Prabhutaratna

Prabhūtaratna (Skt: प्रभूतरत्न; Traditional Chinese: 多寶如来 or 多寶佛; Simplified Chinese: 多宝如来 or 多宝佛; pinyin: Duōbǎo Rúlái or Duōbǎo Fó; Japanese romaji: Tahō Nyorai or Tahō Butsu), translated as Abundant Treasures or Many Treasures, is the Buddha who appears and verifies Shakyamuni's teachings in the Lotus Sutra and the Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra.

Prabhūtaratna
Prabhūtaratna and Shakyamuni in the jeweled stupa; wall painting, Yulin Caves
Sanskrit	प्रभूतरत्न Prabhūtaratna
Chinese	多寶如來 (Pinyin: (Duōbăo Rúlái)
Japanese	多宝如来（たほうにょらい） (romaji: Tahō Nyorai)
Korean	다보여래 (Hanja: 多寶如來) (RR: Dabo Yeorae)
Thai	พระประภูตรัตนะ
Tibetan	རིན་ཆེན་མང་ Wylie: rin chen mang
Vietnamese	Đa Bảo Phật Đa Bảo Như Lai
Information
Venerated by	Mahayana, Vajrayana
Attributes	Witness to the Lotus Sutra
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Prabhūtaratna and Shakyamuni in the jeweled stupa; stele, dated 518 CE, Northern Wei. Guimet Museum

In the Lotus Sutra

In the 11th chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Prabhūtaratna is described as living in a land "tens of millions of billions of countless worlds to the east" called "Treasure Purity.".^[1] Here he resides within a stupa translated variously as the "Precious Stupa," the "Treasure Tower," the "Jeweled Stupa," or the "Stupa of the Precious Seven Materials." Prabhūtaratna is said to have made a vow to make an appearance to verify the truth of the Lotus Sutra whenever it is preached in the present or future.^[2][3]

In the chapter, as Shakyamuni is preaching, Prabhūtaratna's stupa arises from under the earth and hangs in midair. It is of unimaginable height and length.^{[4][5]: pp. 7–8 [citation not found]} Traditionally stupas were edifices where relics of Buddhas are stored.^[6] Those gathered to hear Shakyamuni preach at Vulture Peak assumed the stupa from below the earth would contain relics. Instead, it contained within a living Prabhūtaratna who verified the truth of the teaching.^[7][8][9]

"Great-Eloquence Bodhisattva" wants to see the Buddha in the stupa but Prabhūtaratna's vow makes it a prerequisite for showing his body that the Buddha who proclaims the Lotus teaching collects all his manifestations.^[10][11] At this point Shakyamuni summons from around the universe countless Buddhas who are his emanations, lifts the entire assembly into the air, and opens the stupa. Prabhūtaratna praises Shakyamuni and invites him to sit next to him. Shakyamuni then continues to preach the Dharma.^[12][13][14] In the 22nd "Entrustment" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, Prabhūtaratna and his stupa return to under the earth.^[15][16]

Interpretations

According to Nichiren, in their interaction Shakyamuni and Many Treasures agreed to the perpetuation of the Law throughout the Latter Day.^{[17]: p. 385 [citation not found]}

Nikkyō Niwano states Prabhūtaratna's stupa symbolizes the buddha-nature which all people possess, while the springing-up of the stupa from the earth is said to imply the discovery of one's own buddha-nature.^{[18][citation not found]}

According to The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, "Prabhūtaratna (Many Treasures) invites Shakyamuni to sit beside him inside his bejeweled stūpa, thus validating the teachings Shakyamuni delivered in the scripture."^[19] Thich Nhat Hanh states that Prabhūtaratna symbolizes "the ultimate Buddha" and Shakyamuni "the historical Buddha"; the two Buddhas sitting together signifies the non-duality of the ultimate and the historical, that at a given moment in the real world, one can touch the ultimate.^[20]

Akira Hirakawa argues that "the union of the eternal nature of the dharma (Prabhutaratna Buddha) and the eternal nature of the Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha) is symbolized in the two Buddhas seated together inside the stupa."^[3]

Applications

The scene of Prabhūtaratna and Shakyamuni Buddhas sitting together in the Treasure Tower has been the theme of much Buddhist art over time.^[21][22] Nichiren also placed Prabhūtaratna on the Gohonzon, his calligraphic representation of the Treasure Tower.^{[23][24][25][citation not found]}

See also

• Dabotap
• Threefold Lotus Sutra
• Eternal Buddha

Notes

1. Reeves 2008, p. 236.
2. Rhie 2010, p. 137.
3. Hirakawa 2005, p. 202.
4. Lopez & Stone 2019, p. 138.
5. Ikeda 2001. sfn error: no target: CITEREFIkeda2001 (help)
6. Wang 2005, p. 96.
7. Strong 2007, p. 38.
8. Lai 1981, p. 460.
9. Kato 1993, p. 380.
10. Murano 1967, p. 42.
11. Lai 1981, p. 459.
12. Pye 2003, p. 69.
13. Reeves 2008, pp. 240–241.
14. The English Buddhist Dictionary Committee 2002, pp. 74–75.
15. The English Buddhist Dictionary Committee 2002, p. 161.
16. Murano 1967, p. 66.
17. WND1 2004. sfn error: no target: CITEREFWND12004 (help)
18. Niwano 1976, p. 147.
19. Buswell & Lopez 2013, p. 680.
20. Hanh 2009, pp. 103–104.
21. Lopez 2016, p. 16.
22. Thomson 2008, p. 129.
23. Harvey 1990, p. 190.
24. Morgan 2004, p. 121.
25. Gosho Translation Committee 1999, pp. 299–300. sfn error: no target: CITEREFGosho_Translation_Committee1999 (help)

References

• Buswell, Robert; Lopez, Donald S., eds. (2013). Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691157863.
• Kato, Bunno (1993). The Threefold Lotus Sutra. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Company. ISBN 4-333-00208-7.

• Hanh, Thich Nhat (2009). Peaceful action, open heart : lessons from the Lotus Sutra. Berkeley, Calif.: Parallax Press. ISBN 9781888375930.
• Harvey, Peter (1990). An introduction to Buddhism : teachings, history, and practices. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-31333-9.
• Hirakawa, Akira (2005) [first published 1963 in Memoirs of the Research Department of the Tōyō Bunko, No. 22, Tokyo, pages 57–106]. "The rise of Mahayana Buddhism and its relationship to the worship of stupas". In Paul Williams (ed.). The Origins and Nature of Mahayana Buddhism. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies Series. Vol. 3. London, New York: Routledge. pp. 181–226. ISBN 978-0-415-33226-2. OCLC 660770466.
• Ikeda, Daisaku; Saito, Katsuji; Endo, Takanori; Suda, Haruo (2001). The Wisdom of the Lotus Sutra: A Discussion, Volume 3. Santa Monica, CA: World Tribune Press. ISBN 978-0915678716.
• Lai, Whalen W. (1981). "The Predocetic "Finite Buddhakāya" in the "Lotus Sūtra": In Search of the Illusive Dharmakāya Therein". Journal of the American Academy of Religion. 49 (3): 447–469. doi:10.1093/jaarel/XLIX.3.447.
• Lopez, Daniel (2016). The Lotus Sutra: A Biography. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691152202.
• Lopez, Donald S.; Stone, Jacqueline I. (2019). Two Buddhas seated side by side : a guide to the Lotus Sūtra. Princeton. ISBN 9780691174204.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Morgan, Diane (2004). The Buddhist experience in America (1. publ. ed.). Westport, Conn. [u.a.]: Greenwood Press. ISBN 9780313324918.
• Murano, Senchū (1967). "An Outline of the Lotus Sūtra". Contemporary Religions in Japan. 8 (1): 16–84. JSTOR 30233002.
• Gosho Translation Committee (1999–2006). The writings of Nichiren Daishonin. [Japan]: Soka Gakkai. ISBN 978-4412010246.
• Niwano, Nikkyo (1980), Buddhism For Today: A Modern Interpretation of the Threefold Lotus Sutra (PDF), Tokyo: Kōsei Publishing Co., ISBN 0834801477, archived from the original on 2013-11-26{{citation}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• Pye, Michael (2003). Skilful means : a concept in Mahayana Buddhism (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 9780415314275.
• Reeves, Gene (2008). The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Somerville: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 978-0-86171-571-8.
• Rhie, Marylin Martin (2010). The Western Ch'in in Kansu in the Sixteen Kingdoms Period and Inter-relationships with the Buddhist Art of Gandhāra. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004184008.
• Strong, John S. (2007), Relics of the Buddha, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, ISBN 9788120831391
• The English Buddhist Dictionary Committee (2002). The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism. Tōkyō: Soka Gakkai. ISBN 978-4-412-01205-9. Archived from the original on 2012-06-20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• Thomson, John, M. (2008). "The Tower of Power´s Finest Hour: Stupa Construction and Veneration in the Lotus Sutra". Southeast Review of Asian Studies. 30: 116–136.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Wang, Eugene Y. (2005). Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist visual culture in medieval China. Seattle [u.a.]: Univ. of Washington Press. ISBN 9780295984629.

Bibliography

• Eckel, Malcolm David (1994). To See the Buddha: A Philosopher's Quest for the Meaning of Emptiness. Princeton University Press. pp. 81–83. ISBN 0-691-03773-6.
• Silk, Jonathan (2006). Body Language: Indic Śarīra and Chinese shèlì in the Mahāparinirvāna-sūtra and Saddharma-pundarīka. Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph Series XIX, Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Studies