"The term, ukuyosha fukuka jugo, is also explained in the Hokke Mongu
Ki, and can be translated:  
"Those who offerings [to the Lotus Sutra] will reap fortune exceeding
the ten honorable titles."  {6th para.}

Again, this passage is an interpretation of an original passage
appearing in the chapter of the Lotus Sutra, which speaks of the
blessings a person will gain by embracing the Lotus Sutra.  {7th para.}  

  "The ten honorable titles" refer to ten kinds of honorific names given
to a Buddha."  They are:  "Thus Come One," "Worthy of Offerings," "Right
and Universal Knowledge," "Perfect Clarity and Conduct," "Well Gone,"
"Understanding of the World," "Unexcelled Worthy," "Leader of People,"
"Teacher of Gods and Humans," and "Buddha, the World-Honored One."  {8th
para.}  

  A passage from the Yakuo chapter of the Lotus Sutra reads:  
"Even if a person were to fill the whole thousand-million-fold world
with the seven treasures as an offering to the Buddha and the great
Bodhisattvas, Pratyeka-buddhas and arhats, the benefits gained by such a
person cannot match those gained by accepting and upholding this Lotus
Sutra, even just one four-line verse of it!  The latter brings the most
numerous blessings of all."  (Hokekyo, p. 532; Ref.: The Lotus Sutra,
Translated by Burton Watson, p. 285)  {9th para.}  

  In the same way that this passage from the Yakuo chapter claims that
the blessings of embracing even one four-line verse of the Lotus Sutra
outshine the benefits gained by filling the whole thousand-million-fold
world with the seven treasures as an offering to the Buddha, the Great
Teacher Miao-lo praises the virtues gained by making offerings to the
Lotus Sutra as surpassing the fortune earned by making offerings to a
Buddha endowed with the ten honorable titles."  {10th para.}  

To Be Continued .............

**Page 8 of Nichiren Shoshu Monthly magazine, June 2002 issue; copyright
2002 NST.
All Rights Reserved.