能淨業障分第十六
復次,須菩提,善男子,善女人,受持讀誦此經,若為人輕賤,是人先世罪業,應墮惡道,以今世人輕賤故,先世罪業,則為消滅,當得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。須菩提,我念過去無量阿僧祇劫,於然燈佛前,得值八百四千萬億那由他諸佛,悉皆供養承事,無空過者。若復有人,於後末世,能受持讀誦此經,所得功德,於我所供養諸佛功德,百分不及一,千萬億分,乃至算數譬喻所不能及。須菩提若善男子,善女人,於後末世。有受持讀誦此經,所得功德,我若具說者,或有人聞,心即狂亂,狐疑不信。須菩提,當知是經義不可思議,果報亦不可思議。
My rendition of chapter 16: A karma changing Sutra
“Furthermore, Subhuti, if there are good men or women who recite, remember, comprehend, and follow this Sutra, but are belittled by others, it is because of their previous evil karma, which would cause them to be born in wretched conditions . By suffering the disparagement of others arising from preaching this Sutra, this previous bad karma is eradicated, and they will attain unsurpassed complete enlightenment in this life. Subhuti, I remember that countless kalpas ago, before the time of Dipankara Buddha, I have encountered 84,000 billion nayutas of Buddhas, made offerings to and served all of them without fail. However, if someone in the Dharma-ending age can recite, remember, comprehend, and follow this Sutra, this person’s virtue will be one hundred times, even a hundred trillion times greater than mine when I made offerings to all these Buddhas. In fact, no such comparison either by calculation or analogy is possible. Subhuti, if I fully reveal the virtue attained by good men and good women in the Dharma-ending age who recite, remember, comprehend, and follow this Sutra, some people, upon hearing it, would become suspicious, skeptical, even bewildered. Subhuti, you should know that the underlying meaning of this Sutra is inconceivable, and its rewards are also inconceivable.”
Paul's comment: The essential message of this Sutra is that its teaching can have the great power of changing one's karma for the better. In other chapters, the Buddha praised the merit arising from abiding by and preaching this Sutra using various analogies and examples. In this Chapter he even compared it with his own respects acted towards many thousands of Buddhas. Needless to say, the Diamond Sutra (its understanding, abiding, and propagation) got the greatest Merit.
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