rainy season). Maudgalyayana did as the Buddha instructed, and his mother was relieved of her agony. Here the Daishonin interprets the story in the light of the Lotus Sutra and the daimoku of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, that is, the sutra’s essence.
3. Lotus Sutra, chap. 6.
4. Maudgalyayana, Mahakashyapa, Katyayana, and Subhuti.
5. Hungry spirits who have property, but begrudge sharing it with others, and who have an insatiable desire for even more.
6. Hungry spirits who have no property.
7. Beings who, together with horseheaded demons, are said to act as jailors in
the hell of crushing, the third of the eight hot hells. These two kinds of demons are depicted as having the bodies of human beings and the heads of oxen or horses.
8. “Born by transformation” refers to one of the four forms of birth. Due to their karma, beings so born are said, upon the end of their previous lifetime, to appear suddenly in this fashion without the help of parents or other intermediary agency. This passage may be interpreted to mean that one attains the state of Buddhahood by manifesting one’s inherent Buddha nature.
9. Lotus Sutra, chap. 12.
10. Ibid., chap. 11.
