10. At the beginning of the “Entrustment” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha pats with his right hand the heads of the immeasurable bodhisattvas present and then transfers the Lotus Sutra to all of them.
11. The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.
12. Ibid.
13. The Annotations on “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.”
14. The Supplement to “The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra.”
15. According to the Nirvana of Manjushri Sutra, 450 ;years following the Buddha’s passing, Bodhisattva Manjushri went to the Snow Mountains, where he expounded the Buddhist teachings for five hundred hermits. Thereafter, he assumed the form of a monk and, descending from the mountains, led many people to salvation. He later lived in a stupa on Mount Fragrant (Skt Gandha-madana), said to lie to the north of the Snow Mountains. According to the Flower Garland Sutra, Manjushri lives on Mount Clear and Cool (Chin Ch’ing-liang) in the east, which later came to be identified with Mount Wu-t’ai in China.
16. The reappearance of Medicine King and Perceiver of the World’s Sounds as T’ien-t’ai and Nan-yüeh, respectively, is mentioned in The Lotus Sutra and Its Traditions.
17. Fu Ta-shih (497–569) was a lay Buddhist in China. Fu Ta-shih’s biography states that he descended from the Tushita heaven, which is the abode of Bodhisattva Maitreya, to expound the teaching of supreme enlightenment.
18. Words and Phrases.
19. An Essay on the Protection of the Nation.
20. This refers to the ground splitting open and the countless bodhisattvas emerging from the earth.
21. Words and Phrases.
22. On “The Words and Phrases.”
23. This comet first appeared on the twenty-sixth day of the sixth month, began to shine with renewed brilliance on the fourth day of the seventh month, and continued to shine into the eighth month.
24. This indicates that in the Latter Day of the Law, although the Lotus Sutra has become ineffectual, the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo implied in the depths of the sutra’s “Life Span” chapter will spread to benefit all people.
25. Lotus Sutra, chap. 10.
26. Ibid., chap. 23.
27. The Biography of the Great Teacher of Mount Hiei.
28. Lotus Sutra, chap. 14.
29. The Annotations on the Nirvana Sutra.
30. Ibid.
31. Lotus Sutra, chap. 2.
32. Yüan-chung was a person from the state of Wei during the Chou dynasty (c. –256 B.C.E.), China. The story of these five persons appears in Miao-lo’s Annotations on “Great Concentration and Insight.”
33. Details are unknown about Shiro. No other of the Daishonin’s letters indicates that Shijo Kingo had a son. One of his younger brothers was named Shiro, but it is not certain if this is the person to whom the Daishonin was referring.
