Samaneri saya mencoba menjawab, saya menggunakan terjemahan Lotus sutra ini:
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/resources/sutras/lotus/sources/contents.htmYang TS kasi baru 2 bab, totalnya ada 28 Bab jadi saya ambil yang inggrisnya.
1) Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra (nama lainnya lotus sutra) ini merupakan sutra utama dan menurut sutra ini sendiri merupakan sutra paling tinggi di antara sutra2 lain.
ini kutipannya dari bab 10 Lotus sutra (Master of the Dharma): (
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/resources/sutras/lotus/sources/lotus10.htm)
"Medicine King, I tell you now,
Of all the Sutras I have spoken,
The Dharma Flower is foremost."
Sutra ini terutama menjelaskan ttg upaya kausalya dan penyempurnaan parami bodhisattva, kebanyakan dalam bentuk perumpamaan.
ada perumpamaan terkenal yaitu Buddha diumpamakan sebagai tabib yang mempunyai anak2 yang keracunan namun tidak mau meminum penawar racun yang sudah dibuat tabib itu karena mereka merasa tidak sakit atau keracunan, lalu tabib itu melakukan cara2 piawai supaya mereka mau minum obat.
dikutip dari Lotus Sutra Bab 16. (
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/resources/sutras/lotus/sources/lotus16.htm)
"It is as if there were
a good physician, wise and well versed in the medical arts and intelligent, who is skillful at healing the multitude of sicknesses. The man also has many sons ten, twenty or even a hundred. Then, called away on business, he travels to a far-off country.
"Meanwhile, the children drink some poison, which causes them to roll on the ground in delirium.
"Just then their father returns home. Because they drank the poison, some of the sons have lost their senses, while others have not. Seeing their father at a distance, they are all greatly happy. They bow to him, kneel, and inquire after him. �Welcome back in peace and safety. In our foolishness, we took some poison by mistake. We pray that you will rescue and heal us, and will restore our lives to us.�
"Seeing his children in such agony, the father consults his medical texts and then searches for fine herbs of good color, aroma, and flavor. He then grinds, sifts, and mixes them together, and gives the compound to his sons to take.
"And he says to them, �This is an excellent medicine of good, color, aroma, and flavor. Take it. Your agony will be relieved, and you will suffer no further torment.�
"Some among the children have not lost their senses. Seeing the fine medicine with its good color and aroma, they immediately take it and their sickness is completely cured.
"Although the others who have lost their senses rejoice in their father�s arrival, have inquired after his well-being, and have sought to be cured of their illnesses, they refuse to take the medicine. What is the reason? The poisonous vapors have entered them so deeply that they have lost their senses, and so they say that the medicine of good color and aroma is not good.
"The father then thinks, �How pitiful these children are! The poison has confused their minds. Although they rejoice to see me and ask me to rescue and cure them,
still they refuse such good medicine as this. I should now set up an expedient device to induce them to take this medicine. �
"Immediately he says, �You should know that I am now old and weak, and my time of death has arrived. I will now leave this good medicine here for you to take. Have no worries about not recovering.� Having instructed them in this way, he then returns to the far-off country and sends a messenger back to announce, �Your father is dead.�
"When the children hear that their father is dead, their hearts are struck with grief, and they think, �If our father were here, he would be compassionate and pity us, and we would have a savior and protector. Now he has forsaken us to die in another country, leaving us orphaned, with no one to rely upon.� Constantly grieving, their minds then become awakened. They understand that the medicine has good color, aroma, and flavor. They take it immediately, and their poisonous sickness is completely cured.
"The father, hearing that his sons have been completely cured, then comes back, and they all see him.
"Good men, what do you think, could anyone say that this good physician has committed the offense of false speech?"
nah jadi sutra ini sangat penting untuk mahayana.
2) seperti yang kita ketahui di tradisi theravada, Buddha juga tidak cuma 1 Buddha Gotama, namun ada tak terhitung Buddha di masa lampau dan akan ada tak hinggal Buddha di masa depan setelah Maitreya.
di sutra lotus bab 8 (
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/resources/sutras/lotus/sources/lotus8.htm)
Buddha memprediksikan 500 murid akan jadi Sammasambuddha. dan akan ada banyak sekali Buddha
ini kutipannya
"The five hundred Arhats, Uruvilvakashyapa, Gayakashyapa, Nadikashyapa, Kalodayin, Udayin, Aniruddha, Revata, Kapphina, Vakula, Cunda, Svagata, and others all will attain Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, all of them with the same name Universal-Brightness."
At that time the World Honored One, wishing to restate his meaning, spoke verses, saying:
The Bhikshu Kaundinya,
Will see
limitless Buddhas,
And after Asankhyeya aeons,
Will realize Equal Proper Enlightenment. "
mungkin banyaknya Buddha di sini bisa berarti, selalu akan ada orang yang ingin menolong makhluk lain mendapatkan kebahagian sejati.
3)Bodhisattva dalam sutra ini memang dianggap lebih spesial daripada savaka Buddha atau pacceka Buddha.
ada kutipannya juga di bab 2. (
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/resources/sutras/lotus/sources/lotus2.htm)
"Furthermore, Shariputra, it should be known that those Bhikshus and Bhikshunis who claim to have attained
Arhatship and to dwell in their final bodies before ultimate Nirvana, but who do not further resolve to seek Anuttarasamyaksambodhi, are people of
overweening pride. Why is this? It is impossible that any Bhikshu who had actually attained Arhatship should not believe this Dharma, except in the case when the Buddha has passed into extinction and no Buddha is in existence. Why is this? After the Buddha has passed into extinction, those who accept, uphold, read, recite, and understand the meaning of Sutras such as this will be hard to find. If they encounter other Buddhas, they will then obtain thorough understanding of this Dharma."
kata Buddha, jangan merasa puas sudah sampai arhat karena masih ada cita2 yang lebih besar yang bisa dicapai yaitu anuttara samyaksambodhi
Uniknya memuja Bodhisattva seperti yang dilakukan sekarang di klenteng dan tempat lain terutama Mak Kwan Im
ada sumbernya di sutra ini yaitu di bab 25 (The Universal Door of Guanshi yin Bodhisattva)
di bab ini diceritakan yang melafal nama Guan Shi Yin dengan tulus ketika tenggelam, masuk ke api, kena badai dsb
akan ditolong oleh Mak Kwan Im.
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/oldweb/resources/sutras/lotus/sources/lotus25.htmNah bab 25 ini di vihara mahayana di kota saya di buatkan plakat di samping tiap perwujudan Mak Kwan Im, seperti Mak Kwan Im lagi naik naga, Mak Kwan Im duduk di atas batu karang, dll
Bab 25 ini sangat terkenal.