Acknowledgments
In August 1991, an SGI (Soka Gakkai International) youth delegation (the Yüeh-chihGroup, consisting of forty-nine members) visited India at the invitation of the IndianCouncil for Cultural Relations (ICCR) with the object of promoting goodwill andcultural exchange between the youths of the two countries. This was the second SGI
youth delegation to India, following a visit by a similar delegation the previous year. As
one of the members, I stayed in India for eleven days and attended various culturalevents and goodwill meetings. On the third day of our visit (August 20), an India-Japan
joint symposium was held in commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of theestablishment of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy (IOP) in New Delhi. The focus ofthe symposium was the Lotus Sutra, and Dr. Lokesh Chandra, director of theInternational Academy of Indian Culture, delivered a lecture. During the luncheon after
the morning session, I had a chance to talk with Dr. Lokesh Chandra and ourconversation gravitated toward the topic of Sanskrit manuscripts of the Lotus Sutra. The
next day, he entrusted me with a microfilm to present to President Daisaku Ikeda of theSoka Gakkai International. This was a very valuable microfilm of a paper manuscript ofthe Lotus Sutra that is said to have been preserved at the Leningrad Branch of theInstitute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences (presently the St. Petersburg
Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences). While thewhereabouts of the manuscript is presently unknown, Dr . Lokesh Chandra published afacsimile edition of it in 1984.1
In 1992, I published an article on this paper manuscript in the Tōyō TetsugakuKenkyūsho kiyō (Bulletin of the Institute of Oriental Philosophy), vol. 8, 1992, and I
sent an offprint to Prof. Hirofumi Toda of the University of Tokushima. It was, to thebest of my memory, on December 29 or 30, 1992, that he kindly telephoned me. “Whydon’t you come over to Tokushima to take a look at my research?” he said. Perhaps hehad looked over the offprint and quickly perceived the immaturity of my discipline. OnFebruary 4, 1993, I visited him for the first time at his office on the university campus
and was able to receive his valuable instruction on how to carry out research on Sanskritmanuscripts, as well as his insights into the history and current state of the discipline.
Since then, I have visited his office several times in a private capacity and he extended
the courtesy of allowing me to read and borrow the various materials that he owns.
In January 1994, the Soka Gakkai formed a committee for the publication ofSanskrit manuscripts of the Lotus Sutra as well as other texts of the sutra and thecommittee entrusted details regarding the research and editing procedures to the IOP. At

such time, I was very fortunate to receive training from Professor Toda in reading Lotus
Sutra manuscripts, as a researcher commissioned by the IOP to undertake manuscript
studies with the institute’s support. A paper manuscript from University of Tokyo
General Library (no. 414; herein abbreviated as “T8”) was chosen as the main text for
the “study meetings” (as I called them), which took place at his office. Though thismanuscript appears to have been copied in a much later period than the Nepalesepalm-leaf manuscripts, it is one of the most valuable Nepalese manuscripts—worthy,
among many other Nepalese manuscripts, of priority consideration for study andromanization since it was used as one of the original texts for the Kern-Nanjio edition.2
The two-day study meeting sessions were held three times a year, with the first session
beginning on June 15, 1996, and the ninth and last ending on June 17, 1999.
This edition is a product of those study meetings undertaken by Professor Toda andmyself. Thanks to the recommendation of Professor Toda and with the approval of theSoka Gakkai’s committee for publications, the edition has been prepared for publication.
This T8 text is the very manuscript that the “group studying the Nepālī recension” (aka,“Nepalese Texts Study Group”) of the Institute for the Comprehensive Study of [the]Lotus Sutra, Rissho University, had once attempted to romanize.3 I heartily admire themembers of the group for their pioneering attempt and their recognition of the true valueof this manuscript.
I would like to acknowledge the following people. First, I would like to express myutmost and heartfelt appreciation to Mr. Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka GakkaiInternational. He first visited India’s Buddh Gaya in February1961 and founded theInstitute of Oriental Philosophy (formed in January 1962 and incorporated as afoundation in December 1965) as a materialization of the vision he conceived there.
Furthermore in 1990, he proposed sending SGI youth delegations to India. These
initiatives, therefore, were the seed of this present publication.
I would like to express my deepest appreciation to Professor Toda, who trained me,
a middle-aged man in his late forties, to read Sanskrit manuscripts. With remarkablepatience, he taught me the fundamentals of Buddhist studies as well as imparting
advanced knowledge about Sanskrit grammar. It is his magnanimity and warm
encouragement that made this difficult task possible.4 I would also like to express mysincere gratitude to IOP researcher Noriyoshi Mizufune, a capable editor and mycolleague in Sanskrit Lotus Sutra manuscript studies, who kindly undertook thecomplicated editorial work and provided me with precious advice and both official andprivate support.
Furthermore, for their enthusiastic support of the publication, I would like toexpress my heartfelt appreciation to Mr. Einosuke Akiya, president of the Soka Gakkai,
and all the IOP staff, particularly Mr. Yasuo Morita, chairman of the Board of Trustees;
Mr. Yoichi Kawada, director of the IOP; Mr. Toru Shiotsu, former chief of the research
department of the IOP and presently professor at Soka University; and Mr. Yoichi
Ichikura, secretary-general of the IOP. I am also grateful to Mr. Shinjirō Yoshinaga,
professor at Akita University, who first introduced me to the IOP, Mr. Hiromu
Yamaguchi, director of the International Publications Department of Soka Gakkai’s
Office of International Affairs, Mrs. Yoshiko Kawamura, president of SessenInternational, who encouraged me to continue my research, and Mr. Anthony George,
member of Soka Gakkai’s Office of International Affairs, who kindly edited English
portions of this volume. Furthermore, I wish to thank my family and those people whounderstood my efforts and gave me support and encouragement. Last but not least, I
would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to those at University of Tokyo General
Library who kindly granted permission for the publishing of this manuscript as aromanized text.
Haruaki Kotsuki
Researcher in charge of manuscript studies
Institute of Oriental Philosophy
November 18, 2002
Postscript
Sadly, P rofessor Toda passed away at his home on August 25, 2003, without seeing thecompletion of the present volume. I sincerely pray for his peaceful repose.
The editor
August 30, 2003

Notes
1. Lokesh Chandra (1984); herein described as “StP.” For further details, see Toda (2000, p. 363; 2001,
pp. 5-1l, note 1). Abbreviations for Nepalese manuscripts appear in “Abbreviations of
Saddharmapuṇḍarīka Manuscripts” in the present volume (pp. xxxiii-xxxiv). (Hereafter referred to as“Abbreviations.”)
2. This manuscript (T8) is described as “K” in Kern and Nanjio (1908-1912).
3. A project to transliterate this paper manuscript (T8) and the palm-leaf manuscript at The Toyo

Bunko (Oriental Library) (K) had been attempted once previously. However, the task appears not to havebeen completed. See Yuyama (1971, p. 8; 1972a, p. 8), “tanshin” (brief article) on the “group studying theNepālī recension”; Institute for the Comprehensive Study of [the] Lotus Sutra (1977-1982, vol. 1, p. v);
and Yuyama (1968, p. 108).
4. Professor Toda retired from office at the University of Tokushima in March 2002. He left
Tokushima where he had lived for thirty-four years and returned to his hometown, Chikushino, Fukuoka.