"Question: Who is the messenger mentioned in the passage, “he sends a messenger home to announce”?

Question: Who is the messenger mentioned in the passage, “he sends a messenger home to announce”?

Answer: It means the four ranks of sages. They fall into four categories. [First,] most of the four ranks of sages of Hinayana appeared in the first five hundred years of the Former Day of the Law, and [second,] most of those of [provisional] Mahayana came in the second five hundred years. Third, those of the theoretical teaching appeared mainly in the next thousand years, the Middle Day of the Law, and the rest, in the beginning of the Latter Day. Fourth, the four ranks of sages of the essential teaching are the bodhisattvas emerging from the earth, numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds, who are certain to appear in the beginning of the Latter Day. When the sutra says, “he sends a messenger home to announce,” it refers to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. “This good medicine” is the heart of the “Life Span” chapter, or Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, which is endowed with name, entity, quality, function, and teaching.74 Since the Buddha would not entrust this good medicine even to the bodhisattvas of the theoretical teaching, how much less could he have done so to the bodhisattvas of other worlds?

The “Supernatural Powers” chapter states: “At that time the bodhisattvas mahāsattva who had emerged from the earth, numerous as the dust particles of a thousand worlds, all in the presence of the Buddha single-mindedly pressed their palms together, gazed up in reverence at the face of the Honored One, and said to the Buddha: ‘World-Honored One, after the Buddha has entered extinction, in the lands where the emanations of the World-Honored One are present, and in the place where the Buddha has passed into extinction, we will preach this sutra far and wide.’” T’ien-t’ai says, “The great assembly witnessed the Bodhisattvas of the Earth alone making this pledge.”75 Tao-hsien remarks: “As far as transmission goes, this sutra was entrusted solely to the bodhisattvas who had welled up out of the earth. The reason for this is that the Law embodied therein is the Law that was realized countless kalpas in the past, and therefore it was entrusted to persons who had been the Buddha’s disciples from countless kalpas in the past.”76

Bodhisattva Manjushrī is a disciple of the Buddha Immovable, who dwells in the Golden-colored World to the east. Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World’s Sounds is a disciple of the Buddha Infinite Life in the west. Bodhisattva Medicine King is a disciple of the Buddha Sun Moon Pure Bright Virtue.77 Bodhisattva Universal Worthy is a disciple of the Buddha Jeweled Dignity. They came to this sahā world to help Shakyamuni Buddha teach the people of his day. They were bodhisattvas of the provisional and theoretical teachings, and were not entrusted with the supreme Law, so they could not possibly appear and propagate it in the Latter Day.

[In the “Supernatural Powers” chapter] the sutra states: “At that time the World-Honored One . . . before all these he displayed his great supernatural powers. He extended his long broad tongue upward till it reached the Brahmā heaven . . . The other Buddhas, seated on lion seats underneath the numerous jeweled trees, did likewise, extending their long broad tongues.” In no other sutra, whether Hinayana or Mahayana, exoteric or esoteric, is there a passage that describes Shakyamuni Buddha and all the other Buddhas, seated together, extending their tongues to the Brahmā heaven.

The Amida Sutra states that Buddhas covered a major world system with their broad long tongues, but lacks the truth that such a gesture would p.373substantiate. The Wisdom Sutra tells how the Buddha’s tongue covered a major world system and radiated infinite light when he expounded the prajnā (wisdom). Yet this certainly cannot be a proof [comparable to that of the “Supernatural Powers” chapter]. Because these two sutras include provisional teachings, they obscure the Buddha’s enlightenment in the remote past.

After the Buddha displayed his ten supernatural powers, he entrusted the five characters of the Mystic Law to the Bodhisattvas of the Earth. As the sutra states: “At that time the Buddha spoke to Superior Practices and the others in the great assembly of bodhisattvas, saying: ‘The supernatural powers of the Buddhas, as you have seen, are immeasurable, boundless, inconceivable. If in the process of entrusting this sutra to others I were to employ these supernatural powers for immeasurable, boundless hundreds, thousands, ten thousands, millions of asamkhya kalpas to describe the benefits of the sutra, I could never finish doing so. To put it briefly, all the doctrines possessed by the Thus Come One, all the freely exercised supernatural powers of the Thus Come One, the storehouse of all the secret essentials of the Thus Come One, all the most profound matters of the Thus Come One—all these are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly expounded in this sutra.’”78 T’ien-t’ai says, “The passage that follows the words ‘At that time the Buddha spoke to Superior Practices’ constitutes the third stage of the chapter, the transfer of the essence of the Lotus Sutra.”79 Dengyō states: “The ‘Supernatural Powers’ chapter says, ‘To put it briefly, all the doctrines possessed by the Thus Come One . . . are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly expounded in this sutra.’ From this it is clear that all the doctrines, all the freely exercised supernatural powers, the storehouse of all the secret essentials, and all the most profound matters possessed by the Buddha as the fruit of his enlightenment—all these are proclaimed, revealed, and clearly expounded in the Lotus Sutra.”80 Demonstrating ten supernatural powers, the Buddha transferred the five characters of Myoho-renge-kyo to the four great bodhisattvas: Superior Practices, Firmly Established Practices, Pure Practices, and Boundless Practices." - Nichiren's most important writing, The True Object of Devotion, referring to the parable of the Excellent Physician.