What is the Lotus Sutra? Who follows it?

Question

Honest, unbiased answers are greatly appreciated.

Please, if you don't know, do not attempt to answer. No offense meant.

Answer 1

The Lotus Sutra was probably composed in the first centrury AD in Kashmir, during the fourth Buddhist Council of the newly founded Mahayana sect of Buddhism, more than 500 years after the death of Sakyamuni Buddha. It is thus not included in the more ancient Agamas of Mahayana Buddhism, nor in the Sutta Pitaka of the Theravada, both of which represent the older Buddhist scriptures which can be historically linked to Sakyamuni Buddha himself.

The Mahayana tradition states that the Lotus Sutra is a discourse delivered by Sakyamuni Buddha himself, as is mentioned in the Sutra itself. The tradition in Mahayana is further that the Lotus Sutra was written down at the time of the Buddha and stored for five hundred years in the realm of the dragons (or Nagas). After this, they were re-introduced into the human realm at the time of the Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir. The tradition further claims that the teachings of the Lotus Sutra are higher than the teachings contained in the Agamas and the Sutta Pitaka, and that humankind was unable to understand the Lotus Sutra at the time of the Buddha (500 BC). This is the reason given for the need to store Lotus Sutra in the realm of the dragons for 500 years, after which humankind was able to understand the Lotus Sutra.

Composition and Translation
According to translator Burton Watson, the Lotus Sutra may have originally been composed in a Prakrit dialect and then later translated into Sanskrit to lend it greater respectability. This sutra is well-known for its extensive instruction on the concept and usage of skillfull means (sanskrit: 'upaya'; Jp: hōben), mostly in the form of parables. It is also one of the first sutras to coin the term Mahayana, or Great Vehicle Buddhism.

The Lotus Sutra was originally translated into Chinese by Dharmaraksa around 290 CE, before being superseded by a translation in seven fascicles by Kumārajīva in 406 CE. It has been translated into English by Leon Hurvitz, Burton Watson, and others. The Chinese title is usually abbreviated to 法華經, which is read Fǎhuā Jīng in Chinese and Hokekyō in Japanese and Beophwagyeong in Korean.

At least some sources consider that the Lotus Sutra has a prologue and an epilogue, these being respectively the Sutra of Infinite Meaning (無量義經 Jp: Muryōgi Kyō) and the Sutra of Meditation on the Bodhisattva Universal Worthy (普賢經 Jp: Fugen Kyō).

Answer 2

only mad guy a real Lotus Sutra is one with expertise he would not be at yahoo solutions asking for advice yet he might want to be giving advice. yet when i'm incorrect how about some solid advice (only in case it turned right into a Buddhist attempt or something)lol solid question made me imagine:-)

Answer 3

From my limited knowledge, Lotus Sutra is a yoga technique, not a religion.

Answer 4

True religion is not about safety, or the salvation of the individual from naked confrontation with suffering and pleasure and death and love.

True religion is about the difficult evolution and ultimate transcendence of the individual, and mankind, and Man.

Therefore, we must awaken from our self-protecting illusions of religious safety, and we must surrender to the Current of life in which the body and the mind are swimming forever.

There is no "Holy Substitute" for Man.

There is no "representative" sacrifice.

There is no true alternative to awakened consciousness and unqualified love in the case of each individual.

Every one of us is the necessary sacrifice of God.


CHAPTER SIX

The Secret Identity of the Holy Spirit of God
A Prophetic Criticism of Great Religions

The religious consciousness of Western Man is trapped within an archaic structure of myths, dogmas, and social conflicts that no longer serve the true religious and spiritual process of true Man. These myths are largely Christian, Judeo-Christian, and broadly Semitic in origin, and they are held in place by the large-scale cultural, political, and economic dominance of the ancient religions of the Middle East, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

The dominance of specifically Christian cults, myths, and dogmas is especially apparent in Europe and America. And if the dominance of Judaism and Islam is less apparent in Europe and America, the power of these ancient cults is certainly apparent throughout the Middle East (with clear, practical effect on the rest of the world).

Man himself cannot awaken to his evolutionary spiritual Destiny until the spell of mythological and self-possessed thinking is broken. And the future whole bodily culture of Man, in which East and West will realize a new cultural Synthesis, cannot take place until all the old religions are surrendered to the higher Principle or Truth that is the ultimate Master of religion.

We tend to think of "religion" as a benign influence on individual thought and behavior, and this is indeed the case when the higher aspects of religious consciousness begin to inform the thought and behavior of any individual. But religion is only rarely found to be an influence of such a kind. Very few individuals become truly creative personalities, mystics, saints, or even reliably good men or women as a result of religious associations.

Religion is, in general, an exoteric cultic phenomenon that controls the thought and behavior of individuals through external and psychologically manipulative techniques. And the principal religious phenomenon that is common in the world is not true or free religious consciousness and benign behavioral habits on the part of individuals. The principal phenomenon of religion is the institutional "Church", or all the central and centralizing institutions that contain and otherwise manipulate broad and massive segments of the human population.

The "Church" (or the primary institution within any religious tradition) is religion, insofar as religion basically affects the world at large. And large-scale institutional religion is not primarily a benign power in the world. We have only to look at the cultural and political conflicts in Europe and the Middle East to see how the immense institutions of ancient religion have now become, for the most part, contentious, absolutist, and the sources of petty social conflicts. And the problem is made extreme by the immensity of these institutions, each of which controls millions of people.

Answer 5

http://web.mit.edu/stclair/www/lotus.html


Blessings )O(