabhutaratna Buddha, I must now summon them all here.”
Why is this a profound vow? Because to see a Buddha in Nirvana —and since a Buddha is ultimately formless and signless—it is not simply a matter of opening a door to see an image. In truth, within each of us, there is an unborn and undying Buddha; we are all Tathagatas, and this body of ours is the tower. If you look inward, past the external form, you will find that everyone has an unborn and undying Buddha of Nirvana within. You only need to draw back your scattered thoughts—all the delusions regarding the past, present, and future—and bring them back. Every one of your thoughts is your emanation body. If you pull all your emanation bodies back, stop your delusions, and cease being scattered, your Buddha of Nirvana will be revealed. You will see your original Buddha, which is called the Buddha ofNirvana.
What does Nirvana mean? It refers to the unborn and undying Buddha, the Buddha who no longer wanders in reincarnation. It is right here; it is within everyone. The text asks you to gather your emanation bodies, enter a state of meditative concentration (samadhi), practice the Bodhisattva path, and see your own Buddha of Nirvana. Here, Shakyamuni Buddha demonstrates a supernatural transformation. He emits a ray of light from the tuft of white hair between his eyebrows (the urna-laksana), instantly illuminating the Buddhas in worlds as numerous as the sands of billions of Ganges Rivers to the east. Then, he illuminates the south, west, north, the four intermediate directions, and the zenith and nadir. His emanation bodies are present in all ten directions.
How many emanation bodies does he have? As many as there are sentient beings. We are all his emanation bodies; every disciple he has predicted for enlightenment who awakens to the Dharma is an emanation of the Tathagata. You can imagine how many emanation bodies he has. When his emanations arrived, the Saha World could not contain them all. Each Buddha arrived at the Saha World with a great Bodhisattva as an attendant. Shakyamuni Buddha transformed the world, manifesting many trees, and beneath each bodhi tree, he placed a lion seat. Each Tathagata sat upon a lion seat. After the Buddhas of the ten directions arrived and sat cross-legged, the trees were so numerous they were connected, covering the entire Great Chiliocosm.
Yet, the emanation Buddhas from just one direction were so numerous that they could not all fit in this world, even though they already filled the Great Chiliocosm. The emanation Buddhas of each direction are beyond measure. To accommodate them all, Shakyamuni Buddha transformed two million billion nayuta lands in each of the eight directions, making these lands pure and magnificent, free of the four evil realms—hell, animals, hungry ghosts, and asuras. He temporarily moved the heavenly and human beings of those lands to other worlds. While the other emanation Buddhas were arriving, those of us who were not part of the Lotus assembly were moved to other lands without even realizing it.
The entire Saha World became filled with Buddhas. This is the true world of the Tathagata, entirely pure and magnificent—this is the state of the Tathagata’s supernatural transformations. Shakyamuni Buddha’s emanation bodies are so numerous they are beyond counting, and our Great Chiliocosm could not hold them. Once the Buddha had manifested many pure lands and settled these emanation Buddhas, each of them arrived with an attendant. These attendants one by one approached Shakyamuni and said: “This or that Buddha wishes for the opening of this tower.” At that moment, Shakyamuni Buddha used his right finger to open the door of the Treasured Tower of seven treasures, which made a great sound like the opening of a city gate.
Then, the entire assembly saw Prabhutaratna Buddha sitting on the lion seat within the Treasured Tower. His body was whole and intact, sitting in a state of serene and effortless samadhi. They heard Prabhutaratna Buddha say: “Excellent, excellent! Shakyamuni Buddha, please quickly preach the Lotus Sutra. I have come here specifically to hear you preach this sutra.” When the fourfold assembly of disciples saw Prabhutaratna Buddha—who had entered parinirvana countless billions of eons ago—speak such words, they were all struck by the unprecedented nature of this sight. They scattered celestial treasures and flowers over Prabhutaratna Buddha and Shakyamuni Buddha. Then, Prabhutaratna Buddha performed a significant gesture: he moved over on his lion seat to offer half of it to Shakyamuni Buddha. He did more than just speak; he shared his seat with Shakyamuni. This was a Buddha who had entered Nirvana in the remote past!
When the assembly witnessed this, they saw a Buddha of the past and a Buddha of the present. One Buddha had his eyes open, and one had his eyes closed—what was the difference? Sitting side-by-side in the tower, they were equal, without distinction, and non-dual. “Past” and “present” are merely the distinctions made by us sentient beings because we possess minds that distinguish between past and future. Thus, we categorize one as a Buddha of the past and the other as a Buddha of the present. By sitting there together, they manifested this reality for us.
When Prabhutaratna Buddha invited Shakyamuni Buddha into his tower to sit upon the Dharma seat, it first demonstrated to us that the past, present, and future are non-dual; we should not cling to appearances or the distinction between “past” and “present” Buddhas. Furthermore, by entering the tower of Nirvana, Shakyamuni Buddha began to signal that he would soon enter Nirvana in this world. At the end of this chapter, he says that now is the time for anyone who can widely proclaim the Lotus Sutra in this Saha World, for he, Shakyamuni Buddha, will soon enter Nirvana.
At that moment, as Prabhutaratna invited him into the tower, he announced to all the disciples in the assembly: “I shall soon manifest parinirvana. Before I do, I wish to entrust this Lotus Sutra to the sentient beings of this assembly who have the affinity for it.” This is the overall meaning of this chapter: it describes the inconceivable state of the Tathagata and the inconceivable nature of the assembly.