foreword: “the sutra of the lotus blossom” —an essential

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Foreword:“TheSutraoftheLotusBlossom”—AnEssentialKeyintheStudyofBuddhism

M.I.Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya

THEREareagreatnumberofsignificanteventsonrecordthathavetaken place in the history of human cultures over the centuries.

Thoughtheinitialperiodsofmanyculturesremainunknown,thebrightsun of one new culture in particular suddenly appeared as if out ofnowhere, illuminated the surface of its surroundings, crossed bordersandspreaditsinfluencearoundtheworld.ThatwashowIndianculturewasbroughttogetherwhenBuddhismwastransmittedtoChina.ItwasverynaturalthatBuddhismhadagreatinfluenceontheculturesofEastAsia.O.O.Rosenberg(1888–1919)confirmedthisinhisassertionthat,justasdeepknowledgeofChristianityisneededtounderstandEuropeanculture, so too is a firm grasp of Buddhism necessary to study Japan.Accordingtoofficialrecords,BuddhismarrivedinJapanfromKoreainthe6thcenturyAD,thoughthedatesappeartoneedfurtherdiscussion.

Another point of discussion relates to those who recorded Buddhisttextsaswrittendocuments.InBuddhisttexts,aswellasinearlyIndiantexts such as theVedas, theBrahmanas, andothers,which formed thebasis of Buddhism, there are references to the fact that discord anddivisionhavealwaysexisted.Intheearlystagesofitsdevelopment,theBuddhistcommunityhadnotestablisheditsreligiousandphilosophicalsystem.Itstoodoutasacommunityofpeople,freefromsocietyandallsortsofattachments,leadingapureandsimplewayoflife.Overtime,however, the monks’ way of life split into branches. In Pali literature,therearedescriptionsoftheåraññakamonks,whosettledinthewoods,andthegåmantavihår¥,wholivedinthevillagesorsurroundingcountry-side.Themembersof eachgrouphad to liveby the rules they set forthemselves.

InMahayanacommunities, in their initial stages,onecouldobservethesamekindsofdichotomy.Whilesomemonksdwelledinthewoods,otherslivedinvillagesamonglocalpeopleorintheneighboringareas,andpreachedtothevillagers.Thequestioniswhichofthetwogroupswas in a better position to compile Mahayana sutras for the public.The most probable answer to this is that it was those who preached

the sutra of the lotus blossom 123

to thevillage inhabitants.Theirnamesareunknownandwillprobablyremainso.

ThereisafamousMahayanasutrawidelyveneratedbyBuddhists.Inthesutra,theBuddhahimselfteachesitafterinformingthelistenersthatit was his first time to share it, and that those who hear the Buddha’svoice will definitely achieve enlightenment sooner or later, dependingontheirbehavior.ThismagnificentsutrathathascontinuouslyspreaditsblessingsthroughtheagesistheSaddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra(LotusSutraoftheGoodDharma).AccordingtoestimatesbyJapanesescholars,thetextoftheLotusSutrawasnotcompiledoverashortperiod,butformedover a long stretchofhistory.Theverse (gåthå)portionsbelonging tothefirsthalfofthesutraarethoughttohavealreadyexistedbeforethecommonera. It is estimated that theverse textwasexpanded intoonewithsupplementedportionsofprose,andthatthelatterhalfofthesutrawasaddedlater.Thus,theSanskritLotusSutrabecameatextcontaining27chapters.

ThemainideasofsutraswereorallytransmittedintheBuddhisttradi-tionstartingfromthe6thcenturyBC,namelyfromtheparinibbånaofShakyamuni Buddha. Various dates are referred to, depending on thetraditions,butherewedonotattempttofindsolutionstothisissue.Itisimportant to remember that,according to its tradition, theSaddharma-puˆ∂ar¥kasËtra,ortheLotusSutra,asit isusuallyreferredtoinJapanandelsewhere,wasfirstheardbytheBuddha’sdisciples.Theystrivedtotransmit the teachings as faithfully as possible from the mentor to thedisciplesduringaverylongperiodofmanycenturies.

Asmentionedabove,theSaddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra,likemanyothercanonical texts of Buddhism, most likely originated in India, where itmayalsohavebeenwritten.Inthe3rdcenturyAD,thesutracrossedtheIndian borders and was introduced to CentralAsia, China, and Korea.ThedirectproofofsuchdevelopmentsisthefirstChinesetranslationofthe sutra rendered in 286AD (Zheng fahua jing, by Dharmarak∑a, orZhuFahu,Chn).From themoment the sutraarrived in theFarEast—firstinChina,laterinKorea(inthe4thcenturyAD),andfinallyinJapan—we can say that it started a new cycle of its own history and thehistory of Buddhism in general. However, most of the popularity theLotus Sutra gained in China came only after being translated byKumarajiva(Jiumoluoshi,Chn)in406AD(Miaofa lianhua jing).

The Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang and Khara-Khoto clearlyshowthatthesutraowesitspopularityinthe5thand12thcenturiesADto the Chinese version by Kumarajiva. This version was translated toTangut (Xixia) and later to Japanese, and thus created favorable

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conditions for the development of the Buddhist tradition in thoseregions. At the beginning of the 7th century (601), another ChineseversiontranslatedbyJñånaguptaandDharmaguptawascompleted.Thatversion of the Lotus Sutra received the name Tianpin Miaofa lianhua jing (TheSupplementedLotusSutraof theWonderfulDharma). Itdidnot, however, gain as much popularity in Dunhuang as Kumarajiva’stranslation.

ThereisaTibetanmanuscriptwritteninaTibetancursivescriptandstored in the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm as part of SvenHedin’s collection. Japanese scholar Seishi Karashima deciphered thewholemanuscript andmade the resultspublic.Hemaintained that themanuscriptisnotonlyanoriginalsampleofoneoftheearliestTibetanBuddhist writings (7th–8th centuries), but also one of the earliestversions of the Lotus Sutra translated intoTibetan. From this work, itbecomesclearthattheSaddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtrawasnotmerelyoneoftheinitialtextsoftheBuddhisttraditionthatwasintroducedtoTibetansat the time, but that it played a significant role in the history of thepropagation of Buddhism. Needless to say, this forgotten manuscript,abandoned for so many years, was finally published and became asubjectofresearch.1

ManySanskritLotusSutramanuscriptfragmentswerediscoveredinCentral Asia—Kashgar, Khotan, Khådaliq, and Farhåd-B„g. The fulltext concordances of all these CentralAsian Lotus Sutra manuscriptsand fragmentswerepreparedandpublishedby theGerman researcherKlausWille inTokyo in2000aspart ofhisbook.2The earliest extantSanskrit fragments found to date are currently stored in the LüshunMuseum in China (Lüshun, People’s Republic of China, was onceknownasPortArthur).AnotherSanskritLotusSutramanuscript,whichis more complete than others, is stored at the Institute of OrientalManuscripts in St. Petersburg. The manuscript was obtained by theRussianconsulinKashgar,NikolaiFedorovichPetrovsky(1837–1908),and presented by him to the Asiatic Museum (today’s Institute ofOrientalManuscripts).ItisthoughttohavebeenfoundinthevicinityofKhotan, but the exact location of the discovery remains unclear. Inaddition,therehasbeenconsiderablecontroversyaboutthecopydateofthemanuscript.

Academician Sergei Fedorovich Oldenburg (1863–1934) estimatedthat the manuscript was written in the 5th century AD, based on apalaeographic analysis. However, Japanese scholar Hirofumi Toda(1936–2003),anauthorityonLotusSutramanuscriptstudies,wascon-vinced that the manuscript was copied somewhat later. One of the


participantsinthediscussiononthetopicwasRonaldEmmerick(1937–2001), who had just published the Khotanese version of The Book of Zambasta. Based on an extended philological analysis of the manu-script’scolophonwritteninKhotaneseSaka,hecametotheconclusionthatthemanuscriptbelongedtotheperiodofthe9thand10thcenturies.

Themanuscript,whichiswidelyformatted(18×57.5cm),contains396folios,while thefull textof theKashgarLotusSutra is thought tohaveoriginallyconsistedof459 folios.Thecontentsof theextant textshow that approximately 12 folios (or fragments) were lost over theyears.WhiledescribingthemanuscriptfromSt.Petersburg,itisimpor-tant tomention that thescribehadattachedacolophon.Tobeprecise,halfofathinpaperfolioremainswithpartofthecolophontextinscribedinaKhotaneseSaka(EasternIranian)cursivescript.Inaddition,wefindacolophonwritteninKhotaneseSakaattheendofeachchapter.

Basedonthefactsreferredtoabove,wecanassumethattheorderofthemanuscriptwasmadebyaKhotanese.Thename,Jalapuña,remainsinthemanuscript.Thepartofthecolophonthatremainsshowsthatthecopying was commissioned by someone for the sake of all of his (orher) deceased relatives. This evidence shows that the manuscript wascopied inKhotan.Thename it receivedandhassincebeenknownby,theKashgarManuscript,wasmisnomer.Thenamewasgivenbasedonlyon the fact that the manuscript was obtained by N. F. Petrovsky, whowastheconsulofKashgaratthetime.

It isobvious that thechanges in theSanskrit textof theLotusSutramade during the period in which it was popular in CentralAsia wereminor. This can be demonstrated by comparing the text of thismanuscriptfromKhotanwithparticularfragmentsofothermanuscripts.Inourcollection inSt.Petersburg, thereareat least10 fragments thatcanbeusedforsuchtextcomparison.Someofthemaredecoratedwithcoloredminiatures.

The Lotus Sutra and Nichiren

UponarrivalinJapaninthe6thcenturyAD,Buddhismhadtofacethelocalreligioustraditions.Japanisinmanywaysauniqueandamazingcountry. On the one hand, it is famous for the innate courtesy andsincerityofitspeople.Ontheotherhand,itisassociatedwiththesharpsword,courage,andboldnessofthesamurai.TheJapaneseknewhowtoescapefromthebusyactivityofeverydaylifeandfindpeaceofmindinadmiringthebeautyofJapan’smajesticnature.Fromancienttimes,theJapanese worshipped supernatural gods and spirits. That religion was


namedShintoorShintoism.ThehistoryofShintoismisaverycomplexprocess of gradual fusion between cultures of local tribes and theirspecialadmirationforandloveofnature.TheancientJapanese,practic-ing pre-Buddhist Shintoism, respected the memory of their ancestors,protected the unity and integrity of their kin, and at the same time,worshippedthegodsandgoddessesoftheland,rain,wind,forests,andmountains. While Shintoism experienced several transformations as aresultofitscoexistencewiththenewBuddhistreligion,Buddhistteach-ingsinJapandevelopedoriginalfeaturesthatturnedthemintouniqueifnotphenomenalreligiouspractices.

This was the religious situation in Japan until the reformist phi-losopherNichiren(1222–1282)appeared.Eventoday,hisnameremainslargely unfamiliar among European philosophers and scholars.However,inthehistoryofthespreadoftheLotusSutrainJapan,itwasNichirenwhotooktheleadinsecuringitsstatusasasacredtext.Today,many of the philosophical principles of the Soka Gakkai, the largestBuddhistorganization inJapan,arebasedonNichiren’s interpretationsof the Lotus Sutra. It should be noted that his name itself, Nichren,meanssun(nichi)andlotus(ren).

Nichiren had pursued many years of study before concluding thatthe Lotus Sutra was the ultimate teaching. When he was young, hecommenced learning Buddhism at the Seicho-ji temple of the Tendaischool. He then learned the doctrines of Tendai, Shingon, and otherschoolsatmajorBuddhistcenters,includingMountHiei,MountKoya,andOnjo-ji,andcontinuedperusingasmanyof theavailablesutrasaspossible.However,hewasnotsatisfiedwithanyoftheteachings,andin1253, he finally came to the conclusion that the Lotus Sutra was theonlysutrathatcorrectlytransmitstheBuddha’swordsandhisteachingsonattainingenlightenment.

Nichiren’s lifewasfilledwithdramatic events.His interpretationofthesutrawasonlyaccepted longafterhehadbegunpropagating it. Inaddition, he had to endure considerable slander and false accusations.Hesufferedmorethanafewpersecutionsandwasevennearlyexcuted.However, theauthoritieswereunable tokillhimnotbecause theyhadsecondthoughts,butbecauseanunexpectednaturalphenomenoninter-rupted this injustice. At the very moment of his execution, a flyingobject appeared in the dark sky above the heads of those present andapproachedtheearthataveryhighspeed.Theguardsthoughtitwasawarning fromaboveand ranaway, leavingNichirenbehind.After thisincident,hewaseventuallyexiled toSado Island.Nichiren interpretedthe event as proof of his enlightenment and started his mission as a


preacher of the correct teachings. In the Lotus Sutra, he found theultimate, most profound meaning of the Buddha’s teachings. Hepreachedtheteachingsinawaythatenabledlistenerstograsptheverycore of the sutra’s principles. It was essentially the first and mostimportantphilosophical interpretation thathadeverappeared in Japan.HisinterpretationoftheLotusSutrawasdifferentinmanyrespectsfromthoseofhiscontemporaries.Nichiren’sworkshavesincebeenpublishedin English in Japan under the title of The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin,whichcontain2,608pagesintwovolumes.ThispublicationhelpsustogainanoverviewofNichiren’sbasicteachings,showinghowhe embraced the Lotus Sutra and made it into a religious symbol. Hebelievedandexplained tohis followers thatevery livingbeinghas thepotential to attain enlightenment, that is, that every living being canbecomeaBuddha.

ThisisoneofthemainideasofMahayanaBuddhism,whichNichirenfullysupported.Toachievethegoalofattainingenlightenment,hepro-posed a new and innovative practice of repeating the words Nam-myØhØ-renge-kyØ,whichheconsideredtobetheuniversalLawthatcanbesummonedas lifeforcebythechantingof thisphrase.Thisphrase,meaning literally “Devotion to the Lotus Sutra of the WonderfulDharma,”wasalsoinscribedintheformofamandalacalledGohonzon,an object of devotion through which people revere the wisdom of theBuddha.

Nichiren was constantly engaged in correspondence with many dif-ferent kinds of people, explaining to them the meaning of enlighten-ment,andinscribingmandalasorGohonzon.Inmanyreligions,givingphysical expression to deities is treated as a deeply significant andsometimes controversial matter. In Japan, there were also numeroussculptures and images of the Buddha that were worshiped as livingentities.Nichirengavealotofthoughttothispractice.

ItisknownthattheBuddhahas32extraordinaryfeaturesattributedtohim. Some of them can be replicated, but many of them can only beobserved as part of the living Buddha himself. For example, how canone convey the Buddha’s voice, understand his chain of thoughts, ortransmit the look inhiseyes that reachespeople’shearts?Noneof theimagescan fullyconvey theactual featuresof theBuddha.Sutras thatclaim that the image of the Buddha is identical to the living Buddhahimselfare,therefore,obviouslymisleading.But,ifweplacetheLotusSutrabesideanimageoftheBuddhawith31features,wecanfindtheBuddhahimselfwhoembodies thepureandperfect teaching.Nichirenexplainsthisasfollows:“ThewrittenwordsoftheLotusSutraexpress


invisibleandnon-coextensiveformtheBuddha’spureandfar-reachingvoice,whichis itself invisibleandcoextensive,andsopossess the twophysicalaspectsofcolorandform.TheBuddha’spureandfar-reachingvoice,whichhadoncevanished,has reappeared in thevisible formofwrittenwordstobenefitthepeople”(“OpeningoftheEyesofWoodenandPaintedImages”).3ForNichiren,thewordsoftheBuddhaexpressedin thesutrawereequal to the livingvoiceof theBuddhahimself. Inasense, this is the 32nd of the Buddha’s extraordinary features that asimplestatuewouldnotbeabletoexpressorreplace.TheactuallivingvoiceoftheBuddha,theBuddha’swordsasrevealedintheLotusSutra,nodoubtwereofgreatersignificancetoNichirenthantemplerituals.

ThispassagefromNichiren’swritingscanserveasacommentaryonchapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra (“Tathågatåyu∑pramåˆa-parivarta”) inwhichtheBuddhamakesitclearthatheistheuniverseitselfandalwayspresentamongthepeople.However,heisnotusuallyvisibleandrarelyappears in the form of a human body, except in cases when humanbeingsneedtobeprotectedfromharm.Rescuingpeoplefromharmandcalamities is related in chapter 25 of the sutra (“Samantamukha-parivarta”).AsmallwoodblocktextofthechapterintheTangut(Xixia)languagethatcontains32illustrationsofcaseswhenpeoplearerescuedfromvariousmortaldangersisstoredinthecollectionoftheInstituteofOrientalManuscripts.

InelaboratingontheextraordinarycharacteristicsoftheLotusSutra,Nichiren explains that one realizes the thoughts of another personthrough speech or verbal communication. In this way, physical phe-nomena,bytheirverynature,reflecttheirspiritualdimension,andthusboth dimensions together form a unity. The thoughts of the Buddha,conveyed in the Lotus Sutra, appear to his listeners in an alternativephysical form.Whenreading the textof theLotusSutra,onedoesnotsee the words of the Buddha, but rather feels his thoughts. Nichiren’steachingscorrespondtothelevelofconsciousnessduringaperiodwhensincerebeliefinthemysticalpowerofwordswasprofessed.Thisbeliefinthemysticalpowerofwordsstillexiststoday.

It is known that Buddhist philosophy takes into consideration onlythe spiritual aspect of living beings, their state of mind, and hardlytouches upon the material realm. Theory about the spiritual inner do-mainwasdevelopedindetailintheTendai/TiantaischoolthatNichirenhadfirst belonged to.China’sGreatTeacherTiantai,Zhiyi, (538–597)had established the theory of “three thousand realms in a single mo-mentoflife.”


Nichiren used this concept to define the state of each human mind.The thoughtsof livingbeingsarenever static, ineverysinglemomentthey move within three thousand realms. Such an understanding ischaracteristically described not only in the Lotus Sutra but also in avarietyofcontemporaryBuddhistphilosophies.Everyorganandcellofliving beings simultaneously experience all sorts of conditions: joy,sorrow, suffering, and love, among others. One achieves growth anddevelopment, reaching a peakofmental performance, afterwhichonefinds oneself in gradual wane, and then slows down until finallyexperiencingextinction.Nichirencallsonustobeincontrolovertheseprocessesatanygivenmoment.

He underlines that the sutra cannot make one younger but canstrengthenone’sspirit.Itwillhelpthepractitionertostaymentallyandspiritually strong regardless of age. It does not encourage them tomerely wait for the physical ending of life, but can lead to enlighten-ment, and can manifest the Buddha nature in every living being.Thiskind of explanation of mental and spiritual processes was definitelyrevolutionary in Buddhism, and became possible only as a result ofNichiren’sadvent.

Thesutrawaspraisedafterpractitionersbegantounderstanditsmainprinciplecorrectly—thatthereisonlyOneVehicle,theBuddhaVehicle,which can save all living beings, not the SmallVehicle, nor the GreatVehicle, nor the PratyekabuddhaVehicle. The Japanese scholar SeishiKarashima,however,madetheobservationthatanerroroccurredintheprocess of translating the Lotus Sutra from Prakrit into Sanskrit.Sanskrit words yåna, meaning “vehicle,” and jñåna, meaning “knowl-edge,” are expressed in the same word, jåna, in Prakrit, vernacularspeech.Froma logicalpointofview, the terms“littleknowledge”and“greatknowledge”appearmorerationalthantheterms“SmallVehicle”and“GreatVehicle.”Asamatterofcourse,notallscholarsagreewiththisobservation.

Chapter5 (“Au∑adh¥-parivarta”)of theLotusSutra relates that,asagreat cloud gives rain to grow plants and trees, Buddha leads livingbeingstoenlightenment.Hepreacheswitharesoundingvoicetoheaven-lyandhumanbeings,andtheasurasoftheentireworld.Itisjustlikethegreatcloudthatcoversthewholethousand-millionfoldworld(themajorworldsystem)andcausesroaringthunders.TheBuddhatransfersthosetotheothersideoftheriverwhohavenotyetbeenabletocross,liber-atesthosewhohavenotfoundfreedom,andbringsthosetonirvanawhohavenotattainedit.


The Research History of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra

Hereletustakealookat thehistoryofresearchontheSanskritLotusSutra, which began in Europe in the first half of the 19th century.Manuscript studies at the time had already flourished in Pali texts,India’sSanskrittextsinDevanagariscript,andPersianandArabictexts.EarlySanskritmanuscriptswritteninancientIndianBråhm¥script,how-ever,wereunknown.InEurope,thetextualstudyoftheLotusSutrawasinitiated by the French philologist Eugène Burnouf (1801–1852). Hewas attracted to the Indian religions, Sanskrit, and in particular, Bud-dhism. He left a huge archive of letters to relatives, classmates, andfriends, in which he shared his research plans, discoveries, and topicsofinterest.4

It was one of his British friends, Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800–1894),whoplayedan important role in the lifeofBurnoufbyhelpinghim obtain manuscripts in Sanskrit. Hodgson was an employee of theEastIndiaCompany,heworkedinKathmanduandDarjeeling,andwaslater designated as the British Resident in Nepal.Well-versed in Bud-dhism,hecollectedBuddhistmanuscriptsandworksofart.HeorderedthecopyingofNepaleseBuddhisttextsintoDevanagariscriptandsentthem toBurnouf.Thesecopied textsbecamepartofBurnouf’scollec-tion. Despite his young age and poor health, Burnouf energeticallyworked as a specialist in Indian andSanskrit studies. In1832,hewasappointed secretary of the SociétéAsiatique in Paris. In 1836, in thecapacityofsecretary,hewrotethefirstannualreportontheactivitiesofthe société.At the same time, he lectured on general and comparativelinguisticsattheÉcoleNormaleSupérieure.HisinterestsalsoincludedBuddhist philosophy and Buddhist culture. He considered it necessarytocombinethesedisciplinesintoasinglegeneralacademicunit.

TheLotusSutra,whichhadbecomefamiliar inEuropebythat timethanks to Chinese sources and Tibetan translation, was of a specialinteresttoBurnouf.Itwasatextthatisacomplexofgeneralscientificvalues towhichhehadsoaspired.InApril1837,hereceivedapacketfromHodgson inKathmandu,which included34Sanskritmanuscriptscopied in Devanagari script. Among them was the Lotus Sutra, nowpreservedatthelibraryoftheSociétéAsiatiqueinParis.

Burnouf began translating the Lotus Sutra immediately. Though hehadonlyonemanuscriptofthesutraathandaroundApril20,1837,hestarted his work during this period. In 1845, Hodgson delivered twoadditionalmanuscriptsofthesutrafromKathmandu,whichbecamepartof Burnouf’s collection (later deposited in the collection of the


BibliothèqueNationaleinParis).Unfortunately,Burnoufwasonlyabletoviewthematavery latestageafter thefirstmanuscripthadalreadybeen translated andpart of itwas ready tobeprinted.Hewasgreatlyshocked upon discovering the arrival of the new manuscripts. Thescholar,however,madeeverypossibleefforttoutilizethevariantread-ingsfromthenewtextsandtoincludethemintheveryextensivenotesand appendices to the new book, which became considerably longerthan the translation itself. Despite his poor health, Burnouf workedaroundtheclock.Asifheknewthathistimewaslimited,herushedtofinish the work that he had long dreamed of completing. In October1837,Burnouf reported toHodgson thathehadalready translated233ofthe248folios.

Even before the complete French version of the Lotus Sutra waspublished in 1852, he distributed the translation of the sutra’s 5thchapter(Au∑adh¥-parivarta)in1843,whichwasentitled“Herb.”Thoughthecontentof thischapter is fairlydifficult inaphilosophical sense,askillfully related parable helps Buddhists easily understand the exactmeaning of the Buddha’s teaching.After submitting his translation totheprinter,hethoughtthequalitymightbeinadequateandhewasveryworried about whether he would leave behind a bad impression as ascientist. He passed away on May 28, 1852, before his book wasreleased.

Withextensivenotesandappendices,Burnouf’sFrenchversionoftheLotusSutra(Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi, traduit du sanscrit, accompagné d’un commentaire et de vingt et un mémoires relatifs au Buddhisme,1852), despite the fact that it was published over one and half a cen-turiesago,isstillconsideredtobeoneofthebesttranslations.

In 1854, another French orientalist, Philippe-Édouard Foucaux(1811–1894), issued chapter 4 of the Lotus Sutra, “Parable of theProdigalSon,”presentingthecomparativetextsinSanskritandTibetan(Parabole de l’enfant égaré, chapitre IV du“Lotus de la Bonne Loi”).His publication, however, did not enjoy the kind of success thatBurnouf’stranslationdid.In1884,theDutchOrientalistJohanHendrikCasparKern(1833–1917),publishedanEnglishtranslationoftheLotusSutra(Saddharma-Puˆ∂ar¥ka or The Lotus of the True Law)asvolume21oftheseries,“TheSacredBooksoftheEast,”whichwascompletedundertheeditorshipofFriedrichMaxMüller(1823–1900).

In1876,BunyiuNanjio(1849–1927)wasdispatchedbyJapan’sJØdoShinBuddhistschooltoMaxMüller’sofficeinOxfordtostudySanskritundertheguidanceofthefamousscholar.Afterreturninghome,Nanjiobecame the key figure in the field of Japanese Buddhology and the


founder of modern Sanskritology in Japan. He had access to theNepaleseLotusSutramanuscripts.HecombinedseveralSanskrit textsintoonerecensionandpasseditontoKernforfuturepublication.TheirjointresearchresultedinthepublicationofthefirstcollatedLotusSutratext in the famous “Bibliotheca Buddhica” series (vol. 10, St. Peters-burg,1908–1912)inRussia.

SincetheLotusSutramanuscriptthatPetrovskyobtainedinKashgarwas brought to St. Petersburg, concerns about the sutra increasedsignificantly. The manuscript preserves the nearly complete text oftheLotusSutra(thoughsomefragmentsbear tracesoffire),andis themost complete among the Sanskrit texts from CentralAsia known tothe world today. Most of the others, including fragments (10 units) inthe Russian collection, are small pieces that separated from variousmanuscripts.

Incidentally, manuscripts of a completely different lineage werefoundin1931atasitenearGilgitintheKashmirregion.Theycametobe called Gilgit Lotus Sutra manuscripts.A color facsimile edition ofthemanuscriptswasjointlypublishedbytheNationalArchivesofIndia,theSokaGakkai,andtheInstituteofOrientalPhilosophyin2012.

The manuscript, which originated from Khotan and was sent to St.PetersburgbyPetrovsky,waspublished twice as facsimile editions. In1955, a microfilm of this manuscript was presented to Raghu Vira(1902–1963), director of the newly founded InternationalAcademy ofIndianCulture,bythegovernmentoftheSovietUnion.Thismicrofilmwas used in 1976 when it was published as a facsimile edition of themanuscriptinthe“Íata-Pi†aka”series,butitwasnotentirelysuccessfulas some fragments were misplaced. In 1977, the same edition wasreissued in Japan.The Japanese specialist in Lotus Sutra manuscripts,HirofumiToda,transliteratedthisCentralAsiantextintoRomanlettersand published it as Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra: Central Asian Manu-scripts: Romanized Text in 1981, a work that has since been highlyacclaimedwithintheinternationalscientificcommunity.

The Lotus Sutra and the Soka Gakkai

The Lotus Sutra is a key and fundamental text for the Soka Gakkai.DaisakuIkeda,thehonorarypresidentoftheSokaGakkaiandpresidentof the Soka Gakkai International, has explained the meaning of whatBuddhismteachesinextensiveandcontemporaryterms.

One of the books he has published in Russian is entitled Сокровенный закон жизни и смерти: Беседы о “Сутре Лотоса” (The


Secret Law of Life and Death: Conversations on the “Lotus Sutra”).The title of this book speaks of the necessity of achieving a harmoni-ousworld,kindness,wisdom,respectforallthosewhoaskforhelp,andenlightenmentthathelpspeopletotakeresponsibilityfortheirlivesandto help others do the same. While striving to manifest the Buddhanature in his own life, Ikeda has dedicated himself to building a newworldofgood,withoutwar,andwithoutenmitybetweenpeoples.

Earth, the planet on which we live, is a world filled with so muchbeautyandharmony.Isitreallynecessarytodestroythisplaceofsuchbeauty and harmony, or to destroy the verdurous ecosystem only tosatisfyhumangreed?TheLotusSutrarelatesthatreliefandrescuearegiven topeoplewhen theysuffer fromthemyriadproblemscausedbythe confusion of the world. As long as we put into practice variousproposals Ikeda has issued on contemporary issues based on conceptsfrom the Lotus Sutra and Buddhism, humanity will be spared fromextinction.5

Let us look up at the sky at night and see for ourselves.When thestars light up the night sky, they tell us about the vast expanse of theuniverseanditsharmony,andleadustoimaginethattheBuddhasoftheten directions and three existences (past, present and future), and thebodhisattvas related in theLotusSutra, all hope for thehappiness andprosperityofalllivingbeings.

There isanunansweredquestionin theLotusSutra that theBuddhaasks himself, in effect, “How can one remaining in the human bodysupport other living beings to attain enlightenment and discover theBuddhanaturewithinoneself?”ThenoblewayIkedahaslivedhislifeisanexemplaryreplytothisquestionoftheblessedteachingsoftheLotusSutra.

NOTES

1SeishiKarashima,“AnOldTibetanTranslationoftheLotusSutrafromKhotan:TheRomanizedText Collated with the KanjurVersions” (1)–(4), Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University,vols.8–11,2005–2008. 2KlausWille,ed.,Fragments of a Manuscript of the Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra from Khådaliq(Tokyo:SokaGakkai,2000),pp.145–183,Concordances. 3『日蓮大聖人御書全集』（東京:…創価学会,1952）,468–469頁/ The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin,vol.1(Tokyo:SokaGakkai,1999),p.86. 4ThesematerialsarepreservedattheBibliothèqueNationaleinParis.Unfortunately,however,thearrangingofthesematerialsremainsincomplete.HenriLéonFeer(1830–1902)wasinstrumentalintheresearchandpublicationofBurnouf’sletter.TheJapanesescholar,AkiraYuyama published a voluminous book about Burnouf.AkiraYuyama,Eugène Burnouf: The Background to His Research into the Lotus Sutra,Tokyo 2000:InternationalResearchInstituteforAdvancedBuddhology,SokaUniversity(BibliothecaphilologicaetphilosophicaBuddhicav.3). 5http://www.daisakuikeda.org/main/peacebuild/peace-proposals/pp2013.html.

foreword: “the sutra of the lotus blossom” —an essential

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