Jeff Lindstrom: About the Lotus Sutra

	The Lotus Sutra
Scratching the surface of the Lotus	I'm taking a course on the Lotus Sutra at the University of Toronto. Here are some initial thoughts on the sutra. This account will be greatly expanded over the next few weeks as I research the topic and re-read more of the sutra.	Return to my home page for links to other Lotus Sutra sites.
	What is the Lotus Sutra?
The lowdown on the Lotus	The Lotus Sutra is one of the most important texts in Mahayana Buddhism. Like all Buddhist sutras, it claims to represent the words of the historical Buddha, Sakyamuni (who lived from around 563 to 483 BCE). However, modern scholars date the sutra to around 200 CE. Mahayana Buddhism developed in India and spread to Tibet, China, Korea and Japan. The Lotus Sutra is recognized by all branches of Mahayana, and is the primary text for Tendai and Nichiren Buddhism, both prominent in Japan. The Lotus Sutra emphasizes devotion and faith over the development of wisdom. The sutra claims that the Buddha could not preach the true dharma, or Buddhist teachings, to most people because they wouldn’t understand it. He had to use upaya, or skillful means, tailoring his message to the audience he was teaching. The best most people can hope for is to be reborn in a better place for understanding the true dharma. Most versions of the dharma are designed to lead us in a better direction, but they are just approximations of the true path.	The lotus is a frequent symbol in Buddhist writings and art. Out of the muddy waters a resplendent flower rises, just as Buddhism claims to teach a flowering dharma to brighten our mundane existence.
The parable of the burning house	The most famous part of the Lotus Sutra is the parable of the burning house. A wealthy father tries to rescue his sons from his burning mansion, but the children are playing and won’t come out. He devises a scheme. He promises each child one of three kinds of toy carts pulled by a different animal. The children are lured out of the house by their favourite kinds of toys, but when they're safely out each of them gets just one kind of toy cart. Similarly, the Buddha taught different doctrines based on the kind of audience, but, according to the Lotus Sutra, they’re all part of the same teachings—just as in the end there is just one kind of cart.
A better vehicle	The Mahayanists use the term "Mahayana" or "Greater Vehicle" to describe their own teachings, and "Hinayana" or "Lesser Vehicle" to describe another branch of Buddhism. Not surprisingly the Hinayanists are unimpressed with this term and prefer to use the term "Theravada" (the name of a sect that survives to this day) or other terms. The Lotus Sutra tries to accommodate all schools of Buddhism yet at the same time show that these other schools are inferior. It is a delicate balancing act, and the Lotus Sutra often seems to veer toward shrill intolerance. Although it condemns the supposed arrogance of some Buddhists, the sutra itself shows little restrain when harshly condemning other views. According to the Lotus Sutra, by donating to Buddhist monasteries or by reciting the name of this sutra a Buddhist can accumulate merit that will help him gain a rebirth in that better place. This is a different approach from some other schools in Buddhism, including Mahayana ones, that promote the development of wisdom.
	How the Lotus Sutra Spread
A Lotus by any other name	The historical Buddha lived in northern India. Mahayana Buddhism spread northward along trade routes into China and across the Himalayas into Tibet. Buddhists texts were translated from Sanskrit or Pali into Chinese and other languages. The full name of the Lotus Sutra is "Sutra of the Lotus of the True Doctrine (or Dharma)"—Saddharma-pundarika-sutra in Sanskrit. The Lotus Sutra was just one of many texts that came from many different schools and sometimes contradicted each other. Chinese Buddhists tried to reconcile these contradictions. The founder of Tien-t’ai Buddhism (which became Tendai in Japan) was Chih-I. He divided the texts into various categories with the Lotus Sutra at the top. The Lotus Sutra itself claims that no other writings are needed to understand the Buddha’s message. Some Buddhists schools such as Nichiren (in Japan) claimed that reading other texts was evil—and just reciting the name of the Lotus Sutra was enough to guarantee a favourable rebirth.	Other names for the historical Buddha include Siddhartha, Gautama and Sakyamuni.
	What the Lotus Sutra Claims
In the back seat	Although some people think the Lotus Sutra is a work of great spiritual beauty, others are disturbed by its intolerance. It claims that all forms of Buddhism are part of one vehicle, the Buddhayana, but at the same time it says these other forms are inferior. Also, by emphasizing how hard it is to preach the true dharma, the sutra seems to doom most people to never understanding Buddha’s teachings while they’re on this earth. Instead they should pray that they will be reborn in some Buddhist Pure Land where the conditions are better for understanding the dharma. Instead of following the Buddha’s teachings and seeing if they work, we should instead pray to a buddha or bodhisattva for help. We do not have to work on increasing our wisdom. Unlike Hinayana Buddhism, Mahayana includes a wide range of buddhas (who are enlightened) and bodhisattvas (who are on the path to enlightenment).
Show and tell	In Hinayana Buddhism there is only one buddha alive at a time. In Mahayana Buddhism the historical Buddha was just a manifestation of a deeper dharmakaya, or dharma body. The Lotus Sutra even has Sakyamuni saying his appearance on earth was a show to encourage people to take advantage of this apparently rare event. The bodhisattvas are on their way to becoming enlightened but have postponed their enlightenment to help others. In the Mahayana view, the Hinayana disciples were mistaken in working for their own release ("nirvana") from the chains of existence and not working to liberate others.
The good news and the bad news	In Mahayana Buddhism these bodhisattvas are available to hear our prayers and work to help us achieve a better rebirth. For instance, Maitreya is the next buddha and is now in the Tusita heaven, where he can help people and even come down to reveal texts (he supposedly left Tusita to supply some of the texts of Yogacara Buddhism). The Lotus Sutra emphasizes both the remoteness of enlightenment (because the dharma is so hard to understand) and its possible attainment by everyone (although not necessarily in this lifetime). Therefore it’s a mixture of the encouraging and discouraging for those seeking enlightenment.
	About this Page
Last revised 25 January 2002	This Web page is posted on the University of Toronto's Web server for individual students, staff and faculty. Feel free to contact me at jlindstrom@attcanada.net with any comments. This page's URL is http://individual.utoronto.ca/jlindstrom/lotus.htm.	© 2002 Jeff Lindstrom