Sutra:

At that time Shakyamuni Buddha rose from his Dharma seat and manifested great spiritual power. With his right hand he patted the crowns of limitless Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas and said, "Throughout limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of asamkhyeyas of eons, I have cultivated and practiced the rare Dharmas of Anuttarasamyaksambodhi. I now entrust them to all of you. You should, with a single mind, propagate this Dharma, causing it to spread and grow extensively."

In this way he patted the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas on the crown three times, saying, "Throughout limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of asamkhyeyas of eons, I have cultivated and practiced the rare Dharmas of Anuttarasamyaksambodhi. I now entrust them to all of you. You should receive, uphold, read, recite, and vastly proclaim this Dharma, causing all living beings to hear and understand it."

Commentary:

This is Chapter Twenty-two of the Dharma Flower Sutra, entitled "The Entrustment." What is the purpose of this chapter? The Sutras spoken by the Buddha are Dharmas used to teach and transform living beings. These Dharmas must be propagated and circulated.

What does "entrustment" mean? Shakyamuni Buddha gives commands to all the Bodhisattvas and Arhats, telling them that the propagation and circulation of the Dharma Flower Sutra should be their responsibility in the future.

Why should the Dharma Flower Sutra be circulated? Because this is a most important Sutra. When living beings without good roots hear even one sentence, one word, or one verse of the Dharma Flower Sutra, they can plant good roots. Those living beings who have already planted good roots, who hear even one word, one sentence, or one verse of the Dharma Flower Sutra can increase their good roots. Those living beings whose good roots have already increased, hearing one word, one sentence, or one verse, will bring their good roots to maturity. Those living beings whose good roots have already matured, hearing one word, one sentence, or one verse of the Dharma Flower Sutra, will obtain liberation. But, they must hear the Dharma Flower Sutra-one word, one sentence, one verse, one chapter, one scroll. If they don't hear it, they can't obtain liberation. The Dharma Flower Sutra is the Wonderful Dharma. Because of this, any kind of living being who obtains the doctrine of the Dharma Flower Sutra can obtain the due advantages.

Shakyamuni Buddha entrusted the Bodhisattvas, Arhats, Bhikshus, and Bhikshunis with some hard work. He enlisted them to propagate and circulate the Dharma Flower Sutra, to distribute it to places it had not gone before, like water flowing into the great sea. Printing the Sutras is also a method of distribution. When Sutras are printed, you don't just print up one for your own use. There is great merit and virtue in printing the Sutras; it causes your original wisdom to open up. When you print a Sutra for yourself, you open up your own wisdom. If you print up ten, twenty, a hundred or more copies, you can give them to your relatives and friends as gifts, all wrapped up nicely for New Year's or Christmas or whatever. You can write a card saying, "This is something I really find hard to part with, but I am giving it to you. It's hard to part with because it is extremely fine and wonderful. I read it and it chased all my stupidity away. It brought my wisdom back! So this is my best Dharma experience." When they get the card, they will think, "He really didn't want to part with this," and they won't throw it away.

If you say something like this, "Here, take this thing. I've read it enough. I don't want it. It's of no use to me, so you take it," then they won't want it either. They won't even look at it; they will just throw it away. That's not a good approach for distribution. You can use various methods to get them to accept the Sutra. When they get it and read it, they too will open up their wisdom, return from confusion, and go toward enlightenment. You will have saved that person. Since you saved that person, in the future when you become a Buddha that person will be your Dharma protector; he will be your disciple, because you benefited him. Propagating the Sutras requires all kinds of methods. Shakyamuni Buddha spoke the Sutras and then entrusted the work of propagation to his disciples. He said, "In the future you should lecture the Dharma Flower Sutra, receive and uphold it, read and recite it. All of you Bodhisattvas should write it out and explain it to others. Disseminate it. When I enter Nirvana, exhaust your efforts to spread the teachings among the people."

There's a simple analogy: Take our magazine, Vajra Bodhi Sea. I tell you, "Hurry up and get it out. Do the mailing early." That's just a form of entrustment. Probably you all understand from this example. It's just an encouragement to get going. Perhaps you and I were in the assembly with Shakyamuni Buddha and heard this entrustment, and so now we are here lecturing on the Sutra, listening to it, reading it, reciting it, and writing it out. We have received the entrustment from Shakyamuni Buddha, and that's what we are taking care of-listening and lecturing. So we are just following Shakyamuni Buddha's instructions.

Entrustment is just propagation.

At that time, when the Buddha had finished the chapter "The Spiritual Powers of the Thus Come One" and was about to speak this chapter, "The Entrustment," Shakyamuni Buddha rose from his Dharma seat and manifested great spiritual power. With his right hand he patted the crowns of limitless Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas and said, "Throughout limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of asamkhyeyas of eons, I have cultivated and practiced the rare Dharmas of Anuttarasamyaksambodhi. They are extremely hard to meet in a million eons. These dharmas of the Unsurpassed, Proper and Equal, Right Enlightenment are just the dharmas of the Dharma Flower Sutra. I now entrust them to all of you. You should, with a single mind, propagate this Dharma, causing it to spread and grow extensively, and causing people to understand it."

In this way he patted the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas on the crown of their heads three times, saying, "Throughout limitless hundreds of thousands of myriads of kotis of asamkhyeyas of eons, I have cultivated and practiced the rare Dharmas of Anuttarasamyaksambodhi. I now entrust them to all of you. I give you this job. You should receive, uphold, read, recite, and vastly proclaim this Dharma, causing all living beings to hear and understand it."

Sutra:

"What is the reason? The Thus Come One is greatly kind and compassionate, without stinginess and without fear. He is able to give living beings the wisdom of the Buddha, the wisdom of the Thus Come One, and spontaneous wisdom. The Thus Come One is a great giving host to all living beings. You should all accordingly study the Dharmas of the Thus Come One and never be stingy."

Commentary:

What is the reason? It is that the Thus Come One is greatly kind and compassionate. With kindness he bestows happiness. With compassion he relieves us of suffering. He is without stinginess, not miserly when it comes to giving the gift of Dharma. And he is without fear. He is able to give living beings the wisdom of the Buddha; the Buddha's wisdom is that of great enlightenment. The wisdom of the Thus Come One is the Buddha's Great Perfect Mirror Wisdom, and spontaneous wisdom is the original wisdom of the self-nature. The Thus Come One is a great giving host to all living beings. He gives all his Dharma treasures to living beings. You should all accordingly study the Dharmas of the Thus Come One. You great Bodhisattvas should imitate the Buddha and never be stingy. Once you have learned the Dharma, don't be niggardly with it.

Sutra:

"In the future, if there is a good man or a good woman who believes in the Thus Come One's wisdom, you should expound the Dharma Flower Sutra to that person, causing the person to hear and understand and obtain the Buddha's wisdom. If there are living beings who do not believe or accept it, you should instruct them with another of the profound Dharmas of the Thus Come One, benefiting them and causing them to rejoice. If you can do this, you will have already repaid the kindness of the Buddhas."

Commentary:

In the future, if there is a good man or a good woman who believes in the Thus Come One's wisdom, you should expound the Dharma Flower Sutra to that person, causing him or her to hear and understand it, and to obtain the Buddha's wisdom.

If there are living beings who do not believe or accept it, you should instruct them with another of the profound Dharmas of the Thus Come One, benefiting them and causing them to rejoice. Lecture some other deep and wonderful Sutra. Teach and transform them so that they gain benefit and are happy. If you can do this, then you will have already repaid the kindness of the Buddhas of the ten directions.

Sutra:

When the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas heard the Buddha's words, profuse joy permeated their bodies. With increasing reverence, they bowed their heads, placed their palms together, faced the Buddha, and said in unison, "We shall reverently carry out the World Honored One's command. Yes, World Honored One, pray do not be concerned about this." The assembly of Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas spoke in this way three times, saying, "We shall reverently carry out the Buddha's command. Yes, World Honored One, pray do not be concerned about this."

Commentary:

When the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas heard the Buddha's words, profuse joy permeated their entire bodies. With increasing reverence-they were twice as respectful-they bowed their heads, placed their palms together, faced the Buddha, and said in unison, "We shall reverently carry out the World Honored One's command. Yes, World Honored One, pray do not be concerned about this. We will comply, just as you wish. Please don't worry about this, Buddha." The assembly of Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas spoke in this way three times, saying, "We shall reverently carry out the Buddha's command. Yes, World Honored One, pray do not be concerned about this."

Sutra:

At that time Shakyamuni Buddha sent the division-body Buddhas of the ten directions back to their own lands, saying, "Peace to all of you Buddhas. Let the stupa of the Buddha Many-Jewels be again as it was."

Commentary:

At that time Shakyamuni Buddha sent the division-body Buddhas of the ten directions back to their own lands, saying, "Peace to all of you Buddhas. You can all go back to your own lands. We have taken care of business. You can all go back home now. Let the stupa of the Buddha Many-Jewels be again as it was."The stupa of the Buddha Many-Jewels has certified the speaking of the Dharma Flower Sutra, and now it is time for it to return to the lower direction, where it came from originally.

Sutra:

As he said this, the limitless division-body Buddhas of the ten directions, seated on lion thrones beneath jeweled trees; the Buddha Many-Jewels; Superior Conduct and the limitless asamkhyeyas of Bodhisattvas in the great assembly; Shariputra and the other Hearers; as well as the fourfold assembly and all those in the world-the gods, humans, asuras, and so forth-hearing what the Buddha had said, all rejoiced exceedingly.

Commentary:

As he said this, the limitless division-body Buddhas of the ten directions, seated on lion thrones beneath jeweled trees; the Buddha Many-Jewels; Superior Conduct Bodhisattva; and the limitless asamkhyeyas of Bodhisattvas in the great assembly; Shariputra and the other Hearers; as well as the fourfold assembly and all those in the world-the gods, humans, asuras, and so forth, including the eightfold division-hearing what the Buddha had said, all rejoiced exceedingly.