The Flower Adornment Sutra - A Commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua 40
Channel: Chánh Pháp Minh
Date: 2022-01-01

The Flower Adornment Sutra - A Commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua 40

The Merit and Virtue from First Bringing Forth the Mind

Chapter Seventeen

 

 

Sutra

At that time the heavenly ruler Shakra asked Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva, “Disciple of the Buddha, what is the measure of the merit and virtue attained when a Bodhisattva first brings forth the Bodhi mind?”

Commentary:

This chapter discusses how how much merit and virtue one has at the very first moment one brings forth the great Bodhi mind. After the Brahma Conduct Chapter was spoken, then the Merit and Virtue from First Bringing Forth the Mind Chapter was spoken. The Heavenly Ruler Shakra is the lord God. The heavenly ruler Shakra is also called Indra or Shakra Devanam Indrah. The name are different but the person is the same “Shakra, Chief Among Gods.” The heavenly ruler Shakra manages over all the heavens. He’s also called the Lord of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three

How did he become the heavenly ruler? Originally the heavenly ruler Shakra was a women, a very poor woman who for a long time in the past had a good heart. She saw a Buddha image under the open sky, the roof of its temples in shambles and worn away. She became resolved on renewing its and made a vow to do so. She didn’t want the Buddha image to be under the open sky where it would blown by the wind and battered by the rain, but she didn’t have any money. So at that time she sought for others who had the same resolve as herself. Shes found thirty-two other women, and they together used their strenght to gild the Buddha image.

Each one of these thirty-three women gave a little money to fix up the temple and to regild the Buddha image. Because of “the first “ women’s merit and virtue, she later became the ruler of the heaven of the Thirty-three, and the other thirty-tow women became the Thirty-two heavenly rulers, one to each of the eight heavens located in each of the four directions—east, west, north and south. Because she had renewed the Buddha image and repaired the temple, she was reborn in the heavens ans became the heavenly ruler Shakra. This god, the heavenly ruler Shakra, Asked Dharma Wisdom Bodhisattva. What did he say? “Disciple of sthe Buddha, what is the measure of the merit and virtue attained—how much is his merit and virtue—when a Bodhisattva first brings forth the Bodhi Mind?”

The Flower Adornment Sutra - A Commentary by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua