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The Lotus Sutra
Many Sanskrit versions of the Lotus Sutra are still preserved today (found in Nepal, Kashmir, Central Asia, Tibet, Khotan), while in Chinese there are 17 translations, of which only three are complete (the most beautiful being Kumārajīva’s translation). The Lotus Sutra is likened to a “tree” with manuscripts of many different ages, inheriting the form of a multi-act “play” that is easy to understand, full of lively examples to attract the masses.
The Introductory Chapter (General Introduction) opens two main gateways:
- The Gate of Manifestation (Tích môn) – presenting the historical setting: on Vulture Peak there are 12,000 monks, 6,000 nuns, 80,000 bodhisattvas together with devas, dragon kings, King Ajātaśatru… The Buddha teaches the Infinite Meanings Sutra, enters samadhi and emits a radiant light shining to the East, allowing all beings to see the Buddhas teaching the Dharma.
- The Gate of Origin (Bản môn) – transcending space and time, showing that the Buddha Sun-Moon-Lamp and the Buddha Prabhūtaratna have always been teaching the Lotus Dharma; today, Shakyamuni is simply repeating this wondrous, timeless Dharma. The main purpose is to evoke in us a readiness to receive the new and miraculous “Dharma feast.”
The second chapter, Skillful Means (Phương Tiện), is the guiding principle of the entire sutra:
– As soon as he emerges from samadhi, the Buddha tells Śāriputra that the scope of the Tathāgata’s insight is boundless and difficult to measure, so at first he hesitated to teach. After three requests and when 5,000 who were not yet ripe had left, leaving only the “firm seeds,” he began to speak.
– There is only one Buddha vehicle; the three vehicles (Śrāvaka, Pratyekabuddha, Bodhisattva) are merely skillful means according to the capacities of beings, for in essence all return to the wisdom of all modes (the wisdom of the Buddha).
– The mission of all Tathāgatas is to open, show, make known, and help enter the Buddha’s insight for all beings, through nine literary forms:
- Prose (sutra)
- Repetition in verse (gāthā)
- Stories of this life (itivṛttaka)
- Stories of past lives (jātaka)
- Unprecedented events (adohūta)
- Causes and conditions (nidāna)
- Parables (upamāṇa)
- Isolated utterances (geyā)
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Discussions (upadeśa)
All are aimed at one path only: to lead all beings to realization and to enter the unsurpassed wisdom of the Buddha.