Lotus Sūtra

Lotus Sūtra. The standard short English title for the highly influential text of which the full title is The Sūtra of the Lotus Blossom of the Marvellous Dharma (Skt., Saddharmapuṇ-ḍarīka Sūtra; Chin., Miao-fa lien-hua ching; Jap., Myōhō renge kyō). It is one of the earliest Mahāyāna scriptures extant, possibly dating from the 1st century bce, and versions exist today in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. The Lotus Sūtra makes two main points to its readers. First, there is only one goal for practitioners of the Buddhist path, that is, Buddhahood. This replaces an older typology that divided the Buddhist path into three distinct streams: (1) that of the Buddha's disciples (Śrāvakas, or ‘hearers’, a term synonymous with Hīnayānists); (2) that of the Pratyekabuddhas, or those who find the path to Buddhahood on their own and are fully enlightened, but lack compassion (karuṇā) and so do not go forth to preach; and (3) Bodhisattvas, those who vow to achieve perfect wisdom and compassion for the sake of others instead of solely for their own liberation from suffering. In the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha affirms that he did in the past teach the three paths, but that this teaching was a simple expedient to accommodate those who would be frightened, discouraged, or fatigued by the prospect of working towards full Buddhahood. Second, the sūtra teaches that a Buddha, upon attaining nirvāṇa, does not go into extinction, but abides in the world for aeons out of compassion for those still in need of teaching. He reveals to his audience that he himself has been active for many millennia since his attainment of Buddhahood, and that his present, apparently limited life as Śākyamuni was only an illusion conjured for those unable to cope with receiving teaching from an apparently immortal being. As a confirmation of this teaching, in the midst of the preaching of the sūtra a giant, jewelled stūpa appears suspended in the air, and as its door opens, the audience sees a Buddha from a previous era named Prabhūtaratna inside, not extinct at all but still quite alive and active, who appears at this time in accordance with a vow to be present whenever the Lotus Sūtra is preached. In addition, chapter 25, ‘The Universal Gate of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara’, which describes the efficacy of calling upon the Bodhisattva's name in times of distress, contributed greatly to the popularization of his cult, under his Chinese name Kuan-yin (Jap., Kannon or Kwannon).

This sūtra has had a long history in east Asia. Old catalogues of Buddhist literature list at least six Chinese translations dating from 255, 286, 290, 335, 406, and 601 ce, of which only the third, fifth, and sixth remain extant. The third, by Dharmarakṣa, was superseded by Kumārajīva's translation of 406. The sixth ‘translation’ is but a re-editing of the fifth, and so the translation of Kumārajīva remains the standard text. In structure the text alternates between prose and poetry, where the verse reiterates what was said in the prose portions. The verse appears to be the earlier stratum of the text, which points to its possible origin in oral preaching, where metre and rhyme would aid the preacher's memory.

The popularity of the scripture in east Asia is no doubt due to its doctrinal simplicity; it makes only the two primary points listed above, and eschews discussions of abstruse philosophical matters. In addition, it makes copious use of vivid imagery and appealing parables in order to reinforce its points. Finally, many commentators and scholars have noted its lengthy and vigorous defence of its own sacrality, expressed in frequent interruptions of the narrative to assert its own veracity, and to recommend to readers that they venerate and propagate the text, and condemning those who slander it to dire rebirths in hell.

The high esteem in which the sūtra was held gained official status with Chih-i (538–97), whose system of ‘doctrinal classification’ (Chin., p'an-chiao) placed it at the apex of all Buddhist scriptures as the perfect expression of the Buddha's teaching, a position that remained official dogma for the T'ien-t'ai school that he founded. After this school and its teachings were transmitted to Japan where they took root as the Tendai school, and as it became the dominant school of the late Heian period, the assertion of this scripture's supremacy became widespread in Japan. During the Kamakura period, Nichiren (1222–82), founder of the Nichiren-shū, came to teach that one could be saved simply by chanting homage to the sūtra in the formula, ‘I pay homage to the Lotus Blossom of the Marvellous Dharma’ (Jap., Namo myōhō renge kyō). During the 19th and 20th centuries, many of the ‘New Religions’ of Japan arose out of the Nichiren-shū, and these have also carried on devotion to the Lotus Sūtra as their primary practice. Examples include Sōka Gakkai and Risshō Kōseikai.