Great Adornment
Great Adornment
大荘厳仏 ( Jpn Daishogon-butsu)
(1) A Buddha mentioned in the Buddha Treasury Sutra. According to the sutra, the Buddha Great Adornment lived in the remote past. His life lasted for "sixty-eight hundred ten thousand million years," and he amassed a following of "sixty-eight hundred ten thousand million disciples." One hundred years after this Buddha's death, his followers split into five schools. Only the monk Universal Practice, the leader of one of the five schools, correctly upheld what Great Adornment had taught. The leaders of the four other schools, such as the monk Shore of Suffering, held erroneous views and, along with their followers, hated and reviled Universal Practice. For this reason, the sutra says, these four monks and their followers fell into hell.
(2)大荘厳菩薩 (Jpn Daishogon-bosatsu): A bodhisattva appearing in the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra. He represents the assembly on Eagle Peak and addresses Shakyamuni Buddha. Their ensuing dialogue constitutes the content of that sutra, which is considered an introductory teaching to the Lotus Sutra. In the Immeasurable Meanings Sutra, the Buddha entrusts the sutra to Great Adornment and the other eighty thousand bodhisattvas present, who then vow to propagate it.
