The Japanese are fond of a type of beautiful cloisonné ware known as shippōyaki, or “seven-treasures ware,” so called because it looks as if it has been inlaid with the seven precious substances (shippō, also shichihō). These “precious seven” are seven kinds of precious metals and gems, both valuable and beautiful, that, according to Indian Buddhist scriptures, are used to adorn the Pure Land and other Buddha realms. But the identity of these seven precious substances is not necessarily clear and requires caution, for there are some discrepancies between different texts in their listings of the precious seven.
In the Lotus Sutra, the following passage in the “Prediction” chapter, in which Shakyamuni predicts the attainment of buddhahood by one of his disciples, is well known: “This Kātyāyana [as the disciple was called] / Will, with various kinds / Of excellent offerings, / Pay homage to buddhas. / After the buddhas are extinct / He will erect stupas of the precious seven / And also, with flowers and perfumes, / Pay homage to their relics; / In his final bodily state / He will obtain the Buddha-wisdom / And accomplish Perfect Enlightenment.” In several places elsewhere in the Lotus Sutra the seven precious substances are listed as gold, silver, lapis lazuli, giant clamshell, agate, pearl, and carnelian. While this gives one an idea of what they actually are, the true identity of what has been rendered here as “giant clamshell” and “carnelian” is uncertain.
Although we are concerned here with inquiring into the precious seven, I believe that now is the time for us to turn our attention away from the precious substances themselves and read with an open mind from the grand and infinitely mysterious “Precious Stupa” chapter. As Shakyamuni the World-Honored One is preaching the Lotus Sutra, there suddenly appears an enormous radiant stupa adorned with the precious seven, and from inside the stupa there comes the voice of a past buddha called the Buddha of Abundant Treasures, praising the Lotus Sutra and its expositor Shakyamuni. It is a difficult passage, but if we savor it slowly and carefully, then, with the Lotus Sutra left by Shakyamuni—who has for us become a buddha of the past—to guide us, the path along which we ought to proceed and its outcome will undoubtedly become clear of their own accord.
