The Threefold Lotus Sūtra

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The Threefold Lotus Sūtra: Innumberable Meanings, The Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, and Mediation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue

Book

Translations of Sutras (Chi-Eng)

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Descriptionངོ་སྤྲོད།

The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, popularly known as the Lotus Sutra, is revered by millions of Buddhists as containing the core and culmination of the Buddha's teaching. Together with the two shorter sutras that traditionally accompany it, Innumerable Meanings and Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, it comprises one of the most important scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism and indeed one of the major documents of world religion.
      In The Threefold Lotus Sutra all three scriptures are presented together for the first time in English. The sutras of Innumerable Meaning and Meditation of the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue have never before been translated into English, while the present version of the Lotus Sutra itself is based on the translation from the Chinese made by Bunnō Katō and W. E. Soothill, thoroughly revised and annotated in the light of present scholarship. A glossary of Sanskrit and doctrinal terms has been compiled especially for this edition.
      The Lotus Sutra consists of a series of sermons delivered by the Buddha toward the end of his forty-year teaching ministry before a great multitude of disciples and other beings ranging from gods to demons. The setting and scope are cosmic, but the sermons themselves, presented in both prose and verse, are replete with parables and graphic anecdotes.
      At the heart of the sutra and three major concepts of Mahayana Buddhism: 1) All sentient beings can atain Perfect Enlightenment—that is, buddhahood—and nothing less that this is the appropriate final goal of believers. 2) The Buddha is eternal, having existed from the infinite past and appearing in many forms throughout the ages to guide and succor beings through the teaching of the Wonderful Law. And 3) The noblest form of Buddhist practice is the way of the bodhisattva, one who devotes himself to attaining enlightenment not only for himself but for all sentient beings.
      The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings records the sermon preached by the Buddha to a host of bodhisattvas immediately preceding the delivery of the Lotus Sutra. Constituting and introduction to the central sutra, the shorter scripture is traditionally known as the "opening sutra." The Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue, supposed to have been delivered following the Lotus Sutra, establishes the way of repentance as the practice of the spirit of the Lotus Sutra. Being an epilogue to the main scripture, it is called the "closing sutra," while because of its theme it is also known as the "sutra of repentance." (Source: book jacket)

Citation

Kāto, Bunnō, Yoshirō Tamura, and Kōjirō Miyasaka, trans. The Threefold Lotus Sutra: Innumberable Meanings, The Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Law, and Mediation on the Bodhisattva Universal Virtue. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing, 1995. https://archive.org/details/threefoldlotussu0000unse_d9v6.

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)