58 BUDDHADHARMA: THE PRACTITIONER'S QUARTERLY
Becoming a Buddha:
Lessons from Little Girls
Stephanie Balkwill
IN ONE WELL-KNOWN episode in the Lotus Sutra, we meet an
unlikely candidate for buddhahood: the eight-year-old daughter of
the dragon king. Our introduction to her comes through gossip.
Discussing—behind her back—the girl’s rumored readiness for bud-
dhahood, the bodhisattvas Manjushri and Wisdom Accumulated
mull over whether or not she could possibly be as advanced as they
have heard. Wisdom Accumulated argues that, since it took the
Buddha a very long time to become the Buddha, he “cannot believe
that this girl in the space of an instant could actually achieve correct
enlightenment” (Burton Watson, The Lotus Sutra). Young, female,
non-human—the daughter of the dragon king, in Wisdom Accumu-
lated’s view, cannot attain the accomplishments of a buddha, accom-
plishments he himself has not yet achieved.
But the daughter of the dragon king is not one to be gossiped
about. Arriving on the scene, she confronts the two bodhisattvas,
only to be summarily dismissed by Shariputra, a disbelieving, but
earnest, disciple of the Buddha. Informing her of the limits of her (OPPO
SIT
E)^ METROP
OLITANMUSEUM^ OF^ F
INEART,^ NY^ |^SEYMO
UR^FUND,^1965opposite | The daughter of the Dragon King offering
the Buddha a radiant jewel. Frontispiece to the “Devadatta” chapter
of the Lotus Sutra; Japan, twelfth century