The Entrustment and the Dissemination Part of the Lotus Sutra:

Through a Comparison with the Śūraṅgamasamādhisūtra

Abstract

Many Mahayana sutras end with a chapter in which the sutra is entrusted (付嘱) by Buddha to a worthy person such as Ānanda. But in the last part of the Śūraṅgamasamādhisūtra the god Indra, who already has acquired the power of the Śūraṅgamasamādhi, aspires to propagate the sutra. The life span of the Buddha is explained to be 700 uncountable aeons. The process of the entrustment of the Lotus Sutra is begun in chapter X (Dharmabhāṇaka). Chapter XV expounds the Buddha’s eternal life. In the following chapters the merits and virtues which are acquired though worshiping the sutra are expounded in detail. In the last six chapters, various kinds of activities are recognized to be practices of the Lotus Sutra. These chapters of the Lotus Sutra can be perhaps best be described as the dissemination part (流通分) of the sutra.