Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva

Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva

by Gene Reeves

This bodhisattva can be understood to be teaching the Lotus Sutra not so much by words as by embodying it by taking on whatever forms are needed to help others.

That the title figure of this chapter is named "Wonderful Voice," or perhaps "Wonderful Sound," is another curiosity of the Lotus Sutra. Absolutely nothing is said about his voice or sounds. "Wonderful Body" would be more appropriate, as his wonderful body is described in some detail: some 42,000 leagues tall, radiant and brilliant, powerful, pure gold in color, with eyes the size of lotus leaves, and a face as beautiful as millions of moons together.

The Story

Emitting rays of light both from the knob on the top of his head and from the tuft of hair between his eyebrows, the Buddha illuminated countless worlds to the East with his light. Beyond all these worlds to the East was still another world called Adorned with Pure Light, where lived the Buddha Wisdom King of the Pure Flower Constellation and the Bodhisattva Wonderful Voice, along with countless other bodhisattvas.

This Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva had already succeeded in many things, including the planting of many good roots, serving many different buddhas in different ages, acquiring great wisdom, and attaining millions of different kinds of concentration. When the light from Shakyamuni Buddha filled his world and shone on him, Wonderful Voice said to the buddha of his land that he wanted to go to Shakyamuni's world, the world in which suffering has to be endured, to pay tribute to Shakyamuni Buddha and visit various bodhisattvas. The buddha warned him that even though this world is not flat or clean and its buddha and bodhisattvas are small and short, he should not make little of this world or think that its buddha and bodhisattvas are inferior. "Just because our own bodies are fantastically tall and yours is perfect in every way," he said, "do not make light of the buddha, bodhisattvas, or the land of Shakyamuni Buddha."

Then, through the power of entering one of his concentrations, Wonderful Voice made eighty-four thousand bunches of gold and silver lotus flowers and other valuables appear not far from where Shakyamuni Buddha was sitting on Sacred Eagle Peak. Seeing them, Manjushri asked Shakyamuni Buddha what they signified. And when the Buddha explained that the flowers meant that Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva was coming to visit, Manjushri wanted to know what he had done to gain such great powers and said he wanted to see him. The Buddha replied that Abundant Treasures Buddha would summon him.

Summoned by Abundant Treasures Buddha to come to see Manjushri, this extremely tall and handsome Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva, accompanied by eighty-four thousand other bodhisattvas, flew to this world on a platform made of the seven treasures, passing through all the worlds to the East, where the grounds quaked in the six ways, lotus flowers made of the seven precious materials rained down, and many kinds of musical instruments sounded in the heavens.

Arriving at Sacred Eagle Peak, Wonderful Voice, with his big beautiful eyes, gorgeous face, and powerful golden body adorned with signs of countless blessings, descended from the platform, approached Shakyamuni Buddha, worshiped at his feet, presented him with a magnificent and extremely valuable necklace, delivered various greetings from the Buddha Wisdom King of the Pure Flower Constellation, and expressed the desire to see Abundant Treasures Buddha. Abundant Treasures, in turn, praised him for coming. Then Bodhisattva Excellent Flower wanted to know what Wonderful Voice had done to merit such great powers.

Shakyamuni Buddha explained that once upon a time there was a buddha named King of the Sound of Thunder in whose realm Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva lived. Because he offered many kinds of beautiful music and jeweled bowls to the Buddha King of the Sound of Thunder, he was reborn in the land of Wisdom King of the Pure Flower Constellation Buddha and was able to obtain great, supernatural powers. This bodhisattva is none other than the present Wonderful Voice. In previous lives he had taken many different forms--including those of women and girls, animals, gods and other heavenly beings, buddhas, and so on--in order to preach the Lotus Sutra. He protects all living beings by taking whatever form is appropriate for liberating them by teaching them the Dharma.

When the Buddha taught this chapter, the eighty-four thousand bodhisattvas who had come with Wonderful Voice, together with numerous other bodhisattvas of this world, won the ability to transform themselves into other living beings. Then Wonderful Voice made offerings to Shakyamuni Buddha and to the stupa of Abundant Treasures Buddha, and returned home to the land of Wisdom King of the Pure Flower Constellation Buddha and reported his adventure to him.

The Buddha's Light

This story begins with an event not unlike that in the very first chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in which the Buddha emits light of such power that it illumines very distant worlds. Since light is virtually always a symbol of wisdom, we can assume that here too we have a visual image indicating that the influence of Shakyamuni's wisdom is not limited to his world, our world, but also goes to the far reaches of the universe. He is the light of all the worlds. Though he is the Buddha of this world, he is also, in some way not clearly spelled out, the Buddha of all worlds. This has been indicated many times in the Lotus Sutra, most dramatically perhaps in chapter 11, where Shakyamuni Buddha assembles the buddhas and bodhisattvas from all over the universe.

Here, however, it might be relevant to remember that this display of light by Shakyamuni Buddha has happened before in chapter 1. There we learn that it has happened many times in the past, always signifying that the Buddha was about to preach the Lotus Sutra. Should we assume that this meaning has simply been forgotten here? Or might it be the case that in the story of Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva the Lotus Sutra is being taught? But here its teaching is seen not so much as oral or written, but as a kind of action. That is, Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva can be understood to be teaching the Lotus Sutra not so much by words as by embodying it by taking on whatever forms are needed to help others. The voice of Wonderful Voice then, is wonderful not by being loud or beautiful but by being absent! His voice, in a sense, is his body, which takes on whatever form is needed.

The Lotus Sutra, as I have written before, is an action-oriented book. At the end of chapter 16 we are invited to perfect our buddha bodies. The sutra, in other words, is as much, perhaps even more, concerned about what we do with our hands and feet as it is with what happens in our minds. This is not to say that what happens in our minds is unimportant. It is exceedingly difficult to imagine a peaceful world without there being peaceful minds. But it would be a great mistake I think to assume that, at least for the Lotus Sutra, the end or goal of Buddhism is some kind of experience of being enlightened or awakened. For the Lotus Sutra, the goal is the way itself, the way of awakened practice--the practice and the way of the bodhisattva, one who is becoming a buddha through taking on whatever forms are needed to help others.

This World

Though hardly unique to this chapter of the Lotus Sutra, one very clear message here is the one given by his buddha to Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva: Don't make light of Shakyamuni's world! Even though its ground is not made of gold or other precious materials but of dirt, even though it is not smooth but includes many high and low places and even rocks and mountains, even though its buddha and bodhisattvas are extremely short and unattractive compared with ours, one should never think that that world is inferior.

We can only guess what is behind the concern contained in this kind of statement. Obviously, the writers believed that someone was not taking this world seriously enough. Does it indicate a time and place where people thought some distant land, some faraway paradise, was to be preferred to this world? Does it indicate a reaction to a worldview that rejected the reality and importance of this world in favor of some ideal world? We cannot be sure. But it is very clear that both here and in many other places the Lotus Sutra emphasizes the value and importance of life in this world, the home of Shakyamuni Buddha, in which the way of the bodhisattva can be taken, and which is our home and place of practice.

Though life here may be very difficult, with suffering of many kinds all around, with many difficulties to face, we should consider ourselves fortunate to have so many opportunities to be of service, to practice the bodhisattva way of helping others, and, what is part of the same thing, being helped by others. This is a world in which interdependence, the mutual dependence of living beings upon one another, is abundantly realized. We depend upon our ancestors and our descendants depend upon us; we depend upon our neighbors and our neighbors depend upon us; we depend upon the Buddha and the Buddha depends upon us. This world is through and through a world of interdependent relationships.

In a way, the interdependent character of this world is also shown in the greetings that Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva brings to Shakyamuni Buddha. "World-honored one," he says:

Are your ailments and troubles few? Is your daily life and practice going smoothly? Are the four elements in you in harmony? Are the affairs of the world tolerable? Are living beings easy to save? Are they not excessively greedy, angry, foolish, jealous, and arrogant? Are they not lacking in proper regard for their parents and disrespectful to monks? Do they not have wrong views and inadequate goodness? Are their five emotions not out of control?

Here we can clearly see that the same Buddha who can illuminate the entire universe, the same Buddha whose land this is, the same Buddha who provides us with infinite opportunities to experience joy in service to the Dharma, this same Buddha is far from all-powerful and utterly independent in the fashion of both Indian and Western gods. This is a buddha who is supremely interdependent, one who both serves all others and at the same time is dependent upon all others. This buddha needs bodhisattvas, and needs ordinary human beings to be bodhisattvas in order to accomplish the Buddha's work of saving all the living.

That is why Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva can take on the form of a buddha. He can become the Buddha for someone who needs saving grace to be in the form of a buddha.

Taking on Any Form

In the previous chapter, about the previous lives of Medicine King Bodhisattva, it is said that Seen With Joy by All the Living Bodhisattva attained a concentration that enabled him to take on any form. It was gaining the ability to take on any form that led Medicine King Bodhisattva to sacrifice his body to the buddha of his world. But in chapter 23 we are not told what the name of this concentration means. Here, in chapter 24, we can see more clearly what this ability to take on any form is about. It is an extraordinary ability to serve others.

Flower Virtue, you see merely the one body of Wonderful Voice that is here. But this bodhisattva appears in many different bodies, everywhere teaching this sutra for the sake of the living. Sometimes he appears as King Brahma, sometimes he appears as Indra, sometimes he appears as Ishvara or as Maha-Ishvara, or as a great general of heaven. Sometimes he appears as the king of heaven Vaishravana; or as a holy wheel-rolling king, or as a lesser king; or appears as a rich old man, or as an ordinary citizen, or as a high official, or as a brahman, or as a monk, nun, layman, or laywoman; or he appears as the wife of a rich old man or householder, or appears as the wife of a high official, or as the wife of a brahman, or as a boy or girl; or appears as a god, dragon, satyr, centaur, ashura, griffin, chimera, python, human or nonhuman being; and so on, and teaches this sutra. Those who are in the hells, or are hungry spirits or animals, and all who are in difficult circumstances can be saved. And for the sake of those in the king's harem he transforms himself into a woman and teaches this sutra.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
For those who need the form of a shravaka to be liberated, he appears in the form of a shravaka and teaches the Dharma. For those who need the form of a pratyekabuddha to be liberated, he appears in the form of a pratyekabuddha and teaches the Dharma. For those who need the form of a bodhisattva to be liberated, he appears in the form of a bodhisattva and teaches the Dharma. For those who need the form of a buddha to be liberated, he appears in the form of a buddha and teaches the Dharma. In these various ways, according to what is needed for liberation, he appears in various forms. Even if it is appropriate to enter extinction for the sake of liberation, he shows himself as one who enters extinction.

This variety of forms is remarkably inclusive. While clearly advocating and emphasizing the importance of the bodhisattva way, the Lotus Sutra clearly wants its hearers and readers to understand that appearing in the form of a bodhisattva is only one way among many, any of which can be effective. This variety of forms can be seen as an expression of the emphasis found in the first few chapters of the sutra on the variety of skillful means. But here, in a sense, the message is even more direct. If, it says, you are "the wife of a brahman," or "a boy or girl," or anyone else, you too can be a bodhisattva, you can be Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva!

This ability to serve others by taking on different forms was made most evident in East Asian Buddhism by Kuan-yin Bodhisattva, Kannon in Japanese pronunciation. The textual basis for this is, of course, chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra, where some thirty-three forms of Kuan-yin are listed. These thirty-three "bodies" are very often depicted in Chinese Buddhist art, especially in temples. But the ability to take on different forms or bodies in order to help others is by no means restricted in China to Kuan-yin. Numerous stories are told, for example, of Manjushri Bodhisattva taking on various forms, such as that of an old lady or sick dog, in order to lead someone to Wutai-shan.

Perhaps the most famous case of a bodhisattva taking on a special form is the incarnation of Maitreya Bodhisattva in the form of a historical tenth-century saintly, heterodox, and enormously overweight monk who was especially kind to children. In Japan he is known as Hotei, one of the Seven Gods of Good Luck, but, sold in souvenir shops all over the world, he is often called "the laughing Buddha," and in virtually every Chinese Buddhist temple he is known as Milo-fo--Maitreya Buddha. But this form is not the only historical embodiment of Maitreya. Many Chinese historical figures, some political, others religious, either claimed to be or were widely taken to be incarnations of Maitreya. For example, the sixth-century Buddhist teacher, reformer, and champion of peasants known simply as Fu was widely thought to be Maitreya descended from his Tushita heaven to take on the form of Fu.

While Kuan-yin, Manjushri, and Maitreya are famous, especially in China but throughout East Asia, for taking on whatever body is needed in order to be helpful to others, Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva is hardly known outside of the Lotus Sutra, or even outside of chapter 24 of the Lotus Sutra. He seems, for example, to have been completely neglected by artists. I do not know why this is so. It certainly cannot be because this story is any less encouraging to women than the Kuan-yin chapter. Here, by indicating numerous ways in which Wonderful Voice takes on female bodies, the text goes to some lengths to assure women that they too can become bodhisattvas, that they themselves can become Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva. Perhaps one reason for this bodhisattva failing to attract artists is that it is difficult to portray a face as beautiful as millions of moons together!

Nor do we know whether the story of Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva is older or younger than the story in the Lotus Sutra of Kuan-yin Bodhisattva. But I think it is no accident that in the Lotus Sutra this story is placed just before the Kuan-yin chapter. Kuan-yin is enormously famous for being able to take on any form in order to save others. One could easily think that this special power to take on different forms belongs to Kuan-yin alone. But in the Lotus Sutra we are clearly shown that almost exactly the same power and list of forms is also attributed to Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva. The point, I believe, is not that there are two bodhisattvas with such power, but that every bodhisattva has such power. We are not talking about magical tricks here. The ability to take on different forms according to what is needed means just that, an ability to adapt to different situations, particularly to the different needs of people. Taking on different forms is no more and no less than the ability to serve others usefully, practically, and effectively. This is a power given not only to the bodhisattvas Kuan-yin and Wonderful Voice, but to each and every one of us.

Thus, one obvious meaning of this story for us is that we too can become bodhisattvas who take on different forms and roles in order to help others. But there is another side to this, even its opposite--anyone can be a bodhisattva for us. If Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva can take on any form, anyone we meet might be Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva in a form designed to help us! But very often at least, someone can be a bodhisattva for us only if we let them, only if we open ourselves in such a way as to enable someone else to be a bodhisattva for us.

In chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra there are two stories, both of which suggest the importance of enabling by seeing. The first is ostensibly a story about Devadatta, someone whom everyone, at least in the Buddhist world, knows is the epitome of evil. He has tried to split the community of monks and even attempted on several occasions to kill or injure the Buddha. But in chapter 12 we find none of this, which everyone knows already. Instead we find the Buddha telling a story about a previous life in which Devadatta was his teacher. We may think this story is mainly about Devadatta, but, more importantly, it is a story about the Buddha, especially about the Buddha's ability to see the bodhisattva in Devadatta. The Buddha enables Devadatta by assuring him that he too is to become a buddha.

The second story in chapter 12 is about the dragon princess who becomes a buddha in an instant. Present are two men, Shariputra, who thinks that it is impossible for a woman to become a buddha, and Accumulated Wisdom Bodhisattva, who thinks it is crazy to think that a little girl could become awakened suddenly when it took even Shakyamuni Buddha many lifetimes. What the dragon princess says to them is very interesting. "Just watch," she says, "use your holy powers to see me become a buddha more quickly than it took for Shakyamuni Buddha to take a jewel from my hand?" In a sense, a little girl became a buddha for them, but she could do this only if they used their "holy powers," their vision, to allow it, to open themselves to it.

Normally we think of the Buddha Dharma as coming from the Buddha. This is correct, of course. But it is also essential to see that the Dharma, and therefore the Buddha, can come to us from many sources--if we open ourselves to it.

The title of the English version of the autobiography of Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of Rissho Kosei-kai, is Lifetime Beginner. The term "beginner" has connotations of being inexperienced or green. The implication of this, of course, is that one always needs to be learning, always needs to be open to new experience, new stories, new ideas. It is easy to think of this remarkable man as being self-taught, which in a sense he was. But he was self-taught only by learning from others, a great variety of others. He learned, for example, about Buddhist teachings from Buddhist scholars, including some very famous Buddhist scholars, but he also learned about Buddhism, and received the Buddha Dharma from ordinary members of Rissho Kosei-kai. He was a lifetime learner. The importance of being open to others, of learning from them, even of seeing the Buddha in them, is something we might learn from the story of Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva.

In the Christian New Testament, the Gospel According to John, speaks of "the Word." The Word was with God and was God; the Word "became flesh and dwelt among us." Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva is such a living word, the awakening that can come to us, not just as words spoken and written, but embodied in living beings, and not just in the body of one bodhisattva, but in many different bodies-- bodies that are female as well as male, bodies that belong to the lowly as well as to the high, bodies that are nonhuman as well as human. Anyone we meet can be our extremely tall and handsome Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva. Truly, this is wonderful!

Gene Reeves is currently studying, teaching, and writing on Buddhism in Tokyo. A consultant and teacher at Rissho Kosei-kai, he was recently a research fellow at Rikkyo University. Before coming to Japan in 1989, Dr. Reeves was the dean of Meadville/Lombard Theological School and professorial lecturer in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.

This article was originally published in the April-June 2006 issue of Dharma World.


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