Chapter 24: The Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound

From the world of Pure Light Adornment in the east, an immense radiance and flowers of extraordinary beauty suddenly appear at Vulture Peak. The Buddha explains that these signs herald the arrival of the Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound from the realm of the Buddha Pure Flower Star Constellation King Wisdom. This bodhisattva has made offerings to that Buddha over many kalpas, including eighty-four thousand golden bowls filled with jewels, and through these accumulated merits has been born into that glorious land. He has mastered countless samadhis and now descends to the saha world, accompanied by eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas.

Upon arriving, the Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound pays homage to Shakyamuni Buddha and to the treasure tower of Many Treasures. The Bodhisattva Flower Virtue asks the Buddha about the past practices that enabled Wonderful Sound to attain such extraordinary powers. The Buddha explains that in a former age, Wonderful Sound offered music to a Buddha named Cloud Thunder Sound King and vowed to attain a body of golden hue. Through this vow and countless subsequent practices, he gained his present magnificent form and abilities.

Most significantly, the Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound possesses the ability to manifest in whatever form is needed to teach the Dharma to any being. He appears as a king to those who need a king's teaching, as a householder, a monk, a nun, a wife, a boy, a girl, a dragon, a heavenly being -- in thirty-four different forms altogether, always preaching the Lotus Sutra in the manner most appropriate to each audience. After paying his respects and teaching in the saha world, Wonderful Sound returns to his own Buddha-land, demonstrating that the work of the Lotus Sutra spans all worlds and all forms of existence.