translated from the Chinese by
Senchu Murano (r�f.)
Original Copyright 1974 Senchu Murano. Third Edition 2012 published by NBIC; copiright Nichiren Shu.
CHAPTR II
EXPEDIENTS
Thereupon the World-Honored One emerged quietly from his samadhi, and said to Sariputra:
"The wisdom of the [present] Buddhas is profound and immeasurable. The gate to it is difficult to understand and difficult to enter. [Their wisdom] cannot be understood by any Sravaka or Pratyekabuddha because the [present] Buddhas attended on many hundreds of thousands of billions of [past] Buddhas, and practiced the innumerable teachings of those Buddhas bravely and strenuously to their far-flung fame until they attained the profound Dharma which you have never heard before, and practiced the innumerable teachings of those Buddhas bravely and strenuously to their far-flung fame until they attained the profound Dharma which you have never heard before,
"Sàriputra! Since I became a Buddha, I [also] have been expounding various teachings with various stories of previous lives, with various parables, and with various similes. I have been leading all living beings with innumerable expedients in order to save them from various attachments, because I have the power to employ expedients and the power to perform the paramita of insight.
"Sariputra! The insight of the Tathàgatas is wide and deep. [The Tathagatas] have all the [states of mind towards] innumerable [living beings,] unhindered [eloquence,] powers, fearlessness, dhyana-concentrations, emancipations, and samadhis. They entered deep into boundlessness, and attained the Dharma which you have never heard before.
"Sariputra! The Tathàgatas divide [the Dharma] into various teachings, and expound those teachings to ail living beings so skillfully and with such gentle voices that living beings are delighted. Sariputra! In short, the Buddhas attained the innumerable teachings which you have never heard before. No more, Sariputra, will I say because the Dharma attained by the Buddhas is the highest Truth, rare [to hear] and difficult to understand. Only the Buddhas attained [the highest Truth, that is,] the reality of all things in regard to their appearances as such, their natures as such, their entities as such, their powers as such, their activities as such, their primary causes as such, their environmental causes as such, their effects as such, their rewards and retributions as such, and their equality as such [despite these differences]."