尔时，药王菩萨摩诃萨及大乐说菩萨摩诃萨，与二万菩萨眷属俱，皆于佛前，而作是言：唯然，世尊，我等亦当于如来灭后，十方国土，广说此经。所以者何？是阎浮提人，刚强难化，多增上慢，贪于功德，增益我见，佛灭度后，若有比丘宣说此经，必多怨嫉，加以毁谤，刀杖瓦石，常被击打，佐助求瑕，白衣比丘，而见轻慢。有诸比丘尼，诸优婆塞，诸优婆夷，种种毁骂。我等皆当忍是，广说此经。
逐句解释
如来灭后，广说此经
第十三章的场景是：数万菩萨主动站出来，向佛陀立誓：佛陀涅槃之后，我们要在各个世界广泛传播《法华经》。这是一种自愿承担的誓愿——不是被要求的，而是出于对众生的慈悲自发生起的。整章的核心是「持经」：受持、读诵、解说、书写这部经。
After the Tathagata's passing, we will broadly teach this sutra throughout all lands in the ten directions.
Chapter 13 marks a pivotal shift in the Lotus Sutra's structure. Up to this point, the assembly has been receiving teachings. Now, a group of bodhisattvas — twenty thousand of them — spontaneously step forward and make a vow. This is the bodhisattva spirit in action: not waiting to be asked, not calculating the difficulty, but simply committing. The emphasis on "after the Tathagata's passing" is significant: this chapter looks beyond the immediate assembly to the future of the Dharma in the world. The bodhisattvas are pledging to carry the torch.
是阎浮提人，刚强难化，多增上慢……必多怨嫉，加以毁谤，刀杖瓦石，常被击打
菩萨们对困难毫不回避，直接说出了将要面对的现实：人们骄慢、难以教化；传讲《法华经》的人会遭到怨恨、诽谤，甚至被打。这段诚实的预言在《法华经》中反复出现——经文对传法的困难有清醒的认识，但这并不动摇誓愿。
The people of this world are stubborn and difficult to transform, full of arrogance and self-conceit. Anyone who proclaims this sutra after the Buddha's passing will be met with resentment, slander, and physical attack — struck with swords, staffs, tiles, and stones. People will seek out their faults and speak ill of them constantly.
The frankness here is remarkable. The bodhisattvas are not making their vow in a state of naive optimism; they are doing so with clear eyes. They enumerate the specific forms of opposition they will face: intellectual contempt (slander), social exclusion (being denounced by monks and laypeople alike), and physical violence (swords, staffs, tiles, stones). This is not hypothetical — the Lotus Sutra seems to be drawing on the actual experience of Mahayana teachers in India who faced exactly this kind of hostility. The power of the vow comes precisely from this honesty: they know what is coming, and they commit anyway.
我等皆当忍是，广说此经
菩萨们的回应是简洁而坚定的：「我们都将忍受这一切，广泛传说此经。」这里的「忍」不是消极的隐忍，而是主动的承担——知道困难，选择前行。这种精神在大乘佛教中被称为「忍辱波罗蜜」：在最大的挑战面前保持开放、慈悲和坚定。
We will endure all of this, and broadly teach this sutra.
Five words in Chinese (我等皆当忍是) that carry enormous weight. "We will all endure this." Not "we will try" or "we will endure if it is not too difficult." The vow is unconditional. This is the bodhisattva ideal at its most stark: the willingness to accept suffering as the price of being useful to others. The word 忍 (endure, bear) connects directly to the "robe of patient endurance" from Chapter 10. That chapter described patience as a prerequisite for teaching; this chapter shows what that patience looks like in practice — not as a retreat from difficulty, but as a clear-eyed advance into it, with the welfare of beings as the only consideration.
比丘尼等亦立誓持经
章末，以憍昙弥（大爱道，佛陀的姨母）为首的六千比丘尼，以及佛陀的妻子耶输陀罗，也一同立誓持经、广为传说。这是《法华经》中女性修行者明确发愿的时刻。她们同样面对困难，同样选择承担，与男性弟子并肩而立。
Six thousand nuns, led by Mahaprajapati (the Buddha's aunt and first nun), and including Yashodhara (the Buddha's former wife), also make the vow to uphold and teach the Lotus Sutra after the Buddha's passing.
The inclusion of the nuns — and specifically Mahaprajapati and Yashodhara — in this chapter of vows is significant. Mahaprajapati was the woman who raised Siddhartha after his mother's death, and who later persuaded the Buddha (with Ananda's help) to admit women to the sangha, thereby founding the order of nuns. Yashodhara was left behind when Siddhartha renounced the world; she later became a nun herself. Both women receive prophecies of Buddhahood in this chapter. Their vow to teach the sutra in the face of hostility mirrors the bodhisattvas' vow exactly — same courage, same commitment, same clarity about what they are taking on.
总结 · Summary
第十三章是一章誓愿之书。数万菩萨、六千比丘尼，在知道将面临诽谤、暴力和排斥的情况下，主动立誓：佛灭度后，我们要在各地广传《法华经》。这种知难而进的精神，是大乘菩萨行的核心。「忍」不是软弱，而是有力量的慈悲。《法华经》通过这一章告诉我们：真正的传法，从来都不是容易的事，但它永远值得。
Chapter 13 is a chapter of vows. Tens of thousands of bodhisattvas and six thousand nuns — including Mahaprajapati and Yashodhara — step forward voluntarily and commit to teaching the Lotus Sutra after the Buddha's death, in full knowledge of the hostility they will face. Slander, physical violence, social exclusion — they name each difficulty and vow to endure it anyway. This is the bodhisattva path made concrete and costly: not an ideal held at safe distance, but a commitment made in clear light. The chapter stands as a tribute to every person in every age who has transmitted a difficult, unwelcome truth for the benefit of beings who were not yet ready to receive it.