Stories of the Lotus Sutra - Chapter 25: Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva

[Bion]

ushiku-daibutsu-the-tallest-statue-in-the-world-v0-soFJbJ4tkqgDBvIMtmWCDfbPP0kZbkIO_hcLPTWaH6Q.jpg-2.jpg Hello, bookworms! Happy Monday to all of you.
It's time to move on to the next chapter of our book. We are coming close to the end of it, as we have merely 4 chapters left, including this one.

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Reading Assignment: Chapter 25 - Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva

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This time around, we explore the many forms bodhisattvas of the Lotus Sutra can take. Please make sure to specify in your future responses to this thread exactly which supernatural powers you've developed and how many concentrations you've mastered.

I invite those of you who couldn't make it to the book club meeting last Saturday to catch up with the recording, if you have time. We had fun and discussed some interesting things. You'll find the recording here.

I can't begin to explain just how wonderful these meetings have been for me and how grateful I am that over the past months we've been able to explore so many different aspects of the dharma and the history of Buddhism.

Please, as always, take your time reflecting on the chapter, and whenever you're ready, come back here and share your thoughts with us!

With metta, and in gassho
sat lah

[Jundo]

I am pretty sure that your photo, Bion, is the Great Buddha of Ushiku, in the next town to here, a short drive from our Treeleaf Zendo in Ibrakaki, Japan. It can be seen for miles around ... the TALLEST STANDING BUDDHA IN THE WORLD (once, now No. 3 I believe) ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushiku_Daibutsu

Check the video:

.

One other fascinating fact about our Great Buddha ... someone thought to build an outlet mall nearby, that although in Japan, has all the usual stores like the Gap.

And the Buddha presides over. If standing in just the right place, Great Buddha Blesses the Gap ... I do not make this up ...
.

daibutsu03.jpg

Gassho, J
stlah

[Bion]

I am pretty sure that your photo, Bion, is the Great Buddha of Ushiku, in the next town to here, a short drive from from our Treeleaf Zendo in Ibrakaki, Japan. It can be seen for miles around ... the TALLEST STANDING BUDDHA IN THE WORLD (once, now No. 3 I believe) ...
Gassho, J
stlah

It is, indeed. It was the closest thing that matched the very tall and extremely handsome bodhisattva in the chapter

gassho
sat lah

[Ryūdō-Liúdào]

Back from vacay n ready to jump into Chapter 25!

I really dig how Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva doesn't seem concerned with being recognized or admired. The important thing is responding in whatever way genuinely helps the person in front of them.

That feels like a good reminder for all of us. We don't need to imitate the Buddha, Dōgen, or anyone else perfectly. We simply need to embody the Dharma as sincerely and skillfully as we can, through our own lives and our own voices.

After all, water doesn't insist on being called "water." It simply flows where it's needed!

As for the Great Buddha of Ushiku, Jundo, my favorite image is the one where it looks like he's holding a tiny airplane heh heh heh

smol11111.jpg

Gasshō,
流道-Ryūdō-Liúdào
Satlah

[Hokuu]

ChatGPT Image Jul 22, 2026 at 10_52_34 AM Large.jpg

He's with the Nighthawks


satlah

[Maro]

Oh! What a lovely photo you took Hokuu!

[Tairin]

Normally we think of Buddha Dharma as coming from the Buddha. This is correct, of course. But it is also essential to see that the Dharma, and therefore the Buddha, can come to us from many sources—if we open ourselves to it.

As with all the chapters, there are little gems. This one resonated with me and I find it very true in my experience.


Tairin
sat today and lah

[Tenryu]

Please make sure to specify in your future responses to this thread exactly which supernatural powers you've developed and how many concentrations you've mastered.

I have to report some encouraging progress in my practice. My current list of supernatural powers is as follows:

• Having been one, I become many. Mostly by trying to answer emails, think about the Lotus Sutra, and remember what I walked into the kitchen for—all at the same time.
• Having been many, I become one. Usually around bedtime.
• I go through walls. Not quite. Usually the wall wins.
• I walk on water. Still reliably sinking.
• I fly through the air. Mostly in my dreams.
• I touch the sun and moon. I did change a light bulb without a ladder once. Close enough.
• I exercise influence as far as the Akaniṣṭha Brahmā world. Sadly, not even as far as the construction workers outside my apartment.

Jokes aside…

What really stayed with me in Reeves’ commentary was his suggestion that these “powers” are less about becoming supernatural and more about becoming adaptable. The ability to take whatever form is needed to genuinely help someone strikes me as a far more meaningful aspiration than flying through the air (I'm also afraid of heights).

The other thought I really appreciated was that anyone can be a bodhisattva for us—but only if we allow them to be. Looking back over our discussions during the last few chapters, I think I’ve experienced exactly that. Sometimes encouragement helped. Sometimes disagreement helped. Sometimes simply seeing a different perspective helped. None of you guys needed supernatural powers. I’m genuinely grateful for these discussions. Even when I end up in the same place, I rarely get there by quite the same path.

Now, if you’ll excuse me… Superman is on summer vacation, the Avengers have already called three times today, and according to Hokuu 's photo Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva is covering the late shift.

Gasshō,
Tenryū
sat+LaH

[Dainei]

As i was reading the chapter, i began to get that weird, creepy, supernatural feeling with all the lavish imagery of Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva arriving. And then, in one line at the end he wraps it up. Again, the build up, crescendo and then . . . well, that's the end. But i understand the point after seeing through all the glitz, it's a simple message that the Wonderful Voice of the Dharma can be heard from many sources.

If you'll indulge me, this is i suppose how i see a modern equivalent of the fantastical imagery:

View this post on Instagram

See you at the book club!

Gassho,
Dainei
Sat/lat

[carolynz]

I love the pictures of Buddha - and Mashuniki too! I regret to report that I have only done a few of the things Tenryu has done. For instance, I make my son (6'4") fix all the ceiling fixtures.

It also struck me, as it did Tenryu, the talk in the commentary that we are interdependent, and both give and receive help. When I think about this, I (and many of my friends) would like to help other people; however many of us, including me, do not want to be helped. Do not like to ask for help, and if we are asked, can I help you, feel ashamed to need help, or accept help. I had a friend say who the other day, was suffering on many levels. She told us that she did not want to ask us, her friends, for help or accept our help if we offered, because she did not want to feel she owed someone. Instead of asking others to help with meals, or a shoulder to cry on, she would rather order prepared meal delivery, and hire a psychologist. (nothing against psychologists!) Where does this feeling come from? (wish to not put any one out? wish to be perfect?)

Gassho,
Carolyn
sat lah

[Choujou]

Hello everyone,
Nothing major to contribute, but, I think for me, this was about not only adapting and changing forms (skillful means) to help others, but to also remember that sometimes it is ourself that needs to receive help. I have a very hard time with this… I always wish to serve, and it feels strange to me when I need to ask for help, or find myself stumped in a situation. I think this was a good reminder to be open to the give and take of the dharma, of the flow and movement of life itself, and that it’s ok to sometimes be on the receiving end of service. Service to and accepting service from others seems like a good middle way, and one I must remember to stay open to.

Gassho,
Choujou

sat/lah today

[Menmoku]

I love the pictures of Buddha - and Mashuniki too! I regret to report that I have only done a few of the things Tenryu has done. For instance, I make my son (6'4") fix all the ceiling fixtures.

It also struck me, as it did Tenryu, the talk in the commentary that we are interdependent, and both give and receive help. When I think about this, I (and many of my friends) would like to help other people; however many of us, including me, do not want to be helped. Do not like to ask for help, and if we are asked, can I help you, feel ashamed to need help, or accept help. I had a friend say who the other day, was suffering on many levels. She told us that she did not want to ask us, her friends, for help or accept our help if we offered, because she did not want to feel she owed someone. Instead of asking others to help with meals, or a shoulder to cry on, she would rather order prepared meal delivery, and hire a psychologist. (nothing against psychologists!) Where does this feeling come from? (wish to not put any one out? wish to be perfect?)

Gassho,
Carolyn
sat lah

I think the whole business of asking for help and offering it is difficult for people.
I learned so much by having to go to AA as a hopeless alcoholic....three times.
The first time I was 25 and I walked right out and drank again for 5 years.
At 30 I went in total despair and completely gave myself up to the authority of my 'sponsor' - I was alcohol free for 13 years.
I got complacent and arrogant and drank again for 2.5 years - then finally went for help again - I have now been sober for 14 years.
The trick was not just asking for help but learning that the secret to sobriety was helping others - not just other alcoholics but all others.
Becoming what the other person needs it also the trick - sometimes just a cup of tea is so much more important than unsolicited advice....
I loved this chapter.
Gassho,
Menmoku

[Tenryu]

carolynz and Choujou ‘s posts kept me thinking.

When we talk about skillful means, I usually think about finding the right way to help someone else. But I wonder if there’s another side to it.

Maybe skillful means also means recognizing when we ourselves need help—and being willing to receive it.

Reeves writes that anyone can be a bodhisattva for us, but only if we allow them to be. The more I sit with that sentence, the more radical it seems. Accepting help isn’t just admitting that we have limits. It also means trusting that someone else is capable of meeting us with wisdom and compassion.

I found myself wondering whether this, too, is a way of recognizing Buddha-nature. Not only by trying to see it in others, but by giving others the opportunity to express it. If I never allow myself to be the one who needs help, I also never allow someone else to be a bodhisattva for me.

I think that’s what makes it so difficult. It asks us to acknowledge that we’re vulnerable, that we’re overwhelmed sometimes, that we’re frustrated, tired, or simply don’t know what to do next. Those aren’t things most of us like to admit, even to ourselves.

Seen that way, receiving help isn’t simply the opposite of giving it. Maybe both are equally part of the bodhisattva way? One calls us to embody compassion; the other asks us to trust it.

That feels like another kind of practice.

Gasshō,
Tenryū
sat&LaH