The Lotus Sūtra (, , ; Japanese: 法華経; rōmaji: Hokkekyō; ) is one of the most influential and venerated Buddhist Mahāyāna sūtras. It is the main scripture on which the Chinese Tiantai and its derivative schools—the Japanese Tendai and Nichiren, Korean Cheontae, and Vietnamese Thiên Thai schools of Buddhism—were established. It has also influenced other East Asian Buddhist schools, such as Chan and Zen. According to the British Buddhologist Paul Williams, "For many Buddhists in East Asia since early times, the Lotus Sūtra contains the final teaching of Shakyamuni Buddha—complete and sufficient for salvation." The American Buddhologist Donald S. Lopez Jr. writes that the Lotus Sūtra "is arguably the most famous of all Buddhist texts," presenting "a radical re-vision of both the Buddhist path and of the person of the Buddha."
Two central teachings of the Lotus Sūtra have been very influential for Mahāyāna Buddhism. The first is the doctrine of the One Vehicle, which says that all Buddhist paths and practices lead to Buddhahood and so they are all actually "skillful means" of reaching Buddhahood. The second is the idea that the lifespan of the Buddha is immeasurable, and that therefore, he did not really pass on into final Nirvana (he only appeared to do so as upāya), but is still active teaching the Dharma.
Title
The earliest known Sanskrit title for the sūtra is the Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra (सद्धर्म पुण्डरीक सूत्र), which can be translated as "the Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma" or "The Discourse on the White Lotus of the True Doctrine." In English, the shortened form Lotus Sūtra is more common.
Translations of this title into Asian languages include the following:
. This is the title of Kumarajiva's Chinese translation. The characters mean: subtle dharma lotus flower sūtra Shortened title: ("Dharma Flower Sūtra") The title of Dharmaraksha's Chinese translation is ("True Dharma Flower Sūtra") (short: Hoke-kyō) (short: ). . . (short: ). Old Uyghur: (Fapḫuaké atlïġ nom čečeki sudur) (Fapḫuaké is the Uyghur rendition of the ) Tangut (romanized):
The Japanese Buddhist priest Nichiren (1222–1282) regarded the title as the summary of the Lotus Sūtra teachings. The chanting of the title is the basic religious practice he advocated during his lifetime.
Main themes
One Vehicle, Many Skillful Means The Lotus Sūtra is known for its extensive instruction on skillful means (Sanskrit: upāyakauśalya (उपायकौशल्य) or upāya (उपाय), Ch.: fangbian, Jp.: hōben), which refers to how Buddhas teach in many ways adapted to the needs of their disciples. This concept of Buddhist pedagogical strategies is often explained through parables or allegories. In the Lotus Sūtra, the many 'skillful' or 'expedient' practices and teachings taught by the Buddha (including the "three vehicles" to awakening) are revealed to all be part of the "One Vehicle" (Skt.: ekayāna (एकयान), Ch.:一乘; yīchéng), the supreme and all encompassing path that leads to Buddhahood. Moreover, this single vehicle is none other than the myriad skillful means which are its expressions and modes. As the Buddha says in the sūtra, "seek as you will in all ten directions, there is no other vehicle, apart from the upāyas of the Buddhas."
The One Vehicle is associated with the Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle"), which is a path that rejects the cutting off of rebirth (the individual nirvana or "extinction" of the Buddhist saint) and seeks to heroically remain in the world of suffering to help others attain awakening, all while working towards complete Buddhahood. In the Lotus Sūtra, the One Vehicle encompasses many different and seemingly contradictory teachings because the Buddha's great compassion and wish to save all beings (bodhicitta) led him to adapt the teaching to suit many different kinds of people and contexts. As the Buddha states in the Lotus Sūtra: "Ever since I became a Buddha, I have used a variety of causal explanations and a variety of parables to teach and preach, and countless skillful means to lead living beings."
The Lotus Sūtra declares also all other teachings are subservient to, propagated by and in the service of the ultimate truth of the "One Buddha–Vehicle", a goal that is available to all. This can and has been interpreted by some figures in an exclusive and hierarchical sense, as meaning that all other Buddhist teachings are to be dispensed with. However, Reeves and other interpreters understand the one vehicle in a more pluralist and inclusive sense which embraces and reconciles all Buddhist teachings and practices. Some have even applied this universalism to non-Buddhist teachings.
Reeves also notes that the theme of unity and difference also includes other ideas besides the One Vehicle. According to Reeves "on more than one occasion, for example, the many worlds of the universe are brought together into a unity." Similarly, though there are said to be many Buddhas, they are all closely connected with Shakyamuni and they all teach the same thing.
All beings have the potential to become Buddhas
Another important teaching of the Lotus Sūtra is that all beings can become Buddhas. The sūtra sees the awakening of a Buddha as the only and ultimate goal, and it claims that "of any who hear the dharma, none shall fail to achieve Buddhahood." Numerous figures in the sūtra receive predictions of future Buddhahood, including the ultimate Buddhist villain Devadatta. In chapter 10, the Buddha points out that all sorts of people will become Buddhas, including monks, nuns, laypeople, along with numerous non-human beings like nagas. Even those who practice only simple forms of devotion, such as paying respect to the Buddha, Buddhist relics and stupas, or drawing a picture of the Buddha, are assured of their future Buddhahood.
According to Gene Reeves, this teaching also encourages the potential for Buddhahood in all beings, even in enemies as well as "to realize our own capacity to be a Buddha for someone else." He also believed that the story of the little Dragon Girl promotes the idea that women can also become Buddhas just like monks. Reeves sees this as an inclusive message which "affirms the equality of everyone and seeks to provide an understanding of Buddha-dharma that excludes no one."
Although the term Buddha-nature (Buddhadhatu) is not mentioned in the Lotus Sūtra, Japanese scholars Hajime Nakamura and Akira Hirakawa suggest that the concept is implicitly present in the text. An Indian commentary (attributed to Vasubandhu), interprets the Lotus Sūtra as a teaching of Buddha-nature and later East Asian commentaries tended to adopt this view. Chinese commentators pointed to the story of Bodhisattva Never Disparaging in chapter 20 as evidence that the Lotus taught Buddha-nature implicitly.
The nature of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
Another key concept introduced by the Lotus Sūtra is the idea that the Buddha's lifespan is immeasurable and that he is still present in the world. The text states that the Buddha actually achieved Buddhahood innumerable eons ago, but remains in the world to help teach beings the Dharma time and again. The lifespan of the Buddha is said to be incalculable, beyond imagination, "ever enduring, never perishing." The biography and apparent death (paranirvana, "final nirvana") of Sakyamuni Buddha (i.e., the Buddha Gautama) are portrayed as an illusory manifestation, a skillful means meant to teach others..
The idea that the physical death of a Buddha is the termination of their life is graphically refuted by the appearance of another Buddha, Prabhūtaratna, who has taught the Lotus countless aeons ago. The Lotus Sūtra indicates that not only can multiple Buddhas exist in the same time and place (which contrasts with earlier Indian views), but that there are countless streams of Buddhas extending throughout all of space and through unquantifiable eons of time. The Lotus Sūtra illustrates a sense of timelessness and the inconceivable, often using large numbers and measurements of space and time.
Jacqueline Stone writes that the Lotus Sūtra affirms the view that the Buddha constantly abides in our present world. As the Lotus states in chapter 16, the Buddha remains "constantly dwelling in this Sahā world sphere, preaching the dharma, teaching and converting." According to Stone, the sūtra has also been interpreted as promoting the idea that the Buddha's realm (Buddhakṣetra) "is in some sense immanent in the present world, although radically different from our ordinary experience of being free from decay, danger and suffering." In this view, which is very influential in Chinese Buddhism and Japanese Buddhism, "this world and the pure land are not, ultimately, separate places but are in fact non dual."
According to Gene Reeves, the Lotus Sūtra also teaches that the Buddha has many embodiments and these are the countless bodhisattva disciples. These bodhisattvas choose to remain in the world to save all beings and to keep the teaching alive. For Reeves "the fantastically long life of the Buddha, in other words, is at least partly a function of and dependent on his being embodied in others."
Overview
The sūtra is presented in the form of a drama consisting of several mythological scenes. According to British writer Sangharakshita, the Lotus uses the entire cosmos for its stage, employs a multitude of mythological beings as actors and "speaks almost exclusively in the language of images."
According to Gene Reeves the first part of the sūtra "elucidates a unifying truth of the universe (the One Vehicle of the Wonderful Dharma)", the second part "sheds light on the everlasting personal life of the Buddha (Everlasting Original Buddha); and the third part emphasizes the actual activities of human beings (the bodhisattva way)."
The following chapter by chapter overview is based on the expanded Chinese version of Kumārajīva, the most widely translated version into other languages. Other versions have different chapter divisions.
Chapter 1 During a gathering at Vulture Peak, Shakyamuni Buddha goes into a state of deep meditative absorption (samadhi), the earth shakes in six ways, and he brings forth a ray of light from the tuft of hair in between his eyebrows (ūrṇākośa) which illuminates thousands of Buddha-fields in the east. Maitreya wonders what this means, and the bodhisattva Mañjuśrī states that he has seen this miracle long ago when he was a student of the Buddha Candrasūryapradīpa. He then says that the Buddha is about to expound his ultimate teaching, The White Lotus of the Good Dharma.. In fact, Mañjuśrī says this sūtra was taught by other Buddhas innumerable times in the past.
Chapters 2–9 Modern scholars suggest that chapters 2–9 contain the original form of the text. In Chapter 2 the Buddha declares that there ultimately exists only one path, one vehicle, the Buddha vehicle (Buddhayāna). This concept is set forth in detail in chapters 3–9, using parables, narratives of previous existences and prophecies of awakening.
Chapter 2: Skillful Means
Shakyamuni explains his use of skillful means to adapt his teachings according to the capacities of his audience. He also says that his ways are inconceivable. Śāripūtra asks the Buddha to explain this and five thousand monks leave because they do not want to hear this teaching. The Buddha then reveals that the three vehicles (yānas) are really just skillful means, and that they are in reality the One Vehicle (ekayāna). He says that the ultimate purpose of the Buddhas is to cause sentient beings "to obtain the insight of the Buddha" and "to enter the way into the insight of the Buddha."
The Buddha also states the various benefits for those who preserve the sūtra, and that those who perform even the simplest forms of devotion will eventually reach Buddhahood. The Buddha also states that those who reject and insult the Lotus Sūtra (and those who teach it) will be reborn in hell.