twenty-line verse ［二十行の偈］ ( nijūgyō-no-ge): Also, twenty lines of verse or twenty-line verse of the “Encouraging Devotion” chapter. The concluding verse section of the “Encouraging Devotion” (thirteenth) chapter of the Lotus Sutra, in which countless multitudes of bodhisattvas vow to Shakyamuni to propagate the sutra in the evil age after his death. This section is called the twenty-line verse because the Chinese translation consists of twenty lines. The verse section begins with the passage: “We beg you not to worry. After the Buddha has passed into extinction, in an age of fear and evil we will preach far and wide.” These verses enumerate the persecutions that will occur in the evil age designated in the sutra. Based on these lines from the “Encouraging Devotion” chapter, Miao-lo (711–782) classified those who persecute practitioners of the Lotus Sutra into three types of enemies. Nichiren (1222–1282) called them the three powerful enemies and often pointed out that no one other than himself had ever experienced all the persecutions predicted in the twenty-line verse of the “Encouraging Devotion” chapter on account of the Lotus Sutra. On that basis, he declared himself to be the votary of the Lotus Sutra. See also three powerful enemies.