The Stūpadarśana chapter （Chapter 11） of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra recounts the story of Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata’s appearance within a jeweled stūpa. As indicated by the title “Stūpadarśana,” the chapter describes how a stūpa emerged from the ground and levitated in space, after which Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata inside the stūpa manifested his form to the assembly. The climax of the narrative lies in the description of Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata’s appearance. In the original Sanskrit text, two opposing interpretations of his form can be found: “withered” （pariśuṣka） and “unwithered” （apariśuṣka）.
This paper aims to examine the variant readings, “withered” and “unwithered,” in the Sanskrit of the Stūpadarśana chapter of the Lotus Sūtra, to consider the different interpretations from Tibetan translations, Chinese traditional translations and previous research, and to clarify the true nature and significance of the appearance of Prabhūtaratna Tathāgata as presented in the text.
