Foreword:“The Sutra of the Lotus Blossom”—An Essential Key in the Study of Buddhism
M. I. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya

T

HERE are a great number of significant events on record that havetaken place in the history of human cultures over the centuries.
Though the initial periods of many cultures remain unknown, the brightsun of one new culture in particular suddenly appeared as if out of
nowhere, illuminated the surface of its surroundings, crossed borders
and spread its influence around the world. That was how Indian culture
was brought together when Buddhism was transmitted to China. It wasvery natural that Buddhism had a great influence on the cultures of East
Asia. O. O. Rosenberg (1888–1919) confirmed this in his assertion that,just as deep knowledge of Christianity is needed to understand European
culture, so too is a firm grasp of Buddhism necessary to study Japan.
According to official records, Buddhism arrived in Japan from Korea inthe 6th century AD, though the dates appear to need further discussion.
Another point of discussion relates to those who recorded Buddhist
texts as written documents. In Buddhist texts, as well as in early Indian
texts such as the Vedas, the Brahmanas, and others, which formed thebasis of Buddhism, there are references to the fact that discord anddivision have always existed. In the early stages of its development, theBuddhist community had not established its religious and philosophicalsystem. It stood out as a community of people, free from society and allsorts of attachments, leading a pure and simple way of life. Over time,
however, the monks’ way of life split into branches. In Pali literature,
there are descriptions of the åraññaka monks, who settled in the woods,
and the gåmantavihår¥, who lived in the villages or surrounding countryside. The members of each group had to live by the rules they set forthemselves.
In Mahayana communities, in their initial stages, one could observe
the same kinds of dichotomy. While some monks dwelled in the woods,
others lived in villages among local people or in the neighboring areas,and preached to the villagers. The question is which of the two groups
was in a better position to compile Mahayana sutras for the public.
The most probable answer to this is that it was those who preached122the sutra of the lotus blossom

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to the village inhabitants. Their names are unknown and will probably
remain so.
There is a famous Mahayana sutra widely venerated by Buddhists. In
the sutra, the Buddha himself teaches it after informing the listeners that
it was his first time to share it, and that those who hear the Buddha’s
voice will definitely achieve enlightenment sooner or later, dependingon their behavior. This magnificent sutra that has continuously spread its
blessings through the ages is the Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra (Lotus Sutraof the Good Dharma). According to estimates by Japanese scholars, thetext of the Lotus Sutra was not compiled over a short period, but formed
over a long stretch of history. The verse (gåthå) portions belonging to
the first half of the sutra are thought to have already existed before thecommon era. It is estimated that the verse text was expanded into one
with supplemented portions of prose, and that the latter half of the sutra
was added later. Thus, the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra became a text containing
27 chapters.
The main ideas of sutras were orally transmitted in the Buddhist tradition starting from the 6th century BC, namely from the parinibbåna of
Shakyamuni Buddha. Various dates are referred to, depending on the
traditions, but here we do not attempt to find solutions to this issue. It is
important to remember that, according to its tradition, the Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra, or the Lotus Sutra, as it is usually referred to in Japanand elsewhere, was first heard by the Buddha’s disciples. They strived totransmit the teachings as faithfully as possible from the mentor to thedisciples during a very long period of many centuries.
As mentioned above, the Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra, like many othercanonical texts of Buddhism, most likely originated in India, where it
may also have been written. In the 3rd century AD, the sutra crossed theIndian borders and was introduced to Central Asia, China, and Korea.
The direct proof of such developments is the first Chinese translation of
the sutra rendered in 286 AD (Zheng fahua jing, by Dharmarak∑a, or
Zhu Fahu, Chn). From the moment the sutra arrived in the Far East—
first in China, later in Korea (in the 4th century AD), and finally in Japan—we can say that it started a new cycle of its own history and thehistory of Buddhism in general. However, most of the popularity the
Lotus Sutra gained in China came only after being translated by
Kumarajiva (Jiumoluoshi, Chn) in 406 AD (Miaofa lianhua jing).
The Chinese manuscripts from Dunhuang and Khara-Khoto clearlyshow that the sutra owes its popularity in the 5th and 12th centuries AD
to the Chinese version by Kumarajiva. This version was translated to
Tangut (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 Chineseversion translated by Jñånagupta and Dharmagupta was completed. Thatversion of the Lotus Sutra received the name Tianpin Miaofa lianhua
jing (The Supplemented Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Dharma). It did
not, however, gain as much popularity in Dunhuang as Kumarajiva’stranslation.
There is a Tibetan manuscript written in a Tibetan cursive script andstored in the Museum of Ethnography in Stockholm as part of Sven
Hedin’s collection. Japanese scholar Seishi Karashima deciphered thewhole manuscript and made the results public. He maintained that themanuscript is not only an original sample of one of the earliest Tibetan
Buddhist writings (7th–8th centuries), but also one of the earliest
versions of the Lotus Sutra translated into Tibetan. From this work, it
becomes clear that the Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra was not merely one of
the initial texts of the Buddhist tradition that was introduced to Tibetansat the time, but that it played a significant role in the history of the
propagation of Buddhism. Needless to say, this forgotten manuscript,
abandoned for so many years, was finally published and became asubject of research.1
Many Sanskrit Lotus Sutra manuscript fragments were discovered inCentral Asia—Kashgar, Khotan, Khådaliq, and Farhåd-B„g. The fulltext concordances of all these Central Asian Lotus Sutra manuscripts
and fragments were prepared and published by the German researcher
Klaus Wille in Tokyo in 2000 as part of his book.2 The earliest extant
Sanskrit fragments found to date are currently stored in the Lüshun
Museum in China (Lüshun, People’s Republic of China, was once
known as Port Arthur). Another Sanskrit Lotus Sutra manuscript, which
is more complete than others, is stored at the Institute of Oriental
Manuscripts in St. Petersburg. The manuscript was obtained by the
Russian consul in Kashgar, Nikolai Fedorovich Petrovsky (1837–1908),
and presented by him to the Asiatic Museum (today’s Institute ofOriental Manuscripts). It is thought to have been found in the vicinity of
Khotan, but the exact location of the discovery remains unclear. In
addition, there has been considerable controversy about the copy date of
the manuscript.
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), an authority on Lotus Sutra manuscript studies, was convinced that the manuscript was copied somewhat later. One of the

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participants in the discussion on the topic was Ronald Emmerick (1937–
2001), who had just published the Khotanese version of The Book ofZambasta. Based on an extended philological analysis of the manuscript’s colophon written in Khotanese Saka, he came to the conclusionthat the manuscript belonged to the period of the 9th and 10th centuries.
The manuscript, which is widely formatted (18 × 57.5 cm), contains
396 folios, while the full text of the Kashgar Lotus Sutra is thought tohave originally consisted of 459 folios. The contents of the extant text
show that approximately 12 folios (or fragments) were lost over theyears. While describing the manuscript from St. Petersburg, it is important to mention that the scribe had attached a colophon. To be precise,half of a thin paper folio remains with part of the colophon text inscribedin a Khotanese Saka (Eastern Iranian) cursive script. In addition, we finda colophon written in Khotanese Saka at the end of each chapter.
Based on the facts referred to above, we can assume that the order ofthe manuscript was made by a Khotanese. The name, Jalapuña, remains
in the manuscript. The part of the colophon that remains shows that the
copying was commissioned by someone for the sake of all of his (orher) deceased relatives. This evidence shows that the manuscript was
copied in Khotan. The name it received and has since been known by,
the Kashgar Manuscript, was misnomer. The name was given based only
on the fact that the manuscript was obtained by N. F. Petrovsky, who
was the consul of Kashgar at the time.
It is obvious that the changes in the Sanskrit text of the Lotus Sutra
made during the period in which it was popular in Central Asia wereminor. This can be demonstrated by comparing the text of thismanuscript from Khotan with particular fragments of other manuscripts.
In our collection in St. Petersburg, there are at least 10 fragments thatcan be used for such text comparison. Some of them are decorated withcolored miniatures.

The Lotus Sutra and Nichiren
Upon arrival in Japan in the 6th century AD, Buddhism had to face thelocal religious traditions. Japan is in many ways a unique and amazing
country. On the one hand, it is famous for the innate courtesy andsincerity of its people. On the other hand, it is associated with the sharp
sword, courage, and boldness of the samurai. The Japanese knew how toescape from the busy activity of everyday life and find peace of mind in
admiring the beauty of Japan’s majestic nature. From ancient times, theJapanese worshipped supernatural gods and spirits. That religion was

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named Shinto or Shintoism. The history of Shintoism is a very complex
process of gradual fusion between cultures of local tribes and their
special admiration for and love of nature. The ancient Japanese, practicing pre-Buddhist Shintoism, respected the memory of their ancestors,
protected the unity and integrity of their kin, and at the same time,
worshipped the gods and goddesses of the land, rain, wind, forests, andmountains. While Shintoism experienced several transformations as aresult of its coexistence with the new Buddhist religion, Buddhist teachings in Japan developed original features that turned them into unique if
not phenomenal religious practices.
This was the religious situation in Japan until the reformist philosopher Nichiren (1222–1282) appeared. Even today, his name remains
largely unfamiliar among European philosophers and scholars.
However, in the history of the spread of the Lotus Sutra in Japan, it was
Nichiren who took the lead in securing its status as a sacred text. Today,
many of the philosophical principles of the Soka Gakkai, the largest
Buddhist organization in Japan, are based on Nichiren’s interpretationsof the Lotus Sutra. It should be noted that his name itself, Nichren,means sun (nichi) and lotus (ren).
Nichiren had pursued many years of study before concluding that
the Lotus Sutra was the ultimate teaching. When he was young, hecommenced learning Buddhism at the Seicho-ji temple of the Tendai
school. He then learned the doctrines of Tendai, Shingon, and otherschools at major Buddhist centers, including Mount Hiei, Mount Koya,
and Onjo-ji, and continued perusing as many of the available sutras as
possible. However, he was not satisfied with any of the teachings, and in1253, he finally came to the conclusion that the Lotus Sutra was the
only sutra that correctly transmits the Buddha’s words and his teachings
on attaining enlightenment.
Nichiren’s life was filled with dramatic events. His interpretation of
the sutra was only accepted long after he had begun propagating it. In
addition, he had to endure considerable slander and false accusations.
He suffered more than a few persecutions and was even nearly excuted.
However, the authorities were unable to kill him not because they had
second thoughts, but because an unexpected natural phenomenon interrupted this injustice. At the very moment of his execution, a flying
object appeared in the dark sky above the heads of those present andapproached the earth at a very high speed. The guards thought it was awarning from above and ran away, leaving Nichiren behind. After thisincident, he was eventually exiled to Sado Island. Nichiren interpreted
the event as proof of his enlightenment and started his mission as athe sutra of the lotus blossom

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preacher of the correct teachings. In the Lotus Sutra, he found theultimate, most profound meaning of the Buddha’s teachings. He
preached the teachings in a way that enabled listeners to grasp the very
core of the sutra’s principles. It was essentially the first and mostimportant philosophical interpretation that had ever appeared in Japan.
His interpretation of the Lotus Sutra was different in many respects fromthose of his contemporaries. Nichiren’s works have since been publishedin English in Japan under the title of The Writings of Nichiren
Daishonin, which contain 2,608 pages in two volumes. This publication
helps us to gain an overview of Nichiren’s basic teachings, showing how
he embraced the Lotus Sutra and made it into a religious symbol. He
believed and explained to his followers that every living being has thepotential to attain enlightenment, that is, that every living being canbecome a Buddha.
This is one of the main ideas of Mahayana Buddhism, which Nichiren
fully supported. To achieve the goal of attaining enlightenment, he proposed a new and innovative practice of repeating the words NammyØhØ-renge-kyØ, which he considered to be the universal Law that canbe summoned as life force by the chanting of this phrase. This phrase,
meaning literally “Devotion to the Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful
Dharma,” was also inscribed in the form of a mandala called Gohonzon,
an object of devotion through which people revere the wisdom of the
Buddha.
Nichiren was constantly engaged in correspondence with many different kinds of people, explaining to them the meaning of enlightenment, and inscribing mandalas or Gohonzon. In many religions, giving
physical expression to deities is treated as a deeply significant andsometimes controversial matter. In Japan, there were also numerous
sculptures and images of the Buddha that were worshiped as living
entities. Nichiren gave a lot of thought to this practice.
It is known that the Buddha has 32 extraordinary features attributed tohim. Some of them can be replicated, but many of them can only beobserved as part of the living Buddha himself. For example, how can
one convey the Buddha’s voice, understand his chain of thoughts, ortransmit the look in his eyes that reaches people’s hearts? None of theimages can fully convey the actual features of the Buddha. Sutras thatclaim that the image of the Buddha is identical to the living Buddha
himself are, therefore, obviously misleading. But, if we place the Lotus
Sutra beside an image of the Buddha with 31 features, we can find theBuddha himself who embodies the pure and perfect teaching. Nichiren
explains this as follows: “The written words of the Lotus Sutra express

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in visible and non-coextensive form the Buddha’s pure and far-reachingvoice, which is itself invisible and coextensive, and so possess the twophysical aspects of color and form. The Buddha’s pure and far-reachingvoice, which had once vanished, has reappeared in the visible form of
written words to benefit the people” (“Opening of the Eyes of Wooden
and Painted Images”).3 For Nichiren, the words of the Buddha expressedin the sutra were equal to the living voice of the Buddha himself. In asense, this is the 32nd of the Buddha’s extraordinary features that asimple statue would not be able to express or replace. The actual living
voice of the Buddha, the Buddha’s words as revealed in the Lotus Sutra,
no doubt were of greater significance to Nichiren than temple rituals.
This passage from Nichiren’s writings can serve as a commentary on
chapter 16 of the Lotus Sutra (“Tathågatåyu∑pramåˆa-parivarta”) in
which the Buddha makes it clear that he is the universe itself and always
present among the people. However, he is not usually visible and rarely
appears in the form of a human body, except in cases when humanbeings need to be protected from harm. Rescuing people from harm andcalamities is related in chapter 25 of the sutra (“Samantamukhaparivarta”). A small woodblock text of the chapter in the Tangut (Xixia)
language that contains 32 illustrations of cases when people are rescued
from various mortal dangers is stored in the collection of the Institute ofOriental Manuscripts.
In elaborating on the extraordinary characteristics of the Lotus Sutra,
Nichiren explains that one realizes the thoughts of another person
through speech or verbal communication. In this way, physical phenomena, by their very nature, reflect their spiritual dimension, and thus
both dimensions together form a unity. The thoughts of the Buddha,
conveyed in the Lotus Sutra, appear to his listeners in an alternative
physical form. When reading the text of the Lotus Sutra, one does not
see the words of the Buddha, but rather feels his thoughts. Nichiren’steachings correspond to the level of consciousness during a period whensincere belief in the mystical power of words was professed. This belief
in the mystical power of words still exists today.
It is known that Buddhist philosophy takes into consideration only
the spiritual aspect of living beings, their state of mind, and hardly
touches upon the material realm. Theory about the spiritual inner domain was developed in detail in the Tendai/Tiantai school that Nichiren
had first belonged to. China’s Great Teacher Tiantai, Zhiyi, (538–597)
had established the theory of “three thousand realms in a single moment of life.”

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Nichiren used this concept to define the state of each human mind.
The thoughts of living beings are never static, in every single moment
they move within three thousand realms. Such an understanding ischaracteristically described not only in the Lotus Sutra but also in avariety of contemporary Buddhist philosophies. Every organ and cell ofliving beings simultaneously experience all sorts of conditions: joy,sorrow, suffering, and love, among others. One achieves growth anddevelopment, reaching a peak of mental performance, after which one
finds oneself in gradual wane, and then slows down until finallyexperiencing extinction. Nichiren calls on us to be in control over theseprocesses at any given moment.
He underlines that the sutra cannot make one younger but canstrengthen one’s spirit. It will help the practitioner to stay mentally andspiritually strong regardless of age. It does not encourage them tomerely wait for the physical ending of life, but can lead to enlightenment, and can manifest the Buddha nature in every living being. Thiskind of explanation of mental and spiritual processes was definitely
revolutionary in Buddhism, and became possible only as a result of
Nichiren’s advent.
The sutra was praised after practitioners began to understand its mainprinciple correctly—that there is only One Vehicle, the Buddha Vehicle,
which can save all living beings, not the Small Vehicle, nor the Great
Vehicle, nor the Pratyekabuddha Vehicle. The Japanese scholar Seishi
Karashima, however, made the observation that an error occurred in theprocess of translating the Lotus Sutra from Prakrit into Sanskrit.
Sanskrit words yåna, meaning “vehicle,” and jñåna, meaning “knowledge,” are expressed in the same word, jåna, in Prakrit, vernacularspeech. From a logical point of view, the terms “little knowledge” and“great knowledge” appear more rational than the terms “Small Vehicle”
and “Great Vehicle.” As a matter of course, not all scholars agree withthis observation.
Chapter 5 (“Au∑adh¥-parivarta”) of the Lotus Sutra relates that, as agreat cloud gives rain to grow plants and trees, Buddha leads living
beings to enlightenment. He preaches with a resounding voice to heavenly and human beings, and the asuras of the entire world. It is just like thegreat cloud that covers the whole thousand-millionfold world (the major
world system) and causes roaring thunders. The Buddha transfers thoseto the other side of the river who have not yet been able to cross, liberates those who have not found freedom, and brings those to nirvana whohave not attained it.

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The Research History of the Sanskrit Lotus Sutra
Here let us take a look at the history of research on the Sanskrit Lotus
Sutra, which began in Europe in the first half of the 19th century.
Manuscript studies at the time had already flourished in Pali texts,
India’s Sanskrit texts in Devanagari script, and Persian and Arabic texts.
Early Sanskrit manuscripts written in ancient Indian Bråhm¥ script, however, were unknown. In Europe, the textual study of the Lotus Sutra wasinitiated by the French philologist Eugène Burnouf (1801–1852). He
was attracted to the Indian religions, Sanskrit, and in particular, Buddhism. He left a huge archive of letters to relatives, classmates, andfriends, in which he shared his research plans, discoveries, and topics
of interest.4
It was one of his British friends, Brian Houghton Hodgson (1800–
1894), who played an important role in the life of Burnouf by helping
him obtain manuscripts in Sanskrit. Hodgson was an employee of theEast India Company, he worked in Kathmandu and Darjeeling, and waslater designated as the British Resident in Nepal. Well-versed in Buddhism, he collected Buddhist manuscripts and works of art. He ordered
the copying of Nepalese Buddhist texts into Devanagari script and sent
them to Burnouf. These copied texts became part of Burnouf’s collection. Despite his young age and poor health, Burnouf energeticallyworked as a specialist in Indian and Sanskrit studies. In 1832, he wasappointed secretary of the Société Asiatique in Paris. In 1836, in thecapacity of secretary, he wrote the first annual report on the activities ofthe société. At the same time, he lectured on general and comparative
linguistics at the École Normale Supérieure. His interests also included
Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist culture. He considered it necessary
to combine these disciplines into a single general academic unit.
The Lotus Sutra, which had become familiar in Europe by that time
thanks to Chinese sources and Tibetan translation, was of a special
interest to Burnouf. It was a text that is a complex of general scientificvalues to which he had so aspired. In April 1837, he received a packet
from Hodgson in Kathmandu, which included 34 Sanskrit manuscripts
copied in Devanagari script. Among them was the Lotus Sutra, now
preserved at the library of the Société Asiatique in Paris.
Burnouf began translating the Lotus Sutra immediately. Though hehad only one manuscript of the sutra at hand around April 20, 1837, hestarted his work during this period. In 1845, Hodgson delivered two
additional manuscripts of the sutra from Kathmandu, which became partof Burnouf’s collection (later deposited in the collection of the

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Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris). Unfortunately, Burnouf was only able
to view them at a very late stage after the first manuscript had alreadybeen translated and part of it was ready to be printed. He was greatly
shocked upon discovering the arrival of the new manuscripts. The
scholar, however, made every possible effort to utilize the variant readings from the new texts and to include them in the very extensive notes
and appendices to the new book, which became considerably longer
than the translation itself. Despite his poor health, Burnouf worked
around the clock. As if he knew that his time was limited, he rushed tofinish the work that he had long dreamed of completing. In October
1837, Burnouf reported to Hodgson that he had already translated 233of the 248 folios.
Even before the complete French version of the Lotus Sutra waspublished in 1852, he distributed the translation of the sutra’s 5th
chapter (Au∑adh¥-parivarta) in 1843, which was entitled “Herb.” Though
the content of this chapter is fairly difficult in a philosophical sense, askillfully related parable helps Buddhists easily understand the exact
meaning of the Buddha’s teaching. After submitting his translation to
the printer, he thought the quality might be inadequate and he was very
worried about whether he would leave behind a bad impression as ascientist. He passed away on May 28, 1852, before his book was
released.
With extensive notes and appendices, Burnouf’s French version of the
Lotus Sutra (Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi, traduit du sanscrit, accompagnéd’un commentaire et de vingt et un mémoires relatifs au Buddhisme,1852), despite the fact that it was published over one and half a centuries ago, is still considered to be one of the best translations.
In 1854, another French orientalist, Philippe-Édouard Foucaux(1811–1894), issued chapter 4 of the Lotus Sutra, “Parable of theProdigal Son,” presenting the comparative texts in Sanskrit and Tibetan(Parabole de l’enfant égaré, chapitre IV du “Lotus de la Bonne Loi”).
His publication, however, did not enjoy the kind of success that
Burnouf’s translation did. In 1884, the Dutch Orientalist Johan Hendrik
Caspar Kern (1833–1917), published an English translation of the Lotus
Sutra (Saddharma-Puˆ∂ar¥ka or The Lotus of the True Law) as volume
21 of the series, “The Sacred Books of the East,” which was completed
under the editorship of Friedrich Max Müller (1823–1900).
In 1876, Bunyiu Nanjio (1849–1927) was dispatched by Japan’s JØdoShin Buddhist school to Max Müller’s office in Oxford to study Sanskrit
under the guidance of the famous scholar. After returning home, Nanjio
became the key figure in the field of Japanese Buddhology and the132

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founder of modern Sanskritology in Japan. He had access to the
Nepalese Lotus Sutra manuscripts. He combined several Sanskrit texts
into one recension and passed it on to Kern for future publication. Their
joint research resulted in the publication of the first collated Lotus Sutra
text in the famous “Bibliotheca Buddhica” series (vol. 10, St. Petersburg, 1908–1912) in Russia.
Since the Lotus Sutra manuscript that Petrovsky obtained in Kashgar
was brought to St. Petersburg, concerns about the sutra increased
significantly. The manuscript preserves the nearly complete text of
the Lotus Sutra (though some fragments bear traces of fire), and is themost complete among the Sanskrit texts from Central Asia known to
the world today. Most of the others, including fragments (10 units) in
the Russian collection, are small pieces that separated from various
manuscripts.
Incidentally, manuscripts of a completely different lineage were
found in 1931 at a site near Gilgit in the Kashmir region. They came tobe called Gilgit Lotus Sutra manuscripts. A color facsimile edition of
the manuscripts was jointly published by the National Archives of India,
the Soka Gakkai, and the Institute of Oriental Philosophy in 2012.
The manuscript, which originated from Khotan and was sent to St.
Petersburg by Petrovsky, was published twice as facsimile editions. In
1955, a microfilm of this manuscript was presented to Raghu Vira
(1902–1963), director of the newly founded International Academy ofIndian Culture, by the government of the Soviet Union. This microfilm
was used in 1976 when it was published as a facsimile edition of themanuscript in the “Íata-Pi†aka” series, but it was not entirely successful
as some fragments were misplaced. In 1977, the same edition wasreissued in Japan. The Japanese specialist in Lotus Sutra manuscripts,
Hirofumi Toda, transliterated this Central Asian text into Roman lettersand published it as Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra: Central Asian Manuscripts: Romanized Text in 1981, a work that has since been highly
acclaimed within the international scientific community.

The Lotus Sutra and the Soka Gakkai
The Lotus Sutra is a key and fundamental text for the Soka Gakkai.
Daisaku Ikeda, the honorary president of the Soka Gakkai and presidentof the Soka Gakkai International, has explained the meaning of what
Buddhism teaches in extensive and contemporary terms.
One of the books he has published in Russian is entitled Сокро­венный закон жизни и смерти: Беседы о “Сутре Лотоса” (Thethe sutra of the lotus blossom

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Secret Law of Life and Death: Conversations on the “Lotus Sutra”).
The title of this book speaks of the necessity of achieving a harmonious world, kindness, wisdom, respect for all those who ask for help, andenlightenment that helps people to take responsibility for their lives andto help others do the same. While striving to manifest the Buddha
nature in his own life, Ikeda has dedicated himself to building a newworld of good, without war, and without enmity between peoples.
Earth, the planet on which we live, is a world filled with so muchbeauty and harmony. Is it really necessary to destroy this place of such
beauty and harmony, or to destroy the verdurous ecosystem only tosatisfy human greed? The Lotus Sutra relates that relief and rescue are
given to people when they suffer from the myriad problems caused by
the confusion of the world. As long as we put into practice various
proposals Ikeda has issued on contemporary issues based on concepts
from 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 theuniverse and its harmony, and lead us to imagine that the Buddhas of theten directions and three existences (past, present and future), and thebodhisattvas related in the Lotus Sutra, all hope for the happiness andprosperity of all living beings.
There is an unanswered question in the Lotus Sutra that the Buddhaasks himself, in effect, “How can one remaining in the human bodysupport other living beings to attain enlightenment and discover the
Buddha nature within oneself?” The noble way Ikeda has lived his life isan exemplary reply to this question of the blessed teachings of the Lotus
Sutra.
NOTES
1
Seishi Karashima, “An Old Tibetan Translation of the Lotus Sutra from Khotan: The
Romanized Text Collated with the Kanjur Versions” (1)–(4), Annual Report of The
International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, vols. 8–11, 2005–2008.
2
Klaus Wille, ed., Fragments of a Manuscript of the Saddharmapuˆ∂ar¥kasËtra fromKhådaliq (Tokyo: Soka Gakkai, 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: Soka Gakkai, 1999), p. 86.
4
These materials are preserved at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. Unfortunately,
however, the arranging of these materials remains incomplete. Henri Léon Feer (1830–
1902) was instrumental in the research and publication of Burnouf’s letter. The Japanesescholar, Akira Yuyama published a voluminous book about Burnouf. Akira Yuyama,
Eugène Burnouf: The Background to His Research into the Lotus Sutra, Tokyo 2000:
International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University (Bibliothecaphilologica et philosophica Buddhica v. 3).
5
http://www.daisakuikeda.org/main/peacebuild/peace-proposals/pp2013.html.