Loading
The Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sutra L57 57
Chapter Title Mapping
Is it possible to respect someone who is beating you with sticks and stones? There was once a monk who did exactly that. He didn't study scriptures, didn't meditate in caves, and didn't perform miracles. His only practice was to bow to everyone he met—even those who hated him—and say, "I dare not despise you, for you will become a Buddha." People thought he was crazy, calling him "Never Despising" as a mockery, but he saw potential where others saw only anger.
In this profound teaching, Khenpo Sodargye explores the story of Bodhisattva Sadāparibhūta, who turns out to be a past life of the Buddha himself. It’s a powerful lesson on how arrogance blinds us (like the "proud monks" who eventually fell into hell) and how genuine humility can transform destiny. We also hear touching personal anecdotes from Khenpo’s own life: his unwavering commitment to a single instruction from H.H. Jigme Phuntsok for over 30 years, and his candid disappointment with modern practitioners who give up too easily when comfort is lacking. It is a call to be steadfast, not like patterns drawn on water, but like carvings in stone.
The Lotus Sutra (Saddharma Pundarika Sutra) is one of the most important scriptures in Mahayana Buddhism, hailed as the "King of Sutras." Its core teaching is "opening the provisional to reveal the real" and "unifying the three vehicles into one"—the Buddha reveals that the three vehicles (Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, and Bodhisattva) are merely skillful means, and ultimately there is only One Buddha Vehicle, meaning all sentient beings can attain Buddhahood. The sutra expounds the philosophy of "true reality of all dharmas" and the "ten suchnesses," using seven parables including the Burning House to illustrate the Buddha's original intent in appearing in the world. Divided into the first fourteen chapters of the Trace Gate and the latter fourteen chapters of the Origin Gate, it reveals the Buddha's true state of having attained enlightenment since the remote past, emphasizing the immeasurable merit of upholding and reciting this sutra.