Lotus Sūtra
- Language:
- English
- Translation:
- Hendrik Kern
- Status:
- Complete work
- Authorship:
- Anonymous or composite
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~140,000 words · 648 passages
Cite this work
- APALotus Sutra. (n.d.). Lotus Sūtra. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/lotus-sutra/the-saddharma-pundarika-lotus-of-the-true-law-sbe-xxi
- MLALotus Sutra. "Lotus Sūtra." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/lotus-sutra/the-saddharma-pundarika-lotus-of-the-true-law-sbe-xxi.
- ChicagoLotus Sutra. Lotus Sūtra. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/lotus-sutra/the-saddharma-pundarika-lotus-of-the-true-law-sbe-xxi.
What it is about
The 'Lotus of the True Law', the most influential Mahayana Buddhist text in East Asia, in Kern's translation for the 'Sacred Books of the East'.
Context and history
Composed in Sanskrit probably between the first and third centuries, and known above all through Kumarajiva's Chinese translation of 406, which is the one that made history. The thesis that made it decisive is that of the one vehicle: the Buddha's different teachings are not rival doctrines but means fitted to the capacity of the hearer, and all lead to the same place. Hence the idea of skilful means and the famous parables — the burning house, the prodigal son — which are how the sutra explains it. On this text were founded the Tiantai school in China and the Tendai and Nichiren schools in Japan. Kern's translation is of 1884 and renders the Sanskrit, not the Chinese: it reads a different tradition from the one that shaped East Asia.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
free from depravity, self-controlled 2 , thoroughly eman¬ cipated in thought and knowledge, of noble breed, (like unto) great elephants, having done their task, done their duty, acquitted their charge, reached the goal; in whom the ties which bound them to existence were wholly destroyed, whose minds were thoroughly emancipated by perfect knowledge, who had reached the utmost perfection in subduing all their thoughts; who were possessed of the transcendent faculties 3 ; 1 I. e. Vulture Peak. 2 Varlbhfita. Like vasin, it likewise means, ‘having subdued others or the world.’ 8 The five Abhi^mas, viz. the magical powers, the divine ear, S ADD H ARMA-PUJVDARf KA. I. eminent disciples, such as the venerable A^ata- KauwaTinya, the venerable Arva^it, the venerable Vdshpa, the venerable MahAn4man, the venerable Bhadrika 1 , the venerable Mah&-Ki.syapa, the venera¬ ble K&fyapa of Uruvilvd, the venerable Klryapa of Nadi, the venerable KcUyapa of Gay4 2 , the venera¬ ble Aariputra, the venerable Mahi-Maudgalyiyana 3 , the venerable Maha-K&ty&yana 4 , the venerable Ani- ruddha 5 , the venerable Revata, the venerable Kap- phma 6 , the venerable Gavimpati, the venerable Pilindavatsa, the venerable Vakula, the venerable Bh&radvS^a 7 , the venerable Mahi-Kaush^ila 8 , the venerable Nanda (alias Mahinanda), the venerable knowledge of the thoughts of others, knowledge of former exist¬ ences, the divine eye. Sometimes a sixth Abhi^M is added, viz. the knowledge which causes the destruction of human passion; Bumouf, Lotus, p. 820 sqq.; Spence Hardy, Eastern Monachism, p. 284. 1 These are known as the Five Bhadravargiyas, or, in Pali, Pamiavaggiyas; they were the first five disciples.