king, Indra, Mara, a Cakravartin king, and a buddha. The dragon daughter appears, but neither she nor Manjusri rebut Prajnakuta or Sariputra directly, for example, by pointing to the emptiness of the five barriers; the dragon princess rebuts the challengers only by demonstration. Thus it is never made perfectly clear in the story that the five barriers are irrelevant to attainment of bodhi (awakening), given the tremendous power of women’s the ultimate expression of the wisdom as revealed in the as well as Lotus Sutra, Buddha’s the potential for Buddha wisdom (=buddha nature) in all, which also revealed in the sutra. Surely the universalism of the is a major part of the story. In the Lotus Sutra Buddhahood is predicted for every last person. Even children who playfully Lotus Sutra build a stupa in the sand will become buddhas. And speedy attainment of Buddhahood,, another important part of the story, is also found elsewherein the sutra: in chapter 16 of the the Buddha announces that his constant thought is how to help sentient Lotus Sutra beings quickly perfect their buddha bodies. In the assembly in chapter 12 someone asks whether of the has enabled any hearer to speedily Lotus Sutra Manjusri’s preaching accomplish buddhahood. Manjusri replies by describing the dragon girl. So to draw subitism out of this story, as the Chan teachers do, is justified, despite the detailed description of the stages via which the dragon girl attained buddhahood. Dogen concludes the shorter version of the sermon as found in the Raihai tokuzui seventy-five volume version of the by alluding to the seven-year-old dragon Shobogenzo girl (eight years old by Chinese reckoning) of the "Devadatta" chapter of the Lotus Sutra. He says: when someone practices the buddha dharma and expounds the buddha “But dharma, though such a person be a girl eight years of age, that person is a guide
king, Indra, Mara, a Cakravartin king, and a buddha. The dragon daughter appears, but neither she nor Manjusri rebut Prajnakuta or Sariputra directly, for example, by pointing to the emptiness of the five barriers; the dragon princess rebuts the challengers only by demonstration. Thus it is never made perfectly clear in the story that the five barriers are irrelevant to women’s attainment of bodhi (awakening), given the tremendous power of the ultimate expression of the Buddha’s wisdom as revealed in the Lotus Sutra, as well as the potential for Buddha wisdom (=buddha nature) in all, which also revealed in the sutra. Surely the universalism of the Lotus Sutra is a major part of the story. In the Lotus Sutra Buddhahood is predicted for every last person. Even children who playfully build a stupa in the sand will become buddhas. And speedy attainment of Buddhahood,, another important part of the story, is also found elsewherein the sutra: in chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra the Buddha announces that his constant thought is how to help sentient beings quickly perfect their buddha bodies. In the assembly in chapter 12 someone asks whether Manjusri’s preaching of the Lotus Sutra has enabled any hearer to speedily accomplish buddhahood. Manjusri replies by describing the dragon girl. So to draw subitism out of this story, as the Chan teachers do, is justified, despite the detailed description of the stages via which the dragon girl attained buddhahood. Dogen concludes the shorter version of the Raihai tokuzui sermon as found in the seventy-five volume version of the Shobogenzo by alluding to the seven-year-old dragon girl (eight years old by Chinese reckoning) of the "Devadatta" chapter of the Lotus Sutra. He says: “But when someone practices the buddha dharma and expounds the buddha dharma, though such a person be a girl eight years of age, that person is a guide