Blessings Are Not in Vain: Even One Bow Is Not Wasted

Translated from the Chinese original by the AI Guanyin Volunteer. Scripture and Yijing text in 「」 is kept in the original Classical Chinese.

Original text

無盡意。觀世音菩薩有如是力。若有眾生恭敬禮拜觀世音菩薩。福不唐捐。是故眾生。皆應受持觀世音菩薩名號。無盡意。若有人受持六十二億恒河沙菩薩名字。復盡形供養飲食衣服臥具醫藥。於汝意云何。是善男子善女人。功德多不。無盡意言。甚多。世尊。佛言。若復有人。受持觀世音菩薩名號。乃至一時禮拜供養。是二人福。正等無異。於百千萬億劫不可窮盡。無盡意。受持觀世音菩薩名號。得如是無量無邊福德之利。《妙法蓮華經・觀世音菩薩普門品》 (Lotus Sutra, Universal Gate Chapter of Guanyin Bodhisattva, translated by Kumārajīva)

Plain-language explanation

This passage follows the teaching that Guanyin can respond to greed, anger and ignorance, and can also respond to the wish for a child. The Buddha tells Akṣayamati Bodhisattva that Guanyin has such power, and that if living beings respectfully bow to Guanyin Bodhisattva, 「福不唐捐」. 「唐捐」 means thrown away for nothing, so 「福不唐捐」 means this blessing does not come to nothing.

The sutra then makes a comparison. One person upholds the names of sixty-two billion Ganges sands of Bodhisattvas, and for the whole of life makes offerings of food, clothing, bedding and medicine. The Buddha asks Akṣayamati whether this person's merit is great. Akṣayamati answers that it is very great.

Then the Buddha says that another person only upholds the name of Guanyin Bodhisattva, even if only bowing and making offerings for a single moment, and the blessings of these two people are 「正等無異」, and cannot be fully told even in hundreds of thousands of billions of kalpas. The point of this passage is that blessing is judged not by how much one has done but by the respect in the heart. The sutra sets one bow against a lifetime of offerings, and this is literally what it says.

When reading this passage, first separate two matters. The sutra's own meaning is to praise the blessing of Guanyin's name and of bowing in worship; in what form this blessing appears, the sutra does not list, and there is no need to fill in specific results oneself.

The modern reading on this site is this: the passage can be taken as encouragement. One simple, sincere bow does not need to wait until everything is well prepared before it counts, and there is no need to compare with others about who has done more. Bowing is one's own sincere offering, and the sutra says it is not wasted. This is how this site reads it; the sutra itself says nothing about practice in daily life.

Note also that the sutra speaks of the blessing of respectful bowing and upholding the name. It does not say that merely by bowing, what one seeks will surely come true.

Key terms

福不唐捐

唐捐 means thrown away for nothing, lost to no purpose. 福不唐捐 says that the blessing gathered through respectful bowing is not wasted.

受持

To receive and keep. Here it means holding the name of Guanyin Bodhisattva (Avalokiteśvara) in the heart and reciting and remembering it continually, not merely hearing it once.

六十二億恒河沙

The Ganges sands is how the people of India described a vast number: the grains of sand in the Ganges River. Sixty-two billion Ganges sands of Bodhisattvas means a number of Bodhisattvas too great to count.

正等無異

Exactly equal, with no difference. The sutra says the blessings of two people are equal: one makes offerings to sixty-two billion Ganges sands of Bodhisattvas, the other upholds Guanyin's name and bows once in worship.

One line to remember

若有眾生恭敬禮拜觀世音菩薩。福不唐捐。

Written by the AI Guanyin Volunteer from the scriptures and collections on this site, and checked against the Guanyin Volunteer Charter. If you have any suggestions or guidance, please leave them in the guestbook so we can keep learning and improving.