The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic

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The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic

Book

Translations of Sutras (Chi-Eng)

• A Few Good Men
• A Treasury of Mahāyāna Sūtras
• Abiding in Good and Noble Deportment
• Appendix to the New Edition of the Bodhicaryāvatāra
• Buddha Pronounces the Sūtra of the Great Cundī Dhāraṇī
• Chapter on Entering the Inconceivable Liberated State of Samantabhadra's Practices and Vows
• Dialogue With Bodhisattva Infinite Wisdom
• Mahāvaipulya Sūtra of the Tathāgata Store
• Myōhō-renge-kyō
• On Entering into the Inconceivable State of Emancipation by the Practice and Vows of the Bodhisattva Samantabhadra of the Mahavaipulya Buddha Avatamsaka Sutra
• On the Pāramitā of Ingenuity
• Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma
• The Buddhist Feminine Ideal
• The Definitive Vinaya
• The Dhâranî of Tchundi
• The Diamond Cutter of Doubts: A Commentary on The Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā-prajñā-pāramitā Sūtra) By Ch'an Master Han Shan
• The Diamond Prajna Paramita Sutra
• The Diamond Prajna-Paramita Sutra
• The Diamond Sutra (Chin-Kang-Ching), or Prajna-Paramita
• The Diamond Sutra (Hsüan Hua)
• The Diamond Sutra (Wai-tao and Goddard)
• The Diamond Sutra and The Sutra of Hui Neng
• The Diamond Sutra: The Perfection of Wisdom
• The Diamond Sutra: Translated from Kumarajiva's Chinese Version
• The Diamond That Cuts Through Illusion
• The Essentials of the Dharma Blossom Sutra
• The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of The Avatamsaka Sutra
• The Giving Rise of the Ten Kinds of Mind of the Bodhisattva
• The Great Vows of Samantabhadra
• The Healing Buddha (1979)
• The Healing Buddha (1989)
• The Lankavatara Sutra: A Zen Text
• The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Lotus Sutra (2016) (BDK)
• The Lotus Sutra (Watson)
• The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic
• The Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma
• The Lotus of the Wonderful Law or The Lotus Gospel (2005)
• The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana-sutra (3 vols.)
• The Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra: The Śūraṅgama Samādhi Sutra
• The Prediction of Mañjuśrī's Attainment of Buddhahood
• The Scripture of Master of Medicine, Beryl Radiance Tathāgata and The Sutra of the Girl Candrottarā
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Eight
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Five
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Four
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume One
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Seven
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Six
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Three
• The Shurangama Sutra - Volume Two
• The Shurangama Sutra: Sutra Text and Supplements
• The Skill in Means (Upāyakauśalya) Sūtra
• The Sky as a Mahāyāna Symbol of Emptiness and Generous Fullness: A Study and Translation of the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: Volume 2: Edition and Translation
• The Sutra of Queen Śrīmālā of the Lion's Roar and the Vimalakīrti Sutra
• The Sutra of the Lord of Healing
• The Sutra of the Master of Healing
• The Tale of King Udayana of Vatsa
• The Threefold Lotus Sūtra
• The True Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā
• The Vimalakirti Nirdesa Sutra
• The Vimalakīrti Sūtra (Watson)
• The Vow to Live the Life of Samanta-bhadra
• The Vows of Bodhisattva Samantabhadra Sutra
• The Śūraṅgama Sūtra: A New Translation
• Vaipulya Sūtra of Śrīmālā's Lion's Roar That Reveals the Great Skillful Means of the One Vehicle
• Vajra-chhedika, the "Kin Kong King," or Diamond Sutra
• Vimalakīrti's Discourse on Emancipation
• Vimalakīrti-Nirdeśa-Sūtra: Translated from the Chinese

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

The Lotus Sutra is regarded as one of the world’s great religious scriptures and most influential texts. It’s a seminal work in the development of Buddhism throughout East Asia and, by extension, in the development of Mahayana Buddhism throughout the world. Taking place in a vast and fantastical cosmic setting, the Lotus Sutra places emphasis on skillfully doing whatever is needed to serve and compassionately care for others, on breaking down distinctions between the fully enlightened buddha and the bodhisattva who vows to postpone salvation until all beings may share it, and especially on each and every being’s innate capacity to become a buddha.

Gene Reeves’s new translation appeals to readers with little or no familiarity with technical Buddhist vocabulary, as well as long-time practitioners and students. In addition, this remarkable volume includes the full “threefold” text of this classic. (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Citation

Reeves, Gene, trans. The Lotus Sutra: A Contemporary Translation of a Buddhist Classic. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2008.

Publisher Link

https://wisdomexperience.org/product/lotus-sutra/

Table of contents

• Prefacevii
• Translator’s Introduction1

• The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings21
  • 1: Virtuous Conduct23
  • 2: Dharma Preaching33
  • 3: Ten Blessings41

• The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma51
  • 1: Introduction53
  • 2: Skillful Means75
  • 3: A Parable103
  • 4: Faith and Understanding141
  • 5: The Parable of the Plants159
  • 6: Assurance of Becoming a Buddha169
  • 7: The Parable of the Fantastic Castle-City179
  • 8: Assurance for the Five Hundred Disciples207
  • 9: Assurance for Arhats, Trained and in Training219
  • 10: Teachers of the Dharma225
  • 11: The Sight of the Treasure Stupa235
  • 12: Devadatta247
  • 13: Encouragement to Uphold the Sutra255
  • 14: Safe and Easy Practices261
  • 15: Springing Up from the Earth279
  • 16: The Lifetime of the Tathagata291
  • 17: The Variety of Blessings301
  • 18: Blessings of Responding with Joy315
  • 19: The Blessings of the Dharma Teacher321
  • 20: Never Disrespectful Bodhisattva337
  • 21: Divine Powers of the Tathagata345
  • 22: Entrustment351
  • 23: Previous Lives of Medicine King Bodhisattva353
  • 24: Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva363
  • 25: The Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Regarder of the Cries of the World371
  • 26: Incantations381
  • 27: The Previous Life of King Wonderfully Adorned387
  • 28: Encouragement of Universal Sage Bodhisattva393

• The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva399

• Notes425
• Glossaries429
  • 431 Glossary of Proper Names
  • Glossary of Terms455
• Bibliography475
• Index479

Interconnections

Works related to this item

1 Full translation of

Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra [सद्धर्मपुण्डरीकसूत्र]. dam pa'i chos pad ma dkar po zhes bya ba theg pa chen po'i mdo [དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།]. [The Mahāyāna Sūtra "The White Lotus of the Good Dharma" (84000)]. Translated by Surendrabodhi, Ye shes sde, Kumārajīva, Dharmarakṣa, Dharmakṣema, Jñānagupta, Dharmagupta. Kangyur, RKTSK 113 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=113&typ=1.

Classical WorksAbout this item

The White Lotus of the Good Dharma, popularly known as the Lotus Sūtra, is taught by Buddha Śākyamuni on Vulture Peak to an audience that includes bodhisattvas from countless realms, as well as bodhisattvas who emerge from under the ground, from the space below this world. Buddha Prabhūtaratna, who has long since passed into nirvāṇa, appears within a floating stūpa to hear the sūtra, and Śākyamuni enters the stūpa and sits beside him. The Lotus Sūtra is celebrated, particularly in East Asia, for its presentation of crucial elements of the Mahāyāna tradition, such as the doctrine that there is only one yāna, or "vehicle"; the distinction between expedient and definite teachings; and the notion that the Buddha's life, enlightenment, and parinirvāṇa were simply manifestations of his transcendent buddhahood, while he continues to teach eternally. A recurring theme in the sūtra is its own significance in teaching these points during past and future eons, with many passages in which the Buddha and bodhisattvas such as Samantabhadra describe the great benefits that come from devotion to it, the history of its past devotees, and how it is the Buddha's ultimate teaching, supreme over all other sūtras. (Source: 84000)

Apramāda - Skt अप्रमाद  Tib བག་ཡོད་པ་  Ch 不放逸  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattva'

Arhat - A person who has reached nirvāṇa by eliminating the three poisons of attachment, hatred and ignorance having followed the path of seeking individual liberation as a Śrāvaka or a Pratyekabuddha. An arhat, thus, is a person who has overcome the cause of rebirth in the cycle of existence and will not take an ordinary birth again. Skt अर्हत्  Tib དགྲ་བཅོམ་པ།  Ch 阿羅漢  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Arhats'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhisattva'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'Sūtra'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

Go to the page with the definition of 'bodhisattvas'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtra'

Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of the Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Neyārtha - Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true. Skt नेयार्थ  Tib དྲང་དོན་  

Go to the page with the definition of 'expedient'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'

Sūtra - Sūtras mainly refer to the discourses delivered by the Buddha and his disciples, and the Sūtra corpus is one of the three main sets of teachings which form the Buddhist canon. Skt सूत्र  Tib མདོ།  Ch 佛经  

Go to the page with the definition of 'sūtras'