Books/The Lotus Sutra (Watson)

The Lotus Sutra (Watson)

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

Since its appearance in China in the third century, The Lotus Sutra has been regarded as one of the most illustrious scriptures in the Mahayana Buddhist canon. The object of intense veneration among generations of Buddhists in China, Korea, Japan, and other parts of the world, it has had a profound impact on the great works of Japanese and Chinese literature, attracting more commentary than any other Buddhist scripture.

As Watson notes in the introduction to his remarkable translation, "The Lotus Sutra is not so much an integral work as a collection of religious texts, an anthology of sermons, stories, and devotional manuals, some speaking with particular force to persons of one type or in one set of circumstances, some to those of another type or in other circumstances. This is no doubt why it has had such broad and lasting appeal over the ages and has permeated so deeply into the cultures that have been exposed to it." (Source: Columbia University Press)

Citation

Watson, Burton, trans. The Lotus Sutra. Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. https://ia802902.us.archive.org/13/items/lotussutraburtonwatson_202003_473_o/Lotus%20Sutra%20Burton%20Watson.pdf.

Publisher Link

https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-lotus-sutra/9780231081610

Texts Translated

1. Kumārajīva, trans. 妙法蓮華經 Miào fǎ lián huá jīng (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra), T262, 09: https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT2012/T0262.html.

RelationshipsLinksRKTS DataTable of Contents

Translation of

 

Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtraདམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།

Commonly referred to as the Lotus Sūtra, this text is extremely popular in East Asia, where it is considered to be the "final" teaching of the Buddha. Especially in Japan, reverence for this text has put it at the center of numerous Buddhist movements, including many modern, so-called new religions. The esteemed status of this scripture is epitomized in the Nichiren school's sole practice of merely paying homage to its title with the prayer "Namu myōhō renge kyō".

Text

• Translator's Introductionix
• Translator's Notexxiii

THE LOTUS SUTRA

• • 1. Introduction3
  • 2. Expedient Means23
  • 3. Simile and Parable47
  • 4. Belief and Understanding80
  • 5. The Parable of the Medicinal Herbs97
  • 6. Bestowal of Prophecy107
  • 7. The Parable of the Phantom City117
  • 8. Prophecy of Enlightenment for Five Hundred Disciples143
  • 9. Prophecies Conferred on Learners and Adepts154
  • 10. The Teacher of the Law160
  • 11. The Emergence of the Treasure Tower170
  • 12 . Devadatta182
  • 13. Encouraging Devotion190
  • 14. Peaceful Practices196
  • 15. Emerging from the Earth212
  • 16. The Life Span of the Thus Come One224
  • 17 . Distinctions in Benefits233
  • 18. The Benefits of Responding with Joy245
  • 19. Benefits of the Teacher of the Law251
  • 20. The Bodhisattva Never Disparaging265
  • 21. Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One272
  • 22. Entrustment277
  • 23. Former Affairs of the Bodhisattva Medicine King280
  • 24. The Bodhisattva Wonderful Sound290
  • 25. The Universal Gateway of the Bodhisattva Perceiver of the World's Sounds298
  • 26. Dharani307
  • 27. Former Affairs of King Wonderful Adornment312
  • 28. Encouragements of the Bodhisattva Universal Worthy319
  • Glossary325
  • Index343

Vaidya, P. L., ed. Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. Buddhist Sanskrit Texts 6. Darbhanga, Bihar: The Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960. https://archive.org/details/saddharmapundarikasutravaidyap.l.mithalainstitutedarbhanga_833_L/mode/2up.

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Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. 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.

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Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra. 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.

Go to the page with the definition of 'དམ་པའི་ཆོས་པད་མ་དཀར་པོ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོའི་མདོ།'

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  

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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  

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