FOR A REREADING OF THE LOTUS SUTRA IN THE LIGHT OF SOKATIC MAPPO: 4. Mappo: The Era of the Confession of Faith of the Bodhisattvas and Female Bodhisattvas of the Earth Kindle Edition

I, Marcellin Zirignon, a Bodhisattva of the Earth, awakened as a Buddha in January 1993 before the age of 23. This followed six months of intense Gongyo practice, crowning arduous Bodhisattvic practices initiated at birth and which continue to this day. Acting for the moment as a provisional Buddha (one who hides his true identity while striving to save all living beings), I wish, through this sutra, to lead humanity to Buddhahood immediately and in this lifetime—in other words, to help others become Buddhas like me, here and now.The Buddhist Law, or Nam-myoho-renge-kyo—as wonderful as it may be, as master of the universe as it may be, as the secret storehouse of the Buddhas of all major world systems as it may be—must be propagated so as not to remain a dead letter and thereby saving all beings from the samsaric cycles. However, it can only be propagated by men and women for human beings, putting aside all theoretical considerations. "The human body is the proper vessel for the Buddhist teachings," say the sutras.This being the case, from the 11th to the 22nd chapters of the Lotus Sutra, Shakyamuni Buddha, during the Ceremony in the Air, ordained men and women called Bodhisattvas and female Bodhisattvas of the earth. These beings, as numerous as the sands of sixty thousand Ganges, were commissioned within the mappotic perspective to go everywhere in the Jambudvipa (planet Earth) to propagate the five characters of Myo. They do so both for their own sake and to make disciples for the prosperity of the Buddhist Law, and ultimately, for the advent of universal peace and happiness.I, Marcellin Zirignon, in my capacity as a shaku-Buddha (provisional Buddha), would have been remiss not to dedicate a Sutra to them. In this fourth sutra of my pedagogical undertaking regarding the Hegemon Sutra, the aim is to present the Bodhisattvas and female Bodhisattvas of the earth through the fourfold order of: their sui-generis qualities, the setting of their ordination, the nature of the mission entrusted to them by the Thus-Come-One Shakyamuni, and their commitment to hold fast to the staff of kosen-rufu passed on to them by the Buddha—never to betray it, let alone cast it aside. Read more