Six auspicious happenings
six auspicious happenings
六瑞 (Jpn roku-zui )
Also, six portents or six omens. Occurrences that herald the preaching of the Lotus Sutra, depicted in the "Introduction" (first) chapter of the sutra. There are two categories of six auspicious happenings: the six auspicious happenings occurring in this world and those occurring in other worlds.
The six auspicious happenings in this world are as follows:
(1) the Buddha preaches the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra, an introductory teaching to the Lotus Sutra;
(2) he enters a profound meditation called the samadhi of the origin of immeasurable meanings;
(3) four kinds of exquisite flowers rain down from the heavens;
(4) the earth trembles in six different ways;
(5) seeing these portents, the whole assembly rejoice and, placing their palms together, single-mindedly behold the Buddha; and
(6) the Buddha emits a beam of light from the tuft of white hair between his eyebrows, illuminating eighteen thousand worlds to the east.
The "Introduction" chapter goes on to describe the six auspicious happenings occurring in the worlds the Buddha has just illuminated, which differ from the six events listed above.
They are:
(1) the light emitted by the Buddha reaches as high as the Akanishtha Heaven and as deep as the Avichi hell, so that the living beings of the six paths in all the illuminated worlds are clearly visible to those at the assembly of the sutra;
(2) the Buddhas present in the other worlds can be seen;
(3) the preaching of these Buddhas can be heard;
(4) the four kinds of believers— monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen—who have carried out Buddhist practices and attained the way can be seen;
(5) bodhisattvas practicing the bodhisattva way can be seen; and
(6) it can be seen that, after the Buddhas have entered nirvana, towers adorned with the seven kinds of treasures are built to house the Buddhas' relics.
