The Lotus SËtraLokesh Chandra

We convene in the charming metropolis of Paris to celebrate therelease of a dialogue on the Lotus SËtra as a “Way of Values”.1
Paris reminds of the university created here by King Philip Augustus in
1200. It became the most famous and flourishing alma mater in thewhole of Christendom and received the youth of all Europe. Paris is theonly European capital that celebrates the Helenic legend of Paris, theson of the king of Troy distinguished for his beauty and strength andrepresented in Greek art as a handsome young man.

First Translation of the Lotus Sūtra in Europe
It was in Paris that Eugène Burnouf (1801–52) translated the fifth chapter of the Lotus SËtra in 1841. It attracted the attention of influential
thinkers like Thoreau and Emerson who had given rise to the Transcendental school. It was the first landing of the Lotus SËtra on Europeanshores. He completed the translation of the entire SËtra, the first in any
modern language. Burnouf laid the first foundations of Buddhist studies,and is in fact the father of modern Buddhology. Jules Mohl wrote intribute to him: “il avait ouvert à I’histoire des voies entièrement nouvelles, et qui resteront des monuments magnifiques d’une des vies
littèraires les plus belles et plus remplies, et des titres de gloire pour laFrance (he opened completely new pathways into history, which willremain magnificent monuments to one of the most fulfilled and beautifulof literary lives, and are achievements which France can be proud of)2.”
Through mastermind German Indologists like Max Müller who studied
Sanskrit under Burnouf, Japanese Buddhism attained a place of honour
in modern Buddhology.

Nalanda Monastery and Scripture of ‘Ekayāna’The great French sinologist Stanislas Julien translated the travels ofHsüan-tsang to India in 1853–58 for the first time. Hsüan-tsang
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Ruins of Nalanda, present-day Bihar, India; Gupta era, 5th century: UNESCO World
Heritage site as one of the oldest learning centers in the world (from WikimediaCommons)

mentions that King Íakråditya esteemed the ‘One Vehicle’ (Ekayåna)and reverenced the Triratna.3 He selected a lucky spot and built the firstmonastery at Nalanda. Íakråditya is Kumåragupta of the Gupta dynasty,
the golden age of Indian history. The Lotus SËtra as the prime scriptureof Ekayåna played a historic role in the founding of the world-renowned
university of Nalanda.
Another iconic sinologist of France, Edouard Chavannes, translated
the memoirs of sixty eminent monks who came to India in search of theDharma during the great T’ang dynasty. They were written by I-tsing.
I-tsing narrates the life of Hui-lun of the Silla dynasry of Korea who lefta detailed description of the Nalanda monastery. “More than seven yojanas to the northeast of the Mahåbodhi monastery, one reaches theNalanda Monastery. It was constructed by the King Ír¥ Íakråditya forthe bhik∑u Hu Råjava◊ßa of Uttaråpatha.”4
Hui-li mentions in his life of Hüsan-tsang that King Bålåditya addeda monastery at Nalanda in which a Chinese monk stayed. He was somoved by the life of the Chinese monk that he abdicated the throne tobecome a monk.5
French scholarship has revealed the outstanding role of the LotusSËtra in the establishment of Nalanda University due to the devotion ofthe Gupta emperor to its tenets of Ekayåna, and how Nalanda was frequented by monks from Korea and China.

98the lotus s utraˉLotus Symbolises Upholding and Ascending of LifeThe Lotus SËtra is the realisation of life. It is “the crown of Mahayanist
literature” for the richness and beauty of its spiritual tenets. Lord Buddha followed the k∑atriya tradition of contemplation, symbolising thedescent of divine energy into life. Upani∑ads enshrine this way to contemplation. The Chåndogya-upani∑ad 8.1.1 says:
In the centre of the castle of Brahmå, our own body, there is a small
shrine in the forrn of a lotus flower. This little space within the heart isas this vast universe. The whole universe is in Him and He dwells within our heart.

The lotus is a symbol of the purity of the soul and man’s moral
efforts. Man overcomes his attachments to this flowing world, this oceanof being (bhava-sågara) and strives for the white purify of the heart likethe white lotus that is not entangled by this nether world once grown outof the muddy water. We are one with nature in the interpretative imageof our psyche. The Chinese monk Chih-I (538–597) interpreted the relation between the lotus blossom and fruit in terms of an allegoricalimage. As the lotus blossom does not exist for producing a fruit and thefruit comes to full maturity when the blossom drops off, likewise when
the tentative is abandoned then the only true remains. Everything in theuniverse and the ultimate truth are co-active. The growing lotus flower
gives rise to the idea of the unfolding of man’s deepest roots while being
rooted in the ground-swell of life.
The Lotus SËtra is an intrinsic pattern of an open process that stirs
and rouses, moves and drives humans forward by its mysterious power.
The SËtra creates sublime images that express self-unfolding activity.
They are ideas that turn like flowers to the sun of their ideal. The SËtra
is an earth-bound stormer of the heavens. It seeks a synthesis of theNow and the Eternal, of man’s inner world of conscience and the vault
of his heavens, in its purity and openness, in the eternal youth oftomorrows.
In the words of Poet Jien:
Thought I search
Every field
Overlooking nothing,
All the flowers are but
The flower of Dharma.

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Every lotus seed contains the dream, the incorporeal image of a fullblown lotus. This dream can be sensed in the slowly unfolding buds.
Men are moved by dreams, by the ideal images that sway their minds.
The flame that glows in this impassioned heart, bursting into words, flaring into actions, is the fountainhead of all light and of all tomorrows.
Value-creation is the utter silence, the frozen sleep of the primordial.
Silence is sacred to sound, frozen sleep to resounding action, meaning towords, and words to tangible realities.
The lotus is a symbol of purity and its seed-vessel is the central peakof Mount Sumeru. As the symbol of man’s ascension from darkness toresplendent light, the lotus flower leads to the innermost divine essence.

Open Spaces for Cultural Interpretation
The Devadatta chapter of the Lotus SËtra relates a story about the Buddha in a previous life. He renounced his kingdom and served a sage byproviding him with firewood, water and herbs to obtain the Lotus teachings. From this arose a poem by Gyogi (668–749):
For collecting firewood,
Gathering herbs,
And carrying water,
My reward isThe Lotus SËtra.

This poem issues from the tradition of free interpretation of the LotusSËtra. The world (nature) and words (culture) are dynamic phenomenain the light of similitude and reflection. Resolution of opposition
between nature and culture will be the episteme of the quality of life.
The Lotus SËtra was preached by the Buddha amidst wondrous signs
on the Vulture Peak at Råjag®ha in modern Bihar. The heavens rain flowers. The earth trembles. The crowds, human and divine, wait in great
expectation for the sermon. The Buddha emits a light that illumines theuniverse. The portents are followed by the SËtra. Íåriputra dances withjoy on hearing the wondrous message of the SËtra. The SËtra is raised toan object of worship to be revered per se, and the preaching promised in
the first chapter is never delivered. It is empty, open at the centre. It ispure content, which invites filling in by interpretation.
In the words of Shioiri RyØdØ: “Both the structure and the meaning of
the text imply that the essential quality of the Lotus Sutra is that, having
absorbed widely, it can be applied infinitely to a great many aspects of

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the lotus s utraˉculture.”6 The Lotus SËtra leaves open spaces, with no promises. History
and mystery, power and poetry, didactics and aesthetics have been intertwined in its long history. The meaning is drawn out from the stories,language of the text, as well as from its structure.
In the Lotus SËtra, Íåkyamuni is no more conceived of as a historicalpersonage subject to the fate of all transient beings, but as one who lives
in eternity for the benefit of all who are and will be. He is not a human
Buddha but a transcendent Tathågata. His historical ministry was skillfulmeans to save humankind. The 11th chapter on the emergence of theTreasure Tower transposes the earthly manifestation of the Buddha on atranscendental plane. The Buddha PrabhËtaratna gives half of his seatin the jeweled stupa to Íåkyamuni who sits there in the lotus posture(padmåsana) to dissolve the momentous historical into the eternal
Dharma.
The Lotus SËtra is the supreme and unequivocal expression ofEkayåna “One Vehicle” which declares that the three vehicles of theÍråvaka (disciple), Pratyekabuddha and Bodhisattva are three expedientdevices to attract beings to Ekayåna. This SËtra is the unifying exposition of the teachings that lead to Buddhahood.

Boundless Interpenetration of All Lives
Traces of nature flow in Íåkyamuni’s meditation under the Bodhi tree
for 49 long days, in his stay on the banks of the Nairañjanå River afterBodhi, in Sujåtå’s offering him milk-rice on its banks, and in Brahmå
persuading him to preach the Dharma. It was the visualisation of thethree thousand worlds in one thought (ichinen sanzen). Sanzen is theboundlessness of the interpenetration of phenomena with one another.
The Sa◊yuktågama and Ekottarågama illustrate it:“Beneath the pippala tree, the hermit Gautama focused all of his formidable powers of concentration to look deeply at his body. He saw thateach cell of his body was like a drop of water in an endlessly flowing
river of birth, existence, and death.... Intermingled with the river of hisbody was the river of feelings in which every feeling was a drop ofwater. In his meditation Siddhårtha “looked up at a pippala leaf imprinted against the blue sky, its tail blowing back and forth as if calling him.
Looking deeply at the leaf, he saw clearly the presence of the sun andstars—without the sun, without light and warmth, the leaf could notexist.... He also saw in the leaf the presence of clouds―without clouds
there could be no rain, and without rain the leaf could not be. He sawthe lotus s utraˉ101

the earth, time, space, and mind―all were present in the 1eaf. In fact, atthat very moment, the entire universe existed in that leaf. The reality of
the leaf was a wondrous miracle.”7

Animals, plants, mountains, and humans are resonances of deeper
implications, the interdependence of life. Living entities, their environment, the vast physical universe and human beings are one. Our charredworld with all kinds of imbalances, depletions and disasters can besaved for future generations by the vehicle of spirituality acting in
coherence with the many-sided reality of the universe.
Interweaving of Humanity and Nature can come only from the path of
the Bodhisattva: “Ideas arising from that universal life force and fromthe future are the characteristic quality of bodhisattva-like humanbeings.”8
As harsh winds howl into us from the muffled moans of pollution,
global-warming, tsunamis and the like, an ancient Japanese poetreminds us: “Poems arise as ten thousand leaves of language from theseeds of peoples’ hearts.”9The Vinaya narrates how the Buddha and his monks were invited to ameal at the palace by King Íuddhodana, along with other guests. The
Buddha gave a discourse on how to mediate to transcend suffering. The
Buddha smiled and spoke: “But suffering is only one face of life. Life
has another face, the face of wonder. If we can see that face of life, wewill have happiness, peace and joy. When our hearts are unfettered, wecan make direct contact with the wonders of life. When we have truly
grasped the truths of impermanence, emptiness of self, and dependent
co-arising, we see how wondrous our own hearts and minds are. We see
how wonderful our bodies, the branches of violet bamboo, the goldenchrysanthemums, the clear stream, and the radiant moon are.”10

In Quest of a New Forma Mentis
The Lotus SËtra is a ferry boat to the horizons of our heritage so that welive to have something to outlive. It enriches the aroma of destiny likemoonlight that sheds lustre in the humblest of homes. Man lives in aphysical universe and blossoms in a symbolic universe. Cultural capacity can and should undergo a completely new evolution on a metaplane.
The fallacy that “man” is no longer dependent on biological foundations
and is a being apart from nature will not function. The criteria of fitness
have to be decided by life and nature. The freedom of civilisation cannot
devour its children. We cannot go on legitimising “ecotaxes” and graze

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all regeneration.
The materialistic foundations of classical physics have crumbled
down. Science itself has proved that matter is energy, processes are asvalid as facts, and it has affirmed the non-materiality of the universe. An
encounter of the ‘two cultures’, the scientific and the humane, will
restore the normal vision, and will be the bedrock of a ‘science ofunderstanding’ in the new century. As they ascend, they will converge. It
will give new meaning to the ancient perception that quantity (measure)and quality (value) coexist at the root of nature. Human endeavours cannot afford to be humanistically irresponsible. We need an integrating
centrum of human consciousness and action. We need to envision theworld in beauty and nobility, devotion and dedication to Cosmic
Humanism. In this we can develop a ‘world sensorium’ (in the nomenclature of Oliver L. Reiser11), in which a global society will discover its
inner selfhood, to illuminate the interrelatedness of all. In an organic
cosmic order there is no isolated system: no person and no aspect ofhim/her is an island.
In the darkest night, man searches for light. In his deepest need, heseeks a dawning consciousness. He aspires to repaint the world canvas,
to revalue what is in the primal sources of the eternal process. Out of thereal and the imagined is born the Realm of the Future wherein man rises
above himself, as a dynamic bearer of culture. He crosses the River ofToday and ferries across to the Other Shore of unborn tomorrows.
Crossing frontiers is man’s heritage, or in the chimes of the Heart SËtra:gate gate påragate pårasa∫gate bodhi svåhå. This påramitå illuminesand enlightens our hearts and summons us by the quiet of the bower tospan life with compassion, wisdom and beauty. In this påramitå, humans
are a part of all other humans, of all life, of all matter, of all stars and of
all voids of eternity. We are Eternal pilgrims in quest of a new forma
mentis. In the words of poet Tagore:
The traveller has to knock at every alien door		
to come to his own,
and one has to wander through all the outer worlds		
to reach the innermost shrine at the end.12

The dialogue to be released today, in the haunting charm of theFrench language, is on the historic evolution of valorisation across timeand space in the Lotus SËtra. It kindles anew our inner consciousness
that humanity has to be the joy and beauty of life, that we and nature areinterdependent and thus nature should command our reverence. We havethe lotus s utraˉ

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to share with fellow beings and with nature for all things to flourish inharmony.
Notes
Chandra, Lokesh and Ikeda, Daisaku (2016/March). Le bouddhisme ou la voie desvaleurs—Un dialogue sur la création de valeurs à travers l’Histoire (Buddhism or Wayof Values: A Dialogue on Creation of Values throughout History). Paris: L’Harmattan.
This dialogue was published in previous month of the symposium.
2
Translated by Mr. David Hare.
3
Hsüan-tsang (Xuanzang). Da Tang xiyuji (The Great Tang Records of the WesternRegions), Vol. 9. T no. 2087, 51. 923b21–23.
4I-tsing. Da Tang xiyu qiu fa gao seng zhuan (The Biographies of Eminent Priests ofthe Great Tang Dyansty Who Sought the Law in the Western Regions) Vol. 1. T no.
2066, 51. 5b17–19.
5
Da Tang Da Ci’ensi Sanzang fashi zhuan (The Biography of the Tripitaka Master ofTatz’u-en-ssu Temple of the Great Tang Dyansty). T no. 2053, 50. 237b12–14.
6Shioiri, Ryodo (1989). “The Meaning of the Formation and Structure of the Lotus
Sutra” in The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture, edited by George J. Tanabe, Jr. and Willa
Jane Tanabe. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, pp. 15–36.
7Thich Nhat Hanh (1991). Old Path White Clouds: The Life Story of the Buddha.
London: Rider, pp. 152–3.
8Ikeda, Daisaku. (1990) “The Environmental Problem and Buddhism”, The Journalof Oriental Studies Vol. 3, p. 13.
9Ki no, Tsurayuki. Kokin Wakashu Kanajo (The Preface to “A Collection of Ancientand Modern Japanese Poetry”).
10Thich Nhat Hanh, op. ci., pp. 233–4. King Íuddhodana is father of Shakyamuni
Buddha.
11Cf. Reiser, Oliver Leslie. (1946) The World Sensorium: The Social Embryology ofWorld Federation. NY: Avalon Press.
12Cf. Tagore, Rabindranath. Gitanjali, Song Offerings: A Collection of Prose Translations Made by the Author from the Original Bengali Manuscript. New Delhi: UBS
Publishers’ Distributors in association with Visva-Bharati, p. 25.
1Author Biography
Lokesh Chandra is a director of the International Academy of Indian Culture and apresident of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He is a prominent scholar of Buddhism, Vedic scriptures and Indian arts. Dr. Chandra was born in 1927 at Ambala as ason of a renowned Sanskrit scholar Dr. Raghu Vira. While having studied more than 20languages including Sanskrit and Pali, he has to his credit over 400 works and text editions. The Satapitaka (Hundred Baskets of Teachings) is one of his most importantworks, as a major compilation of Asian Buddhism, arts, literature, and history. He wasawarded Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2006.