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**blackjackiisre** · 07-24-2010, 08:00 AM

I looked up the Lotus Sutra in Wikipedia

stored for five hundred years in a realm of nagas

Also said to be hidden in "the Dragon Realm" for 500 years.

From Ch. 15 of the Lotus Sutra

"At that time the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas, who had come from other lands in numbers exceeding the grains of sand in eight Ganges Rivers, rose up in the great assembly, placed their palms together, made obeisance, and said to the Buddha, "World Honored One, if you will allow us, after the Buddha's tranquillity, here in this Saha world we will with ever-increasing vigor protect, maintain, read, recite, write out, and make offerings to this Sutra, and we will speak it far and wide throughout this land."

The Buddha then told the host of Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas, "Stop! Good men, you do not need to protect and maintain this Sutra. Why not? Within my Saha world itself there are Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas equal in number to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers, each of whom has a retinue equal in number to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers. After my tranquillity, all of them will protect, uphold, read, recite, and vastly speak this Sutra."

Just as the Buddha said this, the earth in the three thousand great thousand lands in the Saha world trembled and split open, and from its midst limitless thousands of tens of thousands of millions of Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas simultaneously welled forth.

All of those Bodhisattvas possessed golden-hued bodies, the thirty-two marks, and limitless light
They had been dwelling beneath the Saha world in the empty space belonging to that world.
Upon hearing the sound of Shakyamuni Buddha's voice, all the Bodhisattvas came up from below.

Each one of the Bodhisattvas was a leader who instructed and guided a great multitude. Each had a retinue numbering as many as the sand grains of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers. Still others had retinues numbering as many as the sand grains of fifty thousand, forty thousand, thirty thousand, twenty thousand, or ten thousand Ganges Rivers.

Others had retinues numbering as many as the sand grains of one Ganges River, one half a Ganges River, one fourth, and on down to one thousandth of a ten thousandth of a millionth of a nayuta of a Ganges River.

Other has retinues numbering in the billions of nayutas. Others had retinues numbering in the hundreds of millions. Others had retinues numbering in the tens of millions, the millions, and on down to the tens of thousands. Others had a thousand or a hundred and on down to ten. "

...............etc etc

http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhis...ts/Lotus15.htm

It's a lot different to the Pali Canon.

07-24-2010, 08:00 AM	#20
blackjackiisre Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 507 Senior Member	I looked up the Lotus Sutra in Wikipedia stored for five hundred years in a realm of nagas Also said to be hidden in "the Dragon Realm" for 500 years. From Ch. 15 of the Lotus Sutra "At that time the Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas, who had come from other lands in numbers exceeding the grains of sand in eight Ganges Rivers, rose up in the great assembly, placed their palms together, made obeisance, and said to the Buddha, "World Honored One, if you will allow us, after the Buddha's tranquillity, here in this Saha world we will with ever-increasing vigor protect, maintain, read, recite, write out, and make offerings to this Sutra, and we will speak it far and wide throughout this land." The Buddha then told the host of Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas, "Stop! Good men, you do not need to protect and maintain this Sutra. Why not? Within my Saha world itself there are Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas equal in number to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers, each of whom has a retinue equal in number to the sands of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers. After my tranquillity, all of them will protect, uphold, read, recite, and vastly speak this Sutra." Just as the Buddha said this, the earth in the three thousand great thousand lands in the Saha world trembled and split open, and from its midst limitless thousands of tens of thousands of millions of Bodhisattvas Mahasattvas simultaneously welled forth. All of those Bodhisattvas possessed golden-hued bodies, the thirty-two marks, and limitless light They had been dwelling beneath the Saha world in the empty space belonging to that world. Upon hearing the sound of Shakyamuni Buddha's voice, all the Bodhisattvas came up from below. Each one of the Bodhisattvas was a leader who instructed and guided a great multitude. Each had a retinue numbering as many as the sand grains of sixty thousand Ganges Rivers. Still others had retinues numbering as many as the sand grains of fifty thousand, forty thousand, thirty thousand, twenty thousand, or ten thousand Ganges Rivers. Others had retinues numbering as many as the sand grains of one Ganges River, one half a Ganges River, one fourth, and on down to one thousandth of a ten thousandth of a millionth of a nayuta of a Ganges River. Other has retinues numbering in the billions of nayutas. Others had retinues numbering in the hundreds of millions. Others had retinues numbering in the tens of millions, the millions, and on down to the tens of thousands. Others had a thousand or a hundred and on down to ten. " ...............etc etc http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/Buddhis...ts/Lotus15.htm It's a lot different to the Pali Canon.
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